SweetSide

The not too hot part I understand -- but the whole tempering process seems way overkill... I'm wondering if it was just overlooked in the editing process...

I put a recipe out in RecipeGullet a while ago for a vegan buttercream. I know you don't use crisco, but this frosting uses a shortening without any hydrogenated oils. If you are not using crisco for that reason, this should help you out.

Red dye is the fasted pigment to fade. (Just ask my hair colorist for confirmation!). So, when doing lavendar or any purple colors, the red will fade out fastest, leaving behind the blue pigments. One way to slow this color change down is to keep the item out of the light as much as possible. Of course quality of the colorant pays a part, but they will all fade. Keep the cake in the fridge, in a closet, in as dim a light as possible. My chef, who does wedding cakes, won't do purples in the icing....

Ah, and I forgot that my husband highly recommends the Agave Grill for Mexican. Forget where exactly it is, but it is downtown Hartford. Walking distance from Travelers Tower.

Trumbull Kitchen, also near the civic center is very good. Associated with that restaurant group is also Max Downtown, which is also good, but I haven't eaten at that Max restaurant personally. In West Hartford, Bricco's (Italian) and Grant's are both good. Been to both myself. Max's Oyster Bar (of the above Max group) is also in West Hartford and gets good reviews, but I don't like that type of food, so haven't gone. All are but 4 miles from Hartford and easy access to the highway for your travels.

We're still trying to get the equipment in to the new bakery -- 3 months behind schedule now. So, all I have to make are 2 cakes and a babka. How you do as much as you do, I can't figure out. You must be a machine! Give the weary some rest and a big chocolate bunny...

Thanks, that's what I thought, but wanted to check... It seemed so odd to see it in the directions!

I was looking at making the "Paris" in The Art of the Cake this weekend. However in reading the instructions for the mousse, it says to temper the chocolate to be used for the mousse. Short directions: Temper 200g chocolate Add 100g melted butter to tempered chocolate Add 3cL egg whites Whip 12cL egg whites and 50g sugar to very stiff peaks Stir 1/3 meringue into chocolate mixture Gently fold in remaining meringue The mousse is then used to cover a dijonaise disk in a tarte ring for the cake. Then covered in chocolate sheets -- which are not tempered...just melted by rubbing on a warm baking sheet. I have never had to temper chocolate for use in a mousse before. Anyone know why I would have to temper? Will it make it set firmer or something? I'm clear that the tempering is for the mousse -- detailed instructions are quite explicit, including instructions for the tempering process.

Mycryo can be used as a gelatin substitute??? AFAIK Mycryo is an emulsifying and stabilizing agent (with a few other pleasant side-effects). It can set product as well? ← Apparently so -- I haven't used it, but have seen it discussed here in eGullet on a couple of gelatin threads. Think it was McDuff using it... Ahhh, here's the link to the other thread Mycryo thread ETA: link to thread

Not that I have any advice on sugar work... But, in school we used the first hair dryer (looks like a duck) shown on this page, which has a stand and is designed for pets... I've seen others use them as well for sugar work. Pet Dryer In the whopping 3 times I did sugar work, we used the hair dryer, lamp stand, microwave, pump and copper tube, silpats, scissors, and play-doh for making a mold for poured sugar.

From the American Egg Board...American Egg Board The bacteria is being found INSIDE the egg. In addition, they recommend NOT separating eggs using the shell halves as the bacteria can also imprenate itself in the pores of the shell, potentially surviving the washing process... This message was brought to you by a beater licking, raw dough eating, bowl scraping baker...

I've worked with both just enough to know that even when the recipe says three sheets, it may not work out quite right the first time... But, at least knowing the weights and approximate conversion, I can now test recipe components as I go along adjusting to whatever I will "always" use. At least a silver sheet more or less equals a gold sheet... Thanks for all your help!

Thanks! But, what about when a recipe says use 3(specific number no matter) sheets of gelatin and you just have powder? How much does a "sheet" weigh, especially when you don't know whether the recipe was based on silver or gold (or any of the others referenced in the article you linked to?) I've got the rest of the math down -- just don't have any sheet gelatin!

I'll defer to the opinions of others, but the syrup should have been added with the mixer running. That would explain the puddle of syrup at the bottom. Also, I don't think you need to whip your butter before adding it to the meringue. At least, I never do. ← I would agree with having the mixer running on a lower speed when adding the syrup. You have to find the "sweet spot" between the whip and the bowl so that you avoid both puddling and spinning the sugar around the sides of the bowl. Also, you don't need to whip your butter before adding it to the meringue, but if you are new to making meringue buttercream, it helps to insure that the butter doesn't end up in chunks in the final buttercream, especially when adding butter that is too cold. In looking closely at the picture, the liquid seems kind of yellow to me... As are the frosting clumps at the bottom of the bowl. Was the meringue cool when you added your butter? The bowl will start off scorching hot from the syrup. Don't start adding the butter until you can rest your hand on the bowl and have it feel body temperature. Otherwise, your butter will melt out. Another thing, it doesn't look like you have much buttercream for the size of your mixer. As said in previous post, the smaller your batch, the harder it is to make. I see a lot of "stuff" stuck to the side of your bowl -- looks like syrup. What size mixer is that? Stick with it -- once you get it, you won't go back to just butter and 10X! ETA -- cross posted with Sugarella, so we are repeating ourselves here.

Waffles are great with ice cream as a sandwich. Not sure if they fall into the same category that you put the crepes in though -- may be too labor intensive for you...

Me... hand waving in the air... I, too, don't buy any of the transfer sheets because I don't want just one design to play with. Great if you make chocolates for a living, boring if you are just testing out. I also want to use them on strips to put around cakes. I also don't have any to trade, but I'd be willing to buy a pack to have something to trade with...

Here's a non-food related way to relieve morning sickness (and motion sickness) --SEA Bands. You put these on your wrists and they hit an accupressure point that relieves nausea. And, they work like a charm! Here's a link so you can take a peek CLICK, but I got mine at the local CVS pharmacy. The pharmacist helped me find the correct isle... My only other advice is to reemphasize watching when you take your vitamins. I'd be fine until I had one. Even in my non-pregnant state, they bug my tummy. Congratulations and best wishes!

Absolutely! I've been reading thread after thread because I am having problems with my Rev2 tempering machine looking for clues as to why my chocolate isn't in temper when the darn thing screams at me that it is done. If someone can do a demo on machines too, I would love it.

Beautiful cake Maria! And, even in Romanian, I can follow the pictures of the demo. K8 -- I've read the demo that you linked to some time ago -- beautiful cake there as well. I love how you put so much emotion into what you do and how you write. It's obvious you love what you do! Still haven't talked to the woman buying the cake (not the bride -- it's a reception for the son of a friend -- son was hastily married a year ago before shipping off to Iraq, is now home and mom is throwing a northern family reception. Bride's family is in the south with their own shindig...) so I don't know where I'm going yet, but I will absolutely NOT (knowingly) leave anything to the last minute. Thanks for the help so far....

I've just been asked to do my first paid wedding cake, for a friend, and it's for about 125 people. Don't have any other details yet other than simple and traditional, but I want to get a jump on gathering some information. Now, I did a 3-tier wedding cake in school, but it was for myself, and if it wasn't perfect, no one but me cared. However, for school, I used the schools silver cake stand which was the size of my bottom tier. Cardboard rounds between the layers, each layer stacked upon the one beneath (on wooden dowels). What I've learned since then is cardboard is flimsy and wooden dowels are not so great. Learned other things as well from all the helpful people in other threads. My first questions are: What are some alternatives for stands? I don't want to invest a ton of money in one because I don't see wedding cakes as a big future for me. I've seen cakes on what looked like what in art class I called foam core board. Stuff that is about 3/8" thick. I'm thinking this would be something better to use to have an edge around each tier. Are these boards decorated? I've seen ribbons around the edge, but what about the surface? Or are plate systems better? What are some good sites to check out for plastic dowels and boards or plates? My local craft stores which sell Wilton supplies don't ever seem to carry the plastic dowels or plate systems. I'm in a supply challenged area. Also, as this will be for the middle of May, it will be getting warmer... I usually use SMBC or IMBC as icing on my cakes. But, I'm afraid if the cake will be in an area that is not air conditioned (this is a backyard event), I'm going to have a dripping mess. I also despise shortening, this will help the icing take the heat. If I normally use 1 part egg whites, 2 parts sugar, and 3 parts butter in an IMBC, can I sub out butter and use some shortening? If so, what ratio would I have to sub out? May be a non issue if they want fondant. Can fondant take the heat? Any random advice anyone may have? Like, for heaven's sake, don't ______! Thanks to everyone in advance!

Amen to that! I will never EVER for the rest of my life buy another non-stick pan. I recently bought some Magic Line pans (my other pans vary, but the main ones I use are Chicago Metallic non-stick) and for the first time, every single cake comes out perfectly level, gorgeous, tender sides, etc. In every other pan I combat burnt edges and domes. Now if someone would like to throw some cash my way, I'll work on replacing all my other pans...

Wendy, I'm confused here on which recipes can be and which can't be posted. I thought that if was a direct copy of the information in a current issue of Fine Cooking, we couldn't just post it. We would have to make some alteration to it. One recipe on another thread was pulled for that reason...

If you can think of anything, let us know. I made a batch of cakes once -- I'm sure I measured right -- and the crumb was very coarse and oily. Must admit, the cake was from a mix (not a box -- big commercial bag) to which you add oil and eggs, beat for a few minutes, add oil and water, beat for a few minutes and then pan. They were icky -- looked like cornbread. Sad to say, I was told "they're fine -- frost em and sell em.." Ick.

For those of you interested, here's some articles on Aldi and Trader Joe's: Business Week Deutsche Welle Makes no never mind to me, but some people like to only buy American...

Thank you!!! Excellent site. Ikea has a restaurant (with a $0.99 breakfast in these parts) plus they have packaged foods for sale, mostly Swedish in origin if memory serves me right. I don't like Ikea's home furnishings very much but their kitchen section I always get lost in..... ← Thanks -- I don't like the furnishings either, so I've never ventured the hour plus drive to the only store we have. Didn't realize that it would really be the same place with the confections. May have to drive there just for the kitchen stuff and to try some Swedish confections... I see a road trip on the horizon... Now back to the regularly scheduled program. Thanks John for the link to the La Glace site -- I see some Sarah Bernhardts in my future as well...