
SweetSide
participating member-
Posts
515 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Store
Help Articles
Everything posted by SweetSide
-
We also did twisted grissini where one side was coverd in white sesame and the other in black sesame. The effect of the twirling colors was very nice.
-
Wendy, You got it -- I'm frosting a red velvet cake, and I've not done one before. Since it was such a big hit with the people it was given to, especially the frosting, I'll not make any changes to it. I think a part of the problem was the cold temperature of my kitchen as well and by warming the frosting I could have fluffed it up a bit more. The part I didn't like the most was how it was spreading. Yup, you got it right, it's a roux. Roux is any flour and fat mixture cooked into a paste to use as thickener.... technically milk has fat so I think the term is still correct in this instance. Edited to add: Do those of you who use these icings actually like them and/or prefer them? I'm curious about them.... I use Nick Maglieri's buttercream and really prefer its taste and texture; previous to that I was using Sylvia Weinstock's, both of which I think are much better than RLB's Mousseline. If the flour leaves a taste in these icings, could you possibly sub something like potato starch or even rice flour????? I'm wondering if a flour icing could be modified so that it did hold together....... ← Sugarella, I haven't used any of the buttercreams you mention above, but just looked up Nick Malgieri's in Perfect Cakes. Looks like the typical swiss meringue buttercream that I use, which is my preferred buttercream at home. I don't like to make IMBC much -- which seems to be more of a standard -- so I use SMBC. At home, with my mixer, the amount I need to make of the IMBC for one cake does not have enough meringue to really fill the mixer, so when I pour the sugar in, no matter how much care I take, it hits the shoulders of the whip and sprays around the bowl. If I dribble it down the side of the bowl, it leave a streak and clump of sugar syrup. No problems at school when I was making gobs of the stuff. But those people who I give cakes to think the SMBC and IMBC are very rich. My husband called the icing I referenced above "not as greasy".
-
I've mixed them with apricot jam and used the mixture as the center of a tart topping. The rest of the tart was covered in something (it escapes me what I used) such as meringue to form petals so that the entire tart looked like a sunflower. I'd post a picture, but I'm still picture inept...
-
Just came across this old topic on one of my perusals and found it at exactly the right moment! I just had to make this buttercream for the first time. Since it was the first time I made it I wanted to check with others... My buttercream seems slightly "spongy" and I swear I can taste a slight undertone of the flour. I'm just so used to meringue or French (of the non-Wilton nomenclature... ) buttercreams, that I was really expecting this to be "fluffy" as described by others. The formula was 2 c milk 6 T flour cooked until "bubbling and thick". (I could see the pot bottom as I stirred with the spatula.) Cool. (when cool this was a medium firm mass) Cream 1 1/2 c sugar and 2 c butter until fluffy. Add 2 t vanilla and beat until combined. Add the cooled milk/flour mixture and beat until fluffy. I beat for about 15 minutes on KA 8 between the butter/sugar and the whole combined frosting. My kitchen is only about 65F. Was my buttercream spongy because it was cool? Definitely had no melting/softness problems. Other seem to like it -- was a big hit... Thanks!
-
Agreed about the the chocolate not having to be in temper -- I was just wondering if that happened to put the chocolate at a good temperature (upper 80F) that the cream didn't cool down too much melting the chocolate and that the chocolate wasn't too hot to cause it to overheat and have the cocoa butter separate out causing problems with the emulsion... This would be along the lines of having the ingredients at the proper temperature for the emulsion to occur easily.
-
I made some Coconut Crusted Key Lime Napoleons out of Great Cookies that were very good. Tasted like key lime pie with coconut, but were chewy bar cookies. They also have a recipe for Pistachio Lime thins and Coconut Lemon-Lime tassies that look good. Haven't made those, but have liked all the recipes in the book so far... Also have a recipe for a white chocolate margarita mousse (alcohol involved). Normally I make it with regular limes, but the key limes may work. May be too overpowering though due to their sharpness. Another thought is a coconut cake with a lime curd filling... (I'm on a coconut kick at the moment and lime just lends itself so well! )
-
I think that is pretty standard in the magazine industry in general -- I've never subscribed to a magazine and received it before seeing it on the newsstand... ← Quite the opposite in my experience -- with some magazines I get them a full 2 weeks before I see them on the stand. And I must admit that I've been peeved when I have seen one on the stand on the rare occasion that I've been late in getting it at my home. I have been thinking about subscribing, but not getting around to it and hearing the bad reviews on Amazon. Now I think I'll take the advice from Maggie and Ted and just keep buying from the newstand...
-
For the chocolate experts out there -- I'm wondering if adding the hot cream to a tempered chocolate premelt works better because 1) The chocolate is already melted, so mixes in better with less agitation and all the little grains get melted (which sometimes doesn't happen if there isn't enough cream to hold the heat relative to the amount of chocolate and more importantly 2) The chocolate is not at too high a temperature to cause the ganache to split or become grainy. By definition, chocolate in temper is not over 91 degrees... Thoughts...
-
I candy the tiny seckle or Forelli pears, cut in half and cored, however they have to be very hard or firm, not yet ripe. Otherwise they fall apart. . ← Agreed - thanks! It is indeed very informative. I have a dessert that I was serving poached seckel pears with (a savory tart) that would do well with a bit of sweetness. Would love to use a whole seckel pear. I'm assuming that I can do it whole... I just want to use an itty bitty thing to scoop out the core from the bottom. Your thoughts..
-
Watch out with the dried beans though... We were using some in a class that had obviously been used repeatedly. Even though the beans didn't touch the pastry (which was parchment lined), the pastry ended up with the smell of old burnt beans. In the oven, the butter in the pastry absorbed the odor. So much for those shells -- even though we had to use them in the class -- blech! So, if using beans, stick with those that haven't been baked into oblivion..
-
I second the note above about milk... Tea drinkers (and I am one, preferring the loose tea) don't use cream in the tea. They use milk. The cream is too rich for the tea itself. On a personal note, I can't stand when I'm given those little half and half jobbies for my tea, especially if it ain't even all real half and half. Just give me a little pitcher of milk... And, if you go all out and buy the loose tea, please don't confine the poor leaves in some kind of strainer. The whole point of them being loose is to have the freedom to bloom and expand and steep.
-
Portia, what is the definition of a proper scone? The pumpkin scone recipe in your post looks good but... I would end up adding a mix of spices as you would to a pumpkin pie -- cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice... Perhaps some pecans... I don't want to sell "triangular weird scone wanna-be things" -- I want to sell scones!
-
Exactly where I stand. I never had a problem with a buttercream until last week. All of a sudden I had a curdled mess of cottage cheese looking stuff in a bowl -- 65 pounds of it! Stuck my hand in to feel it -- and it was so cold I was amazed. (If our kitchen hits 65 I'd be shocked! ) Butter was at room temp -- apparently a too low temp as I had whipped the meringue longer than usual due to a distraction. A little warm butter, a blast with the blowtorch, and back we were to beautiful buttercream...
-
Pots de creme. Cheesecake. Anything rich and smooth and creamy that you don't have to chew... I go more for puddings and mousses (obviously not baked...)
-
My big, fat, elaborate, lavish wedding feast ...
SweetSide replied to a topic in Food Traditions & Culture
Ah, the memories -- or lack thereof. I fall into the lack thereof category. It was an unusually warm December day 18 years ago, and we held the wedding outside instead of inside. The sun was warm and gorgeous. It was a close family only ceremony with 25 people. Simple and sweet. Then we went to a beautiful old New England inn for the reception. I remember spending hours with the staff picking a buffet menu. And I remember the phrase coming out of my mouth that "everything was vegetarian except for the meat" What I meant was that we had a carving station with a turkey and roast beef and if you didn't ask for something to be carved, no other dishes contained meat. All I remember about the food was saying to the waiter to go ahead and take my plate since I would never get around to finishing it. The only thing I remember eating was the spice cake, and it was goooood. Great comments from the guests, perfect attentiveness from the staff. And 18 years later, I would do it bigger since we paid for it and have more money now. Same place for sure. Same food -- don't know; still don't know what we had other than the cake. But it would still be vegetarian except for the meat... -
For those cupcakes made in ice cream cones... I made them once and what a disaster of a day I had -- toppling over, overflowing, underbaking, toppling again. Made me rue the day I had to ever make them again. Well, Wednesday's the day I have to make them again. I see some solutions here -- cute pic of some in individual plastic cups to keep them upright (that would save scraping all my beautiful two-tone frosting off the container I had them in -- HA HA not so funny at 11pm) Has anyone had a problem with the cakes underbaking or taking a long time to bake. Recipe I had said 30 min. After 45, and a lava flow (I'm with Ling on how fun it is to scrape batter out of the oven) and thinking they were done, I still ended up with sunken centers. The cones were in a muffin tin and stabilized with foil balls to prevent toppling when putting in the oven. Thinking between the tin, the foil, and the cone no heat could get to the actual batter. Anyone with success at these have some good tips?
-
White Chocolate Espresso Filling 1 T chocolate liqueur 1 T hot water 1 tsp instant espresso powder 1 tsp vanilla 6 oz white chocolate 6 fl oz heavy cream Combine the first four ingredients in a small bowl. Chop the chocolate and put in a separate bowl. Heat the cream just to a boil and pour over the white chocolate. Let sit for half a minute or so, then gently whisk until homogenous. Once homogenous, add the espresso/vanilla/liqueur mixture and whisk until incorporated. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Then whip (this is a small amount -- I use a hand mixer) until you reach soft peaks. Don't overwhip or the whole thing will go grainy on you. Refridgerate until needed. Keywords: Dessert, Easy, Cake, Topping/Frosting ( RG1628 )
-
Kaneel, glad you liked it! And, by chance putting a line out there that is open to all sorts of interpretation, what is "hot sex"? The cocktail mix kind that is....
-
Point to note -- I find this to be a soft filling. When filling cakes with it other than the angel food one which was ganached, I have used a buttercream dam to keep it from squishing out the side since the cake layer is heavier.
-
This sounds wonderful! However, I seem to have a hard time with white chocolate going gummy when I melt it. Can you please be a bit more specific on how you turn the white chocolate and cream into ganache? ← I've had my white chocolate go gummy when I melt it at too high a temperature. Then I get this nasty mass that almost looks like seized chocolate, and it is never really good again... For ganache, I never melt the chocolate unless there is only a very small amount of cream in proportion. For making the ganache for this recipe, I heat the cream to a boil as how I was taught. (Another thread says you don't even need to go that far.) Then, pour the cream over the white chocolate. The chocolate should be in fairly small pieces -- pistoles or small chunks. Let sit for half a minute or so, then gently whisk until homogenous. Once homogenous, add the espresso/vanilla/liqueur mixture and whisk until incorporated. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Then whip (this is a small amount -- I use a hand mixer) until you reach soft peaks. Don't overwhip or the whole thing will go grainy on you.
-
Hmm. On reflection, i think your suggestion is a bit more likely, and AFAICR, a dessertspoon is about 10ml. A more likely quantity for making a cake frosting, I guess. cheers Derek ← Hmm is right.... Now that I know what a Dessertspoon is -- other than a favorite eating utentsil -- that may make more sense. 10 ml is a far cry from the 100 ml for the deciliter. I'll start with the Dessertspoon and depending on what I end up with can always add more. May have just averted that soupy mess!
-
Yep, certain it was a D. Thanks -- that's what we thought too, and I wouldn't have been at all confused if I had seen a dl. Thanks for the conversion site -- I've bookmarked that one! We're on winter break, so we'll be making the cakes this week. If the frosting comes out a soupy mess, we'll know it wasn't deciliter!
-
My daughter, wanting to be independent, has looked up her own recipe for an icing for a Harry Potter cauldren cake. Far be it for me to substitute one of my own... But, I don't know what a "D" is in the following icing recipe: 1D butter 1D boiling water 50g finely grated chocolate 225g icing sugar Any help out there from across the pond? Or even not across the pond... Thanks!
-
The cakes I just used it with were chocolate and they were snorfed up like these people had never eaten good food before! Depending on how much you want to play up the mocha or the white chocolate part, throw in some extra espresso powder. There is enough liquid to disolve more of it. I also soaked my cakes in simple syrup spiked with espresso and the Godive liqueur as well. Personal beliefs aside with the addition of alcohol, even kids love the filling.
-
Funny you should post -- I just did three cakes with such a filling. Works perfectly. I have this filling from Chocolate Passion that I love -- very light in texture and taste. My husband eats all the leftovers as if it was mousse. 1 Tbs chocolate liqueur (I use Godiva) 1 Tbs hot water 1 tsp espresso powder 1 tsp vanilla 6 oz white chocolate 6 oz heavy cream Mix the first four ingredients and set aside. Make ganache from cream and white chocolate. When emulsified, add the mixture of first four and stir well. Set aside in fridge for 8 hours or overnight. Whip. Yum. This was done with an angel food cake, so the flavor is light. Of course, you can vary the flavors infinitely depending upon taste....