What basics have you been taught?

 Did you know that the only dry ingredient that should be measured packed is brown sugar? How many of you know that the best way to measure flour in a cup is by using something else to put in the cup? The reason is very simple, if you put your measuring cup into your flour you are going to pack the flour and you treat will be more dense than light. 

My grandmother used to use a knife to make a level cup but if you use the knife to tap it down, you are packing it again.

Do you know why there is a measuring cup for dry and a measuring cup for wet and the two should never be mixed? For example, if you use a liquid measuring cup for your dry goods you stand a good chance of getting too much and if you use the dry for the wet you may get too little. For example: 1 cup of flour weighs 5 oz. not 8. Just another reason to have a scale and get your recipes by weight not volume.   

Now if all your recipes are in cups and you don’t want to convert them just remember to use the proper tools. If you want to convert your recipes, there are websites that will help you convert specific ingredients or if you have a recipe and it’s on the back of your favorite bag of chocolate chips, some companies are willing to do the work for you, but always check the math because sometimes these companies will do the measurement with the wrong tools themselves. Still it never hurts to ask if they can give you the same recipe by weight instead of volume.

And as always, make your life sweet and Enjoy!

Basic ingredients for a Baker

Yesterday, I was going through my pantry and making sure that I had all the ingredients I would need to make things like bread and cake. As I was going through, I thought it might be a good idea of giving you a list of things that should always be on hand if you get into the baking mood.

Now one of the first things that I am going to tell you is before you start mixing ANYTHING you have to make sure you have the ingredients, because if you are putting it together as you read, you will inevitably run out of one of the last ingredients on the list and there is a good chance that it is not one that says optional. 

So with that in mind always make sure you have:

• ·         Baking powder
• ·         Baking soda
• ·         Salt
• ·         Vanilla
• ·         Flour
• ·         Butter
• ·         Milk
• ·         Sugar

These are items that I check every time I am making a list to go shopping and I always check the expiration dates especially for the baking soda and powder. Now if I am making candies I like to make sure that I have a glucose syrup or corn syrup because if I don’t I will definitely find that I need it, and candies are one thing that you can’t put on hold while you go to the store to get more.  For candies the list is shorter mostly because I have already checked for butter, milk, salt and vanilla. 

Here is that list:

• ·         Heavy cream
• ·         Glucose syrup or Corn syrup
• ·         Nuts
• ·         Chocolate

If you are making a cake, try to always have cake flour, it makes lighter cakes.

As always, make life sweet and Enjoy!

Cookies, Candies and Cakes Oh my!

The 3 C’s, a pastry chef’s delight. When was the last time you walked into a bakery, not one that is in your grocery store, but an actual bakery? When I was growing up there was a bakery just around the corner, Adele’s Bakery it wasn’t very big but the aromas you could smell before you walked in the door were heavenly. It always looked like the shelves were full of cookies, candies both hard and soft and some of the most beautiful cakes. They weren’t wedding cakes, or mass produced birthday cakes, they were celebration cakes. You never saw a sheet cake in this bakery, I am not even sure if you could order one, but each cake was three layers and filled with some of the most wonderful fillings.

So today let’s make a celebration cake, we will celebrate life, we will make it simple yellow and white. Two different cakes and yet the only difference in ingredients are one uses the yolks and the other the egg whites. Let’s get our recipe ingredients together (that way we know we have the right amount of everything):

White Cake                                                    Yellow Cake

1.5 oz.   Egg Whites                                       1.25 oz. Yolks

2.75 oz. Milk                                                  2.75 oz.  Milk 

.11 oz.   Vanilla                                               .11 oz.    Vanilla

3.5 oz.    Cake flour                                        3.5 oz.    Cake flour

3.5 oz.    Sugar                                                3.5 oz.    Sugar

.26 oz.    Baking Powder                                .26 oz.    Baking Powder

.05 oz.    Salt                                                   .05 oz.    Salt

2 oz.       Butter, small pieces                          2 oz.       Butter, cut into small pieces

Directions

      1.      Put all the dry ingredients into the bowl with a paddle attachment turn mixer on low and let mix for about 3 minutes.

      2.      Add the butter, eggs, milk and vanilla mix on medium speed until no lumps appear. This may take a few minutes.

      3.      Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°, spray and parchment paper your pan or pans. One recipe will fill an 8 x 2 round pan.

      4.      Bake until middle springs back at touch or insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes and then let it cool completely on a rack.

The fillings for cakes can have anything you like, if you want a lemon custard filling or something with more texture maybe a fruit and nut filling. Make your favorite filling, cut the cake in half so you have approximately 1” of cake on the top and on the bottom. Fill and frost if you like, frostings are easy to make (just remember if you are using powdered sugar, ALWAYS sift the sugar). If you want to top your cake with whipped cream, make sure you top it right before serving because refrigeration speeds the staling process.

I hope you bake and celebrate and as always, Enjoy!