SweetSide

Thanks Sugarella! I'm sure a demo would be easier, but the explanation was perfect for me. Very clear. For the most part that's how I did it -- with the exception of the spatula waiting on the bottom tier. Now just needs to come the comfort of it. Repeated eyeballing so that it is all centered, going slow and steady, all that good stuff. What's that old saying -- Practice makes perfect!

Yes, dowels cut all the same length will ensure a level cake above it, but it also creates problems with stability because you do want that cake board to be touching the tier below for grip. See note above. Instead, make sure the bottom tier is totally level to begin with, and your dowels will invariably end up the same length that way. You mentioned putting in a central dowel and pulling it out to measure..... do you put that one back in its spot? Shouldn't do that either; it's an engineering thing. No matter how many dowels you put in, a cake will settle and try to rest all of its weight on the centre one, which will inevitably result in a tilt. Then the weight on the lower side will start pushing those dowels outward, and you'll end up with a leaning cake. Instead, place dowels all around the perimeter but not in the middle, and the weight of the tier above will be evenly distributed amongst all of them. Hope that makes sense. ← Ooh, some good points Sugarella -- safe to say I just learned something. I did put my center dowel back, and I get the engineering thing clear as crystal. That would explain the tilt that I had going on after sitting out overnight. Tilted dowels and all -- just as you wrote. Won't do that again I also know about the wooden dowels -- both food safe and taste. But as we were doing it in class, that is what we had to use. I have seen the plates and plastic dowels (which are larger in diameter -- definitely a plus) and would use them in the future. So, that gets me back to my original question -- if each layer actually touches the one below it, is there a way to get it on there without screwing up the fondant of the lower layer (other than practice). With buttercream, you can just go back and do a touch-up. And, as a final note, after learning all this and now selling my own work, I can see why people charge what they do for the final product!

I stuck the dowels in my cake where I wanted them, measured about 1/8 inch above the layer of the cake, pulled them all out, then cut all of the dowels the same length as whichever one was marked the longest. This way, my logic was that I would have a level cake that for sure sat above the highest part of the cake layer below. Perhaps what I just need to do is get used to balancing cakes on spatulas for fear of dropping them, knowing that a grade or a bride's wedding is riding on it I'm hoping for some amazing trick that makes you say "wow -- that makes it so much easier!"

I have a side question on the stacking for those of you out there who do this all the time. I made one wedding cake in school. Came out very nice for my first try and I was pleased with it since I had done no construction before. Fondant coated on three tiers. However, I had a @#** of a time trying to get one layer on the next without marring the surface of the fondant of the layer below. Thought I would drop the darn layer trying to be set down. Nerve wracking to say the least. How far should the dowels stick above the surface of the layer? Is there a trick to setting it down? With the cakes that have flowers between the layers, I can see you have more leeway -- room to get fingers or spatulas under there. But my layers were to look like they were resting directly on each other. In construction I used wooden dowels and cardboard cake rounds...

The Silpats are from France, but they are also thicker and sturdier. Definitely a higher quality product, which is why they cost more. However, unless you intend to totally abuse them, the other ones are fine. I have both types. The Silpats seem to insulate more, but if you are just using them for a non-stick surface, save your money and use the cheaper ones.

The only difference I have noticed is that the more expensive mats have reinforcing "threads" which, when cut, look a lot like fiberglass, which may be why they are more expensive. They are also thicker and stiffer. ← Some of them (at least Silpat is) are fiberglass and should not be cut. The fibers can end up in your food. Not a good thing at all since it is glass... I buy the cheap ones to cut for odd size pans and save the Silpats for uses where there will be no knife in the vicinity.

hmm...mine, from a local Texas store chain, only has skim milk and cream. I guess they control the fat levels using the skim milk? oh! and it has the serious warning: CONTAINS MILK. You know, in case some lactose intolerant customer does not know that cream that has skim milk contains milk. ← Mine, from Dairyland, contains cream and really is only pasteurized. However, my nuts (pecans in this case) may contain tree nuts and are manufactured in a plant that processes tree nuts and peanuts among other things. Love those new labels!

So, SweetSide -- Please give us your Good Stuff brands for chocolate and brown sugar. ← For "store brand" chocolate, I use Ghirardelli, but at store levels, volume ends up being pricey. I also like Valrhona Guanaja for 70% chocolate and Cacao Barry Mi Amere 58% semi-sweet and Guittard L'Harmonie 64% chocolate. For brown sugar, I like Billingtons and India Tree. Not cheap at $5/lb. For kids and the bake sales, where most people won't notice the difference, I go for the standard fare. For special occasions or where I'm serving people who know good food, I spend the extra $$.

Generally, soft means less protein and hard means more protein. More protein means more gluten. But, it also depends upon the region where the wheat was grown. And, it depends on whether it is spring wheat or winter wheat. Or, whether it is a red wheat or a white wheat... And because I am now going beyond my realm of comfort, I'll stop. It also goes way beyond Baking 101. A bread baker would run circles around me!

Bleaching can, depending upon the bleaching agent used, weaken the gluten structure of a soft wheat flour and allowing the starch to absorb water more quickly. Chlorine is used on cake flours for just this effect. Benzoyl peroxide is used on all types of flours and mostly just whitens and matures the flour. Bromating is a maturing agent that strengthens the flour. So, yes, they do have an impact of the strength of the flour. And, you may notice that cake flours are hard to find in natural food stores because those stores won't sell bleached flours. The softest you can usually find is pastry flour.

They sell it at some Whole Foods as well. And, we use it at work, and in my opinion it does whip better and taste better. Ours is also a full 40% fat version, so that may be part of the difference as well. Once you get the good stuff (of anything -- cream, chocolate, brown sugar), going back stinks!

Alan, as far as I know, cream doesn't have to be boiled for ganache. I think boiling is common practice because it's an easily discernable state/temperature for people to work with. I've come across quite a few recipes where the cream is boiled and then added to the chocolate directly. I've also seen recipes where the cream is allowed to cool briefly before adding it to the chocolate. That's my approach. Ideally, you want the cream to be just hot enough to melt the chocolate and no more, as the more heat the chocolate is exposed to the more volatile flavor compounds are lost. At least that's what the experts say. ← I was taught to bring the cream to a boil 3 separate times before making ganache for truffle centers. The reason being was for killing any lurking bacteria in the cream, thereby extending the life of the filling. The three times was because of the impact of the heat on the bacteria and how it is destroyed (don't have the full science on this one.) For those professional chocolatiers out there -- is this a holdover from the days before (ultra)pasteurized creams?

I second this advice about a scale, but add a different twist on weighing. For years and years, I was a volume girl and always had good success. Weights are WAY better though -- I'm also WAY anal and a weight is way more precise. When converting a recipe you've used before with success, don't use a chart to do your coversion. Your method of getting the flour into the cup may be different than that of the person using a conversion chart. Measure your ingredient as usual, then put it on the scale to get the weight. Then you'll know if your cup of flour is 4.5 oz, 4.7 oz, 5 oz, or some other number. Then write it down and forevermore use the weight. All of my old family recipes are going through such a conversion process. No knocking professionals -- I'm a recent grad and hope to work my way up -- but those old grandma's recipes for the best darn cake should not be lost! And, there are non-professionals out on eGullet that would likely make me look like a baking dumbass even though I went to school!

Save those egg whites -- they'll last for 6 months. You can make angel food cake or buttercream from them. That's what I usually do with mine. There is also a thread on using extra eggs / yolks / whites Here for some other ideas for the parts of a whole. I'm not a baking dumbass, more a new professional. And, the stuff I see others out there posting, professionals or not, shows me that I have a whole h*ll of a lot to learn still. Ask, and someone will help!

While we are on the subject of "flour needle"... Actually, it is a "flower nail" and it is a big thing that looks just like a nail that you make buttercream roses on top of. Hold it in your non-dominant hand, turning while piping the flower with your dominant hand. Can I make them? Yes. Do they look lovely? No. Now, my question is... One thread (on pan sizes) referred to using a flower nail in a large cake pan when baking a cake. What this does is forms a heat core so the center of the cake will bake quicker. How do I know when to use one (or more)? How many do I use? My cake baking has been limited to layers 12" rounds or smaller or on sheet pans, but those were thinner layers and didn't need a nail. Thanks!

I'm not Wendy, and would still like a reply from her, but I have also noticed that my cakes rise higher if I have higher walls. I have also noticed that I more often have domed cakes when my walls are shorter and pan darker, so the edges stop climbing. I hindsight -- which would have saved me $$ -- I would only buy 3" pans in the future. You can bake a short cake in a tall pan, but not a tall cake in a short pan...

They look cute -- something my daughter would like. Seems like if you are putting them under the broiler to brown the marshmallow, the glaze is melting causing the marshmallow to slide off. Do you have a blowtorch that you can brulee the marshmallow with?

Do you have individual heart molds -- Valentines and Proust all at once...?

To complicate matters -- I do both depending upon the cookie Small cookies, I'll bite (or just shove in my mouth whole -- no crumbs that way! ) Large cookies, I'll break in half, then bite the halves. If the object is wider than my mouth -- cookie, brownie, bread, sandwich, whatever -- I cut it or break it or tear it so that there is a "side" that is narrower than my mouth. Thus, with sandwiches, the only way to cut them is on the diagonal and eat from the points...

If the recipe is from a book, I've found that in some of the better books, they outline in the beginning how they measure their flour (dip and sweep or lightly spooned). The one I've seen the most often is the lightly spooned method. Also, before I began weighing, I was taught to always stir my flour container before hand -- it aerates the flour and keeps it from being as compact, lightening the weight of a cup. Most often, the flour is to be sifted before measuring, the directions will say so. Otherwise sifting is done after measuring. Ah, with all the most oftens and variations, its no wonder I will never be without a scale again -- best investment I've made!

When I posted, I didn't realize that I should add my recipe to RecipeGullet and provide a link. Here's the link for the recipe found in a prior post on this thread... Vegan American Buttercream

Vegan American Buttercream 2-1/4 lb Spectrum Shortening 2 lb Earth Balance butter substitute 1/2 lb unsweetened soymilk 3 lb sifted powdered sugar (be wary of brand) 0.08 lb vanilla or almond extract Combine the shortening and butter substitute in the bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment. When well combined, add the powdered sugar and mix until well blended. Add soymilk and extract and mix until light and fluffy. If desired, cocoa powder can be added to create chocolate frosting. More soymilk may be needed depending upon desired finished consistency. Note: Not all brands of sugar are considered vegan. If preparing by vegan standards, be sure to use a vegan brand of powdered sugar. Keywords: Easy, Topping/Frosting, Vegan, American, Dessert, Cake ( RG1603 )

alligande, here's the vegan buttercream recipe... Vegan American Buttercream (measurements in pounds) 2.00 Earth Balance (butter substitute) 2.25 Spectrum shortening .5 Soymilk (unflavored and unsweetened) 3.00 Sifted Powdered Sugar (to be sure powdered sugar is vegan, you have to buy particular brands) .08 vanilla or almond extract Mix Earth Balance and shortening at room temperature Add sifted powdered sugar and mix until blended Add soymilk and extract and mix until light and fluffy. Earth Balance can be found in the refrigerated (dairy) section and the Spectrum shortening I find in the baking section at my local natural food store. To make this chocolate, add cocoa powder to taste. Depending on how chocolately you want it, you may need to add more soymilk. I've now added this recipe to RecipeGullet...

Thought about that one, but doesn't lemon curd have to be refrigerated? In my mind it does because of the egg yolk base. That's how I was taught in school and I don't want to poison a pregnant woman... This is actually one of my favorites -- more makes it to my mouth than to the cake The cream cheese raspberry one from laspasterie also sounds good, but wouldn't a filling made with cream cheese have to be refrigerated also? If not, then I have a go here -- more reassuring than the egg issue with the curd. That's where I'm having the problem. I have to finish the cakes on Sunday for a Monday delivery. Once the cake is stacked and filled, my fridge is too small to hold the cake and my family's food. I could let them starve... But, I have to be able to have the cake last from Sunday through Monday (it's a work function with the food left on a goodie table where I will have no control over food safety.

Try chopping the chocolate reasonably fine and use the double boiler. Since you're working with a water glaze, you won't have to worry about that drop of steam siezing your chocolate. Stir occassionally to keep it smooth. Don't crank the heat up too high -- just below a simmer is fine. Good luck!