Wendy DeBord

When you flavor using lavender you have to taste your infusion to see if it's right, potent enough. I find the scent over the pot is far stronger then the taste...............also walk far away from your pot as you taste so your nose isn't fooled by the scent.

This might sound too obvious............but you didn't grease your pan.... did you? It should have stuck to the sides of the pan. If it was underbaked it seems to me the sides still would have been stuck to the pan and you would have had a cake that sunk in upon release.........or the center areas of you cake would have fallen out in globs. Besides not greasing your pan, I do NOT invert my chiffon cakes while they are cooling. I find it's not needed at all with this cake, it will not shrink or be less-then for not inverting. Unlike an angel food cake which is also baked in a ungreased pan then inverted while cooling- the chiffon cake is MUCH heavier! It's also far more solid and the microscopic air pockets thru out the cakes structure doesn't deflate from pressure exerted on it (like when you slice it). It has either or both baking soda and powder and that makes it more stable then an angel food cake. So definately rebake this and make sure you don't spray your pan, then don't invert it as it cools. Also do not remove it from the pan until it's completely cooled to room temp..

If your making alot of apple products you can buy in IQF apples, I use them in several items to save time.

From what you wrote you definately need more details. You write "to make an appearance" well just exactly what does that entail? An 'appearance' to my way of thinking is not more then a 1/2 hour. I agree that you need to find out more details, it's a MUST. If they are unorganized not telling you all the details-don't expect them to be more prepared on the day of the event. If there was no compensation or comp.ed dinner I'd hand them a list of what you needed exactly spelled out and let them provide it. Include helpers to get you in the door, find things for you and help you clean-up and repack your car. EDIT: I see Neil snuck a post in while I was typing..........so I wanted to respond quickly. His approach is the professional way. You cover all your own bases, period. Come in organized, work organized, make a unconfusing clean presentation. The only thing is, Neil is coming from a totally professional background. Chances are you won't encounter that level of professionalism at this restaurant. If your not being rewarded in anyway, you have no idea how many people will show up, you need to assert yourself and make them jump thru your hoops to some extent.........otherwise you may leave this experience feeling used.

I was lucky to have attended a chocolate class by Norman Love (It really was Fabulous!). I've been using his techniques ever since and I can walk you thru what he does....................but I'm really limited on time right now due to Thanksgiving. I'll post more and share my notes as soon as I have more time.

I'm delighted to see you (Patrick) experimenting and working so hard-----------then sharing with us, Thank-you!! Personally, I'm really dumbfounded on how they do that, coat with a soft caramel. My best guess would be that they pour out the caramel in thin sheets and when it's almost set/room temp. they're literally wrapping the marshmellow in caramel...............but then how do they get it to coat/cover the two ends?......it doesn't look like it starts out as a square sheet of caramel. No matter how I think this through......... they have to be enrobed like a chocolate candy. So you have to really hit the right temp.s with the right caramel recipe.

I wouldn't bake with them. I'd probably coat them with caramel and toffee and eat as a caramel apple.

I ("gasp") deep fry most of my nuts instead of toasting them. Granted thats not "toasting" it's "frying" but it does cook them perfectly. A fried nut tastes fabulous for days where as a toasted nut only tastes great for a couple hours. I also salt my hot fried nuts independently of what the recipe dirrects. I love the blast of a salty nut in my sweet dessert. I do think this gives me the best results possible. As to the best pecan pie........I think it's best if you don't refridgerate it before eating. I like it a little warm. Two thing happen to your pecans in this pie: the ones that hit the surface toast ALOT and the ones submerged will get soft in time. So I believe that the best pecan pie is freshly baked.

Thanks for posting your cake Deborah, it's terrific! I agree on the legs.........they're adorable.....................too funny actually, cause you've got me re-thinking what I was going to do, seriously.

Patrick, I'd love to know how you cover them in caramel. Any recipe or photos would be auesome............. I'm invisioning one heck of a yummy mess.

First, I'd like to ask everyone to be more considerate of their language and phrasing, please. I think it's safe to assume we are talking about intelligent people who do practice good personal and work hygiene. I have to admit I'm not familar with a "concorde" so I don't know off hand specificly what type of mousse it contains...........so I can't tell you my experiences with it's shelf life. (I believe Herme has a 'concorde' and it's buttercream and meringue with-out any mousse.) In general I think most cakes, tortes, gateauxs hold for 4 or 5 days. Almost everything tastes better the fresher it is. Typically the flavor will go down hill before the structure of any of it's individual components give way. To extend your shelf-life freezing is your best option, second is refridgerating and room temp. items typically age the fastest.

I'm having a hard time putting this together in my head...........this 'frosting' sounds pretty bad. Is it everything you want- or would you like some help with another recipe? Uncooked eggs are always refridgerated in the US, I know other countries have different positions. Most of us feel egg whites are safe at room temp. (even though we are taught otherwise in sanitation classes) but I don't know that anyone would agree that egg yolks are o.k. to hold at room temp.. I would have reservations serving your frosting even if it was refridgerated. I might eat it myself-but I wouldn't serve it to anyone with any possible health issues or risks.

Ditto the 50/50......I bring it up to a boil then turn it off imediately. The longer it boils the denser it becomes............then you don't have a 50/50.

You have to explain how you made this frosting for anyone to be able to answer your question. Did you cook the eggs in anyway? If so, how exactly? Whole eggs or egg whites?

I just wanted to mention that the plain marshmellow recipe makes great rice crispy treats, just imagine all the flavor possiblities there can be. The color is whiter/different since your not remelting the marshmellow but one taste and any doubts are gone.

Annie, this is going to sound pretty weird, but I've gotten brown sugar in the past that wouldn't melt in a pan with butter, period. At the time I was making bananas foster and I was so frustrated I couldn't get it to melt, I had everyone in the kitchen attempt to melt that brown sugar and no one could. Changed the brown sugar and everything worked fine as usual. So before you search too much further you might want to experiment with your br. sugar and check it out compared to another brand.

Wow, this sounds very interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing your photos! Good Luck!!

Well theres a fine line between dry and done. You don't want them too dry or they'll crack as you insert your filling. I don't hold tightly to any rule as to whether you fill from the top or bottom. But if you want to cover the whole left from filling it- then you need to fill from the top. I suppose you could have your bottoms dipped in chocolate...........but typically pastries are garnished on their tops. Rules can be broken.......... The nougatine base is something very traditionally European. In older pastry books the chefs prided themselfs in elaborate croquembouches combined with nougatine. You still can buy contempory pastry books that include this approach. I believe they also use these in place of cake for weddings. It's not done much by American chefs..........it's like so old that it's new again...........and not well known by American clients. In my personal opinion I like the idea of edible bases, etc.... but the truth is no one will eat that and using alot of nuts in nougatine can be expensive............I'd opt for a poured sugar base instead or a base covered in rolled fondant and painted with food colors.

I'm horrible at doing this............just dropped in for a quick thought. I think (and certainly can be wrong) using the word "custom" may inhibit some people from exploring your shop. To NY customers 'custom' isn't scarie, to rual IL clients it can be a put off.

Add me to the list of people that roll it out by hand. I roll it between two silpats.

I don't think I own the perfect recipe for this yet......so I'm sorry I don't have a recipe to offer up. But I found this rather shocking, yet it worked.............so I'm passing it on: I worked at a bakery that microwaved their dough so it was warmer and easier to pipe with a pastry bag. When I first saw them do that my jaw literally dropped to the ground.............but son of a gun........it worked with-out effecting their finished cookie.

I use pasturized egg whites if possible. "If possible" because my experience is that not all pasturized whites will whip to a stiff stage............and it varies from one container to the next even with the same brand made at the same time. We buy these in crates and I can pick up one carton that will whip and the one next to it won't. I also use raw whites............and "cooked" meringues with-out hesitation. If I'm really nervous because I'm serving a group of seniors I do use meringue powder- subbing weight for weight. Also when I'm making large batches of mousse or mousse I need to freeze I turn to meringue powder because it holds so well thru the freezing process. Also I might make a large batch of meringue powder whites earily in the day and use the remainer through-out the day as I make other items. It does hold, so your only beating whites one time in the day. I do think we've gotten too loose in naming bavarians and mousse. I do understand the French translation and that's how we are able to broadly use the term 'mousse' (it's pretty rare that you'll see the word bavarian on a menu). But a well made bavarian isn't texturally much different then a mousse, they both can be described as a foam. Theres a certain amount of stigma involving items set with gelatin and to avoid that turn off we use the word mousse too much because we don't want people to know theres gelatin in this. When used properly, gelatin is very helpful and not noticable to the 'average' person. If you wanted to define mousse from bavarian I don't think method is a good enough dividing factor because theres just too many methods to making both. Limiting "bavarian" to a mousse made with an anglaise base doesn't work because you can make a chocolate mousse using an anglaise that doesn't contain gelatin. Mentally I define mousse as "with-out gelatin" and bavarian as "with gelatin" and I too am guilty of calling that bavarian with gelatin a mousse.

I'm lucky in that we have a full time mantenience man at work who's nice enough to make this for me. For lack of a better way to descibe this.........I want two wooden boards at a angle like on the face of the clock at 2:50. I'll cover the boards with contact paper then build my cake on top of the board with the angled one being the tail feathers.

I find that you only need a tiny bit of butter to bind this together. You can't follow a recipe, you need to go by feel. Also don't add any sugar like a graham cracker crust would. I still pre-bake this crust and find that it firms up best after it's been baked.

I think I'm going to whimp out and use more of a Winbeckler approach.....and build a support system, then place cake on it and sculpt. I want to do a turkey about 4x the size of the one in the photo. Maybe I'm all wet, but I'm guessing that anyone who doesn't eat pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving will prefer a familar, less seasonal option. I'm thinking ice cream, creme brulee, small nibbles like cookies, petite fours, candies and some sort of chocolate item will be what the non-pumpkin eaters will be looking for.