Filed in Informational • Techniques

Baking Measuring 101

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 Baking Measuring 101

Baking is not nearly as forgiving as cooking is.  When you are making a soup, a little extra of an ingredient does not make much of a different most time.   But in baking,  getting and extra 1/4 cup of liquids at a time can make all the difference between success and failure.

We are going to talk about measuring our ingredients.  In the United States most people want to measure everything using measuring cups, many time people only use a liquid measuring cup.  But are measuring with cups accurate? read more

Filed in Cakes • Decorating • Informational • Instructional • Techniques

How to Cut and Assemble a Cake From Start to Finish Tutorial

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 Cutting and Assembling a Cake is Easy once You Have Your Mise en Place (Everything Prepared)

Think about it.  What is the difficult part of almost any cooking project.  This is measuring and gathering you ingredients.  This greatly applies to baking and cake decorating.

 

What is the big saying in carpentry?  Measure twice and cut once.    Well the same rule should apply to baking.  Measure twice and do the recipe once.  How hard can it be to measure?  Thing about measuring a 1/3 cup of vegetable shortening.  Do you use the water method – or do you fill a 1/3 cup measuring cup.  And then the clean up.  How about measuring it by weight with a scale.  Zero the scale, add the shortening to the proper weight and you’re done.  But remember, always review you ingredients and measure them twice.

Lay your ingredients out after double checking them twice.  Then look over the recipe again verifying that you have the correct ingredient, correct amount specified, correct temperature and all your ingredients. read more

Filed in Bread • White Bread • Yeast Breads • Dough • Instructional • Techniques

White 4 Braid Bread Recipe

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Today we are going to be making a White 4 Braid Bread from scratch by hand.  This means we will be doing all the kneading by hand and not using the stand mixer.  I am doing this to give you the experience to get in touch with your bread and show it is a labor of love.

While this recipes does not have eggs in the bread, I am using an egg wash to give a nice golden brown color on the crust and as a glue to hold our toppings.  You can replace the egg wash with some cream or milk which will give you a more duller color, but it will be just as tasty. read more

Filed in Cakes • Instructional • Syrups • Techniques • Swiss Buttercreams

Assembling A Chocolate Cake

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Today we are going to be filling and icing a cake.  This process is fairly easy once you have all of your ingredients ready.  The cake – my chocolate cake. The frosting – Swiss Meringue Buttercream. Simple Syrup. and Chocolate Ganache.

Along with a few simple tools. An offset spatula to help us spread the frosting, a turntable/lazy Susan to easily spin the cake.  A cake board to assemble the cake on.  A spoon for the ganache and last a pastry bag and tube for decorating and assembling. read more