Foil vs. Paper Cupcake/Muffin Liners

Robyn asks: I’m making butterfly cakes for my daughter’s engagement party, so I bought some pretty aluminum foil cases. When I opened the packet, I discovered each foil case has a separate paper liner sitting inside it. There was no mention of the paper cases on the packaging.

Do I leave the foil case on [...]

January 31st, 2010 | Category: cakes, equipment & supplies, muffins/quick breads | One comment

Biscotti help

Marcia asks: I just purchased a biscotti pan made by Chicago Metallic. It came with a recipe that I wasn’t crazy about: It used oatmeal and advised you to form a loaf and place it in the pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

From going to different recipe sites for biscotti, some say to shape [...]

January 11th, 2010 | Category: cookies, recipes, techniques | One comment

My mom’s Corn Bread recipe

No, it’s not what you think. This is not the yellow stuff you make to go with chili and soup (mine comes out of a Jiffy box!). This is a delicious yeast-raised bread sweetened with honey. A childhood favorite my mom always made when I was growing up: perfect comfort food for the Winter season! [...]

January 8th, 2010 | Category: bread, recipes | Leave a comment

Recipe help: Chantilly Cream and Creme Anglaise

V. says: I love chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream. I have tried without success to come up with a vanilla frosting that taste very much like vanilla ice cream. I then thought about a vanilla mousse which is probably as close to vanilla ice cream as I probably will come. I have tried several [...]

January 6th, 2010 | Category: frostings, recipes | Leave a comment

Beating eggs for cake batter: What is the purpose?

V. asks: I have a basic yellow cake recipe that uses 4 large whole eggs. I wanted to know if beating the whole eggs until they are a light pale yellow and foamy and then adding them to the cake batter causes the cake to have more rise than it would with just the baking [...]

January 3rd, 2010 | Category: pies | Leave a comment