Wendy DeBord

Whew.... gotcha now. Sorry, I can be pretty slow. Thank-you.

Wow..........I hope no one gets hurt eating those plastic logos. I see a law suit in their future. Have they really considered that? Thanks a bunch Neil. I still stuck on the carrot cakes though. I can't comprehend how the exterior surface bakes smooth. Hum...........

You gotta be kidding..........I have so many bad food habits that are oh so good. How about those greasie potatoe cakes at Arby's, add extra salt and ketchup. Love Mc'ds fries, they are the best of the fast food joints in my area. I love the apple pies they have at Taco Bell, they are just like how Mc'ds orginally made theirs. MOVIE THEATER POPCORN, LOADED WITH FAKE BUTTER..............I LOVE that junk! How about the onion rings at Popeyes dipped in their ranch dressing..........YUM!

Welcome! I'm delighted you decided to post AND share photos! They look great. Boy have you come to the right place, we have alot of people who are familar with that book. I hope to see you become a regular.

You technically can use any flavorless oil, if you have a hard time finding coconut oil. Many professionals add it to their chocolate when forming fans. I forget, it's either 5% or 10%?

Thanks Neil! No way, the logos are plastic, not chocolate? That would be a serious choking hazard......... Darn, custom molds, it figures! Are they two pieces......how can you unmold them if they aren't? I thought those might be hazelnuts on the eclairs cause their the right size..........just didn't think they'd put hazelnuts on a eclair, thanks. O.k. I think you can buy the green leaves thru PCB (even molded already)........at least they have something extremely similar. Now the real stumper............I don't get how you get that smooth of a surface spraying cocoa butter straight on a carrot cake? Help, I'm stumped.

I think that's true Ted. I think we all start with that dedication, but the reality of the profound unhappiness having such a limited life style makes you wake up. The only people I know who haven't "woke up" and gotten a life are so depressed it's sad.

I have some questions about the garnishes and finishes, if you don't mind. 1. On the Exotic, Imperial and Pecan Tart what do the ball shapes on top consist of? How do you get it so darn round? 2. On the Chocobana is the green triangle garnish sugar? in the refridgerator? 3. Whats the garnish on top of the eclair (more balls)? 4. Can you explain how you finish the carrot cake, from it's orange coating to the garnishes on top, please? THANKS

The cherry juice in the recipe I posted does do alot to add flavoring. If you don't add any cherry juice (by using frozen cherries) I think you'd have to punch up the flavor in another way......or use more chopped cherries or extract. I've never had any, but I think someone must sell a cherry emulsion........that would be a simple way to add flavor to buttercream.

Kris, Please post your recipe on thread to share, verses private emails. Thanks.

There is a recipe for Cherry Vanilla Buttercream in Chocolate Passion, by Tish Boyle and Timothy Moriarty thats very good. Recipe: 1 can tart cherries packed in h2o 3/4 c. reserved juice from cherries 1 3/4 c. granular sugar (divided) 6 yolks 2/3 c. 1/2 & 1/2 1/2 vanilla bean 1 1/2c butter 2 tbsp. kirsh 1/8 tsp. almond extract You cook the cherrie juice with 1 1/4 c. of the sugar to 238F pour half of it over the reserved drained cherries, let them steep. Reserve, when cool chop. Heat the half and hald, vanilla and remaining 1/2 c. sugar, temper in yolks.......making anglaise. Strain, put in mixing bowl and mix until temp. drops to room temp.. Gradually add the butter (like typical butter cream), then add reserved syrup, kirsh, extract, chopped cherries. I don't add the kirsh or vanilla bean, instead I add more almond extract. You can omit the chopped cherries if you don't want them you can also put a little food coloring in if you want a pinker color.

You wouldn't want to add an oil to a macaroon batter. Mac. batter is whipped egg whites folded into almond flour. Also those Loranne oils are hit and miss flavor wise. Raspberry powder could/should be able to replace some of the almond flour with-out harm to the recipe.......just like cocoa powder.

Thanks Pam. If you make these (anytime) would you post a photo? I'd love to see them (well I'd rather taste them, but a photo will do).

Oh MY!!! I woke up in a bad mood this morning (repeatedly awoken last night) and you just made my DAY Neil! How gorgous!!!!!!!!! I want to taste everything! Are they selling anything online? I wouldn't want to be the person that has to clean out that chocolate waterfall if your temp. drops. Will you post a photo of it when it's running, please? Crepes made to order..........cool, very cool. Can we ask you questions about some of the items?

What are "nothings"?

Boy, I had to go and look at that recipe to see what was unique about the ganche that it won't hold. The answer is nothing. Hopefully Dorie will explain Herme's intent. But I've held ganches for a month in the cooler, well wrapped. We also hold truffles for that length too. If you left your tart filled with ganche uncovered in the cooler it would turn bad in a couple days. But what happens is it cracks, dries or turns rubbery and your crust gets moister. Although it does say 2 days in the ganche recipes regardless of the tart shell. Imagine, if chocolatiers thru out their truffles every 2 days, what the cost would be. Herme' is a perfectionist and in a perfect world I wouldn't want to hold anything either, everything would be fresh to order. But there's no way that ganche is going to kill you, so relax. When it tastes bad or smells bad then toss it.........chances are you'll have eaten it well before then. You can freeze it, that works very well.

If you coat the inside of your tarts with chocolate that helps them retain their crispness. White chocolate would work with lemon curd. I'm a little brain dead right this second, but the first thing that came to my mind was decadent dipped pretzels. Like coated with caramel, chocolate, candy bits then put into bags tied with ribbon. I also think people like candies as much as they like mini pastries. They just want a little nibble of something sweet. Maybe some fudge, bark, coated nuts, toffee, etc... All of which can be made well in advance.

Alrightaaaaaa.........glad to know I'm not missing something. I've been pretty tempted to use those same little jars, if my work was larger I could get away with it, but they'd notice 1/2 a case missing. Thanks Neil!

I've been thinking of switching over to a chocolate genoise and using a chocolate syrup (I like the one in the Bakers Dozen Book). If you had asked which one was a better purchase, the Desaulniers or Herme'...........everyone would tell you the Herme' work definately.

None of his cakes satisfy my search for the perfect cake. They are all decent, but average, I'd put his cakes on level with RLB.

You can't compare Desaulniers to Herme'! And you can't put Leach or Moriarty in his league either. The value of any book depends upon your level of knowledge on the topic. Do all of the authors mentioned have merit/value as a learning tool, yes! You can work out of Herme's professional book and Pillsbury or Betty Crocker too. Todays knowledge has been buildt on yesterdays knowledge.

I think Annie gave you some very good advice. I think we all have gone thru that same thing. Unless it's something you do repetitively you are just guessing about the time needed. No matter how experienced you are, your still going to run into unexpected obstacles and time warps. There's so much that can happen that you can't plan for. You can't take responsibility for the amount of time it takes you unless your really screwing up. You hit the nail on the head Zilla, "It's a constant challenge to balance your own exacting standards against profitability/possible future business/pleasing the client, isn't it?"!!!!! OH YES! Congrat's on the raise, that's a very very good raise! It's really hard for the hot side to understand how long it takes to make pastries, in fact that's the problem with the whole pastry industry: time + ingredients = price...........and there's so little room for profit in that equation. It's sooooo much more time consuming then tasks the hot side does. It's comparing apples to oranges and at times both sides will find that frustrating. As long as your not screwing off, you should be paid for your work no matter how long it takes. Annie is dead on right that you don't do your owners a favor if they don't know the brutal facts.

O.k.........so I'm predictable. Oh well. Still- very happy to have you here JacqueOH! I haven't baked a thing since the Dec. 31 and man do I feel rusty. Just looking at the recipe you linked...........I don't recall baking a sponge cake like that with baking soda or powder added. It's got 1 1/2 tsp. to 1 c. flour...........yeks........I don't particularly like that recipe at all. I'd pitch it and use another one all together. The cake must have exploded then colapsed. Sometimes it's not what we've done wrong, sometimes the recipe is flawed. The sponge cake I use for tres leche cake has no additional leavener just the whipped eggs whites. So next attempt, use another recipe and don't grease any part of your pan. Place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom and let the sponge cling to the sides of your pan for support. Let it cool to room temp. in the pan before unmolding it. For tres leches, you want to make a dry sponge. That means you can over bake it a bit, plus I leave mine uncovered over night to let it stale. Then when you add your milks it isn't too fragile. So try, try again. It's all part of the experience.........

Cool Zilla!! Nice work.

Thanks for posting that Annie.........it's sort of an eye opener for me. It seems to explain similar crusts I've come across and never been able to duplicate. I haven't had a frozen mass produced pie in a long time, but I'm thinking that some of those large manufactors might know that lard secret.