Bakers Secrets

[Becky]

Yum! That looks delicious!

 

[ChesterV]

Yum! That looks delicious!

It's my most popular cake.
It's my Aunt's "Strawberry Strawberry" cake.
Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Frosting.
(real strawberries used in both)

 

[Winterybella]

It's my most popular cake.
It's my Aunt's "Strawberry Strawberry" cake.
Strawberry Cake with Strawberry Frosting.
(real strawberries used in both)

I have to agree it looks yummy. All the frosting would probably kill me but I love to look at them and wonder what if.

 

[Diane Lane]

Great tips, thank you @ChesterV. It never occurred to me to freeze the cake first, but that makes total sense. I also like the tip about piping the frosting around the edge first, so the filling doesn't squeeze out. I don't know why I never thought to use meringue powder to slightly thicken the frosting, instead of using gobs more sugar, but I'll definitely try that next time.

 

[ChesterV]

I have to agree it looks yummy. All the frosting would probably kill me but I love to look at them and wonder what if.

Well, I have a friend who hates buttercream (can you believe such a person exists?????), so I substituted the buttercream for whipped cream. Works just as well. Tastes just as good too!!!!

 

[ChesterV]

 

[Becky]

I discovered last night that pizza cutters are pretty good at separating bread dough

 

[ChesterV]

I discovered last night that pizza cutters are pretty good at separating bread dough

I've seen bread makers use those for cutting dough for rolls, bread sticks, buns, dough strips, etc....

If there's one thing I've learned while working in kitchens, is that every tool in a kitchen has many different uses.

 

[Winterybella]

So this popped up today and I am glad. I have not been able to do much baking for a while now but this is something I will always find useful. Time for some book marking.

 

[ChesterV]

Here's another one of my own, personal "secrets"....

If you are like me, and you LOVE LOVE LOVE the taste of real fudge, then you might want to try this!

Now, I have to tell you, you can spend up to 30 minutes standing at the stove.......so make sure you have some time set aside to do this all at once.


The Fudge Ball

What you will need:

1 large sauce pan
1 whisk
1 stick of butter (or equivalent in margarine)
1/2 cup of sugar
1 Tablespoon of vanilla
2 cups of triple sifted cocoa powder
1 cup of water (or milk)
-------------------------------
plastic wrap
air tight container


Pour the water/milk into the sauce pan, turn burner on medium.
Place butter or margarine into the sauce pan.
If you are using milk, then you will have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't stick or burn on the bottom....keep it stirred.
When the butter/margarine has completely melted in the water/milk, add the vanilla and sugar and whisk till sugar is dissolved.
Star whisking in the cocoa powder a little bit at a time. You want to make sure you don't clump the mixture as clumps are difficult to dissolve.
It is best to put in the cocoa powder a couple of teaspoons at a time and whisk till blended.
This should get pretty thick, so you might have to change from a whisk to a spoon.
Once you've added the last of the cocoa powder, remove from heat and continue to mix until even consistency. If you need to switch from a whisk to a spoon, then you can do so.
Once an even consistency, scrape sides of sauce pan clean and allow fudge ball to cool.
Once cooled, you can use a spatula to scrape out the fudge ball into the middle of a piece of plastic wrap. Fold the corners of the wrap towards each other, then twist and fold over the fudge ball.
Place fudge ball in the airtight container.

This can be kept in the fridge or the freezer until ready to use.

This is your base for anything you want to be extra "fudgey"!
Also great for hot chocolate!

This keeps in the freezer for about a year, so you can make these ahead of time in anticipation for birthdays or holidays.

Depending on how chocolatey or fudgey you want your goodies, will depend on how much you use of the fudge ball. Just make sure it's at room temperature before you add it to your base, batter, or liquids.

This tastes REALLY good, because I have found that if you heat up chocolate, it releases more of the chocolately flavor from the cocoa powder.

I use this to make my Sin cake, which is a fudge brownie cake with fudge raspberry frosting and filling. People go nuts for this cake! And its all because of the super fudgey taste from the fudge ball.

 

[Becky]

*DROOL!*

 

[Norcalbaker59]

more tips...

1. Sift: sift all dry ingredients together. Then sift again. Then a third time. I know everyone thinks sifting is an archaic, useless, waste of time--but it ain't. It's NOT about fluffing up the flour. It's about equal distribution of that itty-bitty amount of leavening in all that flour so you don't get a bunch of worm tunnels in your cake.
2. Doneness: cake is done when center springs back gently when lightly pressed. If the cake has pulled slightly away from sides of the pan, it's over-baked. The sides should pull away from the sides after its out of the oven.
3. Second ChesterV on cloth baking strips. If you want a level cake, evenly baked cake, use the wet cloth strips around the pan. I swear by them. I use Wilton cuz I'm too lazy to make my own.
4. Bake cakes in 2/3 sheets (aka 3/4 sheets) then cut layers with cake rings or template. No need to torte and level layers since layers are already 1" high and level. Bake more cake a lot faster. This is the method I use 80% of the time. It's a method used in commercial bakeries because it's so efficient.
5. Use 3" round cutters to cut up cake scraps from sheet cake. Wrap, label, and freeze for cake tastings or individual desserts.
6. Egg shell fragment: use a piece of the egg shell to remove that pesky bit of egg shell that falls into the bowl of eggs. For some inexplicable reason, egg shell fragments are repelled by everything--spoons, fingers, spatulas, but not it's own shell.
7. Separating eggs: cold eggs separate more easily than warm eggs.
8. Fruit preserves as a crumb coat: heat a 1/2 cup neutral flavored preserves, like apricot, with 1 tablespoon of water. Press through fine sieve. Brush thin coat over cake. Let it set up 10 minutes then decorate. Works well for cakes that are going to be chocolate glazed; also a good seal on bottom of baked tart shell before filling. Works as a glaze on the fruit of a tart too.
9. Rolling pie dough: roll between two sheets of plastic wrap lightly floured. When it's rolled to size, Peel off top wrap, slide hand under bottom wrap and gently flip over into pie plate. Keep plastic on while easing dough into plate. The plastic helps prevent tears. I do this when assembling hand pies too.
10. Make a double or triple batch of pie dough crust. Roll out extra dough and cut into disks 3" larger than you pie plate. Stack with a sheet of wax paper between each disk. Double wrap stack and freeze. When you want pie, place a frozen disk over a pie plate. As it thaws, the dough will sink into the pie plate. Fill and bake.
11. Baking Pie: set rack on lowest position in oven. Place cookie sheet on rack. Heat metal cookie sheet for 20 minutes before putting in pie. Setting pie on a hot sheet will help prevent the dreaded half-baked soggy bottom pie. Pyrex says don't put glass plate on hot cookie sheet. I find a quality metal pie plate bakes a better crust than the glass plates.
12. Want banana bread, but your bananas aren't very ripe? Toss in 300 degree oven until the peel turns black.
13. Whipped cream: measure out the heavy cream, then pop it in the freezer for 5 minutes. Very cold heavy cream whips beautifully. Warm cream won't.
14. For perfectly beaten egg whites, a scant 1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar per large egg white added after the eggs are beaten for about 45 seconds. I absolutely positively swear by this method. I have never over beaten egg whites when I've used cream of tartar.
15. Use a melon baller or round measuring spoon to scoop out core of an apple or pear
16. Forgot to take eggs out of refrigerator for your baking project? Place eggs in shell in bowl of warm water for 5 minutes
17. Forgot to take butter out of refrigerator for your baking project? Microwave at 50% power in bursts of 3 seconds.
18. Can't get your butter based buttercream to take color? That's because the butter repels the absorption of the dye. a) After egg whites are beaten, set 1/4 cup aside, finish rest of buttercream. Add food color to reserved beaten egg whites. Mix color in well, then add to buttercream. OR buy food color labeled for candy. OR but Americolor Flo Coat. Mix a small squirt of Flo coat and food color, then add to buttercream.
19. Want to whiten your butter based buttercream? Add a very, very, tiny bit of Americolor violet or Sugar Flair grape violet gel to your Buttercream. Beat. Repeat a couple of times. Careful not to add too much or it will start to turn gray. DO NOT USE WILTON!! WILTON COLOR WILL TURN IT GRAY IMMEDIATELY! NO WILTON!
20. Need your Royal Icing white? Oh, you say Royal Icing is already white...add Americolor bright white and go from dull to white. If your using white as a border and a yellow based fill color, it makes a big difference when the white is brightened.
21. Got a ton of icing to do? Cut a sheet of plastic wrap longer than your pastry bag. Place buttercream lengthwise down the center of the place leaving a few inches on each end. Roll icing up in plastic, twisting ends tight. Repeat with rest of buttercream. Place a icing roll inside pastry bag. Pull the twisted end through piping tip and cut off. Pipe away. When icing roll is empty, simply pull the plastic out, load another icing roll in and continue. No messy sticky pastry bag to open and refill over and over.
22. For piping multiple colors, fill icing rolls, as instructed above, with different color icing. Load two or three different colors in the pastry bag; pull the ends through the piping tip and cut off. Squeeze a little bit out before you begin piping. The colors will swirl together beautifully. No messy sticky gooey mess trying to stripe the inside of a pastry bag with multiple color.
23. Fighting sticky fondant with way too much powdered sugar and ending up with elephant skin? Buy a large piece of heavy gauge lead and phthalate free vinyl fabric (JoAnn's sells it for $7/yard). Cut into two pieces. Roll fondant between the vinyl sheets. Remember to wash and dry after each use
24. Have to transport a two or three tiered cake? I like this homemade cake box design with a few additions. 1) reinforce the bottom of base with extra tape in criss-cross pattern. 2) place pegboard cut to size inside base. 3) place cake with cake board on pegboard and insert pegs around the pegboard to keep cake from shifting in box. 4) cover cake, then secure top to base with nylon webbing straps.
    .
25. Keep a container of unflavored dental floss in the kitchen drawer. Use to slice everything from cinnamon roll dough to torte cake layers.
26. When storing baked goods like cookies, crackers, carmels, toffee in ziplock bags, use a straw to suck the air of of the bag.

 

[ChesterV]

more tips...

1. Sift: sift all dry ingredients together. Then sift again. Then a third time. I know everyone thinks sifting is an archaic, useless, waste of time--but it ain't. It's NOT about fluffing up the flour. It's about equal distribution of that itty-bitty amount of leavening in all that flour so you don't get a bunch of worm tunnels in your cake.
2. Doneness: cake is done when center springs back gently when lightly pressed. If the cake has pulled slightly away from sides of the pan, it's over-baked. The sides should pull away from the sides after its out of the oven.
3. Second ChesterV on cloth baking strips. If you want a level cake, evenly baked cake, use the wet cloth strips around the pan. I swear by them. I use Wilton cuz I'm too lazy to make my own.
4. Bake cakes in 2/3 sheets (aka 3/4 sheets) then cut layers with cake rings or template. No need to torte and level layers since layers are already 1" high and level. Bake more cake a lot faster. This is the method I use 80% of the time. It's a method used in commercial bakeries because it's so efficient.
5. Use 3" round cutters to cut up cake scraps from sheet cake. Wrap, label, and freeze for cake tastings or individual desserts.
6. Egg shell fragment: use a piece of the egg shell to remove that pesky bit of egg shell that falls into the bowl of eggs. For some inexplicable reason, egg shell fragments are repelled by everything--spoons, fingers, spatulas, but not it's own shell.
7. Separating eggs: cold eggs separate more easily than warm eggs.
8. Fruit preserves as a crumb coat: heat a 1/2 cup neutral flavored preserves, like apricot, with 1 tablespoon of water. Press through fine sieve. Brush thin coat over cake. Let it set up 10 minutes then decorate. Works well for cakes that are going to be chocolate glazed; also a good seal on bottom of baked tart shell before filling. Works as a glaze on the fruit of a tart too.
9. Rolling pie dough: roll between two sheets of plastic wrap lightly floured. When it's rolled to size, Peel off top wrap, slide hand under bottom wrap and gently flip over into pie plate. Keep plastic on while easing dough into plate. The plastic helps prevent tears. I do this when assembling hand pies too.
10. Make a double or triple batch of pie dough crust. Roll out extra dough and cut into disks 3" larger than you pie plate. Stack with a sheet of wax paper between each disk. Double wrap stack and freeze. When you want pie, place a frozen disk over a pie plate. As it thaws, the dough will sink into the pie plate. Fill and bake.
11. Baking Pie: set rack on lowest position in oven. Place cookie sheet on rack. Heat metal cookie sheet for 20 minutes before putting in pie. Setting pie on a hot sheet will help prevent the dreaded half-baked soggy bottom pie. Pyrex says don't put glass plate on hot cookie sheet. I find a quality metal pie plate bakes a better crust than the glass plates.
12. Want banana bread, but your bananas aren't very ripe? Toss in 300 degree oven until the peel turns black.
13. Whipped cream: measure out the heavy cream, then pop it in the freezer for 5 minutes. Very cold heavy cream whips beautifully. Warm cream won't.
14. For perfectly beaten egg whites, a scant 1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar per large egg white added after the eggs are beaten for about 45 seconds. I absolutely positively swear by this method. I have never over beaten egg whites when I've used cream of tartar.
15. Use a melon baller or round measuring spoon to scoop out core of an apple or pear
16. Forgot to take eggs out of refrigerator for your baking project? Place eggs in shell in bowl of warm water for 5 minutes
17. Forgot to take butter out of refrigerator for your baking project? Microwave at 50% power in bursts of 3 seconds.
18. Can't get your butter based buttercream to take color? That's because the butter repels the absorption of the dye. a) After egg whites are beaten, set 1/4 cup aside, finish rest of buttercream. Add food color to reserved beaten egg whites. Mix color in well, then add to buttercream. OR buy food color labeled for candy. OR but Americolor Flo Coat. Mix a small squirt of Flo coat and food color, then add to buttercream.
19. Want to whiten your butter based buttercream? Add a very, very, tiny bit of Americolor violet or Sugar Flair grape violet gel to your Buttercream. Beat. Repeat a couple of times. Careful not to add too much or it will start to turn gray. DO NOT USE WILTON!! WILTON COLOR WILL TURN IT GRAY IMMEDIATELY! NO WILTON!
20. Need your Royal Icing white? Oh, you say Royal Icing is already white...add Americolor bright white and go from dull to white. If your using white as a border and a yellow based fill color, it makes a big difference when the white is brightened.
21. Got a ton of icing to do? Cut a sheet of plastic wrap longer than your pastry bag. Place buttercream lengthwise down the center of the place leaving a few inches on each end. Roll icing up in plastic, twisting ends tight. Repeat with rest of buttercream. Place a icing roll inside pastry bag. Pull the twisted end through piping tip and cut off. Pipe away. When icing roll is empty, simply pull the plastic out, load another icing roll in and continue. No messy sticky pastry bag to open and refill over and over.
22. For piping multiple colors, fill icing rolls, as instructed above, with different color icing. Load two or three different colors in the pastry bag; pull the ends through the piping tip and cut off. Squeeze a little bit out before you begin piping. The colors will swirl together beautifully. No messy sticky gooey mess trying to stripe the inside of a pastry bag with multiple color.
23. Fighting sticky fondant with way too much powdered sugar and ending up with elephant skin? Buy a large piece of heavy gauge lead and phthalate free vinyl fabric (JoAnn's sells it for $7/yard). Cut into two pieces. Roll fondant between the vinyl sheets. Remember to wash and dry after each use
24. Have to transport a two or three tiered cake? I like this homemade cake box design with a few additions. 1) reinforce the bottom of base with extra tape in criss-cross pattern. 2) place pegboard cut to size inside base. 3) place cake with cake board on pegboard and insert pegs around the pegboard to keep cake from shifting in box. 4) cover cake, then secure top to base with nylon webbing straps.
    .
25. Keep a container of unflavored dental floss in the kitchen drawer. Use to slice everything from cinnamon roll dough to torte cake layers.
26. When storing baked goods like cookies, crackers, carmels, toffee in ziplock bags, use a straw to suck the air of of the bag.

I knew I was forgetting something!!!!




I had totally forgotten about the dental floss trick!

I've always sifted all my dry ingredients together, three times over. Somehow three is the magic number for this.
I always mix my wet ingredients together also, then fold one into the other.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

I knew I was forgetting something!!!!




I had totally forgotten about the dental floss trick!

I've always sifted all my dry ingredients together, three times over. Somehow three is the magic number for this.
I always mix my wet ingredients together also, then fold one into the other.

ChesterV, we are from the same generation of bakers...bakers these days don't want to bother with process. Some process is really critical to the quality of your product. Like you, I am old school sifter and will always be a sifter.

But I did upgrade from my old hand crank sifters to professional mesh

 

[ChesterV]

ChesterV, we are from the same generation of bakers...bakers these days don't want to bother with process. Some process is really critical to the quality of your product. Like you, I am old school sifter and will always be a sifter.

But I did upgrade from my old hand crank sifters to professional mesh

Before the age of "cable tv" there was PBS. I used to watch a lot of the cooking shows on there. I cannot remember which cook/chef it was, but I remember hearing something like "to get the best textures from your dough.......SIFT, SIFT, SIFT". Made sense, and been doing it ever since.

 

[Norcalbaker59]

Before the age of "cable tv" there was PBS. I used to watch a lot of the cooking shows on there. I cannot remember which cook/chef it was, but I remember hearing something like "to get the best textures from your dough.......SIFT, SIFT, SIFT". Made sense, and been doing it ever since.

Lol. Im betting Julia Childs--she was hysterically entertaining and a stickler for those fine details. What I loved about her is she would make a mistake, shrug and say, "oh well, that didn't work out quite like it was suppose to, but you get the idea." There will never be a more beloved celebrity chef than Julia Childs...the Galloping Gourmet comes in second.

 

[ChesterV]

Lol. Im betting Julia Childs--she was hysterically entertaining and a stickler for those fine details. What I loved about her is she would make a mistake, shrug and say, "oh well, that didn't work out quite like it was suppose to, but you get the idea." There will never be a more beloved celebrity chef than Julia Childs...the Galloping Gourmet comes in second.

Amen to that!!!!!