Baking
CalGal -- Thursday, July 04, 2002 -- 07:35:57 PMHow-tos, tips, recipes.
This thread is tagged: cooking, baking, cake(All users will see what tags exist for a thread. Please tag carefully!)
I have the microplane fine, ribbon fine, and zester. The Mistah went a little nuts for Christmas. Anyway, I haven't needed to zest anything yet, so I haven't actually used the specific zester one, but I think the fine one would be more than acceptable for zesting.
Any idea how hot it has to be before you pour the batter in? And is it foolish to think I can use it on a loathsome electric stove?
VW: I don't see why you couldn't use an electric stove. I did a search and here are the most helpful pages I found:
This is an interesting discussion about wafers from some sort of historical food discussion group. Several items about pizzelles and the relative stickiness of irons and various batters. A lot of interesting discussion and people reporting on their experiments that you might find useful.
This page has info on seasoning your traditional stovetop iron and some recipes and instructions.
According to this recipe, there's always some sort of experimentation involved as to getting your temperature and cooking time just right.
Good luck! I think it'd be very cool to inherit something like that.
Thanks! Geez, web research, wow. I'll post here when I try again to let you know if anything works out. Granny just moved into assisted living, so she's unloading all her belongings and she's got 91 years of collected baking equipment, and some very cool stuff...tins of all shapes, the kind of stuff you'd never buy cause you'll only use it once, but if you inherit it, it's fun to have.
Man, what a disappointment, molly! Just eat the frosting and toss the dry cake. I hate when that happens.
Please do! I'd love to hear how they turn out. I remember seriously considering buying a pizzelle iron from Williams-Sonoma back when it was a little print catalog that you had to fill an order form for and send in with a check.
It was this: Chocolate Layer Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting."
how dissapointing. Have you tried the Double Chocolate Layer Cake? It's my favorite chocolate cake recipe on epicurious. Underbake it and it's a gorgeous molten cake, bake it for the right time and it's just a perfect chocolate cake.
I saw that one, but I can't remember why I picked the one I did. I think I wasn't in the mood for ganache.
Shhhhh, don't tell anyone, but I made the milk chocolate frosting with Hershey bars. The stuff in the baking aisle was expensive and the Hershey bars were on sale for $.25 each. The frosting was delicious.
The honey almond crunch cake is significantly better 24 hours after coming out of the oven. I had a slice for breakfast and it was better than the nibble I had last night, but the slice I'm eating right now is better yet again.
I used dark brown sugar instead of light and think the top came out unappealingly dark. But it doesn't taste burnt, it just looks burnt.
Being better after a rest is a characteristic of honey cakes and other cakes with heavy, moist ingredients. I'm not sure why. If it were simply a matter of the moisture redistributing itself within the cake, only texture would improve, but flavor usually does, too. Not that honey cake is ever good.
Honey is hygroscopic, meaning it draws moisture from the air. So resting would make it moister than it was right out of the oven. Could that be responsible for the improvement?
(Random note: every time I read or type or otherwise experience the word "hygroscopic," I think it's gotta be wrong. The greek root for water is hydro-, not hygro-! What's that g doing there?)
From the OED:
hygroscopic
ooh! I have a new word for the "Hair! Not The Musical" thread.
I am baking brioches à tête in my new brioche molds this morning. The HS called and asked me to bake for career day, and I figured it was a good time to try out the recipe. I made the dough last night and refrigerated it. Then I got up and made half of them, because I only have six molds.
So far two of the têtes have sort of fallen off to the side, as if imperfectly guillotined. The kids can have those. Otherwise, they look good. They feel nice and light, too. The next batch is rising now. They only take 8 minutes to bake.
I actually made a chocolate cake! And it was edible!
Small potatoes to you baking-folk, I'm sure, but I am a total moron when it comes to baked goods so this is a big achievement for me.
It was a recipe from Droste (dutch cocoa co.). Basic chocolate, but lovely consistency, iced in whipped cream and adorned w/ black raspberries.
Good for breakfast too.