Wendy DeBord

I wouldn't freeze an upside down cake unless I had no other alternative. I think it's best eaten fresh with-out ever being refridgerated (at least the recipe is). But technically it can be frozen and served.........it just comes down to quality preference really.

O.k. now I follow. I'd develop a list/book of desserts that are easy to make, which don't involve baking or they have limited baking so anyone can make them. I'd be happy to help you work on that list on thread here if your interested? I'd suggest making a stovetop creme brulee or a (pot stirred) chocolate puddiing/pastry cream..........and call that my pots de creme (but only if I'm serving them in individual pots or containers). I still think you need to make a cooked custard/pastry cream/pudding to call this a 'pots de creme'....otherwise I think you'd be better labeling it as a 'creme au chocolat' as previously suggested by AlainV. I've just recently been converted to stove top creme brulees after reading 'Dessert University' by R. Mesnier and following his recipes. He writes about the stovetop version of making creme brulee: "Stirring the custard as it cooks incorporates air into the mixture, making the finished dessert much lighter then the baked version. To this end, I also whip the egg yolks very well to give them as much volume as possible. Adding cornstarch allows me to make the custard with fewer egg yolks then is customary, and this too contributes to the exceptionally silky and delicate texture." Mesnier doesn't have a brulee thats chocolate but he does rave about his chocolate pastry cream in his silky chocolate cream pie. "When covered with whipped cream and garnished eith chocolate curls, the pie is fit for a king". His recipe chocolate pastry cream/pudding: 6 tbsp. sugar 1/4 c. cornstarch 8 yolks 1 quart milk 8 oz. semi sweet chocolate 4 tbsp. butter Whisk yolks, sugar and cornstarch together until pale and thick. Heat milk to a boil. Temper into yolk mixture, return to pot continue cooking, whisking constantly until it reaches a full boil. Remove from pot and whisk in the chocolate and butter.

I'm not sure if I understand completely...........but- yes you can make your own clear glaze or nappage. Pierre Herme has a recipe in his book........in fact I've made it. I didn't totally agree that it's flavor is neutral though and since have used purchased apricot glaze just because it's so handy.

I just wanted to bump this post up and see if anyone knows the answers to Aix's questions. I'd also love to know how they shape them.........are they baked in molds?

I've used a couple recipes published by Karo Syrup in womens magazines over the years. Their pecan and chocolate pecan pies are very easy and delish. Heres their recipe: the photo above the recipe is of a plain pecan pie. Their chocolate pecan pie is much darker. http://www.karosyrup.com/pecanPie.asp?recipe_id=496 You also can add chocolate chips to a standard pecan pie recipe for a nice taste. That way you get little chocolate bursts and not too much chocolate.

I definately ditto the reccomendation on the SoHo Globs. They are very similar to Thomas Haas's sparkle cookies in that they are dark rich little cookies, like eating a flourless chocolate cake. The Globs have the addition of coffee and the sparkles have the crunch of sugar on it's exterior.

Scroll half way down on this page: http://www.auiswisscatalogue.com/store/mer...e=ASC/CTGY/FRUT I believe Albert Uster ships/sells world wide.

I guess I'm not sure why you would want a no bake recipe for this? Do you need help making traditional pots de creme?

I've never eaten a moon pie.........I feel a bit left out. Some cookies that I thought were 'impressive' off the top of my mind: Chocolate Sparkle Cookies, by Thomas Haas Sugar Cookies, by Carole Walters White Chocolate Peppermint Crisps, by Marcel Desaulnier Vanilla Shortbreads, by Claudia Flemming Coconut Tuiles, by Payard Coconut Chocolate Chip Macaroons, by Martha Stewart Mexican Wedding Cakes........by my Mom Noah Bedoahs, by Judy Rosenberg Langues de Chat, by J. Torres Toll House Cookies, by my husband eaten warm

Interesting and confusing............ "How do they differ?"......Powdered gelatin and sheet gelatin can be used interchangeably. How to prepare them for use- differs. Powdered gelatin is first dissolved in cold water (or another cold liquid that's in your recipe). The tiny gelatin granules will "bloom" or blowup/expand in size as they hydrate. Typically your mixture will become solid (not hard, but not liquid anymore) as the gelatin expands. You then need to heat this up to melt the gelatin before using in your recipe. Sheet gelatin comes in thin sheets that are hard and dry. You also have to hydrate this before using like the powdered gelatin. Unlike dryed gelatin-the sheets don't need to be hydrated in a exact amount of liquid. The sheets will absorb only so much liquid, and they will change from being hard and dry to soft and rubbery. You then squeeze out the liquid that clings to the sheets of gelatin. Again, you have to heat this to dissolve the gelatin. I think using sheets of gelatin is easier then using powdered gelatin. But the convience isn't enormous. Sheets are easier for professionals because we can have a bowl full of hydrated sheets on hand and just pull out and count how many sheets we need per-recipe. (This is a bit confusing-but....) Some professionals also hydrate a large quantity of gelatin and scoop out how much then need per-recipe (but this involves more knowledge in calulating how much per weight you need to gel to a certain consistancy). I often dissolve my sheet gelatin right into my hot ingredients in my recipe. Where as with hydrated dryed gelatin, I prefer to heat it to dissolve in a seperate step (not dirrectly in ingredients from my recipe)- so I can visually see that it's evenly dissolved. It does get tricky figuring out how to sub. sheet gelatin for dried in recipes. Because as pointed out earilier theres several grades of gelatin. I personally have not seen a difference in quality between these different grades (but I trust they exist in a more scientific test then what I do with recipes). But they weigh different amounts which makes them stronger or weaker depending upon their weight. W. Glissen writes " Sheet gelatin is available in various sizes, ranging from 1.7 to 3 g.". So......a sheet that weighs 1.7 g. is almost half the amount of weight of a sheet weighing 3 g. It will take you almost 2x the amount of the 1.7 sheets to thicken the same amount of liquid as the 3 g. sheet. So to know how many sheets of gelatin one needs to sub. it for dried you have to know what kind of sheet gelatin you have. For bronze sheets of Gelita brand gelatin I use them as 3 grams per sheet. I have another brand of sheet gelatin at work right now that works out to be 2 grams per sheet. So those Gelita sheets are a bit thinner then my current brand. I follow and believe the info. at the A. Uster site is more acurate then the info. at the other site linked. I've never experienced qelatin having a limited shelf-life. I've kept it for years and found it to work just as well as freshly purchased gelatin.

Thats it in a nut shell. That's why I'd serve it warm if I ever did it again. Or fry it to change it's texture.

Welcome Kapuliperson. I'm sorry to read you had problems previously with your doughnut making. If you need any assistance the next time, don't hesitate to ask.

I did a chocolate raviolli years ago. I wasn't crazy about it because of the texture..........I hand rolled it and it was thicker then ideal.........plus I served it cold. I think today I could do it much more successfully. If I did a noodle like a raviolli I'd serve it warm with a warm dessert soup/sauce. Maybe even fry it. Wrap a choc. truffle in chocolate pasta (or a strongly fruit flavored pasta) or put fruit inside like a filled wonton, maybe coat the wrapper with something too- then fry. I like the idea of making a cannelloni where your filling is more generous.

Thank-you Neil, that looks fabulous! I do like your flavor combo and the others suggested.....I agree completely- coconut bananas and coconut gelato needs further embelishment. I think I'm going to layer the gelato between two tuiles so the guys don't have to scoop, just reach in and grab. This should be interesting because I've wanted to do more advanced plating and haven't because I worry about burdening the line.........I'm interested to see how they react. I also like the idea of using a 'wrapper' so I have the burden of making these and all they do is fry. If this works out I'll be able to do similar items down the road. Thank-you all.

Yes I used flexipans......worked great. I didn't spray the pan at all either. ........more reasons to learn Spanish................

Woods, I don't own McGee's book. Yes please, if you have a moment I would like to know the scientific answer. Thanks.

Hum..........I've got an issue at work that I've wanted to mention to my chef but I'm not an expert enough on breads to handle the questions he'll have and prove the why's......so far I've avoided mentioning this. This issue is our bread always seems stale to me. If you make a sandwich the bread crumbles as you eat it. If the bread is grilled it's much better. They store the sandwich breads in the cooler, every place I've worked at seems to. I know the reccomendation is holding fresh bread at room temp. or freezing to hold bread, etc.... BUT I can't give the exact science as to WHY holding in the cooler isn't reccomended.....other then it ruining a nice crust. GG Mora your post has my interest peaked. Does a refridgerator promote staling because there are mold spores floating around in them? Anyone have the exact science why refridgeration isn't reccomended for breads?

Thank-you Redsugar, I'll give your recipe a try first thing tommarrow. I don't know much about these.........but I know the hot side uses purchased batter mixes for somethings (heck I can't even think of what they use it on-but I know they have some on hand). Anyone familar with that/these batters? If so, can I doctor up a purchased batter with a little sugar and seasoning and make it work in this situation? Ideally I'd like to keep the batter in the refridg. all day.......maybe even for 2 days: have them dip in batter, probably roll in coconut or something else-then fry and serve.

Sparrowgrass, thanks! I never knew a pressure canner could make water hotter then 212..........I always wondered what the advantage of a pressure cooker was over a water bath. Good to know!! Is the botulism entering the jar on the product (then your making sure to kill it thru canning) or being formed on it's own because of a ripe atmopshere for it? P.S. I do use a wooden spoon.

Ah, I mis-understood, glad to read your following times, etc....sorry. Good follow up questions! I don't know the anwers-it will be interesting to find out. In my food sanitation class they didn't mention anyway you can tell before getting sick other then avoid eating anything that could be questionable. It might vary from state to state but I believe you can't sell canned goods with-out a specific license/regulations..........as in restaurants can't just pop their product in cans and sell them willy nilly. Wasn't it bulging metal cans and or cans that were dented people worried about years ago? Todays commerical canning must be much improved from older methods. But I remember my Mom and Grandmother avoiding dented cans. BUT home canning......my best guess is you can never be absolutely certain. Don't some of the books and info. give you a warning to that effect? Isn't that a part of needing enough acid to can veg. properly and why you can't can meats?

I'm not sure what you mean by how can it kill you? It does (more to young and old or ill then healthy adults).......... and it does survive with-out oxygen and you can't taste it or smell it. You should be following a chart for how long you need to boil/can different items. The acid and the thickness of the item effects the timing. You really should get a book on the topic if your interested in canning (theres probably a free source online that contains the same info. check into 'ball' brand). Each method of canning also requires a different time. For instance, a cold packed can verses a hot packed can. I normally wash my jars in the dishwasher then right before I'm ready to can I stick them in my boiling pot of water for a few minutes before I fill them. My husband and I work together as a team canning. He mans the jars and lids-taking them out of the steralizing water, I fill them, stick a spoon in them to release any air, wipe the lids and screw on the tops, he then picks it up and puts them in the boiling h20. You begin timing after the whole pot has returned to a rapid boil. Canning is a science, what you put into your cans is an art....so you need to know your science to do this correctly.

Ted I just made cheesecakes in my indi. pans this past week for the first time. I poured about 1/2" of h20 in the bottom of the pan they were in. They bake really fast and perfectly. I used the pyramid mold and they were done in like 10-15 minutes at 250F (barely more time then a mini mold). I frozen them to remove. I was doing a cheesecake baklava combo so I made my baklava independent and I think I would do any crust in the rubber flex. molds seperately again.........just because it's so reliably perfect then. Whats strawberry granizado????? I think now I've baked cheesecake in every concievable pan/form. Keeping you oven temp. low 200f to 250f will always work with or with-out a water bath. It is a custard basicly and so long as you don't over heat it your fine. I usually put a pan of h20 in the bottom of my oven when I bake full sheet pans to give the oven more humitity but it works fine with-out it too. Oh, I use a convection oven-don't have access to reg.-it works fine on low fan. CanadianBakin'- yes you can bake in full size sheet pans. Just keep your temp. down 250f or lower and the biggest thing is-don't over bake! Remember that the cake will retain it's heat....continue cooking out of the oven like a piece of meat-so adjust accordingly. I've had too many failures and hassles with foil or other methods-I think they're a complete pain. A solid cake pan works wonderfully and you don't need to line it with parchment paper either (including full sheet pans). I warm the bottom of the pan to release mine-works perfect 100% of the time. Achevres- my favorite publications for baking books.........oh baby, that would be a long list. Typically I prefer to follow well known pastry chefs work over a test magazine. The pastry chefs work tends to taste better in my opinion. I've only baked a dozen or so recipes from that magazine and none were in the 'wow' catagory....they typically were just average at best. If your interested in cheesecakes specificly, I have a couple books on the topic I can highly reccomend. I've been working alot out of "125 Best Cheesecake recipes" by George Geary lately. Every recipe I've tried has baked perfectly and tasted pretty good. I also like "Cheesecake Extraordinaire" by Mary Crownover. "The Perfect Cheesecake", by the editors of consumer guide. HA-well that makes me a lier! What can I tell you-this little book is pretty good, they're all winners. Anything from Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Kraft..........they're alway decent.

I never make desserts ala minute- it's too hard to ask of the guys plating at night and I get inconsistant results. BUT my chef put, "Banana Fritters, deep fried coconut milk battered bananas, served with coconut gelato" on as one of our monthly specials. So I'm a little stumped as to how to make this fool proof and as simple as possible.......... Any advice and leads on recipes would be auesome.

I know this might sound strange but off the top of my head I'm wondering if theres too much liquid in your carrot recipe. I seem to recall getting similar results with a recipe that was too wet. The liquid really buildt gluten (of course I can't prove that-it just seemed that way). Are you draining the pineapple-typically you would?

If you look back at my previous post Keith, I had the same results as you. I wound up with 2 -9" cakes (mine didn't deflate after baking, you might have over whipped your whites before folding in- I also didn't grease my cake pan). I also ran tight on the vanilla orange bavarian, it's pretty exact.........so your hollowed out space for your passion fruit must be exact to displace the right volume.........so you have just the right amount to assemble. No harm though........ Spraying chocolate with a wagner sprayer gives you a thin coating where as pouring chocolate over your cake would be much too thick, impossible to cut. If you don't have a sprayer do like Keith and use a transfer sheet or you could pour some white chocolate ganche over the edges instead. Or just forget the white chocolate all together, use whipped cream to finish. I think theres 3 elements that make this cake taste great. It's the soft honey cake, the caramel and the orange.........they compliment each other perfectly. The passion fruit, white chocolate or using any other fruit you have on hand is just adding more..........which isn't really needed for this cake, those 3 elements stand on their own merits. This torte is exactly like Herme's or Bellouet's or Bau's and a dozen other French pc's style. All their tortes are similar, different mousses, cakes, jellies, brulee's- thats all. You just have to break it down into components and work them how ever fits your time frame. If you read through those chefs books- they instruct you to freeze most of your components as you go. That isn't something I learned on my own..., to look at tortes as layers/components then mix and match. So as I've worked thru these advanced books I've found zillions of different components that I like. I keep those recipes and assemble tortes according to flavors and textures I like. That's all this 'advanced' stuff comes down to.