Ling

I haven't made this cake in a few months now, but I'll PM you in advance the next time I'm down in Seattle and make this cake.

I like the baguettes and the almond croissants.

sanrensho--Keefer is on Keefer St. in Chinatown. I don't know if they have another location on Commercial. The baked goods at Keefer Bakery were my favourite as a kid. I thought the quality there was the best. Plus, they had 'dao sa yoong'--a deep fried bun filled with black bean paste, rolled in sugar. Unfortunately, the bakery looks very empty these days...we haven't gotten our mooncakes from there this year yet, so I hope it's as good as it always is. canucklehead--I believe Maxim in HK and Maxim over here are two different companies, according to one of my students.

Ahhh...thanks for doing the comparison. Our family has bought (and received) many different brands over the years, and my childhood favourite is (and probably always will be) the mooncakes from Keefer Bakery. The pastry is good and the filling is not the least bit dry...in fact, it is quite a bit oilier than mooncakes from other bakeries. Sometimes the salted egg yolks are better than other years...but generally, this brand is my favourite. So far this year I've had some from the tea shop in T&T (boxed set of 6 mooncakes, none of them good. They were "modern" filling combinations like kaboucha squash, or green tea, or the Taiwanese 'iced' pastry with glutinous rice inside). One of my students gave me one of the nut ones from Pine House--pastry was thick, uneven and dry, the filling as canucklehead described. Bleah.

I've only been to three on the list. But I assure you, some of those restaurants don't deserve to be up there!

^How charmingly retro! I haven't made a pineapple upside down cake since I was...12? I had a big slice of sour cherry pie from Savary Island Pie Company today. Also picked at a shared dessert plate--lemon tart, creme brulee, figs, and a selection of truffles from The Beach House in West Vancouver.

Is that the Canlis in Seattle? At number 19?!!

Yes, perhaps it's the altitude because I've never had such big holes with my Double Chocolate cakes.

^Really? I would have thought it would have been pound cake-like after reading the ingredient list, and also taking into account the small amount of leavening. I'm glad it's got your seal of approval though. I can't wait to make it! I'll increase the spices just as you did.

Wow, wish I lived in Seattle. I would be the first to sign up for Ethan's class!

half a small loaf of pumpkin spice cake with goat milk caramel a big bowl of chocolate fudge Clodhoppers a slice of cheesecake my sister bought home a Coffee Crisp ...and it's only 12:33pm

The cakes are in the oven and the batter tastes really good. But what really won me over is the goat milk caramel. It is richer than cajeta because I used a lot of whipping cream, and not as sticky. Also, the flavour is not as "goaty" as cajeta, so it's definitely there but probably not strong enough to put off people who don't like goat's milk/cheese. I never measure when making caramel, but I caramelized approximately a cup of sugar, then added a cup of whipping cream, 2/3 cup of goat's milk, and maybe a 1/4 cup of butter and a splash of brandy. It took about half an hour (total time, including caramelization) to cook down and get really thick. ETA: OK now the cakes are out of the oven, and I ate a big piece of the loaf I made with the extra batter covered with the caramel. Very good, and it seems moist enough to sustain a few days of shipping. I used this Pumpkin spice cake recipe, with a few modifications. I reduced the amount of leavening (which seemed a bit excessive), used 75% butter and 25% oil (for moisture-retaining qualities), increased the amount of cinnamon, and added cloves, nutmeg, black pepper, and ground ginger. And I also increased the amount of pumpkin to 1 1/2 cup, reduced the amount of sugar slightly, and added a tablespoon of molasses. I gotta say, though, that the cakes are rather homely...round, brown, covered in caramel in aluminum tins.

I'm shipping them directly in those disposable aluminum pans mentioned upthread, then using foil and plastic wrap. I think it should be OK.

I've made those brownies before, and none of the taste-testers (10? including me) preferred them over my recipe. (In efforts to eliminate bias, I told them beforehand the cocoa brownie recipe was another recipe I developed as well, then told them it was a Medrich recipe after they told me which one they liked better.)

So taking ideas about using alcohol and spices, I decided to ship pumpkin spice cakes tomorrow, with brandy caramel. (I also have some goat milk that I'll be adding to the caramel). I'll probably poke holes into the cake and pour the caramel on top, and then the caramel should set into a frosting-like consistency on the surface. (At least, this happens when I pour caramel on cakes at home and leave them to sit for an hour or so.) You know, I've never thought to ship cakes in those disposable aluminum pans either, so I bought some. They're so cheap! Thanks for all the ideas...I'm sure I'll get around to using all of them in the future.

Great blog, Kerry. I can't wait to see the birthday treats!

ludja, I love caramel and your cake looks great. Have you seen this Thankful Butterscotch cake? I've had it bookmarked forever but still haven't gotten around to making it! For those interested in doing chocolate stout cakes next--I found another Guiness chocolate cake from Tish Boyle just now. Also, this Indonesian spice cake looks really good, judging by the recipe. Very dense though. **** ETA: I've been eating junky desserts for the past two days. Breakfast this morning was two chocolate bars. Junky ones! Coffee Crisp (childhood favourite) and cinnamon Kit Kat (I can not resist anything with cinnamon).

I am amazed at how thin and delicate the Pani Puri is! And the kulfi sounds amazing...I'm PMing you for the recipes. Thanks for the photos and write-up, Abra!

Thanks for all the replies so far...keep them coming! CanadianBakin'--are you sure brownies would keep? I have not made a pan and had them last for over 24 hours so I'm not sure... The Guiness Stout cake, Grand Marnier cake, and southern pecan cake are all great ideas--I think I'll start with those.

Ling, I have the current Bon Appetit, and yes, that is the same recipe. ← The recipe is quite similar in proportions to the Devil's chocolate cake in the Tartine cookbook, except it contains stout and less cocoa. I didn't think the Tartine cake was very chocolate-y at all compared to the Epicurious Double chocolate cake (my current favourite chocolate cake recipe). So the stout flavour must be adding a lot to the cake.

Well, the blog is still up and I'll answer your questions in PM if you have any. I had mini mooncakes yesterday too! They were a box of Taiwanese mooncakes that were packaged very beautifully, but none of the flavours tasted good and the pastry was dry. The flavours were sweet red bean with pieces of Japanese pumpkin, green tea flavour with salted egg yolk, and one that was the flat, white pastry with glutinous rice stuff inside. That was kind of a disappointing dessert, so I dipped some wafer cookies in cinnamon ganache and ate those too.

I would like to send some baked goods to some friends and would like some help coming up with some ideas of things that ship well. I'm concerned about freshness--typically, I only ship things like biscotti or shortbread because I know the flavour won't suffer if they're packaged for a few days. I'm kind of a stickler for freshness and don't even like to make cakes more than a day in advance because I worry about moisture and flavour loss. At the same time, I'm kind of tired of sending the same old stuff through the mail! What are some baked goods that travel well? I would like to send something a little fancier than biscotti and shortbread. Bonus points if it's a baked good that benefits from being "matured" for a few days en route...I remember seeing a Paula Wolfert walnut tart recipe before that had to be ripened for 3 days or so to improve its flavour.

Oohh...I am so excited to make the cake then, since I know you're a great baker and really respect your opinion! Is this the recipe? chocolate stout cake

^WOW! That's awesome. Would you recommend the cake for people who don't particularly like the taste of beer? (Is the beer flavour very apparent?)

Thanks for the tip on potato starch! I've never used it before.