RWood

Gold and rose gold Macarons for a friend’s daughters wedding today. Filled with vanilla bean buttercream.

The peanut butter pie I grew up with in North Georgia was a little different, but it’s still my favorite. There’s a restaurant in Chatsworth GA called Edna’s where it’s very popular. its just a baked pie crust, spread peanut butter on the crust, then filled with vanilla custard. They top it with meringue (I don’t like meringue, so I scrape it off) and sprinkle it with a mixture of peanut butter mixed with powdered sugar until it is crumbly. Then torch the meringue. I made it years ago, and subbed whipped cream for meringue.

I make my own if I want one. I use it as a experiment for something I’ve wanted to try or test out. Plus, I make everyone else’s as well. Since I do it for a living, I’m kinda doomed 😋.

One of my last cakes at work. Wedding party of 12. They had no clue what they wanted, just chocolate cake, fondant and spring looking with gum paste flowers.

Double barrel cakes are easier to serve if they have a cardboard layer between two cakes. The slices are normal size, not really long. I usually do two three layer cakes, use support straws in the bottom, place a cardboard round on top (cut it just a little smaller than the cake so it doesn't stick out) then add the next cake. You can put a dowel through the whole thing to keep it in place. Then, crumbcoat and chill to set.

Chef Rubber has a line of fruit powders now. They have 4 oz jars. You might check on Craftsy, I think they are cheaper there than directly from CR.

I'm not a fan of white chocolate, only eat it if it's added to something. I use Opalys a lot at work, but there it's only for additions to buttercream, ice cream or a white chocolate layer cake. I would use it more outside of work if not for the price. I prefer it over the Ivoire. I personally do like to use El Rey's Icoa, I used it quite a bit in the past for my molded chocolates and fillings. Was always easy to work with. I order it directly from them in Texas. It's best to order in the colder months from them, they will only ship overnight or 1 day in the summer. So, there's the added shipping cost. I know the flavor either has you loving it or hating it.

So, time for my birthday cake. I loved the Wonder Woman movie and decided to go with that this time. I didn't need a lot of cake, so the bottom and top tiers are dummies. Middle is marble cake. I never know what I'm gonna do untiI I start, and some ideas didn't make it, but I'm happy with it. I gotta learn to not wear myself out trying to get it all done after working all day. Took about three afternoons (after trying things that got scrapped.)

You kinda have to think of cheesecake as a custard. It's set with eggs, so it needs to be baked low and slow. And not overbaked, which I think some people have issues with since it may not look set and keep baking it. For Christmas, I made a goat cheese cheesecake, and I baked it at 350 for 15 mins, turned it down to 275 and baked about 45 mins more (this was a small 7"). It still had a soft jiggle in the middle. I left it in the oven with the door ajar until it cooled. Then ran a knife around the edge. The texture was perfect.

I don't usually make cookies for Christmas anymore, but my mother begs for decorated cookies. Just vanilla cut out cookie with royal icing. I generally don't have the patience to color lots of icing and wait on stages of drying, so not my favorite thing to make. So, I bought these Prettier Plaques by Julia Usher. Love them! Still takes a little while, but all I had to do was one color of icing for a base, then put color in my airbrush.

I would just cut a piece to fit the bottom of your pan. I never lined loaf pans at all, but a chef I worked with insisted on it (because his mama did it) and it did make a difference.

Look up Coca-Cola Cake. Being from the south, that was always a cake I remember growing up.

They all look really nice, Jim. I'm glad it worked better for you. But, seeing all that that you've gotten done just reminds me that is till haven't made anything for holidays

Round two on Thor's hammer. I was gonna try a different set up than last time, but a) this thing weighed a ton and b), I was worn out from working all day then making this at night. So, Ace got the same as a couple of years ago. He was happy though.

Well I made the snakes and clasp last weekend, and the eye a couple of days before. I did all the outside details yesterday after work. That's was probably 3-4 hours. The stitches took the longest, probably an hour for just those.