Quote:
Originally Posted by Leigh
I was looking through the forum and didn't see any threads specifically geared towards baking so I figured that I would create one. I've always loved sweets, chocolates, cakes, muffins, cupcakes etc but never did attempt to bake things other than the occasional birthday cake or brownie from the boxes found in stores. However lately with all sorts of shows coming out like Cake Boss, Cupcake Girls, Cupcake Wars etc it got me to thinking ~ what would it be like to bake as, say, a career choice?
Well I have the opportunity to possibly get funding to go to school to get a degree and I was going to go into accounting originally but what about a cooking diploma? I've been thinking about opening my own cupcake shop or something like that here in Winnipeg and I've had alot of ideas running through my head but of course its all just a dream for now. What I want more than anything is to share this thread with fellow BFP'ers who love to bake; cakes, cupcakes, muffins, pies etc. I thought it would be cool to exchange recipes, bounce ideas off of one another, and just talk about all subjects under the baking spectrum.
Come in and sit down with beverages and pastries, and let's talk about how much we all love to bake :-)
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I actually have a love/hate relationship with baking... I like playing chopped with what ever I find in the kitchen... This means that about 25% of what I bake gets to *feed* the birds... the other 75% contributes to my ever so apple like figure...
So I don't bake much...
I generally have to get obsessed by something to do any serious scratch baking... I mean obsessed, like I have been perfecting my Ciabatta bread for about five years (Mitmo generally grabs that out of my hands before I can *gift the birds with the bread that doesn't meet my standards.. I bake artisan so it's only flour, water,salt, yeast and the poolish... the success of the bread is ALL in the glution development)
The last thing I was obsessed about was:
Sharlotka (Rustic Apple Cake)
Butter or nonstick spray, for greasing pan
6 large, tart apples, such as Granny Smiths
3 large eggs
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
Ground cinnamon, to finish
Powdered sugar, also to finish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the paper and the sides of the pan. Peel, halve and core your apples, then chop them into medium-sized chunks. (I cut each half into four “strips” then sliced them fairly thinly — about 1/4-inch — in the other direction.) Pile the cut apples directly in the prepared pan. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, using an electric mixer or whisk, beat eggs with sugar until thick and ribbons form on the surface of the beaten eggs. Beat in vanilla, then stir in flour with a spoon until just combined. The batter will be very thick.
Pour over apples in pan, using a spoon or spatula to spread the batter so that it covers all exposed apples. (Updated to clarify: Spread the batter and press it down into the apple pile. The top of the batter should end up level with the top of the apples.) Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a tester comes out free of batter. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on rack, then flip out onto another rack, peel off the parchment paper, and flip it back onto a serving platter. Dust lightly with ground cinnamon.
Serve warm or cooled, dusted with powdered sugar.
Love it, love it, love it...
I tweeked it just a bit... I lightly carmalized the apples and added lemon juice (cause I love apples and lemon) I made the cake in ramkins (Reduce baking time by about 15ish mins) and I topped the ramkins with a salted carmel sauce topped with my clotted/whipped cream.. (the texture is right in the middle)
The tang/sweet of the apples played really well with the salted carmel.. the cake it's self is not overly sweet, so the carmel is just right...
I also did a couple with molassess in the apples without the carmel, but they just didn't come out as well..
Like I said.. I have a love hate relationship with baking/breadmaking...
I miss being in a kitchen... I absolutely loved the quiet hours of nothing but work, focusing only on what you are making... I loved being able to pull a loaf of bread out of deck oven and being able to tell if it's done just by the weigh and color of the bread...I loved walking past racks of beautiful pastries and knowing that I made them that way...
I miss working with people who shared my obsession with bread and pastries...
I do not miss 14 hour days six days a week because the flu hit the bakery and the department went down... At thanksgiving...
I don't miss some idiot filling the sugar bin with salt and the mixer not tasting the mix before baking off 60 cakes....
I don't miss getting ready to walk out the door and being handed an order that needs to be made NOW because the order never made it out of the catering managers office and we can't let the customer down...
I don't miss brush burns, steam scalds, dislocated shoulders (rack full of pies with a bad wheel fell and I had the choice to try and stop it or let it knock me into a 425' walk in oven)
I don't miss feet that hurt so bad you can't walk, hands so swollen you can't close them.. lower back pain so bad that you work with an ice pack taped to your back... (Because it doesn't matter how bad you feel, you have to show up)
I don't miss sinusitis and having such a close personal relationship with my neti pot...
You have to love cooking/baking to work in the commercial world.. Because for every cool thing you get to make, you are piping 500 hundred roses on cupcakes because they sell really well and have a high profit margin..
oh shoot, I did it again...
Ummm enjoy the Sharlotka... It's easy and nummy