Making the world a little sweeter one pastry tip at at time.
Baked goods such as chocolate cupcakes and apple pie bring to mind family favorites and sweet treats. Is it possible to bake desserts like these without refined sugar? That was Laura Martin’s goal when she set out asking her culinary friends for recipes of baked …read more
ISM Chocolate Master It’s that time of year again – the ISM-Cologne Confectionery Trade Fair. The group calls itself ‘The World’s Leading Trade Fair for the Confectionery Industry.’ There was 35,000 visitors for the 2012 event with over 1,400 different exhibitors. This event targets the food trade, …read more
Looking for a little stocking stuffer this year for the baker in the house? Pop.O.Licious Cake Pops by Joey Dellino is the perfect book. This book is a hardback, pocket-sized cookbook packed with over 40 different cake pop creations. The spiral binding makes it easy for the pages to lie flat, and the pink elastic band attached to the back cover makes it great for holding your place for later.
Even though the book is small, the pictures are close up and clear, and instructions are thorough. If you’ve never tackled a cake pop in your life, the handy tips and instructions at the beginning make it easy and foolproof to start a batch.
I really liked the size. While Bakerella’s Cake Pops is a gorgeous book (spiral binding and hardbound, also), what I loved about Pop.O.Licious Cake Pops – the small size was easy to pop in my tote bag when out shopping for the ingredients. And the holiday designs were fun, too.
Book Information:
Disclosure: This book was provided by the publisher and any opinions are my own.
I love madeleines. So does everyone else in the family, too, so when I make a couple of batches I use every pan I have (I have three) to keep up with demand once they are finished. What is a madeleine? It is a tiny …read more
Last minute auction news – for those in the San Diego area, FSE Inc., located at Market Street in San Diego, is liquidated it’s equipment. It is happening this Saturday, December 1st. China and smallwares auction start at 9:15am and equipment follows at 11:15am. Equipment …read more
Love this idea!! I first heard about this style of cake this morning on one of my favorite blogs, dessert girl. In the blog post, there is mention of MRobin Cake Design and her luscious and completely different wedding cakes wrapped up in joconde sponge. I had to check them out having made about a thousand mini jaconde-wrapped cakes myself, served up as individual desserts. Really great idea here. And COMPLETELY customizable to whatever the bride can think up. She is based out of Portland, OR.
If you are wondering what Biscuit Joconde is, it is a thin, baked sponge cake that usually has a decorative element on it. The decorative element can be piped on, or scraped using a decorative marker and a colored mixture of the same batter. This batter is spread thin on a silpat (any brand silicone baking sheet will do), baked, then cut into strips and placed inside a pastry ring to hold together a mousse cake or layered for sheet cakes, like L’opéra. Really tasty, this sponge cake contains a mixture of egg whites and almond flour.
Here is one of the best videos on YouTube from Albarock. It’s in French, but you don’t need to understand the language; just watch the video as he explains the procedure well. The recipe is listed in English in the video.
To ‘spike’ something in cooking is to add an alcohol to it. In the case of most items, especially spiked desserts, it generally means that those foods are adults-only. Spiked Desserts, from Fox Chapel Publishing, is a dessert book where every recipe is spiked with …read more
I do lots of reading for all my pastry writing and I recently found a little gem, Foods and Food Adulterants on Baking Powders, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It goes into detail on the “investigation into the character and composition of baking powders.” …read more
Is creating candy at home hard? According their introduction, it is easier than you think, with the right tools and recipes that will enable successful results. To begin with, the authors use a term that I live by, namely because in culinary school it is ingrained into your brain – mise en place. My kids are little cookers who know that term, and any professional cook knows that good organization generally leads to successful adventures in cooking. I love that they put that in there. Also, I prefer to measure by weight rather than volume and you’ll find both in the recipes. And if you want to experiment a little, they give a good Improvising Dos and Don’ts to get you started.
There are seven chapters in the book, each exploring something a bit different: Candy 101; Chocolate Loves You and Wants You to be Happy; Gummi and Gooey and Chewy OH MY!; Creamy Dreamy Candies; Crispety Crunchety, Sticky and Scrunchety; Party Time in Candyland; and Candy Bars for Mad Scientists. Tucked inside the chapters is a great chocolate tempering guide and their version of pâte à glacer – which is no longer a trade-secret coating, and stages of sugar explanation. When I have multiple things on the stove and not enough thermometers to go around, I use the finger test for different sugar stages, and the book gives great pictures for those wanting to see what the stages look like when the hot sugar is dropped in water.
A favorite resource in the Liddabit Sweets Candy Cookbook was the “Speeddate The Candies” chart which listed all the recipes in a chart format with different attributes checked off, making finding a specific one very easy. Attributes include: Nutty; Boozy; Ship It, Ship It Good (very handy to know before making something to send off); Vegan; Gluten/Dairy/Nut-Free; and Make With the Wee Ones. There are 18 different categories for all 75 recipes.
All in all, one of the better candy cookbooks out there. But if I had to rate it on a scale of ‘funness’ though, this was off the charts. The photos were as much fun to flip through as the actual text.
Book Information:
Disclosure: This eARC was provided by the publisher and any opinions are my own.
October’s Pastry Sampler email newsletter was sent out. Recipe for a sweet potato pie is included. Enjoy!
