SweetSide

Bravo! Quite and undertaking for your first cake. Most people would start with plain chocolate and a butter/powdered sugar icing.... Congratulations on your success.

So... If I make a ganache with for example equal parts of chocolate and cream, i can "puff it up" by whisking by hand or in my kenwood after it has chilled? That would be real sweet .-) ← Exactly. Use equal parts chocolate and cream and flavor it with an extract or liqueur of your choice. Here's one that I put in RecipeGullet CLICK that is mocha flavored. If you want almond flavor, you can easily sub out amaretto for the 1T hot water and the espresso powder. You can also use some almond extract. Just do overdo on the quantity of liquid you add or you won't get it to whip. This stays fairly soft in the middle of the cake. To make it firmer, you can use slightly more white chocolate.

I second the above and stress do not butter and flour the pan. Do you have a cake ring or a springform pan same size or smaller than your cake pan? If so, try "building" the cake in the ring, using the sides for support for a thicker mousse or ganache filling. If it is relatively light, you can stack it up in there. The white chocolate almond ganache sounds good. If you make it thinner and chill it, you can whip it. MUCH improved -- looks good. Eat that one, and try again....

Glenn (and Tepee), that's the same mirror glaze formula I gave you, only cut in half. I got it from the CIA baking book -- chiantiglace goes to CIA. So did my instructor... It really is a nice glaze.

Spectrum and Earth Balance non-hydrogenated shortenings are made of palm oil, I think. Not soy, anyway. ← Spectrum is palm oil only. Earth Balance is a combination of oils and includes soy on their ingredient list.

Keep going -- keep going. You're doing fine. You're learning a lot of different techniques all at once, so enjoy the experience and eating the test runs... 1) If it rose, good. These cakes are normally thin. Go with the recommendation for a smaller diameter pan if you have one. Or increase the recipe. Don't grease or flour the pan if you did last time. Also, give the pan a little spin to help level it -- like throwing a frisbee. This also helps it climb the sides. Don't bang it on the counter -- that will pop some of the air and de-gas it. 2) For the sheets, soak them in some water to "bloom" them. Water separate from the recipe. Then, when you need to use it, wring them out as much as possible. Don't over soak them or you will lose gelatin. If using powder, bloom it in the water that is called for in the recipe and melt it in the same water. Are you using the recipe I PM'd you or did you go with a different one? 3) Straining. If this is the recipe that I sent to you, it shouldn't be thick when you strain it. Your straining tool is the same one that you use for straining stock. Not a chinoise, but a thin screen bowl like thingy (technical terms there...) If it's thick, it is too cool. Speed is necessary here. All things should be waiting for that glaze. If you still have problems, go with a regular ganache, it is more forgiving, not as much "wow" factor, but still way tasty. 4) When a recipe says 28g Gelatin, is that before of after soaking ? Before -- see the note about the water above. 5) I got some "spots" on my cake. That is either A) Gelatine clumps.. Yuck! B) White chocolate that I put in. C) Over-heated chocolate --> cocoa butter... Any Ideas ? Any of the above. "But, I'm aiming for something people will take a thin slice of with their coffee. "-- Exactly what this cake should be... With any kind of filling... White or chocolate or mocha or mint or... your choice. Let round 2 begin...

Me too unless I can get 40% commercially.

And leave the baking stone in your oven if you are doing a genoise and have oven issues. My genoise kept sinking until I put a stone in there. Just don't put the cake pan on the stone. Put it on a rack in the center or upper 1/3 of the oven if the heat source is on the bottom. Also, that chocolate cake batter really doesn't look very chocolately. Did you really have 6 oz of chocolate in there? And the genoise recipe says to keep your butter hot. Don't keep it too hot, just warm and liquid. Too hot and it will deflate your eggs too much. Too cold and it will be too thick and you'll have butter globs. Not good. Oh, and your soaking syrup Tweetybird mentions rum. Any liqueur is good -- think about what you like with chocolate.... I like Grand Marnier or coconut rum or Kahlua or ... Will be checking for your report....

Hmm, my first reaction was "That's not a chocolate cake..." Perhaps that is why it was fated to land on the floor! And the oven... and the radiator... Back to the mixing bowl for you!

Thank you Michael. I wish I could just spend time taking classes and learning all this stuff -- you are a wealth of knowledge. This is actually for someone else, and I've passed the information along. If more is needed, I'll post again. As for me, right now I don't think I have the courage to bake a HUGE wedding cake at this point in my career... Much obliged...

Yeah! to that cake. Excellent idea. I made it, and it is wonderfully moist and rich. Filled with a whipped ganache, it would be an extreme chocolate hit. Do it, do it....

So the mirror like frosting is "ganache". Thanks for the info, I'll dig up some recipies. And try it out. Is the technique just to bake a cake, split it in two horizontaly, put some good tasting thing in between, and pour the ganache over until it covers the cake ? ← Regular ganach is not a mirror-like frosting. Delish, but if you really want it to shine like a mirror, you need a mirror recipe. Not knocking ganache here -- I always make more than I need just so we can lick the bowl... I have a mirror recipe, and I know someone (can't remember who) posted a killer picture using a mirror glaze. Found it -- it was dejaq (michael) and here is a demo CLICK. As for the baking soda and baking powder -- baking soda reacts immediately in combination with liquid and acid (the old dump some baking soda in vinegar trick). Baking powder comes with its own acid, reacts in combination with liquid, and then AGAIN with heat. All a balance there -- they aren't interchangeable without other modifications. As Kerry said, baking soda is sodium bicarbonate. Common stuff -- you must have that over there... Best of luck -- in my mind (and practice) this is WAY easier than your sourdough!

I'll look for the volumetric sizing in your "flow" series. I haven't a problem with the sizing of the formulas -- up or down or imperial (is that right -- you know, the ounces/pounds part) to metric. This is more a "why do cakes sometimes turn out crappy when you make a bunch" question. More like that physics part. Do you need at least x baking powder and scaling up means you need less in total relation to the formula. Is the "big mixer" causing it to over mix/under mix in relation to how you treat it in the "little mixer". In RLB's Cake Bible she briefly discusses the relation of the amount of baking powder to the surface tension and rise in a say 6" pan vs a 16" pan. Don't have it in front of me, but these are the issues I am questioning. Don't just want to follow her formulas because, 1 her cakes are dry, and 2, what if I want to make one big mean ole carrot cake wedding cake... Thanks for your help. And, your posts always cause me to think more than I do, and probably not as much as I should....

Thanks -- I have that, but they are just for simple yellow, white, and chocolate cakes. We're talking in theory here -- as in what would you have to do if you had a favorite cake that you needed to make a lot of -- either many cakes or very large cakes.

Yup -- go right ahead. It freezes very well for several months. I put plastic wrap right on the surface to prevent ice crystals since I have a frost free freezer. Let it warm up before re-beating and adding your flavoring.

When making wedding cakes, you often need a large amount of batter but don't have a recipe that makes the quantity that you need. Often 6, 8, or even 10 times the amount of a normal recipe to get all the tiers done. As you know, multiplying a cake batter to that quantity often doesn't work. What adjustments are necessary when trying to make large batches? Would it help if there is a particular recipe to look at? Of course, the alternative is to make it in small batches, but that takes so much longer... Thanks!

Oooh -- what's margarita icing?! Can you post a recipe?

Aw c'mon, photos are fun, you could always post in the regrettable dessert thread. ← These photos are for Kerry. Remember, garish is good on cupcake day! Edited to fix duplicate photo. ← Just gorgeous to the eyes of a child -- and who isn't a child when eating a cupcake?! And it looks like your granddaughter had a heck of a fun time doing the decorating!

Great advice! I'm a diet controlled (no meds, no insulin) Type 2 diabetic. Balance is key, glycemic index is key. When people tell me something is "no sugar added", but is sweetened with juice or sweet fruit and expect me to eat it, they are surprised when I decline. Fruit juice will send me wonky. A chocolate bar won't. Has to do with fat content slowing down the carb absorption. (Again, I'm solely diet controlled) Chemicals are scary, but sometimes, they are the only way. The best way, which I try to adhere to as much as I can, is to just eat "clean" -- minimally processed foods. That means no bakery treats. Fruit -- ok with cheese or peanut butter. Hard line? Yes. It took a year of trial and error to find what works for me. Scott123 just posted above as I was typing -- he said it very well!

If you are doing chocolate, you may be able to do a ganache frosting instead of a buttercream. If you use a high percentage chocolate, it will have less sugar in it. Also, some recipe software programs can give you the caloric and carbohydrate content of a recipe once entered. There are online calculators as well. HERE is one of them. Searching Google for Nutrition analysis will turn up many others.

Let me know too -- I've also tried bleach, setting them in the sun (does wonders for many things), lemon, straight peroxide... Nothing. The sheet pan stains are still there...

I addition to the IMBC (Italian Meringue Buttercream as answered by sanrensho) and Swiss Meringue Buttercream, there is also: Nut Dacquoise for a cake layer Meringues (into which falls pavlova, vacherin, and just cookies, perhaps filled with that IMBC...) Marshmallows (some formulas use egg whites, some not) and your aforementioned Angel Food cakes And, the whites always freeze well for future use.

You can buy soy nut butter in the grocery store. I know nothing about making it myself, but that is what the "peanut allergy" kids I know use. However, I'm sure you are aware that soy is also one of the top allergens...

Thanks for the ideas! Just with some of your search words, I came up with several other places than the specific ones you mentioned. Now, we'll just have to decide which to go with. And, no, we don't want to spend the $5 - $6 that hubert is charging. Sure, they are some of the nicer ones, but we want cheap, nice, and functional. No one should be staring at the clips -- just the desserts!

For lack of a better place to post this (tell me where if it should be moved).... I am looking for those little chrome stands (online) shaped like a harp or coil or clip, that hold the label of the dessert in the display case. I don't even know what the darn things are called generally, and I'm having a hard time finding them through Google. HERE is the one place that I've found an assortment. Anyone have a good place to find them, preferably a little cheaper than here? Thanks!