Linzerbear

Hi all anyone know where in the SF Bay area to get European style refrigerated pastry cases? I am looking for the type that they have at most high end places in France like Pierre Herme etc. They are glass in the front of the customer but open on the top, and refrigerated on the bottom of the desserts. I never have really seen them here in America except maybe in Vegas. Any Ideas where to get them here? I have attached a pic of what i am looking for: thanks for any help, Eric

Hi all, My boss just returned from Iran, and brought some coconut macaroons, and i cannot seem to find a good recipe to make them. They look kind of like a amaretti type macaroon, but have coconut and a slight lemon flavor. Fluffy,soft and chewy interior but crisp brown exterior and not a lot of coconut. was hopeful someone could help thanks!

take a standard brioche recipe, add some orange blossom water, candied lemon and orange peel, and dried fruits. add approximately 200g of 'inserts' (chocolate, dried fruits, nuts, etc.) for every kilo of flour in your recipe. you can get more complex, with predoughs and the like, but this recipe will give you a fantastic result. ← Thanks i will give it a shot!

Hi all, Looking to make mini-panettone for holiday gifts this year, and i am looking for a good and authentic recipe. Have italian in-laws that i need to impress... thanks, Eric

Thanks Abra, Those are just regular maple leaves, Japanese are slightly different, and the client is asian, and really wants the Japanese variety. I guess i will have to make them. But thanks again!

Hi All , Was Wondering if anyone had a source to buy pre-made Japanese maple leaves, i need some for a wedding cake coming up and just do not have the time to make them. Thanks.

So i am the Executive pastry chef for a bakery that has been in business for more than 20 years, and in the last 5 years,which i have been there we have really changed the menu to a more modern product but have also had to keep much of the original product. We go through a lot of the same problems. I flex between modern french entremets, to Cars decopac cakes like the supermarket, customers what the lame decorations, etc. but they also want the quality of our cakes, so we charge much more than a supermarket but do some similar things. I will say i never do a cake like the photo, i add my own stamp, i tone the colors down, etc. I do offer buttercream roses but only in 5 Pastel colors. If they want a more garish color we charge for custom coloring. I always try to steer the customer away from the supermarket look, with either offering them more stylish alternatives, or with price if they really want something you do not want to do, raise the price to ridiculous heights. If they still want the product then at-least you are well paid for it. We also make minimum orders, for things that we normally do not do, if you do not customers will take advantage, like with mini cheesecakes, they will ask and then when you say yes, they will only want 5 which is not worth the time it takes to make them, so we make a dozen or two dozen minimum, unless we think we can sell the extras in the store, again to make it worth while. Most of our custom items are like what were mentioned above, if it is not a store cake in exact size and style then it is a custom cake. Which we always have to explain when they ask why it is so much more, and we have to tell them, that store cakes are made in volume which reduces the price. The cake they are requesting is made only for you a 1 of a kind and so it involves much more time and labor to create. We created a chart of options of fillings and flavorings with prices, then broke the decorative items down a la carte. So they want flowers, x amount, you want fondant that is x amount more, or you want fresh fruit decoration that is x amount on top of the cake. so just a few thoughts on how we do it... but you are correct it is hard to do on the fly, the customers always wants what they want and you have to find your balance between your style and reputation and paying the bills. for us the store cakes, and individuals pay the bills, but the decorative cakes and weddings make the profit. hope this helps. :-)

Eileen, is absolutely correct, i used to have an old chef who would say the customer will always find the value of your menu, meaning they will always find the most expensive/labor intensive item you have that is the cheapest, and that is what they will always order the most of. what we do at my shop for mini's is we have several tiers of offerings, six kinds for a 1.00 a piece six kinds for 1.50 a piece etc. and always charge more for fresh seasonal fruit. So we always make sure we are in profit. Mini's can be labor intensive, so always cover your butt.

How are you making the cake? Glazing first then adding your marble effect? I have done a marble glaze where i dipped the entire cake in a white ganache that i have floated streaks of thinned down dark ganache on top, as you pull the cake up through the dark steaks twist the cake and the two ganches marble together. I have not done it in years but used to use this all the time on cakes and small individual cakes, for a huge hotel. Gives a more realistic looking marble effect

I completely agree, I think calling a Pastry Chef a dessert chef is more the narrow view or lack of understanding of the american public. Many have no idea really what a pastry chef is, they understand baker, chocolatier, etc. But pastry for americans is confusing, is it bread, cookies, muffins? they have no idea of the big picture that being a Pastry chef is... So perhaps media, or less skilled people call themselves dessert chefs, and people go "OK i get it now, you make desserts" I do not think you would hear anyone address themselves or the media address them as a Dessert Chef in Europe/outside of the states.

this is an easy one, to keep the raspberry flavor, use raspberry schnapps, or which i do a lot of is take some frozen raspberries and just make a bit of puree to add to your soaking liquid, it will really add the raspberry flavor without the alcohol, which is what a lot of your customers request.

Sure, it is actually really easy just a little time consuming, I will do my best to describe with words it is usually easier to just see the process, so here goes! Start but cutting 2" by 2" squares of acetate or parchment paper i think would work also. Use tempered white chocolate, and starting one at a time pipe a tear drop shape of chocolate on the acetate square ( the tear drop should be in the center from left to right but heavy at the top and tapering to the bottom) use a small off-set spatula pull the tear drop to form the petal again from the top to the bottom. then fold the two sides (the left and the right keeping the tear in the center) of the square up and place a piece of tape (this is to curve the petal). Then just repeat this process to make all the petals you will need, i like to make a lot of petals in case of breakage, or if i am doing more than one cake. once the petals are all made and the chocolate has set and started to pull away from the acetate i just cut all the tape off and release all the petals. then it is just assembling the flower: i create a circle of petals starting on the outside and working my way in. The size of the outer circle will be the size of the flower, then just fill in staggering the petals to form an overlapping look. Sorry if this sounds a bit hard to follow but really it is a very simple process. :-)

Thanks Rob, it is a clear miroir with an Elderberry marble

what about Grilled stone Fruit? Do Vegans eat cheese? you could do top them with some vanilla mascarpone or creme fraiche. I particularly like Nectarines or Peaches, but plums work great too. Or grille with fruit and top with an fresh herb infused syrup, or with a prosecco or sauterne.

Well been a while since i have had time to work on some new stuff so this is my latest Sketch: and today i finally got to put it together and finish it so here is the finished Photo: Hope you like, I am hoping it will sell well, and we will add this one to the permanent product line instead of just a Chef's Special.

you could always make a cherry infused vodka, or an extract so that you could have the wonderful cherry flavor all year. if you are into canning at all, you could just make big jars of your own Cherry pie filling, to make pies anytime of the year as well... I personally, just like them fresh in anyway, fruit salad, maybe in a financier, or a granita.

I have made tiramisu for years, and just whip the raw egg yolks and sugar together on the mixer, if my food science skills remain intact, i believe that the sugar chemically cooks the egg yolks as they whip. Like when sugar and egg yolks just sit together without mixing the sugar will "cook" the yolks and you will get lumps of scrambled looking egg yolk. I have never had anyone ever get sick from eating tiramisu made this way. Just my thoughts

You could totally, do it, it may take a bit longer at home then it would in my work environment, but it is not as difficult as it looks, it is just a few simple steps put together. I could tell you how I did the flower also not as hard as it looks, if your interested.

Thanks, The actual cakes ( i made 6 of them) just as a test for a new flavor combination took me perhaps an hour to put together. It was then a few days as we got a bit busy at work, then the final finished cakes which i did the drawing and the photo, maybe took another hour from the time i picked out the sketch and produced the flower etc. The cakes were a success I have to make a whole run this week,(which is about 18) we sold all 6 in two days. This week the 18 will take less time, it always takes a bit longer when i am just testing and working out the recipe/method

I guess it depends on weather your talking about a Fresh Fruit Tart or just a fruit tart. I usually make seasonal Fresh Fruit tarts being in CA we get great fruit here, and yes in the Fall i would use apple, or even pear. I find it unfortunate when something is labeled as a fresh fruit tart and uses canned fruit, nothing wrong with canned fruit but do not call it a fresh fruit tart. BTW I also have a Summa Cum Laude degree in Baking and Pastry. With 20 years experience, and I also have a art background which i guess makes it easier for me to see that in Season, the texture, flavor, and color ( yes white is a color) of an Apple can be a good thing. But like all things that is just my opinion, and everyone is free to enjoy their fruit tart as they like.

Your Welcome, i have to say i do this all the time and was kind of fun to take the pictures since i never really keep the sketches. and thank you!

This weekend i had some free time and finally decided to go for it, it has been years since i last tempered chocolate so i thought i would go back to basics and made some 72% dark chocolate truffles. Here they are i was really happy with them and quite proud that my tempering skills all came back to me and the temper was excellent.

So today, i had time to finish a cake i started working on last week, all i needed to do was work on the finished look. So here are my Sketches followed by the finished Cake. This cake is just a proto-type cake, so i make tweek it a bit, but i like the overall finished product. So i started with four concepts and i picked this last one for the feeling i wanted for this cake, which is something more feminine which worked as well with the flavor profile Here is the final cake, this is the first time i have tried to make a flower like this and after i finished this one i did go on to refine my process for the next cake

At work when i am designing a new dessert of cake, i almost always sketch it, i do have an art backround but usually keep my sketches simple and rough, just to get thoughts in order. I also never keep them once the project is done, but i should start saving some and posting them. Thanks Gfron, i think this is a great topic idea, and love to hear/see that i am not the only who draws.

Hi All, i just wanted to say that i have been following this thread for a bit now, a lot of catching up to do, and you all are so amazing it really makes me want to brush the dust off all my old chocolate making skills! It has been years since, i have had to do chocolates, and you all are so talented, that i just wanted to say how much i really appreciate all your beautiful work... and thanks so much for the inspiration.