Valerie Frost replied to T. Jones's discussion 'Chocoa Chocolate' in the group Chocolate 411

Stephen Sullivan added 2 photos

Stephen Sullivan and vimal vijayakumar are now friends

Buy these!It's time for some seriously coo-inducing cuteness: CakeSpy has done a new batch of designs for Taylored Expressions rubber stamps!

This time, the theme is babycakes, and this sweet set of stamps features all sorts of new baby themes--in cupcake form, natch!

These rubber stamps are perfect for choosing your own greeting card adventure or a variety of other crafts!

They can be purchased on the Taylored Expressions website!

Gourmet food, lounging models, aerial burlesque — Nonstop was right there

Recipe: Almond Puff Loaf

Next week is teacher appreciation week at my daughters school and Friday is the designated "Candy, fruit, or treat for the teacher" day.  We baked sugar cookies for her at Christmas and she loved them but I don't want to go that route again, I want something special (i.e. bread) for this wonderful teacher.

I am thinking of a sweet bread or rolls. 

Give me some ideas!

Jeanne replied to Heidi Seiler's discussion 'Coloring real buttercream icing'

Nickol Hayden-Cady commented on Nickol Hayden-Cady's photo 'My Special stuff'

Jennifer Zimmerman commented on Nickol Hayden-Cady's photo 'My Special stuff'

Valerie Frost replied to T. Jones's discussion 'Chocoa Chocolate' in the group Chocolate 411

sylvain haage replied to T. Jones's discussion 'Chocoa Chocolate' in the group Chocolate 411

Another cupcake tower! This one includes a pink convertible car with the client sitting in the driver’s seat. The topper is hot pink with the birthday girl’s named inscribed in a glitter silver. The stand [...]

Get more cakes delivered to you mailbox. Signup here

These custom cupcakes were made by Minnesota's Mon Petit Cupcake, via Facebook. They sell custom cupcakes and sell in Winona (Bluff Country Co-op) and Rochester (Good Food Store). See their site, monpetitcupcake.com for ordering information.



And their raspberry lemonade cupcakes will be for sale this weekend at Bluff Country Co-op.

As a champion of education, I find myself conflicted after reading these posts

Eight years ago we celebrated my first Mother’s Day, which for me is more important than my birthday. Builder Guy was six months old and he sat on Michael’s lap at the restaurant, trying to grab everything within reach, laughing like it was the best game ever as Michael quickly moved forks, knives, plates, and [...]

Visit www.andreasrecipes.com for the full story.

Hi!

I've been reading this site for a little while. I'm an amateur baker, started last year. I'm so interested in it and some of the science behind it, I started this blog

http://breadnbeer.wordpress.com/

please take a look and tell me what you think! I'm trying to make the best bread that I can, and I emphasize a lot on beer relation in bread. :)

But whenever I'm stuck, I come to this site to find the answer!

Thanks everyone!

 For the one or two of you following my continuing work with triticale, the Great Triticale Crisis of 2011 had me down to my very last bag of tribble food which finally I decided to mill.

In the meantime, with the help of MiniOven, I found a paper from researchers at Colorado State University that contained the vital Mixograph and Absorption numbers that might help me make a breakthrough.  Turns out that hydrations over 68% produce an elastic "wheat like" dough from triticale while lower hydrations produced the putty like dough that had convinced me to treat triticale like rye.

The Mixograph results showed that triticale would have a lot less mixing tolerance than wheat (had to be careful not to overmix) and the researchers reported that they had no success using a Hobart dough hook, but better results with the paddle attachment.

The work in this paper was done with white triticale flour, so I decided to mill a "closer to white" flour than I had been using.  I followed my standard wheat milling process to get about an 85% extraction flour.

I decided on a very simple formula with 30% of the flour pre fermented in a 68% hydration levain based pre ferment.  4% shortening, 4% milk powder, 2% salt, 1.2% instant  yeast, 1% honey, and 69% water. (Calculation of the weights left as an exercise for the reader - it's really just a basic "sandwich loaf" formula - loaded pretty heavily with yeast.)  I mixed for about four minutes with the Kitchen Aid paddle attachment, the switched to the dough hook - which worked well for me -  for another 2 minutes.

The dough was a very soft, sticky dough, but was fairly elastic with what I would consider low/ moderate gluten development.

Thinking that I was now dealing with more of a wheat like dough than a rye, I gave it an hour of bulk fermentation - during which it actually doubled - which had not happened before with the triticale dough.

It was a mess to shape and my shaping flaws probably influenced the crumb , but it doubled nicely in the pan.

I baked it for 35 minutes at 375F and for the first time in my experience with triticale dough, got some oven spring.

The results are pictured below. 

 

Not shredibly soft or fluffy, but for a near whole grain flour of a grain that is considered inferior  for bread baking - not bad at all.  Although light can shine through the slice, it was sturdy and stood up to handling and soft butter. I should have included something to show scale, but it is a nicely sized slice for a sandwich.

I am informed that my new shipment of triticale is winging its way to me as I type and I'll be able to continue this general track of baking.  Next time I will lower the hydration somewhat  (to take the hydration of the honey into better account)and give it a longer bulk ferment with a fold.  In general I don't feel the need to do intensive mix for these panned breads and the Mixograph readings tell me that I can over-mix very quickly, so I don't think I will be increasing mix length by much, if at all.

As an aside, some of my reading tells me that triticale was once considered an acceptable bread grain and was widely used in the North American West, but the structure of farm subsidies encouraged wheat production and triticale became less used for human consumption and because of its high yields and superior protein content was used for more for animal feed.  It forces me to think about how policies determined in some far away corridor of power can impact what we eat and how we think of things.

I am more encouraged on the triticale quest than I ever have been.  People keep remarking that the bread is unusually delicious.  Time to get cracking on some real formula development.

I upgraded the WYSIWYG editor on the site today.  It now has a spellchecker (yay!) and should work on newer versions of IE.  I think.  

Please let me know if you run into any trouble.  If you can include browser and platform information in your comment it would be most helpful.

Thanks!

-Floyd

Shrimp Lo Mein is a Chinese noodle dish consisting of stir fried shrimp, pasta, and vegetables. Lo mein has always been one of my favorite things to eat at the Chinese buffet.  The shrimp is marinated in soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. If you do not like shrimp, chicken or beef will work as well. [...]

There is no "banking revolution"... The secrets to checking account marketing… Pay someone by "bumping" phones… Plus many more headlines.

Jennifer Zimmerman commented on Nickol Hayden-Cady's photo 'My Special stuff'

These fun pink Oreo and pink margarita cupcakes are by Our Lady of Cupcakes, via Flickr. Happy Friday everyone! Mother's Day cupcake roundup post coming soon.


"These Oreo cupcakes are chocolate cake with cookie pieces, vanilla cream cheese filling, and Oreo whipped cream frosting. These were decorated with pink edible glitter and pink frosting between the cookies."


"These margarita cupcakes have margarita-flavored white cake with lime tequila cream cheese frosting, rimmed with pink sugar and garnished with a cocktail umbrella."

With Sprinkles Cupcakes set to open in New York City on May 13th at 780 Lexington Avenue between 60th and 61st, there is a huge media blitz going on, as well as free cupcakes from the Sprinklesmobile through May 10th. Sprinkles co-founders Charles and Candace Nelson rang the NASDAQ opening bell this morning, and they’ve been (forgive me) sprinkling local magazine offices with custom cupcakes. Here are six photos we found via Twitter, of personalized cupcakes for Us Weekly, BlackBook, Gotham, Town & Country, O. The Oprah Magazine and Saveur. Visit sprinkles.com and find them on Facebook and @sprinkles and @sprinklesmobile on Twitter for more information. And confidential to Sprinkles: we'd love some Cupcakes Take the Cake cupcakes!

On a personal note, having tried Sprinkles Cupcakes several times in Los Angeles as well as in Chicago, I'm looking forward to this opening. Their chocolate peanut butter is a personal favorite, as is their chocolate marshmallow, and for the vegan and gluten-free cupcake eaters, they have daily offerings, which I think is something we're going to see more and more bakeries adopting (as many already have). And something cool: May 13-29 they'll be selling salty caramel cupcakes!

And if you're a registered nurse reading this today, May 6th, you can get a free cupcake for Nurses Day by showing your ID at any Sprinkles location, via @sprinkles on Twitter.


Us Weekly cupcakes


BlackBook cupcakes - see their post


Gotham cupcakes


Town & Country cupcakes


O., The Oprah Magazine cupcakes


Saveur cupcakes

We've seen a lot of kinds of cupcakes over the years, and when I say a lot, I mean a lot. We've posted over 13,000 times. But you know what we've never seen? Cupcake-stuffed strawberries! Now, technically, these are not actual cupcakes, but I'm pretty impressed by them, and think anyone, especially a mom on Mother's Day, would be too! Visit 1 Fine Cookie for more photos and instructions on how to make them. I also learned that it's National Strawberry Month. Jasmin writes:

My favorite part about these delightful treats was listening to people try to figure out how they are made. Once they bite into the surprise of a cupcake-like filling they have to know how it is done. Most assumed I baked it inside of the strawberry. Only one person over the last three years figured it out.

It is hard to beat a flaky, buttery buttermilk biscuit. They’re quick and easy to make, and ready to eat almost as soon as they come out of the oven. They also take to other flavors very well – and I’m not just talking about the fact that they can easily served with jam at [...]

With interest rates at record lows for the time being, we are seeing how tempting it is for people to purchase homes as quickly as possible. We tend to see homebuyers purchasing homes now to cash in on low interest rates, while others are stretching their budgets to purchase a far more expensive home with

I love companies that help out Canadian consumers. Seriously, they are awesome. Not only do they help out other Canadians but they create innovative services I only wish I thought of. Cardswap.ca is one of those such companies. The people are nice, even though they should have been very upset with me (by accident the

I've got two sourdough starters going in my fridge, they've been sitting for almost a month as I've just not found the time to get to them to reactivate them.  So today I pulled both out and one has a yellow hooch and the other a grey hooch.  I'm used to seeing the yellow hooch and am just wondering if the grey hooch is ok too?   The second starter (with the grey hooch) was taken and seperated from the first starter the last time I made bread so it just seems odd to me that they are different colors.  I've been reading and it seems fine that it's grey but I just wanted to check with more knowledgeable people.  Thanks!

Gopal Singh patwal updated their profile

Jennifer Zimmerman replied to Heidi Seiler's discussion 'Coloring real buttercream icing'

If you see a copy of the new Cook’s Country Magazine, make sure to pick it up! Mine came in the mail yesterday and it’s loaded with good stuff. There’s a fried chicken recipe that looks interesting, a small (loaf pan size) lasagna, and at least three desserts which I plan on making; one in [...]

Today has been proclaimed by President Barack Obama as Military Spouse Appreciation Day.

"On Military Spouse Appreciation Day, let us join together to show our service members we are taking care of their families back home as they serve our Nation across the globe. As neighbors, teachers, parents, and fellow citizens, we can reach out to military husbands and wives in our communities. We can show our appreciation in countless ways, from offering to help with household maintenance and childcare to encouraging the community involvement and career development of military spouses.

It is through our actions that we show our commitment to our service members and their spouses. By embracing military families, we demonstrate our partnership in the defense of our freedom and the security of the United States."

-President Barack Obama

To celebrate, My Little Cupcake has created these beautiful patriotic cake pops!   Make sure to check out her blog for all her other fantastic creations!

Pac Man! These cupcakes totally make me want to play...I don't feel like I see the arcade game as often as I'd like but I know where to find it.

Pixie Dust Cupcakes is a custom cupcake company located in Norwalk, California, click above to visit their site and see what flavors they offer and get more information. You can also find them on Facebook, where the first two photos below are from. The rest are from their Flickr account, where you can see more of their cupcakes.










Peppermint patty cupcakes: Rich Dark Chocolate Cupcakes topped with a layer of peppermint patty frosting, then topped with chocolate ganache.

These pomegranate cupcakes are by cupcakeluv1 on Flickr.

Jessica from Inedible Jewelry is teaching at our Cupcake Craft Night at Etsy Labs on May 9, and you can win a cupcake necklace if you enter the contest. The winner will have a choice of three cupcake charms  which are interchangeable on the necklace. Enter by Monday, May 9 at 5PM. U.S. Residents Only. Please don't leave comments below. Enter by clicking on this entry form.

I made these key lime pie push pops using a recipe for key lime pie ice cream found on Sugar Cooking (adapted from Cooking Light).  This recipe is EASY!  Dump all of the ingredients into one bowl, transfer to push pop molds, and freeze!  The best part is that the result tastes just like key lime pie!  It's tart, not overly sweet, and has bits of graham cracker mixed throughout.  While the recipe is enjoyable as ice cream (I tried it that way, too), and it would be fantastic as a popsicle, making the recipe as push pops adds a whole other level of fun.  Push pops (like cupcakes) make you feel like a kid, ready to jump in the air and click your heels together screaming, "Yabadabadoo!"   Why, at 35, am I just now discovering the joy of push pops? 

Where To Get Push Pop Molds


My push pop molds were a gift from Etsy seller CupKate.  I love how, unlike popsicle molds, the push pop molds have a built-in pop condom, protecting your clothing from inevitable drips.  The push pop molds also have lids so you can easily save some for later (although once you pop, you can't stop!). 

Head over to CupKate's page to purchase some of your own. CupKate will also be hosting a push pop mold giveaway for my readers next week, so be sure to check back!

Key Lime Push Pop Recipe

Here's Sugar Cooking's key lime pie ice cream recipe converted to push pops:

Yield: 8 push pops

• 1 1/2 C whole milk
• 1/2 C Key lime juice
• 1/2 C heavy whipping cream
• Pinch of salt
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 6 graham crackers, finely crushed (you can even make your own homemade graham crackers)

1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients.
2. Fill push pop molds.
3. Freeze.
4. Eat!!

Coming Soon

Push pop molds don't only work for ice cream.  Cupcake push pops are coming soon!

Scenes from the colorful annual Cinco de Mayo Street Festival in the Chinatown Arts District Thursday evening

So by now you may be thinking: this guy’s been to Transylvania so he must have a story to tell about eating authentic chimney cake. Nope. I never saw one while I was there. In fact I hardly saw any food at all. Life was tough for Romanians in 1986. Even tourists like me had a hard time procuring steady meals. I had the hard Western currency to pay for them of course. Yet it wasn’t unusual to show up at a restaurant only to find they didn’t have any food. Black bread, scallions, cucumbers and the odd tomato or...

Read on...

The Pastry family headed over to Churchill Downs earlier in the week to watch the horses warm up. I was pleased to have gotten there just in time to watch my horse from last year finally cross the finish line. I have terrible luck with my picks, but this year I'm going with Pants on Fire because, well, it's a horse name I'm jealous I never thought of. The odds on him are 20-1 so I doubt I'll see much of return on my two bucks. Smarter choices are Dialed In at 4-1, Uncle Mo at 9-2 and Nehro at 6-1. Bet well!...

Read on...

Hi everyone!

I had some breadsticks at a pizza place called "Il Forno's" in Frederick, MD. The bread sticks had a soft, slightly chewy crust and a soft moist crumb inside. Later I sent an e-mail to the restaurant asking for the recipe, but I never received a reply. The only info I can find on deep fried bread sticks is a chinese bread recipe called "You tiao," but I believe this bread would be too moist from the oil.

Before I start dropping pizza dough into oil, can anyone point me in the right direction as to the best way to replicate these bread sticks? Sorry that I don't have anymore information, but if you live near Frederick, MD, check out the restaurant. The pizza is cooked in a wood fired brick oven and is delicious and maybe you could smuggle some breadsticks out and reverse engineer them for me! :) . I live in Japan and can't make it back for a few years :(

 

Thanks!

These Perles au Miel, loosely translated as honey beads, were a gift from my friend Neil, who’s currently living and working in the Netherlands. The wrapper says that they’re “fourrees miel”, which means filled with honey. They were extremely hard-shelled little balls with a prickly granulated sugar shell. The flavor was spot-on with the amber [...]

Today I'm very excited about the featured Friday Fav. I stumbled upon Jessica's blog, mycameraeatsfood, late last year and was instantly drawn in to the beautiful photographs. As a freelance photographer, she definitely knows her stuff. And how cute is that blog name! I hope you guys enjoy this post about a favorite blogger topic, food photography.

Thanks to Jen, this is my first official guest post on another blog! I run mycameraeatsfood, a small site specializing in food photography, and I am also a contributing photographer and videographer for a larger blog called Serious Eats. Today's post was inspired by a recent post we ran on Serious Eats about food blog photography. -- Jessica

If you're a food blogger, odds are you've staged more than one meal for your readers. What goes into a food photograph? Props, location, and lighting are some of my most important ingredients...after the pretty food, of course.

Here are four different setups I styled and considered during a recent location scouting. Which one do you like best?



We began in the kitchen. I grabbed some leftover strudel, a shiny knife, and a wooden cutting board, and set up shop. Please note: the remaining crumbs are intentional. I often find that a few artfully chosen crumbs improve a photo tremendously. However, I did not love the kitchen lighting. Moving on...



I found a nice whitewashed brick wall next to a window, and tried a few shots here. My flatware and tableware additions improved the photo, but I was still not satisfied; the trapped brick looked too random to me.



Us food photographers love that natural window light. Upon discovering a bigger, unobstructed window with a wider windowsill, my perfect lighting search was complete. Throw in some flowers and a bird hungry for some strudel, and we've got our shot. Or do we...?



I tried one final shot of the strudel in a gorgeous old bowl I found in the cabinet...but that darn window vent snuck in and ruined the whole thing. This bowl would do better on a wider, unobstructed surface.

Which shot do you like best? And what are some of your favorite food styling props? Despite the prop-heavy third shot, I often find that less is more...a few crumbs can go a long way.

Tweet

I discovered a lemon cupcake today at Billy's Bakery in Tribeca. It's small and sweet and simple and very lemony, with pieces of lemon rind visible in the frosting and a lemon cake. Not only was it a perfect combination of tart and sweet, but it matches their light yellow and green decor and goes with the look of their key lime pie, lemon bars and banana pudding (though those are in separate case from their cupcakes, see below). Their cupcakes are $3 each, and they also ship nationwide. Visit billysbakery.com for more information. They have 3 locations in New York City, in Chelsea, SoHo, and the one I visited, Tribeca. You can also find them @billysbakerynyc on Twitter and Facebook.















And pictured below, photo via Twitter, are their Mother's Day flower cupcakes, contact store for details.

I keep a container full of vanilla sugar in the back of my pantry that I refresh every time I have an extra vanilla bean around. Making your own vanilla sugar is a great way to repurpose vanilla beans that you have already use to infuse a custard or other sauce with vanilla, giving them [...]

Love me some food on a stick

Video of the top three performers from the May First Thursday Poetry Slam held at Fresh Cafe.

Photos from the colorful annual Cinco de Mayo Street Festival in the Chinatown Arts District Thursday evening