Jump to content

toni

participating member
  • Posts

    99
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by toni

  1. I've not made this particular cake but...have made many similar.

    The fluffy layer at the bottom is the cake. 

    The 8" cake round will fit snugly inside the 8" cake ring.  Then you line the strawberries with the cut side against the ring.  "The outside of the cake" means the outer edge so it shows when unmolded. 

    The "icing" above the strawberries is the white chocolate cream filling.  As you fill the mold, you press it along the sides carefully so that it fills in the cracks.  Then you fill in the center area.  There is no icing on this type of cake.

    As you look at the picture from bottom to top it is cake, strawberries, filling, cake, white chocolate petals.

    When finished you refrigerate until firm.  The berries will provide "slip" so that the ring slides off easily.  When running the knife tip around, make sure you press it along the ring and not toward the center of the cake.

    Thank you, SweetSide.  Now I can see the bottom layer "fluff" as the cut cake.  I guess it is hard for me to imagine room to put the strawberries around the outside of the bottom layer if the ring is 8" and the cake is 8".  Oh, wait a second.  Is this a springform type ring, so you leave it in the extended shape when you put the strawberries around the cake and then close the ring? Sorry I am so dense.  Thank you for your help.

  2. Thank you Sanrensho, Aphra, and Kerry. You all are so helpful. Do any of you or other readers have an opinion on the glaze or gel that goes on strawberry pie? I used cornstarch according to 2 different recipes, and like I said, I think I have come to the conclusion it should be a firm gel, but not like jello. It still moves. Kerry mentioned tapioca powder and arrowroot as a glaze. Was that for strawberry pie? I think there was mention in something I read about using cornstarch because it is rather clear. One time I added some strawberry jello to the equation and refrigerated the pie overnight. The next morning, I had a lot of liquid all around the strawberries. Maybe it should be expected that the glaze would become runny if left overnight. I would love to hear what others do.

  3. Oli, I am glad your cake was a success. I would like to duplicate this also but have a couple questions at the outset. I can't picture being able to put strawberries around the first layer. The layer is 8" and the cake ring is 8" so it would seem there would be no room to arrange the strawberries on the outside of the cake but inside the ring. Also, I don't see any mention of spreading an icing around the sides. It looks like an icing above the strawberries. The directions say to top the bottom cake with the remaining layer of cake and spread the reserved filling over the top. Did you just try to ice around the strawberries? And I am not sure what the fluffy part is around the bottom of the cake. Did the cake come out of the ring ("To unmold, run the tip of a paring knife around the top part of the cake") easily? It sounds like you could not have iced much before taking out of the ring or it would mess up the appearance.

    I appreciate any answers and additional tips you have. I am a real novice, and I have been wanting to make a cake with strawberry filling, and perhaps this would be one way to get strawberries into a filling. I had been wary of white chocolate before thinking that it was no way as good as a chocolate frosting, but I am excited to try this. Thank you for reporting on your experience.

    Toni

  4. Everybody loved it.  There was a room set aside just for desserts and some people asked where my cake was amongst all the others, and some said they picked out the cake immediately.  Most people know I like the wow factor.  It was very easy to make and looked just as the picture demonstrated.  The cake part of the recipe was good enough to eat on its own, very moist and not overly sweet, and just the right texture.  I did make one change to the recipe when it was in the KA, and that was to add another egg white.  I did this because the recipe said to mix until it was light and fluffy.  It didn't look light and fluffy and never got there, I was worried that there might be an error.  Well I was not satisfied that I never achieved the light and fluffly, nevertheless  I just went ahead and baked it and it turned out just fine.  So this is going to be keeper.

  5. Hi, thank you for your input, Sanrensho.

    As for the strawberry filling, I am about to experiment. I just got the Just Desserts book and one recommended by Wendy in a past thread when I went way back into the archives. That book was Professional Baking by Gisslen. I am not a professional baker, but I am willing to work hard to try to get what I want. Of course, that means multiple questions to ask you wonderful experts.

    One question is about ingredients I have never heard of and cannot find at any store: I have looked at a few grocery stores, Bristol Farms, Trader Joes, and Whole Foods for liquid glucose which is called for in both books. Another ingred. I have looked for is waxy maize for fruit pies. I was wanting the glaze on my strawberry pie not to be runny. However, I think I have decided it is better for it to run a little when cut into slices rather than to be too much like jello. Any thoughts from you? I made the glaze from the Professional Baking and I think it was great even though it did run a little. That's when I decided it should be a "glaze", not so firm that it seems like jello. but I would love to hear from anyone who thinks they know how it should be.

    In another thread someone mentioned adding gelatin sheets to make a strawberry filling for the cake. I cannot find gelatin sheets but I think you can just add plain gelatin too, I think. I would like to know if anyone has used either in making a strawberry type filling for a cake that they liked. As I said before, I do not know whether what I think I want is a mousse. I am going to try the "Fruit Cloud Cream" that you mentioned found in The Cake Bible and also the creme patissiere from Just Desserts. I can't thank you enough, Sanrensho, and others who help with their suggestions.

    Toni

  6. :biggrin: Thank you, Sanrensho, for your suggestion to me a while back to get Gordon Ramsay's book, Just Desserts. It took me a while to locate it, but I now have this book and I completed his Thai Rice Pudding with coconut and lemon grass this afternoon. Yummmm!!! It is very similar in ingredients to the Sticky Rice with Mango recipe on this site, but it is quite easy and quick, cooking the rice, lelmon grass, water and salt in a heavy-based saucepan for only 12 mins. He does not stipulate to soak the rice. After waiting only a couple times for 5 mins. each after the rice cooked and adding sugar and coconut cream, my husband raved about this rice pudding. He loves rice pudding and he was in heaven as he ate it warm. I have never been a devotee of rice pudding, but I am amazed at how creamy and good it is. The recipe says you can serve it warm and creamy or it is also delicious served cold. I like when a cook explains details so I don't have to wonder. As I said, it was so soft and creamy when it was warm. Later. after refrigerating a few hours, it was very firm and compact. Is there a way to keep it from becoming almost solidified? Do I need to just add more cream and stir?

    I used canned coconut milk instead of refrigerated coconut cream. I did not see the latter at the store, and I only used half of the cream called for in the recipe because I was afraid it would taste too sweet and taste too much of coconut. This may seem like a weird question: Is the solid-like part at the top the cream and the lower liquidy part the milk? I used some of each. Also, is double cream heavy whipping cream? The recipe calls for adding double cream to the hot cooked rice and using single cream if you are serving it cold. At least that is what I think it means. It says," Variation: This is also delicious served cold. Leave the rice pudding to cool completely, then stir in some single cream to loosen it. Chill lightly before serving." Does that mean to make it as if you were serving it warm, and then to let it cool, then add the single cream? Also, maybe it should not to refrigerated very long.

    I had never cooked Thai Jasmine rice before, nor had I used lemon grass and I was very impressed.

    Thank you in advance if anyone has any input to my inquiries.

  7. I just got my Magnum delivered today after reading this thread. A question, please...how do you change the grind? I thought I had seen something before about twisting the center but it seems to just open to fill with the peppercorns. It's probably so easy, but the booklett that came with it simply shows the different peppermills, nothing about using it. Thank you for any help.

    :raz: Okay, I see it is on the bottom. I was sure as soon as I asked, it would become clear to me. The tightest twist seems not very fine, but I guess I'll have to just use it to see. Maybe it was a different mill that you change grind by twisting the center of the mill.

  8. Bluechefk, what a fun project. I have lived my whole life in the south bay of Los Angeles County, CA and I remember our desserts and snacks were Hostess Twinkies, Ding Dongs and Snowballs in the 50's and 60's. In Feb. 2004, the Los Angeles Times Magazine printed an article about Sno Balls. The article said that flour and sugar were rationed after World War ll and America was devouring manufactured sweets, of which the Sno Ball was a big hit.

    I have more history on the Sno Ball if you are interested, and I have the recipe that appeared in the magazine for a face-lift version using a rich cake and an Italian meringue " with a pink touch that's pure L.A. Happy days are here again."

    I have always been going to make the recipe when I had extra time. Yea, right... extra time continues to allude me! If you want me to write out anything, just let me know. Toni

  9. Great ideas, Snowangel and Jgm. I did get the vegetable soup for take out the other day, but other than asking if they use fresh or canned tomatoes, I didn't think to dissect the soup when I got home. I just ate it and loved it. They used canned tomatoes, and I liked your suggestion of using parsnips and then discarding them after cooking. I am armed with better ideas for soup making this weekend, thank you!

  10. Hi Toni and welcome to eGullet!

    Here is a thread that was started over a year ago with nothing but soups in it: click.

    I'm not familiar with Marie Callendar's soup but it sounds like the minestrone or chicken vegetable soups from the thread might come close to what you've described.

    Thank you, Jensen, I appreciate your help. I had read through all the soups in that thread and did not find one I thought seemed similar to a regular vegetable soup, but I will read through them again. As in the case of the wonderful cooks in eGullet, I should experiment and be creative. I was just not sure of the base for the broth and thought someone might know about Marie Callender's vegetable soup or one that seemed similiar. Thank you for your response.

  11. :biggrin: Middydd, Sanrensho, and ludja: I am beyond appreciative that you all responded with really helpful suggestions and even recipes. I was hoping for just such help as I have been stumped until now. I loved the ideas and am hoping to try out the different cakes and fillings. I'm not sure which one I will try first, but I am so excited. I watch my 2 grandchildren everyday so I've got to try to work in my other love...cooking as best I can. I have copied the recipes. Can you tell me what eau-de-vie de poire is? A liqueur?

    Also, do you have a favorite book you recommend that I would find a good recipe for pastry cream in which I would add strawberries to? That sounds like a plan if I just want to spread the fillling between cake layers, doesn't it? Or would the filling ooze out? I don't know how a bakery does it. I've had a cake from a really good bakery that I know wasn't made in a springform pan because it was a sheet cake. I love that you have given me optiions...thank you again so much! And thank you for the welcome to this wonderful forum. :smile::smile:

  12. Can anyone help me with a recipe or a recommendation for a book that would tell me how to make a strawberry mousse for a cake filling? I made it a goal to make my daughter a cake with a filling like one you would get at a very good bakery. I do not know if it is a mousse. I would think it has fresh strawberries or bits of fresh strawberries in it, and I remember it being absolutely wonderful when I tasted a cake with a strawberry mousse-like filling about 3 years ago. I'm hoping to surprise my daughter at the end of the month. Could this also be used as a cake topping, too? (Maybe with adjustments?) I made a cake and filling a couple months back and was disappointed in a buttercream topping as it tasted like butter. Any advice or recipe would be so much appreciated. Thank you in advance. :smile:

  13. I'm hoping someone has a recipe for vegetable soup like the one at Marie Callender's. I have read many posts on this forum but haven't found one that could help me replicate the restaurant soup that is really delicious...not too tomatoey but it has a reddish tint and a few bits of tomato in it. I don't care for much onion and I just pick out any onions which is easy.

×
×
  • Create New...