Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[Kim Shook]

merstar – thank you for the tip! We have a very good chocolate store in town and I’ll try to find the el rey there – I just can’t justify the shipping charges (almost as much as the cocoa itself!).

ET – lovely cake, and I especially love the accents! Just beautiful work.

dreamgirl – that is adorable and sounds truly delicious!

The Story and a Half Cake:

Mr. Kim wanted me to make a birthday cake for one of the guys who works for him. Turns out that the guy really preferred pumpkin pie, but requested chocolate cake because the other people in the section liked it. I suggested a pumpkin pound cake with orange cream cheese icing. Mr. Kim went back to the guy who said, “No, a chocolate cake would be fine”. So I stop and get all the stuff on the way home to make the cake. At 7pm, when I had my mise all done and my dark chocolate melted for the cake, Mr. Kim texts me saying that the fellow had just told him, BTW he’s lactose intolerant. I freak and race around looking up lactose free cake and icing recipes that won’t take too long and will use easy ingredients. Jessica calls a lactose intolerant friend who likes to bake and gets more info from him. I end up making the cake from a recipe on the cocoa tin. It works fine and the crumbs taste good. The cake isn’t due to the office until tomorrow, so I plan on making the icing tonight. Mr.Kim calls me from work, as I’m finishing the icing tonight and says, “Taste the icing before you frost the cake and if it tastes bad, you can just make your regular icing.” I say, “??????????????????”. Turns out that the guy is not really lactose intolerant, just slightly lactose sensitive. A regular chocolate cake made the way that I would have done it would have been fine. He can eat a chocolate bar, it was the cream cheese frosting that would have been a problem.

So….I’m thinking….arsenic is lactose free, right?

[E.T.]

Kim, your cake looks really tasty, lactose-free or not

And I love the buche, dystopiandreamgirl!

[Darienne]

So….I’m thinking….arsenic is lactose free, right?

And if it isn't, some other poison is sure to be. What a story!!!!

[Shelby]

merstar – thank you for the tip! We have a very good chocolate store in town and I’ll try to find the el rey there – I just can’t justify the shipping charges (almost as much as the cocoa itself!).

ET – lovely cake, and I especially love the accents! Just beautiful work.

dreamgirl – that is adorable and sounds truly delicious!

The Story and a Half Cake:

Mr. Kim wanted me to make a birthday cake for one of the guys who works for him. Turns out that the guy really preferred pumpkin pie, but requested chocolate cake because the other people in the section liked it. I suggested a pumpkin pound cake with orange cream cheese icing. Mr. Kim went back to the guy who said, “No, a chocolate cake would be fine”. So I stop and get all the stuff on the way home to make the cake. At 7pm, when I had my mise all done and my dark chocolate melted for the cake, Mr. Kim texts me saying that the fellow had just told him, BTW he’s lactose intolerant. I freak and race around looking up lactose free cake and icing recipes that won’t take too long and will use easy ingredients. Jessica calls a lactose intolerant friend who likes to bake and gets more info from him. I end up making the cake from a recipe on the cocoa tin. It works fine and the crumbs taste good. The cake isn’t due to the office until tomorrow, so I plan on making the icing tonight. Mr.Kim calls me from work, as I’m finishing the icing tonight and says, “Taste the icing before you frost the cake and if it tastes bad, you can just make your regular icing.” I say, “??????????????????”. Turns out that the guy is not really lactose intolerant, just slightly lactose sensitive. A regular chocolate cake made the way that I would have done it would have been fine. He can eat a chocolate bar, it was the cream cheese frosting that would have been a problem.

So….I’m thinking….arsenic is lactose free, right?

Kim, it's a gorgeous cake and I want you to know that you are 1,000,000,000 times nicer than me.

I would have had a melt down. I definitely am going to hell.

edited to say that chocolate cream cheese frosting sounds lovely

Edited October 20, 2010 by Shelby (log)

[Sheryl D]

Not the best picture, but most recent was the salted macadamia nut mousse, topped with ginger plum sauce and toasted coconut tuille (made gluten free).

[Genkinaonna]

Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones from BFMHTY...meeting Dorie on Tuesday inspired me to get back into the swing of baking my way through the book...and they made an excellent breakfast for me and the family...

[plum tart]

Pineapple upside down cake with rum butterscotch sauce and coconut whipped cream. No picture but it is gold and burnished and beautiful and delicious. I had it for breakfast; I couldn't wait.

[Genkinaonna]

How did you get the coconut flavor into the whipped cream? Infusing with flaked coconut? Malibu? Coconut milk? I must know!

: )

[plum tart]

How did you get the coconut flavor into the whipped cream? Infusing with flaked coconut? Malibu? Coconut milk? I must know!

: )

You guessed! I infuse it with flaked coconut. I leave it in and it is lovely. My daughter wondered if we could whip coconut milk, but even if we could, which I doubt it would be too rich. Try it!

[janeer]

Shaker Lemon Pie

[Genkinaonna]

I'm all over that...any dessert can be improved by the judicious addition of coconut. I'm going to use it next time I make a flourless chocolate cake as a topping.

Thanks for the idea!

[Sheryl D]

You can whip very cold coconut CREAM. You can get it unsweetened at Asian groceries, or just skim the cream off the top of cans of good coconut milk. But of course, it isn't the same flavor as toasted coconut.

[RWood]

Since I'm more of a dessert and chocolate person, I have to remind myself that I can still do other areas of pastry. I decided to make croissant dough and then my favorite hazelnut rolls.

[CanadianBakin']

Since I'm more of a dessert and chocolate person, I have to remind myself that I can still do other areas of pastry. I decided to make croissant dough and then my favorite hazelnut rolls.

Stunning! Nice to see the before and after.

[oli]

Since I'm more of a dessert and chocolate person, I have to remind myself that I can still do other areas of pastry. I decided to make croissant dough and then my favorite hazelnut rolls.

Gorgeous

[Kim Shook]

RWood – your hazelnut rolls are gorgeous! I am wondering where I might find those at 1 in the morning !

For the kids for Halloween, I’ve made my first try at Bakerella’s cake pops:

Bite:

Giant PITA. And almost nothing worked for me the way that it does for her. The candy melts were too thick and goopy – the coating was uneven and lumpy. The food color pens wouldn’t write on the candy coating (and my piping skills? Not. I finally gave up pumpkins and just dipped them in Halloween sprinkles). There was WAY too much frosting in the cake crumb/frosting mixture. My balls fell off my sticks. They don’t taste all that great (but I really didn’t expect them to). Yada yada yada. BUT, I kinda like making them. I think that the kids will love them and the girls at my office liked them a lot. I think that I can improve my technique and I already have a ton of ideas for different ones. She does mini cupcakes the same way and they are adorable. I’m wondering if I can’t do this with scratch cake (don’t see why not) and real chocolate and white chocolate. Can I color white chocolate instead of buying the horrible candy melts?

[Darienne]

Wonderful Kim!!! Why not make Royal icing for your colored parts?

[E.T.]

Those look adorable Kim!

[RWood]

RWood – your hazelnut rolls are gorgeous! I am wondering where I might find those at 1 in the morning !

For the kids for Halloween, I’ve made my first try at Bakerella’s cake pops:

Bite:

Giant PITA. And almost nothing worked for me the way that it does for her. The candy melts were too thick and goopy – the coating was uneven and lumpy. The food color pens wouldn’t write on the candy coating (and my piping skills? Not. I finally gave up pumpkins and just dipped them in Halloween sprinkles). There was WAY too much frosting in the cake crumb/frosting mixture. My balls fell off my sticks. They don’t taste all that great (but I really didn’t expect them to). Yada yada yada. BUT, I kinda like making them. I think that the kids will love them and the girls at my office liked them a lot. I think that I can improve my technique and I already have a ton of ideas for different ones. She does mini cupcakes the same way and they are adorable. I’m wondering if I can’t do this with scratch cake (don’t see why not) and real chocolate and white chocolate. Can I color white chocolate instead of buying the horrible candy melts?

I think you could use scratch cake with no problems. Just a firm cake, maybe like a pound cake. And yes you can color white chocolate. Just buy the candy colors that are oil based instead of water based.

As suggested above, royal icing could be used, but depends on the flavor and texture you want.

And thanks for the nice comments. One a.m. might be a little hard to do though

[Kim Shook]

Thank you all! The royal icing is a great idea, Darienne and thank you RWood for the information about oil based colors for white chocolate. I have a million ideas, if only I can get these to TASTE good!

[QbanCrackr]

figured it was time to post some pics...though nowhere near quality and complexity of what most of you have accomplished, i'm always a work in progress

chocolate lava cake with ovaltine whipped cream

vodka caviar

vodka ravioli (?)

another lava cake

chocolate mousse with valrhona dark pearls

chocolate peanut butter mousse

cream puffs

[CaliPoutine]

RWood – your hazelnut rolls are gorgeous! I am wondering where I might find those at 1 in the morning !

For the kids for Halloween, I’ve made my first try at Bakerella’s cake pops:

Bite:

Giant PITA. And almost nothing worked for me the way that it does for her. The candy melts were too thick and goopy – the coating was uneven and lumpy. The food color pens wouldn’t write on the candy coating (and my piping skills? Not. I finally gave up pumpkins and just dipped them in Halloween sprinkles). There was WAY too much frosting in the cake crumb/frosting mixture. My balls fell off my sticks. They don’t taste all that great (but I really didn’t expect them to). Yada yada yada. BUT, I kinda like making them. I think that the kids will love them and the girls at my office liked them a lot. I think that I can improve my technique and I already have a ton of ideas for different ones. She does mini cupcakes the same way and they are adorable. I’m wondering if I can’t do this with scratch cake (don’t see why not) and real chocolate and white chocolate. Can I color white chocolate instead of buying the horrible candy melts?

Thats always been my problem with her stuff. Gross, Gross and more gross. Those candy melts are disgusting. I just dont see the appeal of them if they taste like crap. But, I've always been more about taste than looks. My cakes arent pretty, but they are really delicious.

[smilingal]

Danny - Vodka caviar?? Please explain.

[QbanCrackr]

diluted vodka into some water (not sure on the exact ratio), mixed it with sodium alginate and used a syringe to drop little spheres into a calcium chloride water bath.

Heres a link so you get a basic idea

Wikipedia - Spherification

[plum tart]

Pumpkin, brown butter and pecan cake. I pretended it was a coffee cake and ate it for breakfast.