RuthWells

That's my *guess*.......

Good thought, but I should have mentioned that my son's a sophisticated chocolate consumer -- he knows the difference between ganache, whipped ganache, chocolate buttercream, and the like. I don't think I'd be able to slip that by him. <When I suggested a fancy chocolate decoration for the top of the cake, his comment was, "It must be of quality." When I asked him to expound, he said, "The good chocolate. Dark. The darker the better. You know, quality.">

Hi all, My son is turning 10, and asked me whether I could make his birthday cake "like a Three Musketeers bar." I'm thinking a chocolate marshmellow filling, but I don't want it to set up as firm as homemade marshmellows do. Any suggestions would be most appreciated! Thanks.

I have been taken off chocolate for medical reasons, so I am triple-y appreciative of this report and all the wonderful pix, Ling! Thanks for sharing.

Nope, just a voracious reader! ← That 'splains it!

Patrick, are you a scientist? You seem to have a great store of food science knowledge!

I like it when used judiciously. I used it flavor some icing this weekend.

Sounds like a great solution -- can't wait to see picture!

Awesome cake, CB!! Aren't the Whimsical Bakehouse designs fun?

How exciting, Celene, best of luck to you! I, for one, want to see *lots* of pictures of your cakes.

I just got this issue today. Have you had a chance to try it yet? I'm hoping too but it probably won't be for a month or so. I haven't closely compared the recipes yet but the flour/sugar ratio looks similar to the CI recipe. ← I made the Fine Cooking butter cake this week. It was lovely, moist and bouncy right out of the oven, then got heavier and dryer the next day (without having been refrigerated). Typical butter cake behavior. It's good, but as I'm not serving it until tomorrow, I slathered it with simple syrup before filling it.

That is a cool product. If I were making any money on my cakes I might be tempted to make the investment, but as an amateur, I can't see it.

Last night was trimmings from vanilla butter cake -- the recipe from the current Fine Cooking mag. Very yummy, bouncy crumb, and moist, but not too moist. Looking forward to seeing how it behaves under fondant this weekend.

What beautiful cakes -- thanks for sharing! This is a long shot, but have you ever used non-crusting buttercream (such as Italian meringue buttercream) as your base for brush embroidery? Or non-crusting buttercream for the embroidery itself?

Oh....well in that case then just add about 3 or 4 Tbsp. of an oiled extract to a royal recipe....one calling for about 2 lbs of sugar.... it won't dry as rock hard because of the oil (but will solidify) and you can flavour it any way you like. And don't forget this won't be at all like royal icing flowers because the pipework on the cake will be so thin to begin with, then you'll be diluting it slightly with water for the embroidery effect as well. It'll be paper thin by the time you're done. ← Aha! The lightbulb went off. I'll try this; thanks so much!

Ah, you've given me pause (in a good way -- this is why I posted, after all!). My main objection to royal is the texture/consistency once dried. Flooded royal, on sugar cookies, doesn't bother me *too* much, but sculpted/rock hard royal (such as for piped flowers) gives me the heebie-jeebies. Hmm. Must think this one through a bit more. Thanks for the input!

Thanks for the tips, K8 -- I will definitely be using my collection of spoofle dusts! Still undecided about the icing, tho.

I know that traditional brush embroidery is done with royal icing on rolled fondant. Royal icing gives me the icks, however, so I thought I'd try buttercream on rolled fondant. Other than being extra careful to not leave oily traces on the fondant, are there any pitfalls I should look out for? TIA!

Salmon mousse in mini-puffs is yummers. You can top with salmon roe and a sprig of fresh dill if you feel like getting fancy.

I made her ginger truffle variation at holiday time and was underwhelmed by the ginger flavor. If you try them, increase the ginger and/or steeping time significantly.

Thanks, all! I'll hunt down the King Arthur chiffon recipe to start.

I've never tried baking a chiffon cake in a springform (as opposed to tube) pan, but would like to try it this weekend. Does anyone have a chiffon formula that will reliably withstand such treatment? TIA!

It's a great reference book. A lot of bakers find her cakes overly sweet and on the dry side, but it's an invaluable resource for fillings, frostings, ingredient substitutions, and the like. I am constantly pulling it off the shelf, even when baking recipes from other sources.

Those look wonderful, John. I would definitely try freezing them -- it will tenderize the meringue most delectably.

If you haven't yet, try RLB's neoclassic buttercream as well (the one with yolks instead of whites). It doesn't pipe as well at the mousseline, but it has a richer flavor.