RuthWells

Kathy, your cakes are stunning! Thanks for posting.

I thought I'd see whether I could resurrect interest in this thread by bumping it back up. I read it all the way through yesterday and was completely inspired. Just for fun, here's the most ambitious cake I've done recently. It was for a young friend's first birthday party, and it's decorated with mousseline (Italian meringue) buttercream and piped chocolate decorations (a la Whimsical Bakehouse). What are you all decorating these days?

Cupcake batter, right off the spatula.

Hi Amccomb, This is just a guess, as your friend doesn't tell us *when* the crust starts slipping and sliding (in the oven, before the oven....). But all tart (and pie, for that matter) crusts benefit from a hard chill before going in the oven. This relaxes the gluten in the flour as well as "sets" the edges so that they're better able to retain their shape when the pan hits the hot oven. I hope this helps!

Individual shortcakes with lemon mousse (actually, Italian meringue folded with lemon curd) in place of whipped cream, strawberries, and blueberries. Yum!

Hi Kit, Is this the Cake Bible recipe where you essentially fold a fruit curd or puree into an Italian meringue?

Two stale Starburst squares from my kids' left-over Easter candy. Strawberry flavor.

Really? I may give that a try. I actually do have a fictious name registered in my state and a business bank account from when I was doing free-lance accounting. Of course, the name of the business doesn't sound anything like a bakery business!

I was having a lot of fun browsing this site until I realized that are business-to-business only.

I will "second" the chocolate souffle sheet -- it's my standard for Passover bring-along desserts. Light as air and so flavorful!

I love her orange chiffon cake, Bert Green's coffee cake, white spice butter cake, chocolate oblivion truffle torte, and her mousseline buttercream is my standard buttercream. If you make the chocolate torte, be sure to make the raspberry sauce/puree to go with it -- heaven!

how do u put up a pic? ← Psst -- if you PM Wendy, she'll send you instructions. I figured out how to get a few pix posted by accident a while back, but couldn't tell you how I did it for love, money, or pastry. I wanna see more pix!

There is a non-trans-fat shortening being offered by Crisco in the market -- I wonder whether there is an equivalent available to the trade? I've only ever attempted all-butter pie crusts, but am interested in trying a part-shortening based on Wendy's tests. Wendy, as always, you rock!

Great tips, Steve, thanks!

Ginger snap crumbs?

We had friends over for dinner this weekend, and I went a little dessert-crazy: lemon meringue tartlets from "Sweet Miniatures", chocolate truffles dipped in bittersweet chocolate and in white chocolate, and an improvisation using chocolate souffle sheets, raspberry mousse, and fresh raspberries. Hard to cut cleanly but very yummy!

I think the deal-breaker here for me would be whether the flour is discernable in the finished curd, either by taste or by mouth-feel. What's your take on that?

Hi Hannah! I tried croissants for the first time a few months ago, using the recipe and technique from Baking with Julia. I found the instructions very clear and easy to follow, and I got great results. If you have the book, or can get it from the library, I highly recommend it. I'm having trouble picturing where you feel you're going wrong -- could you say a little more about the texture you're getting, or better still, take a picture for us?

Super demo, Mette, thanks for posting! One variation that I have tried with the balloon molds is to rock the balloon in the chocolate to achieve a kind of tulip-shaped cup with petals along the top edge. But I've never considered using tupperwear and the like; thanks for the inspiration!

FWIW = For what it's worth. I had the same trouble -- slicing the dough was an exercise in (mild) frustration. They were so delicious, though, so that won't deter me from making them again!

Hi Katie, They are actually a sable cookie; when I made them they weren't crumbly, exactly, but they did have a sandy bite. Alinka's pix do look very moist and chewy, which was not my experience. FWIW!

Aha, thanks for the instructions. And OMG!!! Your cakes are stunning -- what exquisite work!

Georgeous cake!! Dare one ask whether you have a web site showcasing your work?

Cool. I'm in the Philly area as well and would love to see more of your work......

I made macarons with one of the pastry chefs at Miel Patisserie a few weeks ago (I had a training day there, which I have to get around to posting about!!) and was intrigued by their method -- baked at 325* with no variations in temp. The trays end up sitting/drying for 10-15 minutes while all the batter is piped, but they don't *deliberately* allow for drying time. They use mostly fresh egg whites, a pinch of dried egg whites, 10x sugar, almond flour, flavorings, etc. They also double pan, and they bake on Silpats. Rather than steaming the baked cookies off the pan with the water-under-the-parchment trick, they turn them all belly-up when cool and then spritz them lightly with water before filling and sandwiching them. I was given a cache of the freshly-baked, filled chocolate macarons to take home with the strong admonition that they were to "cure" for 24 hrs. in the freezer prior to consumption. In the interests of science, I ate one before curing and many, many after curing and I must concur -- the curing is an essential step. Gotta find the time to see if I can replicate these macarons at home. They were my idea of perfect -- smooth, slightly rounded tops, small feet, perfectly chewy texture.