Napoleons are one of those pastries that are entirely made from components you probably already know: puff pastry, pastry cream and poured fondant. That being the case, there’s no “recipe” this week per se, just a list of things you’ll want to have on-hand (all can be made well in advance):
About 20 ounces puff pastry (store-bought is OK)
Half recipe pastry cream
One and a half recipes poured fondant
About a tablespoon cocoa powder
I have a poor track record confronting the Napoleon, but there’s been a consistent drumbeat of requests for me to do so for at least the last two years. Which I suppose means it’s time I strapped on my boots, fixed my bayonet and engaged on the field of honor. By which I do not […]
READ ONI didn’t plan for this week to be so light on content, folks, it just sorta turned out that way. I got behind on work, which threw off my baking schedule, and well…the you are. Next week’s going to be a little hit-or-miss as well since I’ll be traveling on business, but I’ll see if […]
READ ONReader Eric writes:
READ ONFollowing on your melon pan recipe, I was wondering if during your research you came across any recipes that called for a tangzhong or a water roux. It’s touted as an anti-staling method, or a softness improver.
Wondering if you’ve tried it yourself. My personal experience with East Asian pastries and breads is that they are generally soft and don’t go stale quickly, which might be because of the preservatives and conditioners that are added.
Here’s another buttercream alternative that’s extremely easy. It’s standard ganache, a 50-50 combination of chocolate and heavy cream by weight — only whipped! You start by making the ganache, any quantity you wish, you can use either standard or white chocolate.
READ ONWho knew there were so many people in the world who don’t like buttercream? Following Monday’s post on Heritage frosting I’ve received a deluge of emails asking for alternatives to buttercream. Of course I never deny my readers anything (ehem). Hang on while I whip something up.
READ ONGood question, reader Luther! It’s commonly said that flour granules “pop” in a hot, wet environment, releasing their starches and creating thickening. But that’s not quite right. Think of a flour granule as a tightly-bound bundle of reeds and branches (amylose and amylopectin [starch] molecules), a broken-off chunk of wheat berry endosperm. Immerse that granule […]
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Did I forget to mention it’s also called “mock buttercream”? This is something that a handful of readers have asked me about lately. It was little Jo’s turn to submit a cake for the cake wheel at last Friday’s fish fry, so it seemed like a good time to make it.
READ ONReader Jay writes:
When you were talking about macarons, you said that old egg whites are better. Does the rule hold true for floating islands?
It does. Older eggs are better when it comes to making any sort of foam. Why? Simply because older eggs have runnier whites, and when egg whites are runny it’s easier to put the hurt on the proteins they contain. Think of it like this: a whip cuts through a bowl of water with much more force than it does through a bowl of, say, honey. The result is that older whites are not only easier to whip, they whip up higher.
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