Having tried quite a few French meringues, I can say I prefer Roland Mesnier’s version hands down. Not only is it good and sturdy, it actually has flavor beyond mere sugary sweetness. When I made meringue mushrooms out of it, the missus wouldn’t believe that I hadn’t added any additional flavorings. It’s that complex and […]
READ ONA simple uncooked marzipan is a very easy thing provided you have a coffee grinder handy to pulverize the nuts. You’ll need to do the grinding in small batches, obviously. I think it took me four batches, but all of maybe five minutes. After you’ve cleaned out your grinder, add the nuts… …and grind continuously […]
READ ONI went most of my adult life thinking I didn’t like marzipan. Then I made some from scratch and realized what a fool I’d been. There are two ways to go about making marzipan. You can do the simple mix-and-stir method using powdered sugar, ground almonds and egg white, or you can do the slightly […]
READ ONRoyal icing is a go-to building material for cake decorators, as it’s indispensable for detail-y bits like beadwork on wedding cakes. It pipes extremely well and sets up quickly into very firm and stable structures. That virtue is also royal icing’s curse, at least when it’s applied to something like a cupcake, since it dries […]
READ ONAny finesse I may bring to mixing other types of doughs and batters goes right out the window when I mix gingerbread. I just dump all the ingredients in the mixing bowl and stir. You can see in the below picture that I even ignored my own instruction to lightly beat the eggs. I just […]
READ ONTwo egg whites plus three cups of powdered sugar plus a squeeze of lemon juice. That’s the standard formula that I learned years ago, though these days, because of concern over the use of raw eggs, more and more people are using meringue powder to make royal icing. I’d need to consult with an expert […]
READ ONHere’s a good sturdy gingerbread that’s excellent for either gingerbread cookies or gingerbread houses. It’s not half bad for eating, either! Yes, it contains vegetable shortening, but that’s a better choice when you’re fashioning a house or making a cookie that’s destined to become a tree ornament. Why? Because shortening won’t go rancid. If you […]
READ ONThis is one of those components that’s so simple that it almost doesn’t need a tutorial. However I remember the first time I ever read a recipe that called for it, I thought: what the heck is that? It was never explained. Now me, I’d rather err on the side of too much information, so […]
READ ONSince childhood I’ve been amazed at the way carrots transform themselves when baked into a cake. You don’t even know they’re there. I remember thinking when I was a boy: someone’s gotta be pulling my leg. This carrot cake is a far cry from the overly dense, overly moist cakes that I ate as a […]
READ ONThis really couldn’t be much easier, but heck, a couple of photos can’t hurt, right? Just combine all your ingredients in the bowl of a mixer with the paddle attached… …and beat for about 45 seconds until the frosting is smooth and uniform. You might need to scrape the bowl once to make sure all […]
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