What Google Wants to Know
I was checking through what brings people to this blog - other than via Marie's fabulous Heavenly Cake Baker. Gladly, nothing too bizarre or weird. Just people wanting to know why their cakes don't turn out quite like the pictures in the book - take comfort, your cake probably looks like better than mine! There are people searching for recipes (sorry, none here - but definitely buy Rose's Heavenly Cakes, I can't recommend it enough). Yes, you can use almond meal/ground almond instead of toasting and grinding whole or slivered almonds and the cake will be fine (I actually think better than fine unless you are after a coarse texture and the crunch of almond).
In response to a couple of search requests, I have created a simple excel template for scaling recipes up or down. For example, last week when I made the Peanut Butter Ingots, I defrosted egg whites and found that I had 224 grams instead of the 120 grams that the recipe called for. So instead of throwing the excess out, I just scaled up my recipe to use up all the egg whites. You can only scale a recipe for one variable. I have also set it up so that you can input the recipe pan size/cupcake quantity and then scale it to the pan size you have/cupcakes you want. Note that there is none of Rose's baking powder adjustments in these recipes... maybe in version 2!
The example is in metric, but it will work for cups and imperial. Though don't ask me what 0.837 of a cup actually looks like... Buy some scales and your baking life will be way more simple and your cupboard free from those measuring cups!
Can you tell I am procrastinating about baking the Succes? I am having my own little internal debate about the lemon tea powder. I have found a few versions of it. I love lemon, but I hate lemon and dark chocolate. Maybe I could substitute cranberry & raspberry or just use up the Almond Ganache frozen after the Chocolate Pine Cone adventure. But then again, maybe Rose's version of chocolate and lemon will be fabulous and I will be missing out? Isn't it great that this is the most perplexing issue that I have in my life right now?!
In response to a couple of search requests, I have created a simple excel template for scaling recipes up or down. For example, last week when I made the Peanut Butter Ingots, I defrosted egg whites and found that I had 224 grams instead of the 120 grams that the recipe called for. So instead of throwing the excess out, I just scaled up my recipe to use up all the egg whites. You can only scale a recipe for one variable. I have also set it up so that you can input the recipe pan size/cupcake quantity and then scale it to the pan size you have/cupcakes you want. Note that there is none of Rose's baking powder adjustments in these recipes... maybe in version 2!
The example is in metric, but it will work for cups and imperial. Though don't ask me what 0.837 of a cup actually looks like... Buy some scales and your baking life will be way more simple and your cupboard free from those measuring cups!
Can you tell I am procrastinating about baking the Succes? I am having my own little internal debate about the lemon tea powder. I have found a few versions of it. I love lemon, but I hate lemon and dark chocolate. Maybe I could substitute cranberry & raspberry or just use up the Almond Ganache frozen after the Chocolate Pine Cone adventure. But then again, maybe Rose's version of chocolate and lemon will be fabulous and I will be missing out? Isn't it great that this is the most perplexing issue that I have in my life right now?!
Nicola.. I'm in the same predicament.. I started the cake about 4 hours ago... and as I was ready to do the ganache I realized that I did not have enough chocolate and the crème fraîche.. and Tom told me he is allergic to one of the components of the instant tea, RATS! I just packed up my cake and put it away... tomorrow it will be finished and I'm debating as to keep the tea, leave the tea out...
ReplyDeleteI just couldn't bring myself to buy instant tea powder. My husband hates anything "instant" and I am nearly as bad.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm going to do it the old-fashioned way -- heat the cream and steep tea leaves in it, then strain them out. Still dithering about whether to steep some lemon zest too. Maybe orange zest? Maybe use a little bit of Earl Grey tea (not too much, that stuff is intense) and the rest just plain tea?
Heck, I am sure this would be fabulous with no flavoring at all in the ganache! Good chocolate and cream, what's not to love?
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ReplyDeleteNot quite as old fashioned as Barbara's method, I steeped lemon tea bags in a small amount of water to make a concentrate.
You are all amazing! I just used the instant tea. I'll probably never use it again--maybe I'll just put it in my liquor cabinet along with the bottles of booze I'll also probably never use again.
ReplyDeleteClever girl Nicola! Bless you and your genius computer talents!!!
ReplyDeleteOh this instant lemon tea demon.....I staged a mini revolt in the grocery isle when I saw the price and size of the bottle, nearly $6.00 for a super sized container which no one will ever drink. I'm wondering if lemon extract in a bit of tea would work?