Divine Dutch Crunch

Dutch Crunch Buns

While driving south toward Austin on the way to Snow's Barbecue, the topic veered to Dutch Crunch. It's a sandwich bun I'd never heard of, and some of the certified barbecue judges in the car were from the Bay Area, so they knew all about it. Of course they did. All bread with soul has ties to Northern California.

On the interweb, The Fresh Loaf was also curious about Dutch Crunch and checked it out. California, Great Britain and the Netherlands all know about this bread, also called Tiger Bread. How is it that an el grande state like Texas doesn't have it, or a hip-hop-happenin' borough like Brooklyn, which does have kolaches?

People ask why I take up these branch line investigations. All I can say is, if Dutch Crunch can distract a carload of Texans during a barbecue run with a side trip to Austin's Shake Shack, look into it.

The Fresh Loaf tested the Dutch Crunch from BakingBarrister.com. I used my own bun recipe and you can, too, if you keep reading below and stop thinking about the brisket at Snow's, or that Shake Shack is coming to Plano.

I've got the bun, but how to get that distinctive crackling effect on top? There's only one guy to ask, and it's Joe Ortiz at Gayle's Bakery in Capitola, Calif. Yes, yes, I raved about Gayle's in the last two posts (so look into that), but the timing is coincidental.

Joe was at the forefront of artisan baking in this country long before the front of the line at Snow's grew to epic proportions. Joe put me in touch with Chris Rominger of Gayle's, who kindly shared how they do it at the bakery.  Here's what Chris helped me learn, and it's delicious.


Divine Dutch Crunch 
Yield: Makes 8 buns

Total dough weight: 33 ounces, 4.10 ounces each

Ingredients
4 ounces water
3 tablespoons milk (1.25 ounces)
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons sugar (1.60 ounces)
2 teaspoons salt (.40 ounces)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
½ cup mashed potato*  (about 2.5 ounces) (For the potato: Zap it in the microwave about 8 minutes, then peel and mash enough for ½ cup and set aside.)
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (18 ounces), plus extra for sprinkling if needed
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

For the Topping

4 ounces rice flour

.5 ounces sugar

.11 ounces salt

.71 ounces instant yeast

.14 ounces vegetable oil

4 ounces warm water 

To Make the Dough

1. In a saucepan, combine water, milk, butter, sugar and salt and stir. Gently warm on low heat to about 120-130 degrees on a digital thermometer. Some of the butter will melt but not all, and that’s OK. It should feel warm to the touch. Place this milk mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.(If you took your eye off it and it boiled, cool it down a bit with a timeout in the fridge).

2. In a separate bowl, whisk flour with instant yeast, set aside. With the mixer running on speed 1 (low speed), add to the milk mixture the lightly beaten egg until incorporated, the mashed potato and then the flour mixture. Allow to mix a few minutes to combine. Raise the speed to 2 and allow the dough to knead about 7 minutes. The dough will be somewhat sticky; don’t worry. Add a few sprinkles of flour if it’s hopelessly wet, otherwise, it’s OK.

3. Remove dough and loosely shape into a ball, then place it in a clean bowl that’s lightly oiled. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place about 10 minutes. You won’t see a rise in the dough. 

4. While it’s resting, line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats. Using a separate bowl, start the Dutch Crunch topping by placing all the dry ingredients – rice flour, sugar, salt and instant yeast – in the bowl. It’s OK to combine the oil and water in another bowl; just don’t mix wet and dry ingredients yet.

5. After the dough’s short rest, divide the dough into 8 pieces (about 4.1 ounces each). Now shape each piece into a ball by rounding and pulling the edges underneath, which helps to create a smooth tension on the surface. Cup your hand like a claw and gently roll the dough against your work surface to help smooth the final ball shape.

6. Arrange four balls per baking sheet, with plenty of room in between. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap lightly coated with nonstick spray and let buns rise in a warm place about 45 minutes (It’s better to under-rise this dough). If you let it rise too much, you may see bubbles appear on the surface, and they won’t go away when you bake the buns.

For the Topping

7. Use this second rise time to focus on the topping. With a whisk, mix the water/oil with the dry ingredients. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise about 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 380 degrees, with the rack in the center. 

At the end of this 15-minute rise, using your hand, tap the bowl on the sides until the topping falls. It helps to rotate the bowl as you tap, and it’s OK to take the plastic wrap off while you do it. Allow the mixture to rise again for about 15 minutes, then tap it down again.

8. For best success getting the crackly effect on top, try filling a pastry bag with the topping and either cut a small hole at the end or use a small tip such as a Wilton No. 12. A spoon can also work. Remove the plastic from the buns and pipe dots over the surface of each bun. It’s OK to be messy and to allow topping to drip down the sides. 

9. At this point, you’ve got about 10-15 minutes of rise time left for the buns. Since they now have topping on them, leave the plastic off.

10. Right before baking, I like to add a sprinkle of kosher salt from on high - just a light touch but there. Bake the buns, turning sheet halfway through, until tops are golden brown, about 15-17 minutes. Transfer buns to a rack to cool completely.

Best eaten the same day, for burgers and fully loaded Dagwood sandwiches.

Special thanks to Chris Rominger, Wholesale Manager of Gayle's Bakery & Rosticceria, for guidance on the Dutch Crunch topping.

Please visit Gayle's Bakery if you're anywhere near Capitola. It's 90 miles south of San Francisco. The address is 504 Bay Avenue. Online, it's an easy trip. 

Fit for a Princess Cake Part II

Trying out the Princess Cake. Photo by John H. Ostdick

Just how hard is it to make that stunning Princess Cake as seen at Gayle's Bakery in Capitola, Calif.? Follow Gayle's recipes for the genoise, pastry cream, whipped cream and marzipan and you'll make it.

It's a two-day effort. Make the components on Day 1, build the cake on Day 2. Here's what I found when giving it a go.

Tinting Marzipan: In Gayle and Joe Ortiz's book "The Village Baker's Wife," they emphasize adding food coloring gradually, kneading in more color by hand as needed, because it's easier to add a little more color at the end than to make a new batch. I added the first amount, found it too light, then globbed more food coloring into the mixer bowl, instead of adding small amounts by hand as directed. That's how I overshot the perfect mint green color. The book does a good job explaining what to watch for, so FD, folks, follow directions.

Weather and Sugar: North Texas has suffered drenching rains. In such heavy humidity, the marzipan on my cake fairly glistened on top. Was it because the hygroscopic nature of sugar in the marzipan and in the confectioner's sugar pulled moisture to the cake's surface, which turned the powdered sugar into a glaze? Hard to say, but before the photo was snapped, the entire surface was snow white with sifted sugar. Look at it now. The wet nature of my marzipan also softened it up, so it melded into the whipped cream underneath, instead of retaining its soft but firm texture. Better that than to turn rock hard by drying out, but still.

Bottoming out: Notice the leaves placed along the cake's bottom? They cover up the marzipan's trimmed edge. It takes practice to get a smooth edge without folds or bad trims, so you may need to hide the evidence. Roll the marzipan too thin and you may get rips and tears. Leave it too thick, and it's harder to smooth out the folds. I couldn't just pop it off the cake and re-roll it, because it goes on top of whipped cream. Give it your best shot. Less is more with the Princess Cake, so I'd rather see the cake without the leaves.

Why the fake flower? Those drenching Texas rains have pummeled our roses, so I didn't have a good topper to snip. Eh bien tant pis, as the French say.

Genoise cake: Vanilla genoise is the only vanilla cake sold at the bakery, the book says. Gayle describes it as a French butter sponge cake, light and eggy, with a wonderful texture. I seem to remember typical genoise being heavy and dry but decided to try Gayle's recipe. I used the soaking solution the recipe suggests. To my surprise, voila! This genoise won me over.

When layering a cake, it can be a bit ticklish to cut one cake into three layers, so consider baking a second batch if you don't like making thin, precise cuts. I made a 9-inch practice cake and then a smaller one, preferring the smaller cake size (like the one in the photo). I trimmed the layers from 9-inch baked cake to 6-inch using a cake ring. Another option is to bake the cake in a sheet pan, then cut the layers from it. Why smaller? Easier to get the dome effect over a smaller surface area.

Pastry Cream: The book includes a recipe, but I have one that never fails me (see below), so I used something familiar. You'll have enough left over to make a second cake if desired. Fill a few cream puffs while ye may.

Whipped Cream: Gayle's recipe = scrumptious.

Jam: If you have no raspberries but you've got fresh apricot, go with that. A bit of tang is a good choice compared with something overly sweet. Balance that sugar with zing fruit. See below for a fresh apricot jam recipe that belonged to Ruth Reichl.

Where I cheated: Had some buttercream on hand, so I piped a ring around the inside layers to help hold in the jam and the pastry cream fillings. That's a trick from pastry school, making buttercream dams. These fillings can squirt down the sides when the weight of the cake layers is added, so I wanted to avoid this. Note to self: If you run out of buttercream, whipped cream is too light a replacement for the buttercream dam. My jam filling did scooch out the sides. If this happens, do what you can to scrape it off, use the freezer to firm things up a bit, then catch your breath. With marzipan over the whole thing, that jam won't leak through as it might with a frosting. Nobody sees. It could puddle slightly at the bottom of the marzipan, though, so gently wipe it off with a paper towel.

Would I make this cake again? Absolutely, with the same recipes from The Village Baker's Wife. I served it to the 23-26 age group and to the 45 and up group. Both liked this cake's lightness quality - not overly sweet or sugar rushy. They gave high marks for appearance and ability of the layers and fillings to work beautifully together. It's a cake fit for a fancy dress party or bridal shower - even as a topper for a tower display of cupcakes or macarons.

What I'll do differently: Avoid making it in wet weather. Follow directions on tinting marzipan. Work more carefully to roll out the marzipan to a consistent thickness, smoothing out the lower edges and trimming with more finesse. Bake the cake in a smaller pan, perhaps make a higher number of layers to emphasize the dome effect. Use a tart raspberry jam. Try Gayle's pastry cream.

Final note: Short shelf like on this cake, so plan for it. Best served the day it's made, but it should hold in the fridge, boxed, for two days.

Now go dream up a tea party and march out this royal confection; in fact, get a paper doily for it like they do at Gayle's Bakery.

Next up: Let's try Gayle's Rich Chocolate Cake with the devil's food interior and ganache blanket. Because hey, the book says it never fails to impress and astound, two awesome qualities every cake should aspire to. The recipe even includes my friend apricot jam.

In the previous post Fit for a Princess, I mentioned waiting more than 20 years to visit Gayle's Bakery in person. Words escape me. The sound of my jaw dropping to the floor should tell you everything to know about the quality of what they do.

Julie Powell had something when she worked through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and it became a movie. For me, think I'll just hang out in The Village Baker's Wife for a year now that I've seen the pastries up close. Know what's on the book's cover?

Princess Cake.

Did you know: Joe Ortiz knew Julia Child and was one of the bakers chosen to tape segments for the PBS series Baking With Julia. He carried five sourdough starters from Capitola to Cambridge, Mass., in a carry-on bag through the gauntlet of airport security.

That, mes amis, is devotion to the craft.


Pastry Cream (Crème Patissiere)

Ingredients

Milk, 16 ounces (2 cups)

Sugar, 2 ounces (1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon)

Egg yolks, 1.5 ounces (about 3 large egg yolks)
Eggs, 2 eggs
Cornstarch, 1.25 ounces (3 tablespoons)
Sugar, 2 ounces (1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon)
Unsalted butter, 1 ounce (2 tablespoons)
Vanilla extract, ½ tablespoon

Method

1. Line a shallow pan with plastic wrap, set aside in freezer.
2. In a heavy saucepan over medium high heat, dissolve first sugar in milk and bring just to a boil.
3. In a separate stainless steel bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and whole eggs. Sift the cornstarch and 2^nd sugar into the eggs. Whisk until smooth.
4. Temper the egg mixture by slowly pouring the hot milk into the eggs and stirring constantly. Return the mixture to the stove and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Mixture will thicken within a few minutes. If lumps form, don't panic and don't toss it out. As the mixture cooks, many of them will disappear. Hang with it.
5. Keep stirring as you look for bubbles indicating the mixture is boiling. Cook the mixture for 1-2 minutes, while stirring, to ensure you’ve cooked the cornstarch completely. Remove from heat, add butter and mix until butter is completely mixed in, then add vanilla and stir to combine.
6. Pour the cream mixture onto the shallow pan, cover with plastic directly on surface to prevent crust from forming. If remaining lumps freak you out, throw everything in a blender and process. This should take care of it. Otherwise, know that when you re-whisk the mixture before using, they will disappear. Allow to chill several hours before use. To use, whip the chilled pastry cream until smooth or whisk it thoroughly. It will start out thick but loosen up.

*Note: Although some pastry cream recipes use flour, cornstarch should be used as the thickening agent when the cream is used for a pie so cut slices hold their shape. Flour pastry creams can taste pasty, too.
Tip: Take a cookie sheet and line it with 2 layers of plastic wrap and stick it in the freezer. Then when your pastry cream is done you strain it directly onto the cold tray and spread it out. Fold the plastic wrap up around it into like an envelope and refrigerate it. It cools in no time!
For coffee flavored pastry cream: add 1/3 cup espresso, cooled (or amount to taste) and lightly whisk espresso into chilled pastry cream.
Or, 2 tablespoons of instant coffee powder to the milk in Step 2.
For chocolate pastry cream: For each 12 ounces of pastry cream, stir in 4 ounces melted dark chocolate while the pastry cream is still warm (100 grams chocolate for each 300 grams of pastry cream).
For praline pastry cream: For each 12 ounces of pastry cream, stir in 4 ounces softened praline paste (such as Nutella) while the pastry cream is still warm.

Fresh Apricot Jam (as created by Ruth Reichl)

¼ cup water
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 pounds apricots, including skin, pulled apart, divided 
vanilla bean, optional, or t tablespoon vanilla bean paste
juice of half a lemon

Stir the sugar and water together in a small heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring until clear, 1-2 minutes. Pull apart the apricots, and add half of them to the syrup. Simmer until they disintegrate, stirring, for about 10 minutes. Add the remaining apricots and vanilla bean, and stir for another 5-7 minutes, until the apricots soften.

Remove the vanilla bean.  Slice it the long way, and run a knife along the inside edge to remove the seeds. Stir the seeds into the jam.

Add the lemon juice and cook for another 3 minutes. (My one change here is to use an immersion blender on the jam after it's cooked. I like a smooth consistency as opposed to pieces of apricot.)

This keeps well in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks - I freeze it.

 

Fit for a Princess Cake

The stunning Princess Cake at Gayle's Bakery in Capitola, CA.
All photos by John H. Ostdick

In your travels, have you found the most visually delicious bakery in the USA? Here's a hint: It's in California, but not in San Francisco or Napa. For a jaw-dropping experience, make your way to Gayle's Bakery and Rosticceria, 90 miles south of San Francisco in the seaside town of Capitola. The address is 504 Bay Avenue. You can't miss it.

Gayle and Joe Ortiz opened their village bakery in 1978 with just 10 items. Today they employ 150 people; that alone is remarkable in this era of chain stores with breads of chance.

I've waited more than 20 years to see Gayle's Bakery, after reading about it when Joe published The Village Baker, his compelling book about artisan bread in Europe and the US. Then Gayle came out with The Village Baker's Wife, which is like having an entire pastry shop in your hands. Taken together, these cookbooks are guidebooks for what Julia Child was trying to tell us: Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.

 
This is where Joe and Gayle excel; it's what led me to Capitola. While driving the Pacific Coast Highway from LA to San Francisco, I spent the night there to see for myself where the joys are. And they are at Gayle's Bakery.

A parade of fresh, handmade pastries

I could write for days about everything I saw and tasted at Gayle's, the inner glee I felt at finding something absolutely wonderful and true to the books. Would you rather just see it? Have a look at some of what we saw, then be gleeful yourself that Joe and Gayle happily shared their Princess Cake. (Willingness to share is the mark and the heart of a true artisan.) The recipes posted here are adapted from The Village Baker's Wife, (Ten Speed Press, 1997). Merci, Gayle and Joe.

What Gayle's looks like from behind the counter - bright, sparkling and how about those fresh flowers? 

Make it a goal to visit the real deal Princess Cake and the endless rows of handmade pastries, the sourdough and other artisanal breads, the entrees that are picnic perfect. Gayle's is open 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily but closed Easter Sunday, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. If you can't get there now, find the books and taste the cake. Do try.

Just one of the many pastry cases with attention to every detail

Princess Cake
Makes one 9-inch, 3-layer cake

1 recipe marzipan made at least 1 day in advance
1 vanilla genoise layer cake
1 recipe soaking solution
1/3 cup raspberry jam
6 cups whipped cream
1/3 recipe (1 cup) pastry cream
confectioners' sugar
1 fresh organic pink or white rose

Bring the marzipan to room temperature at least 1 hour before assembling cake. Using a long serrated knife, level the genoise, then cut into 3 even layers. Place the top of the cake cut side down on a 9-inch cake board. Brush it lightly with soaking solution, being careful not to oversoak. Spread the cake with a thin layer of raspberry jam. Spread a 1/4-inch thick layer of whipped cream over the jam. Set the middle layer over the whipped cream. Brush it with soaking solution, then spread with a 3/8-inch layer of pastry cream. Place the remaining cake layer cut side down on top of the pastry cream. Brush it with soaking solution.

Using a metal icing spatula, skim coat the sides of the cake, icing them with a 1/8-inch-thick coat of whipped cream. There should be just enough whipped cream to seal in all the crumbs and to prevent the marzipan from resting directly on the cake.

Mound the remaining whipped cream on the top of the cake and, with the spatula, spread into a dome so the cake almost looks like an upside down bowl. Soften the edge where the top of the genoise ends and the dome begins by beveling it with the flat part of the spatula.

Lightly dust a work surface with confectioner's sugar. Place the marzipan on the surface and, using an 18-inch-wide rolling pin, roll out the marzipan as you would roll out pie dough into a 16-inch circle, 1/8 inch thick. Frequently dust the marzipan with plenty of confectioners' sugar and turn the circle to make sure the marzipan doesn't stick to the work surface. Using your hand, brush off the excess sugar. Don't worry if a lot of it clings to the marzipan; it will be absorbed.

Set the cake near the rolled out marzipan about 6 inches away from the edge of the work surface so you can see and reach around the entire cake. Loosely roll the marzipan onto the rolling pin, starting at the back and rolling toward you.

Lift the rolling pin with the marzipan wrapped around it. Unroll the marzipan over the cake, starting at the front and unrolling toward the back while making sure to cover the entire cake and cardboard. When finished, some marzipan should drape onto the work surface all around the cake.

The dome of the cake will be smoothly covered but there will be folds or creases on the sides. To remove the folds, lift the outside edge of the marzipan with one hand on either side of a fold and, without tearing or stretching, gently pull the marzipan out and down until the fold disappears.

Work your way around the cake. Once the folds are gone, rub the palm of your hand around the side of the cake to further smooth it and eliminate air pockets.

With a rolling pizza cutter or small sharp knife, carefully cut off the excess marzipan along the bottom edge of the cake cardboard. (The cardboard should not show.) Slide the icing spatula under the cake cardboard and tilt the cake up enough to get the palm of your other hand underneath to lift if without touching the sides. Turn the cake, checking to make sure the cake and cardboard are completely covered with marzipan. If not, gently push the marzipan down using the palm of your other hand.

Set the cake down and sift a fine dusting of confectioners' sugar over it. Transfer to a serving platter.

Cut 3 elongated ovals about 3 inches long by 1 inch wide out of remaining marzipan to make 3 rose leaf shapes. Lightly score the tops of the leaves with a knife to create veins. Gently bend each leaf into a leaf-like curve. Place the leaves, spaced evenly apart, on the center of the domed cake top with the stem ends touching. Gently press the stem ends into the dome to secure the leaves to the top of the cake. Cut the rose stem 2 inches below the flower. Place rose over leaves and insert in center of dome.

The Princess Cake may be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days but is best the day it is made. Remove the cake from the refrigerator 30 minutes before serving.

Seeing the swags made from vintage tablecloths made us want to steal this idea.

Here's how to make the cake components.

Marzipan
3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 pound almond paste
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
2-3 tablespoons water
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon green, pink or other food color

Place the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer running on medium-low speed, add almond paste 1 teaspoon at a time. This will take about 5 minutes and the mixture will be crumbly. Scrape down sides of bowl and beater. Add corn syrup and mix on low speed until incorporated. Mixture will still be crumbly. Again scrape sides and beater.

In a small bowl, combine water and food color. With the mixer on medium low, add about half of the food coloring mixture and beat until incorporated. Continue gradually adding the food coloring until the marzipan just comes together and reaches consistency of sugar cookie dough. It should be smooth but not crumbly or overly sticky.

If more color is desired, knead it in by hand after removing the marzipan from the mixer. (It's easier to add more color at the end than to make a new batch.) Different colors have different intensities and will require different amounts.

Place marzipan on a sheet of plastic wrap and form it into a 9-inch round disc about 1/2 inch thick. Wrap and refrigerate overnight before using. The marzipan may be stored in an airtight container or covered in plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Vanilla Genoise Cake
5 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 350. Butter, flour and line one 9-inch by 2-inch cake pan or two 9-inch by 1 1/2-inch pans with parchment paper. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil.

Using a whisk, stir eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Whisk in the sugar. Place mixer bowl over the saucepan of boiling water. (The water should be at least 2 inches below the bottom of the bowl.) To prevent the eggs from cooking, use your clean hand like a whisk to stir the mixture continuously until it feels quite warm. the eggs should remain liquid and not become opaque or cooked. When warm, immediately remove bowl from heat, place on the mixer and whip on high speed. Whip the eggs without stopping for 3 1/2 to 4 minutes.

While eggs are whipping, melt the butter and pour it into a small bowl. Add the vanilla. Place the flour in the sifter, set aside. The egg mixture is ready when the eggs have just cooled and at least tripled in volume. When you lift the whip out of the bowl, the batter should fall off the whip in ribbons.

Take the bowl off the mixer and sift a little less than one-fourth cup of the flour over the surface of the batter. Gently fold in the flour using the rubber spatula or your hand. You will hear the batter crunch if you are too rough. Repeat until all the flour is completely incorporated.

Pour a generous cup of batter over the melted butter mixture in the small bowl. Thoroughly fold the batter into the butter. Slowly pour the butter mixture over the remaining batter in the mixer bowl in a circular motion. (If you add the butter mixture too quickly, the butter will sink, reducing the volume and toughening the cake. Gently fold together until none of the darker butter mixture is visible.

Carefully pour batter in the the prepared pan(s).  Set the pan(s) on a baking sheet and place on the center rack of the oven. For a single pan, bake about 30 minutes. If using two pans, bake for at least 20 minutes. The cake is done when it just starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. It will not spring back when gently pressed, and a toothpick will not come out clean.

After removing cake from oven, run a metal icing spatula or knife around the inside of the pan(s) to loosen cake. Let cool 5 minutes, then depan. The cake may be stored, well wrapped in the refrigerator for 1 day or frozen for up to 1 week.

Soaking Solution
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon Myers's dark rum

In a small saucepan, combine water and sugar and bring just to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and let cool. Add the rum. Let cool completely before using or refrigerating. Store solution in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Whipped Cream
Yield: 6 cups

3 cups cream
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In the prechilled bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a prechilled whisk, begin on medium speed to whip the cream, sugar and vanilla. As soon as it has thickened slightly, increase speed to high. A 3-cup recipe takes only 2-3 minutes to whip. If using ultra-pasteurized cream, it may take slightly longer. You want to whip just until the mixture holds soft peaks. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. Two tips: Refrigerate cakes iced with whipped cream immediately after icing. Remove cake from the refrigerator 30 minutes to an hour before serving, depending on weather temp. Any cake iced with whipped cream should be served the day it is made because the cream absorbs refrigerator odors. Otherwise, store in an airtight cake container in the refrigerator.

Pastry Cream
1 1/2 cups half-and-half
6 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
4 large egg yolks, at room temp
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In a heavy saucepan, warm the half-and-half over medium heat until it begins to simmer. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix the cornstarch with the sugar. Using a whisk, whip in the water until smooth. Add the egg yolks and beat to incorporate,

When the half-and-half is simmering, slowly add about one-half of it to the cornstarch mixture, whisking continuously to incorporate. Whisk this mixture into the simmering half-and-half and continue to whisk vigorously until the pastry cream thickens, about 2-5 minutes. When it has thickened, remove it from the heat, add the vanilla, and transfer it to a glass or metal bowl with a plastic lid. Stir the mixture frequently while it is cooling to prevent a skin from forming on top.

Refrigerate the pastry cream after it has cooled. It keeps in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, but should not be frozen because it will become watery and lose its smooth texture.

Note: If you have cooked the pastry cream too quickly or too long and it develops lumps, don't worry. Remove it from the heat and whisk it until it smooths out. If that doesn't work, allow it to cool, then run it through a fine sieve or quickly blend it in a food processor until smooth.

Cakes, cupcakes and frosted brownies with "eyes eat first" appeal

The Princess Cake in adorable pink

"You never forget a beautiful thing that you have made," said Julia Child, quoting Chef Max Bugnard, who taught her at Le Cordon Bleu. "Even after you eat it, it stays with you - always."

To the staff at Gayle's making these incredible delights 24/7, your work stays with us.

Just so you know.

In Praise of Parker House Rolls

Parker House Rolls, Evans Caglage, photographer

While researching a story for The Dallas Morning News about those buttery Parker House rolls, I learned this about where they came from: 

The Parker House in Boston, creator of the rolls in the 1870s, is the longest continuously operating hotel in the United States. North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh was a pastry chef there, and Malcolm X was a busboy. Literati from Charles Dickens to Mark Twain hung out at this grand hotel, which became the Omni Parker House in 1984. When in Boston, it was the place to be, as Edith Wharton imagined in her book The Age of Innocence, having the character Countess Ellen Olenska stay there. No doubt she removed her lace gloves before breaking off a piece of her roll (break, never cut). It would have been served from the left and placed on the bread plate, carried there by a silver fork and spoon. 

Susan Wilson, the hotel's official historian, wrote a book called Heaven, by Hotel Standards, capturing the hotel's tales and escapades. The title comes from an exchange between humorist Twain and a Globe reporter at the hotel in 1877. The reporter asked Twain how he was doing, and Twain responded, "You see for yourself that I'm pretty near heaven - not theologically of course, but by the hotel standard." 

JFK proposed to Jackie at Table 40 in the hotel restaurant. John Wilkes Boothe stayed there and had pistol practice nearby, within two weeks of shooting President Lincoln.  

As to the rolls themselves, their distinctive "pocketbook" shape has a myth attached that no one can verify, Wilson says. The shape came from a disgruntled chef who clenched the dough in his hand and threw it into the pan. There's no evidence this story is true and many others go with it. They remain in circulation today.

Read the story about Parker House rolls. A sidebar talks about how to break down an old Parker House roll recipe and interpret what's needed. 

To jump straight to a modern roll recipe, go here. After all, they make terrific sliders.

Crackling Artisan Bread

A plain loaf of dough, with a snip of the scissors and a rest in a banneton, has a kooky panache when baked off.

The Village Baking Company in Dallas had a message on their chalkboard: "Bread is meant to be loved, not to be understood." It was signed, "The Oven."

Though many of us do enjoy the scent of a freshly baked loaf - we don't understand how to get our hands on it. And make no mistake: we want it.

Bread is the king of the table, novelist Louis Bromfield wrote, and "all else is merely the court that surrounds the king. The countries are the soup, the meat, the vegetables, the salad, but bread is king.”

The Dallas Morning News helped me explore this idea of something beyond our reach in a story called "The Easiest Bread Ever." Find the images by Evans Caglage and story with photography slide show and video here. 

It's a "good news" story, a starting point for a long and wonderful journey with no end in sight (but who would want one?). Using just four ingredients - flour, water, salt and yeast - you can easily get the look, the feel, the scent of the thing in your own kingdom.

Chalk that up.

Let's Make a Wedding Cake

A wedding cake for Bolton and Blaz

If someone you dearly love asked you to make a wedding cake, would you, should you, could you do it?

Yes you can, but get help early and often. If you have friends with pans, wedding books or experience in building structure, barrage them with questions. Here's a list of lessons learned in my first attempt, with nods to those who showed the way.

1) Find good recipes. My friend Chef Amy does wonderful flowers in gum paste and knows volumes about chocolate. Amy likes Toba Garrett's "Wedding Cake Art and Design: A Professional Approach" and loaned me her copy. The book has good recipes and lessons on how to create the products you'll need - from cake and rolled fondant to pastillage and modeling chocolate. Lots of photos and how-tos, but not every step in a cake's journey is covered. Still, the book is a helpful guide to get the imagineering started. Keep casting about for ideas.

Chef Reenie was in patisserie school with me. She loves to do cakes and went over to Britain to learn from Mich Turner, whom Gordon Ramsay has called "the Bentley of cake makers." When Reenie heard I was attempting a wedding cake, she rolled in with boxes of books for inspiration, pans of all sizes, dowels, cake boards and even a Martha Stewart Crafts version of the Cricut Cake Electronic Cutting System.

From the inter-web, I veered over to Smitten Kitchen, Deb Perelman's brain trust. Deb took her readers on a "lessons-learned" journey through her first wedding cake. In "Project Wedding Cake," she explains how she started and in later posts, gives the ingredients and method for chocolate butter cake, vanilla buttermilk cake and mango curd. My bride chose all three for her big day. Thumb's up. They're delicious and sturdy. Smitten wins. So all you have to do now is . . .

2) Start building early. If you want to make gum paste flowers, pastillage pieces or other special decorations, jump in. You'll change your mind on shapes, colors, textures, and break a few pieces along the way, so get into it. Should you buy premade gum paste, use a bag of mix or make it yourself? My reccomend is: Make it yourself. I tried all three gum paste versions.

Wilton's ready to use product is extremely white, and that's good; it's also very dense when worked in the hand and more expensive than making your own. I went through two bags on mock-up pieces before seeking a cheaper method. I tried the bag of mix from CK products and had trouble achieving a good working consistency. I added the specified water and the result was just too dry. By adding a little more water, I ruined it and it became too wet. It was also cream-colored compared to Wilton's white, white gum paste. Didn't like it. Not my thing.

Amy suggested trying the "purple jar," the Tylose powder from Confectionary Art International. I liked it best. You'll need egg whites, confectioner's sugar and the powder. I bought my jar at Cake Carousel for $6.75. It's available on Amazon for $7.84 or N.Y. Cake for $4.99.

Notice that pricing disparity? Try to cut costs where you can, but know that sometimes, you'll have to pay more if what you need is available where you are, when you need it. Fight for every penny but in the end, fight for the cake.

Keep gum paste in the fridge when not using, and always keep it covered; it dries fairly fast. If you're making ribbons and you want to roll gum paste very thin and even, use your pasta attachment to the KitchenAid.

Also in this "start building early" category, get a set of foam dummies, to help you visualize the cake's size and appearance. You'll also use them for drying gum paste or fondant pieces right on the shapes they'll sit on. Buy dummies online at Dallas Foam as Amy does, or find them at N.Y. Cake, Cake Carousel and other cake supply stores. Then you should . . .

3) Bake early. The final week is exhausting. Don't try to make a wedding cake - your first - in one week. Cake layers freeze well, as do buttercream frostings and mango curd. I made layers up to a month out and was glad for it. If you break a layer or two during the final week, just pull another layer from storage (yes, bake extra layers).

And if you've never assembled a cake before, use this time to watch videos on YouTube. I learned a good deal from Craftsy.com in this free mini class on working with buttercream. Another tip: If you're on pinterest, build a board for collecting ideas. That way, the bride can look at your board and give reactions that help you define and finish the cake's look and feel. My board "Bolton and Blaz Get Married" included images of cakes we liked, cake charts and idea starters. And when the end is near . . .

4) Bring in those who know. When not teaching culinary classes for a national kitchenware chain, Chef April assists one of the fanciest cake designers in Dallas. She helps deliver and set up cakes at their final destination, so she knows tips for how to transport, stack layers and stay calm. The day before the wedding, she helped final coat the layers on my bride and groom's cakes, showed how to use both plastic dowels (we used Wilton plastic; pvc I bought was bending, and is it food safe anyway? Wooden dowels may weaken if they soak up moisture); also wooden skewers to secure the layers once assembled - and how high we could safely stack layers for transport. You need someone with this knowledge. As a result of working with her, there were no cake casualties. Zero!

Thanks also go to Chez Juan and inner circle bestie Elizabeth. Yes, on the actual day, bring your spouse and your most capable go-to gal to your wedding party venue. They help, they fix, they urge you on. And then you should always . . .

5) Have more flowers than you need. Buy extra flowers if using them. Fresh flowers are a godsend on cakes (our hydrangeas came from Whole Foods). They cover multiple sins, like areas where buttercream isn't covering well (as on dummy foam layers used to increase a cake's height or appearance) . . . areas where you jabbed your finger into the side of the cake . . . areas where something doesn't line up as intended.

For example, at the venue, we placed the final layer on the top of the cake and saw that it was ever so slightly larger than the layer below. What to do? Have extra buttercream with you to frost frost frost, and when all else fails, add flowers. See those green letters in the photo above, the ones representing the bride and groom (both names begin with a "B)? They're doing most of the coverup on that odd spot where the layers don't match. Draping flowers helps fool the eye away. Why letters in green? We placed the white letters on and they "disappeared" against the buttercream. Fortunately, we'd made letters in two colors and chose the ones that stood out better. Always have backup options!

Finally, taste your cake. How else to know if you got it right?

Assorted Takeaways

*Cake boards can absorb moisture and fat from cake layers, which may weaken them and remember, they have to be part of the support that keeps the beauty standing tall. The Glad product Press 'n Seal is a great way to cover the boards before they go under cake layers.

*Save broken layers. So you cracked the two 14-inchers down the middle, it happens. Save 'em. You may use them to build another piece (see what the shield of Slovenia is standing on in the photo below? That's leftover 14-inch cake). Our other cast-offs are now cake balls. 

*Mango or other curds are slippery when used as fillings and will ooze out into your buttercream. To help stabilize layers and prevent oozing, pipe a ring of buttercream near (but not precisely on) the edge of the cake. (If you have to trim the edges, you won't cut through the buttercream dam and release curd. Yep. Did it on first go-around and crashed about 8 inches of cake). Pipe another ring inside the first ring, and another inside the second right. Place the layer in the fridge and allow to chill at least 30 minutes before adding the curd in the center. This firms up the buttercream. Remember to leave at least one layer without the ring. (I had to bake extra layers because I forgot this across the board, from a s sheet cake to a groom's cake to the bride's cake). Remember, leave one layer PLAIN!

*It's cheaper to buy cake foam dummies than to keep baking more cake. If you want more height, work in some dummy layers, especially at the bottom. Just be sure to have sheet cake for the back of the house to replace the dummy layers, if counting them for servings. One of Chef April's tips - if you have a 16-inch bottom, make that a dummy, don't try to bake it. It would be incredibly heavy in real cake (and as I've learned, the bigger the layers, the higher the potential they crack down the middle. They're so heavy, they can fall off either side of the turntable.)

*Buy the boxes you need for transport AFTER you know the sizes of layers you're using. Otherwise, you'll buy wrong sizes, you will! Count carefully. Measure. Keep a ruler and calculator with you at all times. 

*Visit the venue well before the event. Find out if refrigeration is available, and if it's in a different location, walk through the pathways. Ask for a cart to be ready upon delivery, so you can wheel in the layers easily. In Texas, that refrigeration can mean the difference in success or failure when transporting in high temps, no matter how cool you kept the car. Bring a few tablecloths with you, in case the walk-in fridge smells and you need to cover your cake boxes.

*ASK about cake slicing charges. I didn't read it anywhere in any tips, so you're getting it now. The head chef at our venue said there would be a $2 per slice charge for cutting the cake. Adding a sauce or ice cream would increase the price. Be sure to ask. You'll want to know.

*On this journey, for that's what it is, a true art of discovery, write down what you're doing, on the day you're doing it. Jot down what others say. You need those notes. You need lots of them to help you see the progression of the ideas and tips. What a break it was to read in my notes that Chef April said to start frosting and filling on Tuesday for a Friday night wedding. That still gave me Wednesday to rebuild the first oopsies from Tuesday. By Thursday, I was ready for Chef April to haul me over the finish line. You want to be finished the day before the event. Yes, you do.

*Finally, my "don't forget to bring" list: 

-->step ladder, paper towels, double stick tape, tool bag, waxed paper for covering the tablecloth, trash bag, water supply, extra frosting, ice chest, turntable, scissors, extra offset spatulas and yes, a hand mixer.

Trust me.

A groom's cake for Blaz, with the shield of Slovenia and a romantic treatment of his country's name.

Marvelous Macarons

Macarons, just what is it about you?

At the kitchenware store where I taught pastry, macarons outsold all other classes. That includes artisan bread, handmade chocolates, croissants, eclairs and apple pie.

If this is your heart’s desire, buy a digital scale and pull out the mixer.

Let’s get into this.

Macarons are not difficult to make, but good prep matters. Mac recipes are expressed in ounce weights, not cup or teaspoon measures, so plan to weigh your ingredients. Here are two good mac recipes for home use.

Plain Macarons

6 ounces powdered sugar

4 ounces almond meal such as Bob’s Red Mill or in bulk section

3 ounces egg white, room temp (about 3 eggs needed)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

pinch cream of tartar

¼ teaspoon food coloring gel (optional)

To flavor this basic ratio of ingredients, add a teaspoon of cinnamon or espresso, up to 1 tablespoon of ground ginger or up to 2 tablespoons of finely ground, freeze-dried fruit such as raspberry, strawberry or blueberry, available from Whole Foods, Central Market or Trader Joe’s.

For liquid flavorings, plan on no more than ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract, lemon extract and so on. Be careful when adding lavender (too much can make the mix taste soapy) or rose extract (strong flavor). Liquid flavorings are added to whipped egg whites. More on that in a moment.

Chocolate Macarons

6 ounces powdered sugar

4 ounces almond flour

1 ounce Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional)*

4 ounces egg whites

3.2 ounces sugar

pinch cream of tartar

*The espresso powder helps add depth to the chocolate flavor.

Tip: The cocoa powder does act as a drying agent, so don’t be surprised if this mixture takes longer to mix than other recipes and feels much stiffer.

Here’s how either recipe comes together.

Prepare dry ingredients

In a mini chopper or food processor, pulse all of the almond meal and about 1/3 of the powdered sugar (no need to measure, just eyeball it) until finely ground. Now add this mixture to a mixing bowl, along with the rest of the powdered sugar. Add all other dry ingredients (such as cocoa powder if using, spices like cinnamon, coffee or ginger). Sift this dry mixture 4 times between the bowl and a piece of parchment or another bowl. Set aside.

Prepare wet ingredients

1.    In stand mixer fitted with a whisk, add egg whites and turn on the mixer to medium speed (speed 4 on a KitchenAid). No need to wait; once the eggs are going, add the sugar and cream of tartar or pinch of salt (if recipe uses). Whip 3 minutes. Use a timer!

2.    Raise speed to medium high (speed 6-7), whip 3 more minutes.

3.    Raise speed to highest number, whip 3 minutes (note: a Breville stand mixer takes less time and you may not need the full final 3 minutes). Use your eyes to judge when you’ve whipped enough, but this 3-3-3 tip should work well and prevent overwhipping. Look to see if the meringue you’ve just made is bunching up in the whisk attachment. If so, you’re done.

4.    Now add food color and/or flavorings. Whip on highest speed after adding, about 1 minute to fully incorporate. Please don’t try adding a liquid flavoring or food color earlier when whipping, or the egg whites may not fully whip. 

5.    How much food color to add? Up to and about ¼ teaspoon. Same goes for liquid flavorings. Macs don’t like moisture, and added gels (don’t use the watery food colors) and liquid flavorings do add moisture that can cause issues (especially how long the macs take to dry, and whether the batter becomes too thin).

Once you’ve whipped the egg whites and sifted the dry ingredients (that wasn’t so hard, was it?), you’re ready to combine the two.

Folding step, or macaronage

1. Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the dry ingredients, counting strokes. If using half a recipe, count to at least 25 strokes, see if the batter is loose like lava. If not, keep folding, scraping down sides, too. When spatula is lifted, batter should fall back into the bowl within about 20 seconds, then disperse gently. If peaks form from lifting spatula, batter has not been folded enough. *It is better to underfold than overfold, which results in flat disks. This could take 50 strokes, or even 100 for a full batch. Chocolate batters take more strokes than other batters.

2. Once you’ve decided the batter’s folded enough, it’s time to pipe out macs. It helps to use a tall glass to set your pastry bag in, so your hands are free to scoop batter directly from the bowl into the bag. Don’t try to lift the batter with the spatula or you’ll bet batter everywhere including your eyebrows. Hold the bowl, scrape into the bag. Proceed.

1.    3. Place batter in a pastry bag fitted with a small Wilton No. 12 tip. (Tip: It helps to have a paper template with drawn circles, which you’ll place under parchment on a sheet tray. Those grocery store rolls of parchment don’t work well because they tend to buckle under drying macs and change their shape. Cut sheets into flat rectangles for use on the baking tray). 

2.    4. When the bag is halfway filled (don’t overfill the bag, trust me), twist the top of the bag as tight as you can, then apply gentle pressure by squeezing down. Here’s a visual: It’s not like squeezing a cow’s udder, where the fist is thumb’s up. Your thumb should be to the side of your hand, like a fist bump. Pressure on the bag comes from squeezing it inside your fist, with the top of the bag sticking out the side. Maintain that tight twist, that’s a key step.

3.    5. When ready to pipe, get the baking sheet close to your body; don’t reach with your arm or you may end up piping everything at an angle (and they bake off with a slant). Aim for the center of the circle – about ½ inch up from the paper, and hold the bag straight vertically. If you pipe at any angle other than straight up, the macs can bake at a slant. Also, do not pipe in swirls; allow the batter to gently flow until you reach the edge of the circles, then think the word “stop” so you cease piping. Don’t keep piping as you pull the tip away or you’ll create peaks. Just tip the bag slightly and release. Tip: If you do have small "nipples" after piping, worry not. They may sink back into the batter, or you can disguise them in the decorating stage. Just don't try to wet your finger and push them down; that's like adding a burn mark (remember how they hate moisture)?

4.    6. Once all circles are piped, gently rap pans against the table to dispel air bubbles. GENTLY. Why people drop the pans from on high, I don’t know.

5.    Mark the time on your parchment, set macs aside to rest.

Rest macarons before baking. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Macs need to rest at least 30 minutes, until they are gently dry to the touch. If they’re sticky, do NOT bake them yet. (See photo) Some macs may take an hour to dry, depending on how much food color and/or liquid flavoring you added. Why rest the macs? So they develop a skin on top. Once they hit the oven, heat transferring up through the bottom of the pan has no place to go and starts pushing out the side of the mac, giving it the characteristic “foot” or ruffled edge that gives it true beauty.

See what happened here: These macs did not rest and had no skin, so when exposed to heat, their tops sauntered off, thinning the batter on the bottom and burning it. They also have a visible nipple peak, so they weren't mixed quite long enough. Because their tops burned, too, after they thinned out, the attractive green color was lost. Quelle dommage!

Bake at 325 for 13 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. 

This is a best estimate, based on success in my kitchen and in the kitchenware store’s oven. Your oven will be different, so watch your macs. Do not allow them to brown on top. You may need to drop your temperature or bake slightly longer. I prefer the baking cycle versus convection, because convection fans can blow the tops sideways.

When removing macs from the oven, place the pan on a wire rack and allow everything to cool, pan and all. If you try to lift the macs, they’re still fragile and can break. Once cool, pull the paper away from the macs and place them on the cooling rack.

A note about Aging Your Macs: On baking day, they taste crunchy and sometimes sticky on the teeth. Fill them, refrigerate them or freeze them, and on Day 2, moisture from the filling will have migrated via osmosis into the shell, creating that softer sandwich mouthfeel we all prize. If you freeze or refrigerate macs in advance of serving, leave them out about 20-30 minutes at room temp to soften the buttercream.

Need a good buttercream to go with them? Thought so. By the way, macs are sweety sweet, so try using a citrusy or acidic filling such as a raspberry buttercream or good jam. The Caramel Buttercream below goes well with chocolate.

Caramel Buttercream

*If this buttercream feels too slack, add about 4 tablespoons more of butter. Kitchens and weather conditions may vary.

2 ounces water

13 ounces sugar

3.5 ounces water (second use, you need both waters at different stages)

2.5 ounces heavy whipping cream, room temp or slightly warmed

4 ounces egg yolks

1-2 teaspoons sea salt or to taste (optional)

13.5 ounces butter, softened, not cold, not melted

1.    In a large saucepan, cook the FIRST WATER and sugar on medium heat, washing down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush and water (to help prevent crystallization) until boiling. Cook to caramel stage, about 320 degrees or honey-colored. Remove saucepan to a large bowl containing cool water and shock bottom of pot in water to stop cooking process. Allow caramel to cool to about 250, then add SECOND AMOUNT of water and heavy cream, stirring with a rubber spatula. (CAUTION: mixture may bubble up.)

2.    Cook mixture over low heat until the mixture is smooth, stir in salt if using, set aside.

3.    Using a stand mixer with a whip attachment, whip egg yolks until light and in “ribbon stage,” about 2-3 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, carefully pour in the hot caramel down the side of the bowl. Continue whipping until mixture has cooled to about 85 degrees. This could take 10 minutes.

4.    Begin adding chunks of butter, incorporating each into the mixture before adding more butter. If the finished mixture looks too soft, chill in the refrigerator before using.

5.    FIX THIS: If the buttercream looks “broken” like a sauce, try whipping it on high speed a few minutes. If it doesn’t come together, set a pan of water on the stove and heat to simmering. Place the mixer bowl over the simmering water and whisk until mixture comes back together, making sure to only do it as long as the mixture isn’t melting. It does seem counter-intuitive to whisk the mixture over steam heat, but it works.

6.    Store buttercream in refrigerator until ready to use. To soften before using, whip it by hand with a whisk, or gently rewarm over a pan of simmering water, whisking as you go.

Salted Caramel
(adapted from the fine work of Mia Ohrn in the book "Macarons, Cupcakes and Cake Pops," Sterling, 2011)

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temp
1 teaspoon flaked salt (such as Maldon)

1. Blend the sugar, syrup and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, washing down the sugar crystals on the sides of the pan as you go, using a pastry brush with a little water; keep brush out of cooking mixture. (The purpose of this step is to prevent sugar on the sides from forming a chain of crystals that connect up with the mixture, causing crystalline formation and grainy texture.) Once the mixture is boiling, stop washing down the sides. 
2. Simmer until the mixture becomes golden brown, but keep your eye on it. You're looking for the color of honey. Too light, and you miss out on flavorful carmelized notes. Too dark, and it will taste burnt. If the flame or stovetop heat is uneven and parts of the mixture look golden before others, gently tilt and swirl to distribute the sugar evenly. This should only take a few minutes.
3.  Carefully stir in the cream (it may bubble up on you), then the butter. Continue to cook slowly until the mixture thickens slightly. On a thermometer, you're looking for soft ball stage, about 240 degrees.
4. Remove from heat, stir in the salt. Let the caramel cool completely, overnight at room temp is best. This is a very hot mixture; resist the urge to touch it and taste it. After cooling, store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Why I like it: Awesome flavor, and it becomes firm enough to pipe. It doesn't goo crazy down the sides of the mac.

Decorating

So why stop at plain macs when you can glorify the tops as you would cookies? Play with adding colored sprinkles to the tops right after piping (so the sprinkles stick while the mac is still wet), drizzle the baked macs with melted chocolate or even dip the tops in melted chocolate, then sprinkle with more chocolate shavings, nuts or toasted coconut. Attach candied edible flowers, rose petals or chocolate garnishes.

Shoot, pipe some buttercream on the top, something other than the filling.

I like to go crazy, dividing a recipe in half and coloring a half batch, then piping the colored batch over the plain discs (or vice versa). The effect is marvelous. Use a smaller tip for the piping.

 Send me your marvelous results, won't you?

 

Sweet macs at the Bosie Tea Parlor in New York's West Village, featuring a simple top decoration.