sugarseattle

firstly, of course caterers would be marking up your desserts, at least 2x, but most likely 3x. This is because they have to cover the costs of their overhead, how much they pay their servers to serve it, etc. you can base your pricing either by the piece or by the person. either way,you are going to have to be clear about your serving sizes. For example, i price my minis by the dozen, and most catering companies will budget for 1-1/2 pieces per person so if they are serving 12 people, that will be 16 pieces. However, since I only sell them wholesale by the dozen, they would have to either buy 1 or 2 dozen. Think about it...they are getting the wholesale price based on a certain QUANTITY. you don't go to costco and say i just want 1 roll of toilet paper, right? then, you should make up a quick price sheet that shows how you are pricing....for example... pricing per piece minis: $12/dozen, we recommend 1.5 per person whole tarts: $24/tart, serves 12 etc. pricing per person minis, $2.50 per person, portion = 1.5 pieces whole tarts, $2.00 per person, portion tarts into 12 slices personally, i think pricing per piece is better for the baker because you are charging for what you are actually giving them. ALso, since this is a wholesale situation, your margins are very low so you're going to have to make sure to watch your food costs very carefully. So if your client wants to serve 11 people with a tart, they will only pay $22 bucks versus the $24 bucks you will get if you sell by the piece. I have a client who always asks for "desserts for 35" or something. I always turn it back around and say "we sell our desserts by the dozen and recommend 1-1/2 pieces per person. How many dozen would you like to order?" also, be sure to think about minimums for each of your items...it takes just as long to make batter for 12 cupcakes as it does for 24...

if you want it dairy free, you can add coconut milk.

ok. trying to describe the visual again...so when i build a tiered cake, i insert straws into the bottom tier, then trim them to the height of that tier. I then put the next tier, WITH its cake board, on top of the bottom tier. Then I put straws into the second tier and repeat. What I am thinking is INSTEAD of trimming the straws, I let them poke up so when I put the second tier on WITHOUT a cake board, the straws pierce through the bottom of the second tier. It's sort of like dowels in wood joinery...one dowel is in between the two pieces of wood thereby joining them together.

We're building our first mad hatter cake. Four Layers of butter cake (6-8-10-12). when we usually do a stacked cake, we usually have the cake boards in between each tier. I've seen photos where you cut out a portion of the bottom tier to make it "straight" so that you can inset the upper tier into it with plastic supports. This seems a little like overkill. I have always relied on the strength of our sturdy drinking straws for support between tiers. My question is what if we remove the cake boards between the tiers and have the straws poking up between the bottom and top tiers? Hope you can get the visual.

I love the flavor of agave...we use it all the time to sweeten our tea, and i often put a little squeeze over fruit salad...it gives it a nice floral scent. i've been thinking about using it instead of corn syrup in my marshmallows...anybody ever try this?

I ordered spaghetti and meatballs at a place I normally go and got just TWO meatballs, as opposed to the 3 or 4 I usually get. Actually, I rather like the idea of smaller portions which means I will eat and likely waste less. I think this is an interesting time for food especially in the US. We've been used to paying much less for our food than other countries and I strongly believe that abundance has made us a little tubby around the waist-line. (It's sort of ironic that "waste" and "waist" sound the same). I think the higher cost of food is making me think twice about what I put into my body. I am buying produce more often and not throwing as much away. That is a good thing in my opinion. Yes, I just opened my bakery 6 months ago so of course I am scared about how this will affect business. My coffee vendor just sent a notice that they are raising their prices 9%! My husband hasn't gotten a raise in 2 years, so yes, it is important that I keep giving myself a paycheck. I am very interested in seeing how this huge paradigm shift in how we see food will play out. I think this is a very interesting time to be in the food business.

i just did a google for egg safety and that whole eggs without added ingredients are pasteurized but not cooked by bringing them to 140°F and maintaining that temperature for 3 and 1/2 minutes. If the eggs are to be used in a recipe, the mixture should be cooked to 160°F, which will destroy harmful bacteria in a few seconds. I talked to my health inspector, and he said that if you add hot syrup to an egg mixture, you will not necessarily bring the eggs to adequate temperature to destroy harmful bacteria. However, I've done a safe meringue by heating whites & sugar over a bain marie and maintaining 160 for several minutes. MOstly I just do this for the stability it offers the meringue. Personally, I'm not afraid of unpasteurized eggs, but like to be safe and always use pasteurized egg products when I'm selling to the public...not everybody is blessed with a rock solid gut like myself. Also, my health inspector did mention that the risk of salmonella is very low, but it is out there.

hey rob, are you going to score your pain au chocolate? I think that always makes them easier to eat since they look like little balls of tension.

I switch between lemon and lime tartlets at my bakery. My pastry assistant, who usually hates lemon curd, likes 'em. We often sell out, so be sure to call us before you come down to check if we're on lemon or lime that day. Also, with two little ones in tow, be warned parking by the bakery is tricky, but just get into that downtown state of mind and you'll be fine. Sugar Bakery + Cafe 1014 Madison St (between Terry & Boren) Seattle, 98104 206-749-4105

yeah, i can't find anything in the dept of planning and development site regarding any permits or such...am excited though. However, as my friend always says, "Ballard is not Paris"

usually the ones with soda and powder have something like buttermilk or lemon juice in them...it's all chemistry. I learned this once trying to make a cake lemony by adding not only zest, but lemon juice and citric acid...it completely failed to rise. the cake didn't call for soda in the recipe. glad you enjoyed the huge elaboration copied it directly from the site I referenced.

i may be having trouble getting all the facts straight, but I think you said the times your recipe failed, you may have been using single action baking powder. If you've used double action in the past with good results, I think you've found your culprit. "Double-acting (D.A.) baking powders are the most common type of baking powder in US supermarkets. The first "action" refers to the release of gas when the baking soda in the powder reacts with an acidic liquid. D.A. baking powders contain a dry acid which does not react with the baking soda in the powder until water is added; at that point the baking soda dissolves, the acid dissolves, and the two can now mix and the reaction shown above occurs. The second "action" refers to the release of gas when the batter is heated in the oven or on a griddle. This relies on the presence of the slower acting acid, S.A.S. which only combines with soda when the temperature increases." from http://users.rcn.com/sue.interport/food/bakgsoda.html

I made some gougeres yesterday, so I had to deal with this myself yesterday. Yeah, it's a pain. Every time I do some piping, I tell myself to go get some disposable bags. I still haven't don't. Really, I should. ← I just got a case of the KeeSeal Ultra displosable bags...they are textured on the outside so they work FABULOUSLY. Be sure to spend the few pennies more and get the Ultra ones...they're worth it!

I would call around to different places asking for commercial liability insurance.I was going through Farmer's Insurance, paying about 1,100/year, but then switched to another company and am paying like $550/year, so rates do vary. Also, like most insurance policies, you can bring your rate down by increasing your deductable. Also, your farmer's market will probably require a certain amount of coverage, say one or two million. That will also affect your price. Since I don't really understand insurance (nor do I want to fill up my mind with those boring details), also find an agent that is nice and willing to explain the different policies for you, not just hand you a complicated form and ask you to fill it out

It seems like if you're really after a genoise, skip the fancy schmancy recipe with an "emulsifier" and find one that uses mostly eggs and sugar, a little bit of flour, and some browned butter. The cook's illustrated genoise is really well balance. Yes, you have to heat the eggs with genoise; it's the only way to get that choice foam that is the fabulous structure of genoise. I don't use a thermometer, I just heat 'em until they're almost too hot to touch, then let the beating begin! Once you master a genoise; (my rule says do a recipe 3 times before you got it), then you can play with the flour; swap out some of the flour with almond flour or cocoa, or even walnut flour. Good luck!

Yeah, that sucks that the sampling was such a focus of the festival. I hate that Costco vibe when it seems like cutstomers are just in it for the samples, and not to buy. It sucks that you were sort of "forced" into sampling because really, I feel sampling just decreases sales. I found the year I stopped sampling at the farmer's market, my sales more than doubled. However, that said, I do believe sampling is so important in the beginning to get feedback and really start to understand your customer base, target market, etc. So think of it as an investment in your business; a marketing expense. One trick that seems to help is to only sample one flavor at a time, if you sample 5 out of 6 of the flavors, people are going to want the 6th. Choose the flavor that best represents you as the chocolatier; if you like spicy chocoalates, do something that will convert the sceptics.

between my two fridges at the bakery, one runs a little more moist than the other, but I would never put anything on a cake/dessert that would dissolve unless it was to be consumed immediately. There's just too many variables. if you're sure you want to use royal icing (for it's ability to harden, stringwork, etc.), I wouldn't risk it and would instead use it on a cake that doesn't require refrigeration. Otherwise, you might want to consider buttercream, since it holds up nicely in the fridge, provided you don't have a stinky fish right next to it.

We're on our third set of insulated cream containers for the shop. We just can't seem to get the right one...either our customers can't figure out how to use them, or they spill cream all over the counter, or they explode, literally! So what brand do you use and what features do you like about them.

i made strawberries and creme brulee croissants...croissant dough filled with pastry cream and fresh strawberries, with a little sugar on the top which carmelizes.

I use a chocolate baking chunk for ganache often...same reason as chefpeon...I don't have time to chop spendy chocolate since we make a couple of gallons of ganache every other day. I find that alone, the chips are just OK, but in ganache, maybe it's the cream, but they do taste pretty darn good as a component in a larger desserts. However, for special things like truffles, I use the good stuff. I don't know about adding oil to already cheap chips. Seems better to add a little butter to increase their creaminess to at least add to quality rather than detract from it. I sometimes add a little squeeze of corn syrup or glucose to ganache when it's going to be in a big field (like a sheet cake or on top of a brownie) to prevent cracking. I've also found differences in whether ganache cracks depending on what brand/type of cream I use. PS. I've already started to see fruit flies hovering around the ganache...they are so hopped up!

i used to always have problems with recrystallization, until somebody told me to store syrups in the refrigerator. Never have that problem anymore. However, I think it might be something with the concentration, which in that case, some corn syrup or lemon juice will probably reduce your chances of recrystalization. I have had problems with recrystallization in my caramel if I let the mixture come to a boil BEFORE all the sugar crystals are dissolved. Regarding stirring, I don't stir once it comes to a boil, but sometimes I do jiggle the pan just to make sure the heat disperses evenly.

that makes perfect sense about the leakage... I am wondering, though, since we can't purchase a proofer right now, whether it would be a good idea to proof the little suckers in the fridge overnite so it's nice and cool for them??? Right now our schedule is: day 1 preferment which lives in the fridge overnite day 2 dough and turns which live in fridge overnite day 3 rollout and forming, proof on rack while spritzing with water, then baking so I'm thinking I would switch to doing rollout and forming on day 2. The only hard part is what do do since we're closed sunday. i'm so excited to be getting to the bottom of this croissant mystery. A customer gave me a hug today he enjoyed the croissant to much! Wow!

that's funny, we've been doing 3 single turns and our croissants seem fabulous...I wonder if we should add another turn?

that is so creative tri2cook! If I wasn't into trying to eat healthy this week, I would totally try them...maybe over the weekend

does it stay white when you melt it? i use all butter. what I notice when I'm re-activating my cold buttercream, I put it in a stand mixer and aim a torch at it to melt it slightly, then re-whip it until it becomes white again.