sugarseattle

Thanks for the clarification!

That would be Mr. Tom Douglas and the coco cream pie is fabulous, although I have a special weakness for coconut cream pie. Maybe you can tweak it and put some Skor bits in the crust as well and some freshly toasted mac nuts in the filling to get closer to your elusive Hawaiian fantasy dessert?

I think to help point you in the right direction, it is helpful to understand a few basics on the two basic types of cake you could make. Understanding these basic principles converted me to a cake lover! 1. Butter based cakes. These are cakes that get their flavor mostly from large amounts of butter. Because butter is solid when chilled, in my opinion, these cakes are best served at room temperature. Although I don't always follow my own rules, in general, I try to avoid using any fillings such as mousse with butter cakes because then the cake will have to be chilled and not live up to it's melt in your mouth potential. There are two basic ways to put together most butter cakes. a. high ratio method. This is my favorite and most reliable method. It involves mixing all the dry (flour, b. powder, salt, sugar, spices, etc.) with the butter (softened, but cool) until the mixture resembles corn meal. then the eggs and any liquid (milk, etc.) are added in two stages, the first to add structure to the cake, and the second to moisten the cake. i also like this method because the batter seems to be stable and it can hold in the fridge for a few days. b. creaming method. I really don't like this method, mostly because i'm not a good folder. Basically, you cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, add yolks (sometimes also whole eggs), then dry, then fold in whipped egg whites. 2. sponge type cakes. These cakes have high amounts of eggs so they tend to be very spongy and springy and light. Because they have little or no butter, they serve up well chilled with light and fluffy mousses and custard fillings. also, sponge cakes tend to be not too sweet, but they are susceptable to drying out (because of lack of butter and sugar), so often they are soaked with syrups and left to sit overnite. my favorite is the genoise cake, which is a little more work, but worth it for the bit of extra flavor. And here's a real quick run down of how ingredients affect the final outcome. Once you feel confident with a basic recipe, you can start tweaking your recipes to make them even closer to your ideal. sugar - tenderizer. brings out flavor. flour - adds structure. cake flour is lighter than all purpose flour, but can add a pasty taste if you're not careful. eggs - adds structure and moisture. buttermilk - recipes with buttermilk tend to be moister, but of course you can't just swap out reg. milk for buttermilk due to it's different chemistry. milk - whole milk is best because of that little ditty, "fat = flavor"

This thread reminds me of when I worked at Baker's Square in college...after 2 days we had to throw the pies away, so we would sit there around the pie station and make our own creations to wolf down. my favorite was taking the French Silk pie, scraping off the whipped cream, and then taking the glazed strawberries from the fresh strawberry pie on top of the chocolate cream filling. Heavenly!

Be sure to watch your posture, and check your table height...it might be too low. You might find yourself stooping a bit and not realizing it. Also, what helps me a bit was switching out shoes...danskos one day, tennies the next, italian medical clogs the next. Yes, you can never get too much stretching!

I am returning to the bay area this weekend for a wedding and my husband and my anniversary. We're sneaking down to SF and staying on Geary in the theater district and would like to have a nice anniversary dinner. I'm completely out of the loop about the latest restaurants. Here's what we want. - unique/innovative. - preferably within walking distance to our hotel, or short cab - not too cold ambiance. something not too formal and stiff...we're artists and HATE stuffiness! - not through the roof budget-wise. we'd like to spend about $150 bucks for 2 and have some libations - excellent dessert, after all, I am a pastry chef.

Thanks for all the comments. I LOVE hearing that my numbers are low. I had a hard time imagining I'd only be selling 40 cups of coffee in SEATTLE when my only real competition is Starbucks! These comments really help. keep 'em coming! Anyway, here's some anwers to the questions below...I"m in all caps

i just looked again at the Perfect Puree site and they call it "Passionfruit Concentrate". I used their stuff a few years ago and can't remember whether it was puree or concentrate back then. I don't think there's sugar in Napa purees. I haven't been able to locate the Goya passionfruit puree in Seattle. OTher puree's like mango and some cool looking white cherries, but no passionfruit. I was going to try asian stores since passionfruit is a tropical thang, but haven't been out yet. Anyway, back to your question, ejw50. Passionfruit is a very floral fruit and is actually quite bitter/acidic, especially when it's not fresh. I found for a passionfruit mousse recipe using the Napa Puree/concentrate, I diluted it with a little guava juice to just re-add that floral note again and take away the bitterness. I can't find any info on whether the Goya pulp has sugar in it or not, but you'll be able to tell and you can adjust your recipes accordingly. the best way to figure how much to adjust is to know what the passionfruit tastes like without sugar, then taste the pulp itself and estimate what percentage of sugar was added, say 20%, then simply reduce the sugar in your recipe by 20%, or maybe just 10%.

Hmm. so you would be making them things to freeze and then bake as needed? I think that might be worth a try, but really think about the reality of it...for example, if people have a personal chef, isn't because they don't want to set foot in a kitchen? I mean, even with proper training and instructions, I had trouble instructing one of my employees on the proper done-ness of a scone. I'm not trying to be discouraging, just think about what's realistic for your clients and what they're willing to pay for. Also, you need to crunch some serious numbers. So say you give them 6 hours; well, since this is basically a professional service, you're talking $100-200 bucks/hour (when I'm in production, I want to make sure the bakery is grossing at least $200/hour of finished pastry..that's 2 people working @ $10/hour and the rest is overhead, ingredients, etc.) It's just a little rule I made up in my head...not saying I follow it; You have to ask, is somebody going to spend about $600-1200/mo on baked goods? Yes, affluent people might, but perhaps that is by going to the local patisserie 2-3 times/week. Plus, since you're throwing the whole personal chef angle to it, they're going to probably want super special things like "my mom's apple pie" and such which are going to be hard to plan for since you'll have to buy special ingredients that will potentially affect your cash flow. You might be better off renting a shared space and mass producing frozen pastries that you can sell separately? I don' tknow because then you have to find the clients, and then you're in this whole delivery business like the zone diet??? HMMMM I think JeanneCake is onto the right idea about teaming up with somebody...it makes the most sense, and it might be a way to get your products in front of your clients without them having to pay $600 for them.

have you had the same reaction with espresso? I'm fairly sensitive to over-caffeination, and I find espresso easier on my system than drip coffee. french press is usually out of the question.

Here's the info: Sugar Bakery + Cafe 1014 Madison Street Seattle, WA 98104 (206) 749-4105 We're generating tons of buzz...I get a few emails a day from people telling me they're excited about our soon to be open bakery. Of course extra marketing can't hurt! I don't think we'll have a problem there, but convincing the bank we're a worthwhile investment when we have no cash because we spent it all to save my husband's life from cancer, well that's another story.

cakes made to order and "danish trays (not common in seattle)" would be included in desserts under special orders and we're not doing bread. The question is not about my menu, it's about trying to get a good estimate on how much of each item group I will sell.

I'm just about to open a high end bakery/cafe in a very good location in Seattle called First Hill. There are three hospitals nearby with about 4,000 employees total at any given time, plus a lot of foot traffic. Parking is a little bit of a bitch so mostly we think we'll get the people in the area. The location is particularly good for lunch. So, I'm putting together some documents for my bank, and have started a worksheet to try to estimate my gross daily sales. Here's a summary: Here's what I have so far: $60.00 or 10%, Breakfast (scones, cinnamon rolls, croissants) $207.00 or 36%, Lunch (sandwiches, salads, box lunches) $28.50 or 5%, Snacks (cookies, bars, confections) $132 or 23%, Desserts (petit fours, mini cakes, slices, special orders) $151 or 26%, Drinks (espresso drinks, coffee, sodas, bottled water) $580 TOTAL I'm trying to be very conservative with my numbers. Am I close or way off?

Yes, it does sound like you have a lot going on in your head. I think maybe you should take a moment and outline your thoughts to draw a map of your career. so for example if you want to be a sous chef, think about what types of skills your next employer is going to be looking for and compare it to your experience. write it up with bullet points. so if a skill is the ability to manage all the prep work or something, say how your experience DIRECTLY relates to what your potential employer might be looking for. if you want white table cloth, talk about WHY you think you are qualified. even though your resume may not directly show fine dining experience, there are ways to make your experience seem more high class. maybe you ran that kitchen with style and grace. it's not lying, it's just putting a positive spin on your experience. Also, since you are thinking about moving up the ladder, be sure to talk positively about your previous experiences. Employers don't want to see their future leaders talk about all the sh** holes they supposedly converted. They want to hear about the positive influence you had. use verbs in your resume, like "managed" and such. good luck.

now I'm all into the idea of the goya puree, and went to several latin grocery stores in seattle trying to find it, but only found mango and some other fruits, no passionfruit. i guess rather than risk not finding the flavor i need, i'll have to buy the napa puree here in seattle and do my best to pack it in my suitcase.

unless you're set on having space between the two tiers, plastic drinking straws cut the same height as your bottom layer (in this case cheesecake) provide suprisingly strong support between layers, especially if you put the second tier on a cardboard round to distribute it's weight and prevent the straws from poking into the top cake. Seriously, I don't think you're going to have a problem. A well chilled cheesecake is quite firm and a cake will easily support a very small 6" cake, even another cheesecake, even without the drinking straws.

it looks like the recipe calls for canned peaches which aren't going to be as juicy as fresh, so perhaps since you're planning on using fresh, just to catch some stray juices, toss the peaches in a bit of cornstarch before arranging? but there's a chance you might be safe if the choco cake has good structure. in the pineapple upside down cake recipe I use, the cake is quite rustic and dense, so it can handle the weight of the pineapples.

it sounds like "the man" making chocolates has certain conditions in his kitchen that make odors that show up in his chocolate. You confirmed that you are tasting them. the air in a space is simply a reflection of its surroundings, which also may include outdoor surroundings. for example if you produce chocolates near a cow pasture, the odors from the cow poo are going to travel into your kitchen. that is why the concept of air fresheners doesn't make sense because it's not the AIR you want to clean, it's the thing that's making the air stink. I know you're talking about air filters, but I think the concept is the same. Perhaps he has an old piece of equipment that is launching stinky particles into the air that are ending up in the chocolate. maybe he's lying to you and actually does store his chocolates in the fridge? sure, an air filtration system, if properly configured, could correct the problem, but I think it might be a good idea for him to get to the source of the problem, the thing that's causing the stink. I don't necessarily think installing an air filtration system is for the novice, and just throwing one in won't guarantee a stink-free room unless it's installed professionally. I think you're right to be cautious, but I think you will have to test in your kitchen space whether or not your chocolate gets an odor. Perhaps you might bring a friend in, or get some more of those stinky chocolates and do a taste test, comparing them to your chocolates. You might do the test outside of your space. Just try to be scientific and isolate all the variables. Right now, you're dealing with somebody else's space. The best thing is to set up a system to check quality. I learned the hard way with a couple of bad bags of flour where cakes turned moldy in 1-2 days because of the flour. I had tested cakes with several different flours and isolated the problem to the flour, but because I didn't have flour bag numbers or any proof that the mold could be traced to a particular batch. My supplier was not helpful at all, and was totally unresponsive to my claims which is really sad because I almost lost a major client because of that problem. So check check check for odors and adjust your procedures accordingly.

i think if they're a bit unripe, just increase the sugar by whatever percentage you think they're unripe by...but because they're so nice and tart, they're going to bake well and hold their shape too! Yum

I am traveling to the bay area to do a wedding cake and need about 32-40 oz of passion fruit puree. I tried Perfect Puree of Napa Valley, but it's only available thru wholesale sources that have large minimums and I don't have accounts with (since I don't live there). I could buy it here thru my wholsale supplier, but then I have to try to travel with it frozen. Also, don't want to pay big amazon prices. Has anybody tried this one from Natures flavors? http://www.naturesflavors.com/product_info...roducts_id=4062 Many thanks.

the official rule from the dept of health here is that food can be displayed uncovered, as long as there is a sneeze guard or some protection from anybody (customer) touching it or sneezing on it.

Yeah, you don't have to whip the whites over the bain marie to soft peaks, you can do that in a mixer. You probably didn't over whip, you probably just had some whites cook because your hand couldn't go as fast as a mixer...but maybe with practice we'll put you head to head with a kitchenaide!

I got a request for gluten free cupcakes the other day, and because it's not something I normally bake, the best answer for me was to not take the job. As much as I appreciate the challenge of trying new types of baking, I really feel it's best for me to specialize in what I do best, and let those that specialize in other things do that. If I start responding to everybody's request...gluten free, sugar free, etc. then I lose track of my vision. Plus, with cross contamination issues it can get really messy. I just think philosophically we should offer what we do best, and outsource things we don't have experience in. That will truly make our customers happy. I really like hummingbirdkiss's idea of switching to another "conveyance" that won't be a bastardized version of bread. Then you won't have to be a rocket scientist to try to make the gluten free version taste like the original. Plus, then you don't have to worry about putting signs and such for the gluten free versions of things that have gluten in them. On a side note, I really am sorry for those affected with celiac. I know if you love bread like I do you must be very sad, and I don't want to suggest that people stop developing recipes to make better gluten free bread. I am simply suggesting that this sort of recipe development requires a lot of time and specialization.

there's a place in Oregon, GLory Bee Foods. I don't know if they'd be able to help you, but they might be able to point you in the right direction.

you don't necessarily need to cook your whites, you can just beat them separately and then fold them into the yolk mixture. Here's the best method to beat whites. Room temperature whites beat on low speed until frothy, then SLOWLY add sugar. (if your recipe doesn't call for sugar with the whites, then use a little of the sugar from the other portion, about 1 tsp per cup of whites) beat on medium speed...a slow beating will give you the most stable volume and allow you to control how far to whip them. I usually stop before I think they're ready. just sitting in the bowl they will stiffin up a little bit. If you insist on heating your whites (as in safe meringue), just heat them in your bain marie, then when they reach 145 transfer them to your mixer and beat them there.