greenbean

Pastry bags. Although I have often dreamt of a caulking gun type of device that would be neater and reduce cramping.

I (and other culinary school graduates I know) have come to the realization that there is a vast difference between cooking for pleasure and cooking for work. While I am all for following your dream, your dream may not include the realities of working in a commercial/retail operation. I too had a dream of becoming a pastry chef. I went to school, worked in kitchens and, as much as I love it, I realized that cooking for a living does not suit me (at least not at this point in my life). And it's not that I don't have a "passion" for it, that word that gets thrown around so much in this industry. Sometimes I still dream of opening my own place. Who knows, it may still happen, but for now I cook for family, friends and an occasional client, and, for me, it's better this way. Talk to people in the industry, new and old. Try to get some candid feedback about what's it's really like. Getting a job is a great start, it will tell you things that school never will. I'm not sorry I went to culinary school. Some of my closest friends are people I went to school with, and I learned things I will use the rest of my life. My advice is this: Follow your dream, but realize it may take you somewhere other than where you thought you were going.

Here is a cake I made a few weeks ago as one of the layers for my brother-in-laws wedding (he's vegan). It worked well and baked very nicely. For an orange flavor, I would replace some of the soy milk with orange juice or maybe just add some zest and orange extract along with the vanilla. If your nieces don't have any issues with dairy, I'm sure regular milk will work as well. 1 1/2 teaspoons egg replacer (like Ener-G Egg Replacer) 1 cup soy milk 1/2 cup maple syrup 1/4 cup vegetable oil 2 teaspoons white or apple cider vinegar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 cup unbleached flour 2 Tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon sea salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9" cake pan. Whisk together the egg replacer, soy milk, syrup, oil, vinegar, and vanilla until completely combined. In a separate bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add in liquid ingredients stirring to combine. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake approximately 25 to 30 minutes or until done. I had to take this layer, plus 4 others and a grooms cake from Atlanta up to Buffalo. The cake traveled well and they enjoyed it very much. Good luck.

My women's group has a mentoring program and one of the events for our young ladies is a tea. I have been asked to come up with a menu and I could use some suggestions. We have 38 girls and a number of the group members will be attending, so we'll probably have around 50 people. I want to offer the girls some things they may not eat regularly, but in flavors they are willing to try. Here are some of the ideas I've had so far: Chicken Salad in Pate a Choux Puffs Mini Quiche: Palmiers Tea sandwiches: Cucumber, Salmon Cream Cheese, Pimento Cheese or Egg Salad Scones Mini-Biscotti Petit Fours Some sort cookie Fruit Cream Puffs Pound Cake I'm not planning to do all of these, I'm just throwing out ideas at this point. I want items that aren't too complicated, can be made ahead (at least partially) and look appealing. I also need some help on how many items we should offer and how many of each item to make, based on the number of people. As the parent of a nine year old daughter, I realize that feeding this age group can be a challenge. This exercise is not only about proper behavior and etiquette, but exposure to new things.

"Foodie" makes me roll my eyes. Don't we all eat food in some form or another? It's like calling someone a breather.

Here's my advice: 1. Don't continute to work for someone that would call you a stupid fu$>$as$>%*! who can't even boil water. 2. Don't call the people who work with you stupid fu$>$as$>%*! who can't even boil water. 3. Work on having a life outside the kitchen

When I was in culinary school, I had to interview an Executive Chef and write a paper. I decided to look for a female chef who had young children so I could pick her brain on how she manages her life. Problem? I couldn't find any, not one (and I live in a large city). I shouldn't have been surprised though, it's not any easy thing. You see, I am the Mom, so I don't have a wife at home to pick up the slack. I left a job that required me to work every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and all holidays because that gave me little free time with my family. My husband and I have an agreement that we will always have time for each other and our children. He has not pursued a higher position with his company because it would mean much longer hours. I have looked for family friendly places and found a great job with great hours (M-F, 8-4:30) and very understanding people. I could have worked at more high end places, but at what cost? I don't want to be divorced, I actually like my husband. I recently left my family friendly place and I am looking to do something else. I loved what I did, but even those (relatively short) hours left me tapped out at the end of the day. I still had to go home and cook, clean, give baths, check homework and be something to everyone. Now I am trying to figure out what to do next. I love working with food, but I don't want to cook all day. I was in management/administrative/HR/etc. before doing pastry work, and I've been thinking about how to use all of my past experience to do something new. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be very grateful.

Lesa, would you consider a community college? If so, you are in a great place. I was able to get the HOPE Grant/Scholarship to go to culinary school at a local technical college. HOPE covered my tuition plus $100 per quarter for books. It's worth considering.

At work I use towels and at home I use mitts, both out of habit. At work I have an apron to put my towels in and no mitts, but at home I don't wear an apron and I actually like my mitts. Also, my children will use a mitt, but I would have a hard time getting them to use a towel (if you think you're unhappy when you figure out a wet towel isn't a good idea when taking a hot pan out of the oven, try it on a nine-year old future member of the Academy). At one place I worked we had mitts that hung on the deck oven vent knobs. We all used them, no one used towels for hot stuff. I'm afraid the revolution will have to go on without me.

A 3-tier cake is as big as you make it. So if someone wants a 6", 8" and 10" round cake, which serves about 53, and someone else wants to serve 50 people with the same exact kind of cake (which would be 6", 8" and 10" rounds), why the price difference? When I was talking about Bride A and Bride B, I was assuming that they were getting the same exact cake (size, flavor, frosting, etc.), with one serving 120 people and the other 130. At a cost of $5.00 per slice Bride A would pay less (according to my size calculations) than Bride B for the same amount of cake. Actually, it does make sense to charge per slice if you calculate all of the cake components (batter, filling, icing, fondant, etc.) per person, but I wonder if most people do it this way. Somehow you do have to account for pan size, don't you? I do scale the batter for the size of the pan, with a certain amount of batter per pan, but not per person. It just seems weird, like charging for a pizza not by the size, but by the number of people who will be eating it. I realize that most people don't order wedding cake by the cake size or sizes, but most wedding cake sizes are pretty standard.

I have no qualms about the price of wedding cake. I know what it takes to make these kinds of cake and it can be very labor intensive. My question was about how it was priced. I wonder why more people don't do it like Pam R. When I make a cake, I don't scale the batter based on the number of people I will be serving, I do it based on the size of pan I will be filling. Also, I have a chart of how many people each cake pan will serve, so I can make sure that there will be enough. However, sometimes in order to make enough cake, you have to make more than enough cake. So my question again is, why is it priced by the slice? If the idea is to give more catering consistent pricing, why not price by cake size then divide by their number of guests to give a per person cost? Should Bride A pay more than Bride B for the same exact cake? Of course you should account for extras such as specialized fillings, fondant, and more labor intensive or expensive items, but it just seems to make more sense to pay for the amount of cake, not the number of guests.

I've never really understood this pricing structure. Unlike plated desserts, wedding cake feeds a range of people. Someone who wants to serve 250 people may actually have the same amount of cake as someone who wants to serve 240 people, yet they pay more. There isn't any more ingredient cost or labor involved, so is it just easier? What if a client wants a specific size or sizes of cake as opposed to number of servings, how are they charged? I know this is the standard pricing in the industry, I was just curious.

I use a Swiss Buttercream on cakes, so crusting is not an option. K8, thanks for the links, those foam boards are exactly what I was looking for. I will try the parchment and hope for the best. I will not be the one unstacking the cakes, so I don't know what will happen. Also, there will not be an opportunity to chill the cakes before unstacking.

How do you unstack tiered buttercream cakes without ruining the frosting underneath? When I have stacked cakes in the past, when I try to unstack them, the buttercream on the lower layers sticks to the bottom of the board above, which makes for a very unattrative presentation. I use internal supports for the cakes (straws), but perhaps they need to be longer to provide some space in betweeen? Would parchment help or perhaps a second cake board with the wax side down? I'm just trying to avoid anyone having to serve ripped up cake. Also, what are the best foam boards to use for a cake base, and where can I find them?

I am doing a golf cake covered in fondant. I was thinking of making the dimples with a ball tool, until I found this picture. This looks so much better (and easier) Any ideas? My cake will not be a dome like this one, it will be a 10" round layer. Thanks.

Actually, I never had any intention of lying, it was more a question of how to address this kind of request. However, I do agree with many of the other professionals who posted that too much information is a bad thing. People think that bakeries are staffed with Keebler elves working around the clock when in reality we work with limited oven space, limited freezer space and a finite twenty-four hours in a day. Do I need to freeze product to be able to offer over thirty-five varieties of items a day? Yes. Do people need/want to know that? Not really. There is a fine line between telling people the truth and giving more information than is necessary.

I didn't assume that I knew what she thought she wanted, I know what she wanted because she told me. She thought she needed to have them baked fresh the same day so they would taste good. In the end, all she wanted was moist, delicious brownies. I didn't try to think for her, but I did attempt to find out what she was thinking. She told me that they would not be eaten for two days and didn't want them to go stale. I told her I would wrap and freeze them for her. She could then take them home and keep them frozen until she needed them. When I was told of her request, I actually went and talked with her. She explained to me the situation and I assured her the quality of the product and told her to contact me if there were any problems. I did not assume, I inquired, then I came up with a solution that worked for everyone. And I wasn't trying to give her what she thought she wanted, I was trying to give her what she really wanted, good brownies.

As much as I don't like to lie, and am very bad at it, there is such thing as too much information. People don't like the word frozen and I am hesitant to say it, not because freezing is bad, but because it comes with a stigma that cannot be shaken. I guess I just felt put on the spot and at a loss for a response. What I was thinking in my head was "Are you kidding me lady?". But instead of that, I found myself trying to assure her that the brownies would be good. This was the first time I had received this kind of request. As absurd as it seemed to me at first, it simply illustrates a lack of understanding. Most people bake a pan of brownies and (if they are not all eaten) let them sit on the counter until they dry out. I'm sure this was her fear, but, lucky for her, I know better. The term "fresh, never frozen" has turned into fresh=good, frozen=bad, despite the fact that we would all be lost without a freezer. Perhaps my question shouldn't have been "to lie or not to lie", but more like "how do I answer a question like this?". This goes back to a thought I have about what people want vs. what they think they want. She thinks she wants brownies baked that day because in her mind that is what is required for a fresh and moist product. What she wants is great brownies, which is what she will get, despite the fact that they were frozen. Perhaps I will just give information on a "need to know" basis.

A woman came into where I work today and wanted to order 8 brownies. We make four varieties, but she wanted them all the same. One of the girls up front came back to tell me about the order because the woman wanted them baked the same day she came to pick them up. I am well aware that many people don't realize that it is impractical and nearly impossible to bake everything we have available fresh every day. But I am always at a loss for what to say in these circumstances. Do I tell her the truth, that we make and freeze our brownies, but that they remain moist and flavorful, do I lie and tell her that I will make them fresh (but don't), or do I make them fresh for her? Actually skip the last option, I just really don't have time. I don't like lying to people, and I'm really bad at it, but is it better to preserve the image than tell the truth? It's almost like a magic show, given the choice, I think most people would rather not see behind the curtain.

A couple of things: Our batter is butter based, so the freezing does firm it up quite a bit. There is also sour cream which may have the same effect. Freezing them in the liners sounds good, I'll just have tinker with my freezer arrangements. Unfortunately, the smell of baking muffins has too far to waft to make a difference in sales, but maybe I can pipe it up front somehow. Thanks for the help, I'll be doing some experiments this week. By the way, would this also work with scones? I would love to also have fresh baked scones every morning (except I would have to save a few old ones for the English guy who likes them firm)

I work at a bakery and cafe where virtually everything is made from scratch. Lately, we have been getting complaints about our muffins. Every two weeks or so I make a big batch of muffin base, divide it into five or six parts, and make different flavors. Once they are baked and cooled, we put them in the freezer and pull them out as needed. When they first come out of the oven they are moist and delicious, but, once they come out of the freezer, they sometimes become dry. People have returned them and I need to come up with a solution. One remedy would be to make a smaller batch of base, keep it in the fridge and bake off fresh muffins every morning. We would have one kind of muffin everyday and when they’re gone, they’re gone. This would make it hard for people to buy a bunch of muffins or a variety, but it would cut down on waste. There are also premade muffin batters, but do they taste good, are they cost effective and will they stay fresher longer? (I am not a scratch purist and love box cake, so that is not an issue). So here is my dilemma: Do I continue doing what I’m doing, do I make just one type of muffin a day, do I move to a premade batter or is there a better muffin recipe out there that freezes well? Or, does someone have a better solution that I haven’t even considered? I know that part of the problem is some people want a muffin that tastes like a packaged muffin. Also, some people don’t understand that I can’t bake off fresh muffins, scones, breads, brownies, cupcakes, etc. every morning and throw away what they don’t buy. I agree that there is nothing like the taste of a fresh baked muffin, but no one wants to pay $3.00 for a muffin to make up for all of the muffins that would be wasted. I want to put out a good product, but what I am coming to realize is that it will have to be something between what people want and what they think they want. In the eyes and minds of the consumer, is a frozen scratch muffin worse than a fresh premade batter muffin? Thank you.

No, there is no leavening in this cake, just air, and somehow I think that may be my problem. I'm beginning to think that there may be too much air. Since the air expands as it gets warmer, perhaps it all escapes before the structure is able to set. It's not that my cakes do not get height, they just don't maintain it. I thought that I might have been putting too much batter in the pan. This would not allow it to reach the temperature in time to maintain the structure. However, this does not seem likely since I followed the recipe for pan size and amount. There is some kind of problem with temperature and structure that I just can't solve. Also, if I am multiplying the recipe and mixing in a 30qt mixer, do I need to adjust any mixing times?

Thanks for your feedback, here's a little more information. I do use White Lily and I am in the South. I am creaming to a pale shade of grey. I have followed this recipe to the letter, our oven temps are fine and my leavening is fresh. Yet, I sink cake after cake after cake. I have doubled and tripled the recipe with the same results. As for the mixing and the structure, I suspected that perhaps the large mixer wasn't doing enough, so I mixed it longer. The result of this was the worst sinking of all. I did convert my sifted flour to weight measurement and just triple sift that amount (after triple sifting and weighing a number of times to get a consistent amount). I don't want to give up but I fear my boss will give me the stinkeye if I turn out another funky cake. I do appreciate your help and I'll take any other suggestions.

While looking for a poundcake recipe here, I came across the thread that ended up being mostly about the Elvis Poundcake. I tried making the cake at work, but it ended up being very cratered in the center. I decided to try it at home and it came out beautifully, with little to no cratering (I ended up making 5, some in loaf pans some in tube pans). So I went back to work armed with some adjustments from the same recipe on Epicurious (different egg ratio, less flour due to triple sifting). Made the cakes again in different size pans (tube, long loaf, short loaf) to see if this made a difference and the cakes sank worse than ever. While I am determined to get this right my boss is tired of sunken cakes. The cake is delicious, but because people eat with their eyes, the appearance is a problem. Here is my question: What am I doing wrong? Is this recipe not really meant for volume baking? Is my equipment overmixing the batter (30 qt)? Not enough flour? Wrong size pan? I have also been doubling the recipe, would this make a difference? The list goes on. Because I have successfully done this at home in a conventional oven with my KitchenAid mixer, I know it can be done. What at work is turning this cake into a sinkhole?

Home Depot also carries something called Liquid Electrical tape. It's like paint but thicker and doesn't come off like regular electrical tape. It comes in about five colors, and all of my tools have a green band around the handle. I've had the liquid electrical tape on them for over a year with no problems. Actually, at school, all the baking sheetpans had green spray paint on the short end outside rims so the hot side wouldn't use them (I wish they would do this at work). This also made it easier to identify them in a stack.