Felicia M Lazar

Many thanks for the replies and apologies for the delay in my response. Yes, I'm familiar with the fat/water ratio, I normally use a lovely 84% locally-made butter. I've never seen the earth balance brand here in Australia, they seem to have rather interesting ideas of solid fats and I'm not too sure I'd want to try any of them; I think the only thing for it is a series of experiments upping the liquid & leavening agents. Thanks again, everyone.

Fat substitution question for you all: pardon the generalising, but I find that a lot of cocoa-base bundts use oil & a lot of non-cocoa ones use butter. I'd like to adapt some of my favourite non-cocoa recipes to use oil, but am coming across some conflicting info: most sources suggest .75 oil, though not all. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Excellent, thanks for your input.

Thanks, Elizabeth, I've been looking around for the classic line locally (you & I are compatriots, but I now live in Melbourne, Australia) and have found a few sources but they don't have the specific shapes I need. I'll just have to stop whinging and bring them in from overseas. Anyone want to weigh in on Lékué or Demarle/Flexipan ? Anyone ? Anyone ?

Excellent, Elizabeth, thanks ! Which line(s) do you have ? They have various subsections in the professional range as well as their extremely colourful houseware line... I think I can get most of them here or online. A while back I looked into signing up on the professional site to purchase directly from Italy but the privacy policy was such a joke I gave up.

There are a number of eGullet threads that touch upon silicone baking moulds, but I'm looking for some straight-up advice, hopefully with brand-names. I have a micro-bakery and make financiers, baby bundts and Madeleines. I'm old-school and love metal moulds, but am increasingly attracted to silicone; the only problem is I don't want to use something that's going to transfer flavour or gas me out (using the moulds over & over again and inhaling the fumes all day really concerns me). Is there anything that's been on the market long enough to give reliable health-related data ? When I was training, my beloved pc instructor cursed in Italian every time anyone mentioned silicone for baking and that may be part of my bias against it, but this was well over 5 years ago. What are your experiences ? Any comments would be most welcome...

Have any of you used their flavouring oils ? Would be interested to know how they compare to companies like LorAnn et al. They all seem to use propylene glycol in many of their oils, any suggestions on companies who make unadulterated ones ?

Remove the "S" from the site search to get a few more ideas : http://www.tastespotting.com/search/lollipop/1 Thanks much, it's a cool site. I played around with the search a bit and found a few more on-topic lollipops.

I have yet to go shopping Lisa, but I'll definitely post the results. Thanks again for your insight.

Thanks for the info, I'll definitely go check them out this weekend. The toffee vanilla beans sound scrummy, I'll have to try that !

The electric skillet idea is great, Lisa, thanks ! Before moving to Australia I had never noticed the things, though they're a really popular item here. We got one from my in-laws, though it is a non-stick; I've seen them everywhere, I'm sure I can pick up a non-Teflon one easily and inexpensively enough. And believe me, I take your safety warnings very seriously: when my husband and I were taking our professional baking course we saw first-hand what it did to a rather careless student.

Brilliant, there are a couple of things here that are my kind of odd.

Thanks, Darienne, will do. Thanks, Lisa, I'll make sure I'm not alone when I first attempt these; thanks also for helping me fill my shopping list, much appreciated.

Hi guys, I've become obsessed with the idea of making non-typical flavoured lollipops. Two obstacles: 1) I recently moved to Melbourne, Australia, and have no gear. Because I'm starting from scratch, I have the luxury (though not a luxurious budget) of buying what I really need from the get-go; so, what should I buy, and if there's anyone local reading, any suggestions for where ? 2) I have no prior experience in hard candy making. None. So I don't really know if I'm dreaming in technicolour here, but can I use liqueurs to flavour the suckers ? Spices ? Or is it only oils that I'm stuck with ? Thanks much, Felicia