So here it is, the first week of January, 2011, and the surprise I promised has yet to materialize. Blame the weather in Ireland for the delay, since that’s where the developer of the new version of joepastry.com has been bogged down for the last several weeks, as I understand it, on a farm someplace […]
READ ONIt’s coming very clear that next year I’ll need to sponsor an official gingerbread house/creation competition. I’ve had so many submissions this last week I can’t post them all, but here are a few of my favorites. First, this Tonantzin Aztec Goddess/Virgen of Guadalupe by Stella of Stellar Cakes in Cottage Grove, Oregon. It’s something […]
READ ONReader Justin offers this photo of a gingerbread Philadelphia Museum of Art, made by his friends Meredith and Brooklyn. That little figure on the steps is, of course, a gummy Rocky Balboa who’s evidently just finished another exhausting dash to the top. Getting strong now… I’ll have that theme song going through my head all […]
READ ONI know gingerbread is great for lots of thing — but who knew it could be fashioned into complex digital machines? Reader Jordan, apparently. He offers this photo: …as well as this video of the Multi-Function Pastry in action. Well done Jordan!
READ ONOne of the most interesting applications for syrups, or so I’ve always thought, is candied fruit. And I don’t really mean the neon-colored fruits we use for fruitcakes, though they’re terrific in the right context. What I’m talking about are whole candied fruits (also called glacéed fruit), which, depending on who makes them and where, […]
READ ONReader Jen asks: Where do the names for the confectionery stages of sugar come from? A very interesting question. The names themselves are obviously descriptive of the way the sugar syrup behaves after it’s been heated to the requisite temperature. “Thread”-stage syrup forms threads as it’s drizzled from a spoon or fork. “Soft crack” and […]
READ ONCrack, speed ball…oh no wait, that’s what Lindsey Lohan had for breakfast this morning. What I meant to say was thread, soft ball, firm ball, hard ball, soft crack, hard crack. These are the terms for the sugar syrups used in the confectionery arts. What’s the difference between them? Simply, the degree to which they’ve […]
READ ONSyrups of different sorts are found all around us in nature, notably in the form of tree saps, which human beings around the world have harvested for eons. Most of us in the Northern Hemisphere automatically think “maple” when we consider tree syrups, but in reality there are many other types of sap-giving trees. Birch […]
READ ONHeavier still are these sauce-like syrups that weigh in at a ratio of 1.5 parts sugar to 1 part water or more. You typically find them in plated desserts where they’re puddled or drizzled around to create various decorative effects. The recipe is: 8 ounces water 14 ounces sugar Flavoring elements of your choice – […]
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