Lisa Shock

I made the Oriental Fruit Crumb Cake tonight. One quarter of the recipe filled a 9" cake pan nicely. I used oven-dried crumbs from plain cake doughnuts (it took almost all of the crumb from a dozen to make the one pound), butter instead of shortening, and some 'yuzu tea'* instead of citron. I wound up using a quarter cup of buttermilk to help the mixture move in the mixer. BTW, this recipe has no leavening beyond eggs and creamed fat & sugar. I added milk until the mix was just slightly looser than peanut butter cookie dough on a warm day. I would up baking it for an hour and ten minutes, and originally had some cracking on top, but, it fell a little as it cooled and the cracks shrank away to nothingness. The crust pulled away from the filling, but, it's probably necessary to keep things together. Overall, this came out like a fairly firm pie: moist, and easy to cut. The yuzu flavor was surprisingly strong, making this a sort of citrus pie -although not acidic. The raisins added a nice chew, but the flavor was eclipsed by the yuzu. The doughnut flavor was subtle, but, you could definitely taste the contribution of the browned outer crusts. I don't know if I would make it again. The almond flour means that it's not incredibly cheap to make. That said, it was tasty and different without being too unusual or bizarre. I think that a lot of people would like it, it's got a safe flavor profile. I don't know if anyone would ever call it their favorite dessert, but it could have a place on a buffet. * Yuzu tea is just finely sliced rinds of yuzu and sugar. It comes in a jar, and has the consistency of marmalade. One usually adds some to hot water to make a drink in wintertime. It's more watery than candied citron.

I agree. If you have freezer space, you can freeze your own blocks in plastic containers. In my cooler, freezing a container designed to hold cereal (tall) works really well.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention! I knew about the events, I had no idea that there was an online presence.

See if your local community college offers any pastry classes.

You might be able to use the batch as the basis for a cake, check some recipes for ratios of chocolate and sugar.

I have to admit that I re-visited the aspic de pommes last night and failed to produce the dish. I used Pink Lady apples, omitted the candied fruit, used a ½ cup less sugar, and subbed a teaspoon of molasses for the rum. I cut the apples into smaller chunks and cooked the mixture for an hour and a half at a low boil. At the end it was still a bit watery, and the apples were still in distinct chunks floating in a clear liquid. It tasted good, not too sweet and the liquid coated gave my spoon a sticky coating that seemed to gel when cooled. I decided to stop at this point because the mixture was tasty, not too sweet like before, and I was wondering if I overcooked my last batch a bit. So, I stopped because I thought I could make it work and not be too sweet. Annoyed by the chunkiness, I cooled the mixture a bit and ran it in the blender til smooth and poured it into the molds. Well, I unmolded a very stiff applesauce tonight. It's tasty, but, it isn't really an aspic. It really needed to be cooked down a lot more, which is unfortunate because, apparently to jell, it winds up being too sweet. (I don't think that cutting down on the sugar this time affected the jelling, if I try again I will eliminate more sugar.) In the future, I might make this and mold it in thin discs to use a layer in an entremet or plated dessert. I may also try running this through a chinois to try and make it clearer. When it's done right, one batch serves about 40 people because it's so sweet. Notes to anyone wishing to attempt this in the future: *Try older varieties of apples that will break down when cooked. I'm thinking Rome, Yellow Delicious, or Winesap. *Cook it far longer than you think necessary. Bon appetite!

Episode 3: It was nice to see Brian Boitano on the quickfire. His show was the last thing that I have honestly had fun watching on Food Network. It was also fun to see Shibuya, I have enjoyed visiting there in the past and it was fun seeing their kitchen. I think the team that won had the best strategy, they were forced to use a tool so, they each did things that they did best. They didn't try to make an unfamiliar cuisine just to match the tool (teppan griddle). Chef Rautureau's dish looked delicious, I was jealous of the judges for being able to taste it. Go dessert!

It looks like there was too much sugar in them. It would be a lot easier to tell in person, the feel of the crumb can tell a lot. But, you may also be correct in the milk. Overall, it looks to me like too much liquid.

I'm thinking that many of these places declined once they started using factory-made frozen dough.When I was a teenager, in the 70's, I worked a mom & pop place that got dough delivered daily from a bakery. The Pizza Hut where my brother worked used a lot of inferior ingredients (at that time, the location he worked at used a cheese-topping product to simulate mozzarella -the main ingredient in it was vegetable oil) but, they made dough from scratch. My recollection is that the crusts weren't like this when I was a kid.

Well, we have the Bento thread: And, the Kosher dairy lunch thread:

My stand mixer has an attachment that's a tiny blender with a glass jar, sold as a baby food maker. I also own a Braun multi-mix, a device that's a hand mixer, immersion blender and tiny food processor -you just swap off attachments.

It seems low. I know a banker who specializes in restaurant loans and he won't write a loan for less than $200,000. On the buildout, be aware that you will probably have to deal with plumbing issues. On payroll, remember that you have to pay the employer portion of SS plus unemployment insurance, etc. You'll have licenses to pay and inspections with fees as well. It's usually a good idea to have enough to cover payroll for a year. Don't forget that you're going to have to purchase a couple thousand dollars worth of food and dry supplies before starting. And, the big one, you need to have a couple thousand socked away for emergencies like when the walk-in dies or the roof leaks or the sewers back up and flood the place.

You can also make a few things with the apples when they are still green. Some people say that applesauce is better made with unripe apples. You can also extract your own pectin, and make a mock crab-apple jelly.

Flourless chocolate cake uses a goodly amount.

I second chopping it down. Every year you wait is a year that a better tree could be growing. That said, juice is good, apple jelly might be ok if you're willing to spike it with some herbs to boost flavor.

I may cheat and pick up a box of Entenmann's glazed buttermilk doughnuts and stale them in the oven just to get going more quickly. I'm kind of curious about the recipes that call for a crust.

Wholesale sales may be your answer. Get other people who have trucks to buy your product by the dozen, with discounts for 5+ dozen of any one flavor. At this point, I don't think it's wise to try and start both a brick & mortar place and a truck. In some areas, the planning and inspections for both are similar and getting a truck will just slow you down -and cost extra money. Other places that may buy product wholesale would other coffee shops, tea houses, breakfast joints.

I just posted some formulas for various spice cakes and gingerbreads in the scrap cake thread: Some use cake crumbs, and you can substitute cake doughnut crumbs. Others just call for 'crumbs' and that is generally a mix of pastry crumb, cake and maybe a little bread. So, in those you can probably use a 50-50 mix of yeast doughnut crumbs with cake doughnut crumbs. You could replace half of the flour in some of these with whole wheat to make a spice breakfast muffin. Or, you could work on one of these and make a spice cake doughnut out of it. Yup, a doughnut from leftover stale doughnuts....

The following are from 'Cakes for Bakers' by Paul Richards, published by Baker's Helper Company 1921. Ingredients are his, my notes are in parentheses. Instructions are mine. Note: where it calls for 'crumbs' I think any bakery crumb will do, as long as it is somewhat sweet. (not all bread crumbs from rye, or sourdough, ok?) If it says 'cake crumbs' then it needs to be from cakes or cake-style doughnuts. Spiced Molasses Cup Cake with Crumbs 2.5 lbs Cake Crumbs (dry) 2 lbs Flour (cake) 1 qt Molasses 1.25 qts Water or Milk 1.5 oz cloves (dry, ground) 1.5 oz cinnamon (ground) 2 oz baking soda Add Soda to water, then pour water over crumbs. Mix in molasses, flour and spices. Bake in greased or papered cups in a medium oven. Crumb Layer Cake #1 .75 lb Sugar .5 lb Lard 1 oz Mixed Spices (? They are not listed anywhere!) .5 oz Soda 8 Eggs 12 oz Mixed Fruit, chopped fine (candied, I am guessing) 2 lb Cake Crumbs 1.5 lb Cake Flour sufficient Milk to mix No method given, creaming method, I think... Crumb Layer Cake #2 .5 lb Brown Sugar 1.75 lbs Shortening 10 Eggs 1 qt Molasses 2 qt Milk 3.5 lb Cake Crumbs 5 lb Flour 2 oz Soda 3 oz Mixed Spices (? No clue here, have fun!) 1 oz Salt 2 lbs chopped raisins No method given, bake in layers or sheets. Cake improves when a day old. Oriental Fruit Crumb Cake (more like a pie) Shortbread or pate sucre dough 1.5 lb sugar .5 lb shortening 4 lbs crumbs (I am guessing this can be a mix of cake and bread, all sorts of doughnut) 1 lb ground Almonds or other Nut Meats 1 lb seeded Raisins .5 lb chopped Citron Milk (quantity not given) Line pan with dough. Cream sugar and shortening, add eggs then crumbs and fruit with a little (?) milk. Molasses Crumb Cake -Washington Cake 5 lbs crumbs 5 qt Water 4 oz Soda 1 qt Molasses .5 lb Oil or Melted Lard (oil will increase tenderness and shelf life) .5 oz Salt 1.5 oz Mixed Spices (? your guess is as good as mine!) 3 lbs Mixed Fruit ground fine (candied, I think) 7 lbs Cake Flour Soak crumbs in water. Add soda, molasses, oil/lard, salt spices, fruit and flour. Mix until just combined. Bake in large slabs or in pans lined with pie crust. Chop Suey Cake (no eggs, not certain if that's a typo or not) 5 lb Cake Crumbs 5.5 lbs Cake Flour 1.5 qt Molasses 3 qt Water 4 oz Soda .5 lb chopped Nut Meats 1 lb Mince Meat 1 lb Brown Sugar .75 lb shortening No method given. I would cream sugar and shortening, add molasses, nuts and mincemeat. Mix soda in the water and add alternating with crumbs and flour. Chop Suey Cake #2 or Tutti Frutti Cake 1.5 lbs Brown Sugar .75 lb Lard 1 qt Molasses 10 Eggs 1 oz Mixed Spice (?) 3 lb Cake Crumbs 5 pints Water 2.5 oz Soda 1 Pint Water 4 lb Cake Flour 1 chopped Nuts 1 lb seedless Raisins Soak cake crumbs in first amount of water, add soda to the second water. Creams sugar and lard, add eggs then molasses , nuts and fruit. Alternate adding soda water, crumbs and flour. Mix well. Bake in well dusted oval 3.5" rings. Crumb Cake, Fruit or Cup Cake .75 lb Cake Crumbs .75 lb Compound Shortening (lard & shortening mixed) 1.5 qt Molasses 1 qt Water 2 eggs, may be omitted 1 oz Soda 1 lb small raisins or currants 3.5 lbs flour cinnamon or vanilla or lemon a little Vinegar (?) No method. I would add soda to water and add crumbs to that. Cream shortening and molasses, add eggs, fruit, flavorings. Alternate adding crumbs and flour until well mixed. (edited for typos)

Kerry, I have gone through my commercial cookbooks and found several possible formulas. None say they are from A&P, but, they are from widely used professional sources from the 1920's and 1930's. I am posting them here: It will take me a while to get them all up, so, please be patient -one book has at least five things of interest. I looked around online and all the so-called A&P recipes I saw had no crumbs and use volumetric measure for dry ingredients, so, IMO, they are fake. Also note that any sort of stale crumb product will have variations from batch to batch.

By popular request: Spice Cake with Crumbs (possibly the basis for A&P's Spanish Spice Cake) from Baker's Weekly, 1936 12oz Sugar 8-12oz Shortening 5 Eggs 1.5 oz Soda 1qt Water 1 qt Light Molasses .5 oz Salt .25 dry ground Ginger .13 ground Cinnamon 3.25 lbs soft Wheat Flour, sifted (cake flour) 1 lb Cake Crumbs, dry My instructions: Cream Sugar & Shortening, beat in Eggs. In a separate bowl add Soda to Water, then stir in Molasses, Salt and Spices. Mix Flour and Crumbs. Add liquid mix in small quantities to creamed sugar/shortening mix, alternating with the dry mix. Mix just until smooth, pour into greased pans and bake immediately. (no temp given, I'd say 350° conventional, 325° convection) You can add raisins, currants or sultanas to it.

Here's what the pros use:

There are uses for stale product, especially the unfilled doughnuts. Here's an article that covers some of it: http://modern-baking.com/supermarket_baking/stales-can-improve-profitability-0111/ A lot of classic recipes rely on stale crumb. If anything, there's always rum balls. The nice thing is, the recipes that use a substantial amount of crumb can't really be made by most people at home and are 'special baked goods' from the bakery only. A&P supermarkets used to be famous for a cake that was made from a high % of crumbs. Some dried crumbs are very useful additions to baked items with fruit toppings or fillings. Some bakeries, for example, lay down a layer of crumb before placing the fruit on Danish -it helps absorb any excess juice that might run in the oven. Some recipes for struesel or crumb-cake type toppings can be greatly improved by using stale crumb.

I managed to removed all of the skin and a good chunk of cartilage off the top of the proximal knuckle of my right forefinger on a peeler which had been placed in my pastry tool kit by someone else. (hot side people have knife rolls, pastry chefs have rolling toolkits) I just reached in to grab a spatula and popped off a disc of skin about the size of a nickel. I slapped a glove on it, taping the wrist area with blue masking tape, and drove myself to the hospital where I the ER admitted me almost immediately because the glove was full of blood and puffy like a balloon. Once, someone pulled a speed rack out of the rotating oven, unloaded the pans really quickly and put the rack with the empty/cool ones without telling anyone. I grabbed it hard and pulled it toward myself burning the palms of both hands and part of one forearm. The hands healed fairly quickly, the forearm oozed for a couple of months and was then an impressive scar. The scar has since faded, while more minor burns have left permanent marks.

I too am not a fan of Curtis Stone, he just comes across as insubstantial and inoffensive. The main challenge wasn't a buffet, just another catering gig. The real problem was that all of the random time constraints plus the theme switch, and its associated ingredient issues, just deflated any potential people might have had to make something truly interesting. I really got the feeling that the contestants were just trying to get something edible out. I think a good challenge should foster creativity, we aren't seeing anything like that. We're also not getting very good deconstruction of the dishes from the judges, either. The producers need to step up here and make some changes. Overall the first episode just felt bland and dumbed-down. Which is doubly sad because for the Masters series' I want to see more advanced techniques and more interesting final products.