Sugarella

Cut the cheesecake from cold; it's easier than frozen. Depending on the density you could use a knife or if dental floss works better for you then use that. Make them only about 1" square, because after the chocolate's on they'll be bigger. If you're going to eat them from frozen then freeze the squares now; if you're going to eat from the fridge dip them now. Ragged edges, depending on how bad they are, can be smoothed, yes, but I don't mind mine looking a little rustic. Mine are just for home use....not customers. You won't actually dip them; otherwise the cold will throw your tempered chocolate off too quick. Instead, hold the square on the tips of your fingers of your non-dominant hand (palm up) and scoop and pour the chocolate across the outside perimeter of the top. (hope that makes sense) That'll cause it to drip down the sides and across the top as evenly as possible. You should do the pouring over a sheet of parchment, and make sure you dunk the bottoms into the chocolate that drips down. Any leftover chocolate that drips down can be saved and used later for ganache, because it most likely will be contaminated with some of the cheesecake. You'll need 2 coats, as the first coat will crackle from the 2 temperature extremes coming together. I think that just about covers it, basically. If you need more in depth instructions just hollar.

Just curious chefette.... do you really think a salted butter buttercream tastes that bad!! ? I know the standard for pastry is always using unsalted, and although I do prefer the taste of unsalted, my cakes are often very elaborately decorated and require many many hours out of the fridge for me to complete them. I've spent as much as 8 hours on a single tier, albeit a very large one, and they do sit out on display for hours at weddings, too. Considering unsalted butter is only foodsafe at room temp for 4 hours or so, that time will elapse long before I'm finished working on them. What would you suggest I do to treat a buttercream to keep it foodsafe, if it is possible to use unsalted for these type of cakes? Thanks if you can help.

Do you line the pans with parchment or just use a sort of pan release? I've tried, and I can never get the &*$%! cheesecakes out in one piece. Even lining with parchment, the batter seeps out into the corners and the cake sticks. Somebody really needs to invent one piece liners for big pans, like giant baking cups. I think a Baking 101 thread would be very helpful to a lot of people.... I'd be happy to contribute to that one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_chloride In summation, there is believed to be some risk of leeching carcinogens, and of course any food product being porous and absorbent coming in direct contact with PVC could be risky. And as ascertained in the article, heating the PVC will definitely release carcinogens. I think it'd be better just to not risk it. I had an argument on another message board about this very same issue..... the general consensus amongst the others was that PVC is used for water pipes carrying drinking water, and therefore PVC in contact with anything edible must be 100% safe, because "THEY" would never use anything in construction that could possibly present a health risk. Oh no.... "THEY" would never do that!

For what it's worth, I use salted butter for my buttercreams because they're usually for wedding cakes or something else that requires them to be at room temp for long periods. But I don't add any additional salt, either. Because you didn't add any extra it's not as salty as you think; you're just not used to it is all.

The only reason I recommended 10" and 12" pans on a 3" high pan for home cooks is that they will handle the equivalent amount of batter that standard cake recipes call for, namely recipes that will fill 2 pans that are 9" round by 1" or 1.5" high. So I'm recommeding you bake the whole recipe in just the one pan. All cake recipes are different. Some have a more liquid batter and require longer baking times, etc., as I'm sure you're aware. And some, if very liquid will require a flower nail. And each recipe will rise differently. Cakes with a very liquidy batter you'll want to allow a lot of "growing room" within the pan, while very dense or thick batters won't rise nearly as much, as a general rule. I suggested the 8" , 10", and 12" for general purposes simply because it'll cover almost all bases for what you need to do at home. I do cakes for private clients quite frequently; it has been my second job for nearly a decade. I have a bazillion 1.5" high pans ....I have reverted these to what I bake chicken or potatoes in at home. I HATE them, and I think they are useless for cakes. I only use the 3" high cake pans for cakes. On another message board several years ago, this same question was put to me, and I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of the pans. I poured the same amount of batter (approximately 1" high) into a 1" high pan, a 2" high pan, and a 3" high pan, and baked them all at the same temp. The 1" high pan baked the 1" of batter to 1" high. The 2" high pan baked the 1" of batter to approximately 1.5" high. The 3" high pan baked the same 1" of batter to almost 2.5" high. The reason for this is that of course that batter expands in size with the heat of baking, and the higher sides give the cake more climbing room. The result was that cakes, given more room to expand in their pan, were lighter, fluffier, and for some reason, had a better developed crumb. The 3" high pans just really do make much better cakes, in my experience.

Like everyone else said, just bake it in the closest sized pan you have and if there are leftovers bake muffins. If I may make a suggestion though.... the best pans are the ones that are 3" high. Batter climbs the sides during baking and you end up with a lighter, fluffier cake. Just fill to within an inch of the top to avoid spillover, or you can just bake less batter in them if the recipes yield a smaller amount. Takes longer to bake, obviously, but cakes are less dense using these pans. Standard recipes usually call for 2" high 9" pans, but the same batter in a 3" pan will give you a 12" diameter cake. For home bakers I'd recommend just an 8", 10", and 12".

It depends on what the hearts will be made out if, I guess, but it's doable. It'll be extremely time consuming, especially if they'll be as small as the traditional ones, but doable. Those traditional ones you see ar of course machine made. If they'll have a smooth, flat non porous surface you could adhere an edible image to them, which involves purchasing a new canon bubblejet printer, the edible ink cartridges for it, and the frosting sheets. But that'll be a lot of fumbling with cutting and adhering all of those. For a porous surface, you could have a small rubber stamp made, or several with different writing, and stamp the messages on that way. You'll also need a small flat sponge (those make-up sponges would work best for this) so you can use it as a stamp-pad with a food colour mix in it, for the stamping. That won't be as time consuming or as costly as the first option, but still a giant pain in the ass, I'd imagine. What are you making the hearts out of, and how big will they be?

^^^ I think it's terrific what you're planning TimH....also hats off to you too Mayhaw Man for such an intelligent post. I wish so many more people had the same basic common sense as both of you. I have no stake in this..... I live in Canada. When I was a kid you either packed your own lunch or you starved, and my nephew now goes to the same school district as I did and no free lunches for him either. Schools providing lunches for kids is such a foreign concept to me, and it's such an odd thing to read about all of your experiences here. Whether that food be paid for by government grants or through your own municipal taxes; I don't know. The bottom line is that any organisation's bottom line is always the almighty dollar, and that will, inevitably, always translate into providing the cheapest foods possible. Starch fillers and fake cheese powder and cheap quick fixes like fries will always be cheaper than vegetables, fruits and dairy. I can't see this type of system ever being effective in promoting nutritious eating habits or, for that matter, even providing a balanced meal ever at all, considering the fact that eating healthy does cost considerably more than eating poorly. I have been reading eG for a few years now but only joined half a year ago.... and one prevelant thing I did notice time and again reading is that there seems to be this unnerving, true FEAR of food as a general culture in the US. I'm not talking about all of you on here, but as a general concensus. I don't buy US magazines, for example, but lately I've been looking at the leading lines and they are ALL about dieting and changing into a better person because you're not good enough the way you are, blah, blah, blah. It's not like that here. A little bit about image, yes, but we're not constantly inundated with "dieting" and "food is scary" and all that crap at every turn. Food is what we need as fuel 3 times a day every day just to keep living. It's not the enemy! At what point in US culture was that important point lost? Or was it lost at all, or am I completely misinterpreting or overexaggerating? But then again.... this original thread was about banning collards.... collards are vegetables! Vegetables will NEVER be BAD FOR YOU!! Do the rest of you feel as uneasy about this as I do, or do you just equate it with the likes of 1960's book-burning, in the sense it's just a handful of crackpots and that it'll also too just one day go away? I'm curious..... school lunches. Are these for all kids or just elementary? Do secondary school kids get lunches too or do they have the option to buy or bring their own? Do parents actually pay for it or is this just a provided service? And how common is this in the US, anyways? The norm? Or just a few districts? Just wondering........

DeLonghi makes really beautiful designs, don't they? I've been hard pressed to buy any of their appliances for fear they'd actually be as cheap and crappy as any old $7 toaster, but I did buy their portable space heater. It is GORGEOUS! And I'm glad to report 2 years in it's still going strong.... (fingers crossed) About the bags..... I didn't manage to locate them on amazon.ca or any other canadian sites yet so I think I'll have to take a pass on this one. Knowing shipping, taxes, incorrect and unlawfully charged exchange rates and canadian DUTY tax (Interstingly duty is also a euphamism for SHIT) I've noticed prices end up usually quadrupling by the time the item ends up at my house if I buy from the states. So, all in all, I don't think these are worth $60 - $70 to me. I thought they'd be handy for work because there's a toaster there, but it's not that important. I don't have a toaster at home; just use the oven for toast. Not a toaster oven, just the plain old oven.

But..... then the air is at the other end of the jar, so the bottoms (now the tops) go moldy and you can't see it. I think I can top all of these chores combined. The worst kitchen cleaning chore is: cleaning out someone else's grubby disgusting kitchen every time you move to a new apartment!!! Bleagh! Having moved no less than 13 times since I first left home, I can assure you there are some truly sick filthy people out there. I've cleaned dried barf from walls, dog poopoo from behind the stove, (lots and lots piled about 2 feet high....I guess they didn't have a trashcan?) and even found a crackpipe hidden taped up on the underside of a kitchen drawer. I have used a bench scraper to remove a good inch or so of crusted charcoal from the inside of all 13 ovens, a long stick with a scrubbrush taped to it to tackle the actual fur growing inside refridgerators, and actually paid carpet cleaners 3 times once to come and clean the kitchen carpeting in one place because I couldn't get rid of the smell. (Actually, I'm pretty darn sure somebody died in there on that very carpet and probably fermented for a couple of weeks before anybody noticed.... I left that place abruptly in the middle of the night without paying rent because the smell was so sickening, and upon being taken to court by the landlord, had about 20 friends show up to back up my story and the judge actually let me off without paying!) There, top that!!! ETA: And don't even get me started on bathrooms......

Thanks.

YOU"RE SUPPOSED TO TURN THE TOASTER ON !!!! Ok....never saw this thread before and I'm truly fascinated. These would be so perfect for work..... just pack up a sandwich and have a hot gooey melty lunch for cold blustery wintery days. How perfect. And obviously they DO work, as demonstrated by the Perlows. One question though..... now that you've all had them a few years.... do you find the teflon coating is flaking or peeling off? I mean, if it comes off your skillets, etc. over time, wouldn't it more easily come off these malleable bags? Apparently I'm supposed to be limiting my teflon consumption. And do they still work and conduct heat the same after a couple of years? Oh, ok, one more question. It would appear that the website http://www.toast-n-serve.com only sells the wraps, not the bags any more. Is that the only place to but them???

I agree with you 100% Busboy. But I think I can trump this bastardization of English. Calling up my cell company for the first time last week, I got "Hold on a sec and we'll hook you up with one of our crew. In order to keep it real, this call may be monitored or recorded." But I always thought "source", in terms of produce at least, referred to the buyer actually making a deal with the farmer or co-op to grow specifically for them, sometimes even paying a portion in advance to grow something, or more of something, that otherwise wouldn't have been grown by that farmer at all. Am I wrong on this one?

^^ Heh! No, not butter. Margarine was considered "the good stuff."

Same thing happened to me buying smokes in Ontario using my BC license. The teenage girl still in her Cathoilic school uniform clearly not old enough to be selling cigarettes, informed me a BC license was not valid in Ontario and threw it in my face. Back then I didn't have the gumption to fly across the counter and pummel her.....these days I just might. Food related, several years back I worked at an LCBO Vintages over Christmas, and of course had to card everyone as I saw fit. I asked one guy because I couldn't quite tell if he was 19....well, he was 46. Boy did I ever feel like an ass.

My condolences, eJulia. I've really enjoyed reading this thread, and you're all so very lucky to have such positive memories of your families, such wonderful recollections of food and family and love. Sadly, I'm not so lucky in that department. My maternal grandparents are second generation Hungarian immigrants, both uninspired in the cooking department. Grandma's standby food-for-guests when I was a kid was a hungarian cookie called keeflies (??) , which I suspect could have been good, but hers always tasted like they were made at least 6 months ago. They're both still alive and live an hour and a half away, but I haven't seen them in about a decade and probably won't again. Not the nicest people. My paternal grandparents, both British stock, split up when Dad was 1. They're both deceased now, but Grandma lived in Toronto's Cabbagetown, and although I did hear glorious stories of wartime grocery-gathering for a single working mother in the 40's, she was the most horrendous cook that ever lived. Seriously. Mashed potatoes was unwashed potatoes boiled until they burned in the pan, then the whole thing was mashed up all together in its own charcoal water. Served cold, wth a dollop of shortening on top because "you wouldn't be able to taste margarine anyways." But she did always keep a bottle of Ribena in the fridge for me when I came to visit, (a concentrated black currant beverage) and I still do love that stuff! Grandpa headed off back to New Brunswick after the war, and became a lobster fisherman. My Dad met him for the first time when he was about 33 and I was 5 or so, and he lived right on the ocean. Out the back porch and you step in the sand. Us kids had quite an enjoyable time playing with our new "pet" lobsters before eating them for the first time, and Grandpa enthusiastically showed us this trick for keeping them from running away on you if you've got nowhere to keep them. You sit the lobster face down with its claws tucked under it, so the tops of the claw legs and its forehead are the only parts resting on the ground, and they just go to sleep. The big ones can flick their tails and right themselves, but the canners can't. We had one sitting in that position all weekend, motionless, and when we finally righted it it just started crawling away as if nothing happened. Later, we drove back to Ontario from New Brunswick with a bagful of empty claws, which stunk the car up like you wouldn't believe. Us kids had the great idea of planting them in the garden when we got back to Mom's with the expectation of growing lobsters of our own. Regrettably, I must report that this doesn't work! And that's about all I've got as far as nice food memories of grandparents. For those of you who have many that are happy, do recall them often and tell your kids too. And remember to help your children create wonderful memories of their own. It's so important. Threads like this, and other family memory threads I've read on eG, really do tug at the heart strings, especially when one is so wanting of the closeness of family. Enjoy 'em if you got 'em!

Wow, thanks for posting that. I love old fashioned candies....I'll have to try a few of these. Interesting to see there were such trademark violations Baker's had to deal with back in 1924... you'd think it'd be really difficult to copy their packing back then, but apparently not.

What do you mean, "Be kind" ?!! That cake looks terrific, Tepee. I didn't notice this thread before....here's what I use. I believe I got this formula from Geraldine Randlesome many years ago. 500 grams white or bittersweet chocolate, chopped small 5 ounces light corn syrup (this is rather similar to Tepee's recipe that she posted... the glucose + liquid sugar in hers would be approximately equivalent to the water content in the corn syrup in mine.) I've noticed in humid weather I do need to add about an extra 50 g of white chocolate, or it's just too soft to work with. For rolling it out, use powdered sugar for white or cocoa powder for dark.... you can also knead a little it in if it's just too sticky. It can be nuked for 5 seconds at a time on HIGH if it's too tough to work with. Unused portions should be kept tightly wrapped, preferably in a shrink-wrapped bag. It's just like rolled fondant in the sense that it'll crust and eventually harden, so protect unused portions from air. But it is a little tougher to model things with than fondant, and you can't roll it as thin. To colour, start with white plastic and add paste colours to tint. ******** Heat chocolate over a double boiler until just melted; approx. 125F. Remove bowl from double boiler and pour corn syrup in all at once, stirring with a wooden spoon until smooth. Let rest/cool approx. 5 minutes. Turn out onto a cool surface such as marble and knead a few minutes, just untl blended. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap in a *package*; let rest in a cool place for at least 1 hour. Return to slab and roll out, fold 3 times, roll again, etc..... the same as giving puff pastry 4 turns. This develops the plasticity of the chocolate. And you're done.... play away!

Any pan will work... just cut them into bite-sized pieces; squares, triangles, whatever. It's easiest, though, if you only bake the cheesecake about 1" high. Easier to stuff the whole thing in your mouth that way. Make sure your crust is thin too, in proportion to the cheesecake bites. Oh, and the less dense recipes work best, because they are eaten frozen. Enjoy!

Chocolate blooms when refridgerated?? Hmmmm.... never refridgerated any. I'll take your word for it though. For my ice cream bon bons I just scoop bite sized balls....same for cake or oblivion torte from the cake bible. (Roll those into bon bons same as you would for truffle ganache....do it cold.) Cheesecake can just be cut into small squares. For dipping I just use a bain marie with tempered chocolate, just dipping the same as you would for a hand rolled truffle. I store them all in rubbermaid type containers, often with tissue paper crinkled up in there so they're not touching each other, or to help absorb any moisture if my freezer at home decides to have a coniption and defrost itself for no good reason. How long they last I can't really say....around here 2 weeks max! I use callebaut chocolate....don't know if that makes any difference but I've never noticed any sort of bloom. But these are eaten from frozen....I betcha they would bloom if you let them thaw. (The oblivion torte tastes funny/has a funny texure if you freeze/thaw it, but eating it frozen it's just a thick fudge, really.) As far as snap goes.... well it's not quite the same because you're eating frozen chocolate, but yes it's still got a bit of snap.

I'd bake the pate de choux first like Malawry suggested. It freezes very well. You can bake whole cakes and freeze them , decorated even, and they keep just fine so long as well wrapped. Pretty much anything from the cake bible will work well. Or you can always freeze indivdual cake components for putting together later. Big time saver there for when you need a cake fast. When I've got a ton of extra eggs I usually make things that use either yolks or whites as their main component, like curds or meringue buttercreams, both of which freeze very well. That way they're already done and I don't have half-eggs lying around waiting to be used. Quiche is also great....prebake your tart shells in the pans then fill & freeze. Bake from frozen..bake times will vary but you'll want to treat them the same as a cake, testing with a metal spike for doneness. Cheesecake is also good to make ahead and it freezes very well. Ice cream is another option...... Chocolate covered ice cream bon bons......... Chocolate covered cheesecake bon bons..... Truffle torte chocolate covered bon bons..... Er.....I think maybe it's time for me to head over to the PMS thread.....

I've been looking everywhere for the same thing too and so far those norpro ones like you posted are the only thing I've been able to find anywhere. 12 cavity only. I hope someone else pops on with a link beause I've got 800 of those buggers to do in March!

I was going to ask, "Then why are you fat, Guy?" but I didn't want to be rude.... glad others exposed the joke. For me, when I'm upset, it always poutine. Roasted fries & curd cheese swimming in a nice port gravy, perhaps with a little bacon tossed in there to bastardize it up good. And of course a nice bottle of merlot.... you should always put alcohol on your wounds.

Does it actually look like dust? It could be something in your air that's settled. Is it sticky?? If so, it's likely droppings or secretions from a parasite. Throw the plant out. ( If not, try washing the plant off under tepid water, then leave it alone for a week or so and see if it reappears again.