Wendy DeBord

There's a really nice article on Haas and Torres chocolates in the lastest issue of Food Arts. I admire them soooo much!

I'd say that's almost backwards. It's really more of the cooler your butter, the more whipped it is, the paler and thicker/volumous/not dense your product.

Yes, it all depends upon how you handle your butter....and the recipe. This applys to ganche and frostings too. Herme' has a HUGE amount of butter in his lemon cream recipe. (off the top of my head) It's like 50% butter, no........ Your going to get variances depending upon the temp of the curd and the temp of the butter. If you whip your butter (just how whipped your butter is), if you stir your butter in, if you burr whip it in, etc... Then at what temp. the curd was when you added your butter. If it's pretty hot, it's going to melt your butter, if it's room temp. and you have cool butter you can practically make a lemon buttercream out of it. This is why Herme' specifys when and how you should add your butter, to get the texture he wants you to achieve. As far as color........yes, I totally agree that yolks vary in color hugely. That definately comes into play also.

Melted butter is much darker then whipped butter.

just one more reason why I wish I lived in Vancouver! Very cool party!!!!!!!!! Dare we talk more about the comparisions......things you all learned? I was supprised to read a good review of the green & blacks chocolate Ling. I never really noticed their existence until a couple months ago. So when I saw some at the store I had to try it. I really, really don't like what I bought (it was a milk choc bar) it's rotting in my cabinet now. It's horrid.........definately leaves a musty taste in your mouth, like I've eaten mushroom chocolate. My hubby even disliked it. I've had some of Haas's chocolates........some of them are fantastic, a couple of them tasted old/dull. I do think his chocolates that he layers with jellys are auesome..........huge taste impact! His pastries were the same way for me, some were fantastic and others weren't worth finishing. AND I have a HUGE ditto on his sparkle cookies. They make you weak in the knees when served warm.........but all the recipes I've tried to make from the net, pale in comparision. I get too much almond flour grit in my mouth. Vosages...........well............I've purchased all their bars at Marshall Fields and liked all of them but the curry one. Then I bought the same sized box of assorted truffles (as shown in your photos) to try all of their product. I really wasn't crazy about their chocolates. For me, it wasn't worth the money, I'd have been happier with a couple hersheys chocolate kisses. I'd never spend my money on them again. I would have loved to hear how Norman Loves and J. Torres chocolates compare to the others...........not to forget C. Elbows.

Don't fabricate anything. There's tons of people in the world that have alot of knowledge on being a good waiter who'd love to mentor you. It's o.k. to seek someone out on the first couple jobs you work. Who cares what anyone else says or thinks on that topic..........just find a way to gain the knowledge, take it and move on. I agree with the thoughts of not beginning at your goal job. Give yourself time to learn at places you don't want to stay at.

The temp. of the curd and the temp. of the butter each time you make this can effect your results........ The colder the two substances are the paler your results, warmer.....more yellow......

I was thinking that the lighter color (for me, when I make it) is the ton of additional butter being whipped into it, lightens its hue. As it will do to ganaches also.

Good point! But remember if you work somewhere where you love their food it's easy as hell to sell their food and drink. Our chubbier waitresses out sell the skinny ones everyday!!! Why? They love the product and have a passion about it, they aren't false sales people. Where as some of our skinny young things don't care about the food or the experience so it's hard for them to "sell" the product. If your just there for the pay check you won't do well.

The physical aspects all depend upon the kind of person you are. I'm 44 and chubby, but I can run with the kids day in and day out. In fact, I'm better then the 25 year olds cause I don't have the back and feet problems they do at half my age. I buy good shoes, lift smart, work smart, don't abuse myself with too little sleep and too many indulgances. Although I'm used to standing, walking and running all day everyday my whole life. It doesn't bother me at all, but everyone around me complains that their soooo tired. So you have to know what your body can take. Although I can walk all day, I can't lift and balance trays all day.........just don't have the upper body strength and as I get tired my lifting becomes unsteady. You can't be a whimp, you can't rely on others. They won't support you. You should consider working at a private club (golf or dinning). They'll appreciate your maturity aspects (able to be consistant) and intelligence. Being a "foodie" is a huge "in" at private clubs. Looks aren't as important there as they are in public places (that tip based on looks). Instead knowing the people and what they like and how to please them will get you the big tips. There are people that make a decent living in the front of the house at private clubs. I've seen some outragous examples of how members take care of their favorite servers. Including all kinds of gift and bonuses. If you want to retire (stop running/being on your feet), become the locker room attendant. They make more then you'd dare to believe! Do the coat check in the winter and make more then the waitresses.

I bring my cream and sugar up to a boil, turn off the heat (cause I'm usually doing something else at this moment) pour in my yolks, give it a couple stirs and it's done. I totally don't believe in the need to whisk together the sugar and yolks..........and I don't even temper the cream into my yolks anymore. It's all just more steps. I don't get lumps of cooked yolks with my unorthodox method, believe it or not. If I did, it wouldn't matter because I pour it thru a strainer anyway. I'm totally against tons of applications that call for whipped yolks and sugar. Rarely is it needed, usually it's deflated by a wet ingredient in the end. And tempering with anything but chocolate.......is for the shy or in-experienced...........jmo.

What do you consider to be the differences between a "butter cake" and a "yellow cake?" Do you mean a "butter cake" is more like a pound cake? I would like to find a great layer cake recipe but am a bit confused here about these differences. Thanks. ← So the differences in crumb/texture and moisture I see between yellow, butter and pound cakes: It's important for a yellow cake to be light, both in weight and texture/crumb. Ideally it's moist also. A yellow cake can be dry (a bad one) but it's still light/airy. They never become dense, regardless of freezing or refridgerating or even getting stale. A butter cake is somewhat light while the cake is fresh. But once the butter in the cake cools down, the cake becomes heavier. When you refridgerate these, they become dense in texture....the butter returns to a solid (so to say). (We've tried replacing some of the butter in the cake with oil, so it wouldn't firm up when cold. But none have succeeded yet to my satisfaction.) A pound cake is denser then a butter cake when fresh. When it cools down completely I'd say it remains equal to a butter cake in texture. It doesn't get firmer as is starts out when fresh.

Hi Wendy, You didn't mention it in this post, but I was wondering whether you'd had a chance to try the Whimsical Bakehouse recipes, and if so, what you thought of them? ← I'm sorry, I just saw this question. I haven't baked any of the WB recipes, yet. I've read good reviews of them though.

No, they won't come out of a mold cleanly. Lining them with plastic is a pain and will give you wrinkles on your eggs. Spraying them with pan spray may not make a difference getting them to release, they could stick more. I don't think it will work even if you freeze them. Instead, how about molding them the traditional way? Make a shell using the molds you own and piping in your ganache then sealing them. Is there a reason why you'd rather hand dip then use the molds?

Ok.... I get what you're saying but why would bleached flour be your preference in some cases? I'm actually trying to figure this out because to the best of my knowledge I've never used it.... not in the past decade I've been doing this for customers anyways. Bleach in flour then into pastries in my mind conjures up a taste of something equivalent to wonder bread.... which I have eaten once in my life and didn't enjoy the sweetness of.... most likely because I am just not used to it. My cakes and pastries lean on the side of being extremely mild on sweetness but not fatty, just full of flavour. So, so far I've been happy with all of my results (about 80% of recipes original now, after tinkering) .... but with Sweetside mentioning it holds moisture and affects flavour now I'm wondering if bleached flour is something I should actually be exploring. What do you think? If it ain't broke don't fix it? Or I should really explore everything if I truly want to develop my own taste and style? ← I'm not a scientist by any stretch of imagination...........so I can't begin to address how flour is bleached or the exact differences between it and unbleached flours. (Although I do find it really interesting to learn about this.) The only things I can address is what I experience baking daily. I can understand peoples resistance to products that don't appear on the surface to be all natural. BUT as we've learned about tons of ingredients here, sometimes ingredients that have been tampered with by scientists are really just an improved product with nothing negative about it. As if all products genetically improved means they're ruining our health or our world....... was true, but it's not. But this is a whole different topic technically and it belongs in another forum if we want to continue it. Yes, I do think theres a difference in your finished product between using bleached and unbleached flour. In some items it's not that noticable but in others it's hugely noticable. If your serious about baking I do think it's important for you to try the two side by side in several items and form your own opinion, independent from everyone (including books and other pro.'s). I don't think I make too sweet of desserts or overly fatty items........not at all. I don't relate mass produced bleached flour to unbleached flour in that arguement. You'd have to get more into organics and whole grains, etc... for me to think your making "healthier" items.

What's a humbug?

If you or your co-workers don't remember which it is, it's probably pretty old and not worth using, imo. Flour is cheap, mistakes aren't.

At work I use a Salter brand scale........it was around $40.00 bought at either Bed Bath & Beyond or Linens & Things. I had a similar scale that recently gave up, but it lasted 3 years under heavy daily use. Sooooo how much you want to invest in a scale is up to you.....some of the cheaper models work quite well. Flour...............o.k. I'll spill (I'm a pro)........if I had my choice I'd have unbleached ap, bleached ap, pastry, cake & bread (plus: whole wheat, rice and a couple more) flours at work. BUT the reality of my space, particular job, etc... all I have is bleached ap and cake flour, period. I'm able to bake quite well with those two. Sometimes I think about changing to unbleached ap as my all around flour but theres more things I make that I like the bleached in, then the unbleached.

I plead total ignorance to using a refactometer.........never had one in my hands, I don't do anything with syrups. BUT isn't there a chart that breaks down the proportions of sugar to water (with-out using a refactometer).........I thought in either Gisslen, Frieberg or the CIA book? There must be something similar you can find online.

Some random thoughts: I find most servers don't want to do this and are scared, uncomfortable doing so. We wound up having the manager be the only one who'd do this per order. The manager trusted themselve and was able to do it with confidience. Make darn sure you've got the right surroundings to do this. As in, lots a space so no one will bump the server during flaming. If the room isn't dark enough, the effect is lost. You can't light it and walk out into the room, if your rooms are like mine there's too much draft. You don't light until your at the table. For baked alaska you see that many places use a hollowed out egg shell to hold the liqour for the flaming. Flaming in the kitchen doesn't have any wow factor.

I like the Garten cake as is. I don't think the coconut taste needs to be punched up. If you wanted, you could definately brush a syrup on to add to the flavor. I'd be more likely to use a simple syrup with a coconut liqour then a water mixture. You can put the syrup on either before or after, just so long as the cake is defrosted when you apply the syrup so it's absorbed.

My opinion......for what it's worth............. I really like my Chicago Metalic pans ALOT! I like their weight and how well they conduct heat, etc... Their only down fall is that in time (alot of abuse in a professional kitchen) the finish does get ruined/chipped. But "ruined" as in not perfect, but still fine to use. I've never had the surface get chipped where the food makes contact with the pan, only around the rim of the pans. The silcone pans, aren't ideal for baking as your item won't crisp or brown in the pan. But then that's ideal for some baked goods. For aluminum cake pans I like ones that are rarely sold in stores. The pans in stores are usually too thin and that effects baking and durablity (as in getting dents in the pan over years of abuse). You can get decent cake pans for the same price as the ones you get in stores, thru several sites on the internet. A site search on this topic should reveal several threads where we've listed sources/companies.

I think unbleached flour gives cakes/items more taste. The bleaching removes some of the taste of the wheat. Also items with non-bleached flour tend to be heavier/denser. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's not a good thing for the item your baking. It's alot of personal preference.....

Damn, that's a great idea!

Ahhhh, a couple things I see now that you wrote that. 1. Don't use a non-stick pan for baking a sponge cake. And don't butter and flour the pan either. (you'd have been better to change pans if you didn't have any parchement and choose a pan you could de-pan it from.......like a two piece ring mold.....) 2. It needs to cling to the sides of the pan as it rises in the oven and while it cools.