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Flo Braker's Books


thecoffeesnob

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Hi guys. I just got Flo Braker's The Simple Art of Perfect Baking- i was lucky enough to have found a store that still had copies over the weekend- and i was wondering if anyone has ever tried anything from this book or her other book, Sweet Minatures?

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I made the White Butter Cake this afternoon as i had a couple of egg whites to use up from a batch of vanilla ice cream. It was so good! It has a really tight, soft and incredibly fine crumb- other than the slightly pale colour, you could barely detect that no yolks were used.

I had two slices still warmish from the oven with a cup of tea- delish! :biggrin:

Edited by thecoffeesnob (log)

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

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Hi guys. I just got Flo Braker's The Simple Art of Perfect Baking- i was lucky enough to have found a store that still had copies over the weekend- and i was wondering if anyone has ever tried anything from this book or her other book, Sweet Minatures?

gallery_61092_6164_7840.jpg

I made the White Butter Cake this afternoon as i had a couple of egg whites to use up from a batch of vanilla ice cream. It was so good! It has a really tight, soft and incredibly fine crumb- other than the slightly pale colour, you could barely detect that no yolks were used.

I had two slices still warmish from the oven with a cup of tea- delish!  :biggrin:

I use Sweet Miniatures quite a bit, but have had mixed results. The pistachio petits fours are a huge hit, though, and her sweet tartlet dough is a winner.

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Yeah, the white butter cake is really good (her method creates an excellent rise too), and very sweet, especially if it's not served cold.

From The Simple Art I've also made her Classic American Spongecake (for a strawberry shortcake), the La Fleur (genoise with pears and buttercream), St. Lily's Peach Cake (brown sugar genoise with peaches and cream), Chocolate Rhapsody (chocolate cake with mousse in the middle), and pineapple galette. I also consult her recipes for fondant, creme anglaise, and other component thingies :)

Mark

The Gastronomer's Bookshelf - Collaborative book reviews about food and food culture. Submit a review today! :)

No Special Effects - my reader-friendly blog about food and life.

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chefpeon- ooh, that just makes it so much harder for me to resist getting Sweet Minatures. The white butter cake isn't as rich as your typical butter cake and like jumanggy said, it is pretty sweet but it goes so well with a cup of black tea :smile: If you want me to share the recipe on recipegullet, just say the word.

RuthWells- incidentally, she has a Pistachio cake in Simple Art that looks amazing. Would you mind sharing which recipes didn't quite work out for you just so i know what to look out for if i do give it to temptation and get the book.

jumanggy- ooh they all sound really good! I've been reading the book in bed for the past couple of nights and can never get enough of the gorgeous but limited pictures. I'm just dying to try the honey genoise especially since i've never had much success with genoises.

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

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I have Sweet Miniatures as well and have success with most of the recipes I've tried. I'd definitely consider adding it to your collection. You must try Spicy Twin Thins. Weird name but oh my goodness, good! I'm not a spice cookie girl but these have made a convert of me. Lemon zest, black pepper, ginger, etc. So good!

Edited by CanadianBakin' (log)

Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Orison Swett Marden

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Lilthorner - mmm cranberry muffins. I have to try that some time when i've got left over milk to use up.

chefpeon - heh :biggrin: I'm new here and am having tons of trouble with posting the ingredients list on recipegullet- it keeps showing up blank when i preview the recipe. Perhaps i could email the recipe to you?

CanadianBakin' - What an interesting combination of spices- you've got me intriguied. I've been on a mission to try at least one recipe from each cookbook i've recently acquired- and there's a truckload of them, trust me- so i guess Sweet Miniatures will be just one more to add to the list if i manage to find it at a local bookstore :smile:

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

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I have an old edition of Sweet Miniatures. Does anyone know what the differences are between it and the newer edition?

Must. Make. Hedgehogs. Someday!

MelissaH

MelissaH

Oswego, NY

Chemist, writer, hired gun

Say this five times fast: "A big blue bucket of blue blueberries."

foodblog1 | kitchen reno | foodblog2

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I really like Flo Braker (met her at a Christmas cookie exchange a couple of years ago, what a nice person).

If you're posting the recipes that you love, can everyone please post the title of the book it came from since we're dealing with more than one book? I think it would be helpful for all of us! :smile:

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If you want me to share the recipe on recipegullet, just say the word.

Uh, word? :laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

Recipe's finally up! Happy baking! :biggrin:

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

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Recipe's finally up! Happy baking! 

Thanks 'snob!

Here's a linky for the rest of ya.....White Butter Cake

Just looking at the picture of the cake that you took makes me want to bake it! :laugh:

Even after living in Canada for 5 years, I'm still not used to metrics. How many egg whites would 150G be?

Would 175C be 350F?

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The amount for butter is missing in the recipe.

Whoops, sorry about that- it's fixed now. Thanks for that, abboja.

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

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You obviously didn't use the 8" springform.  What size loaf pan did you use?  Thanks!

I split the batter between a 12"x5" loaf pan and a 7" spring form pan. The loaf disappeared really quickly. The 7" cake was layered between strawberry jam and covered in sweetened whipped cream. It was served at a function my mum had this afternoon to rave reviews :smile:

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One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

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I made the white butter cake yesterday. I thought long and hard about what to frost it with, then settled on Cook's Illustrated's rich vanilla buttercream (made with four whole eggs and a pound of butter). Surprisingly, I don't think it was an ideal match. The buttercream tasted pretty good on its own, but seemed to overwhelm the cake. The flavors were also a bit redundant, and the cake very monochromatic. I liked the taste alright, but just wasn't wowed. I'm just not a huge fan of traditional buttercreams. I should have baked it in a loaf pan and eaten it warm. DH said it needed some raspberry jam. He hates whipped cream, but your combination, coffeesnob, looks and sounds a lot better than what I did. :hmmm:

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I made the white butter cake yesterday.  I thought long and hard about what to frost it with, then settled on Cook's Illustrated's rich vanilla buttercream (made with four whole eggs and a pound of butter).  Surprisingly, I don't think it was an ideal match.  The buttercream tasted pretty good on its own, but seemed to overwhelm the cake.  The flavors were also a bit redundant, and the cake very monochromatic.  I liked the taste alright, but just wasn't wowed.  I'm just not a huge fan of traditional buttercreams.  I should have baked it in a loaf pan and eaten it warm.  DH said it needed some raspberry jam.  He hates whipped cream, but your combination, coffeesnob, looks and sounds a lot better than what I did.  :hmmm:

I'm not big on buttercream as well so i totally get you. I imagine the frosted cake must have tasted really sweet and rich, considering the butter cake is pretty sweet and rich by itself. The strawberry jam- i went with my favourite brand that has no added sugar- went really well with the cake and i liked how the whipped cream seemed to have cut through the richness of the cake.

Oh well, any reason to make that cake again's good enough a reason- you could always send some my way! :wub:

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating. ~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

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