Sweets

[Satori]

Hmm ... It's been a long time since I made fudge, but I used to do it every Christmas as a kid and don't remember using a candy thermometer. In fact, it was really easy ... What recipe are you using?

I do sympathize about faulty candy thermometers, though. If they decide to go bust on you while you're in the middle of a batch of candy, you end up stuck with a mess of burnt sugar unless you're practiced at discerning the soft ball stage, etc. But don't feel bad about your phailed phudge. The last time I made penuche, I popped a piece of the delectable confectionary in my mouth only to crunch on tiny pieces of glass from the tip of my thermometer, which apparently had decided to shatter whilst stuck in my pan of penuche-to-be.

Rather like the Monty Python sketch "Crunchy Frog":

Constable: And what about this one ... "Spring Surprise"?
Proprietor of Wizzo Chocolate Company: Ah, that's one of our specialities ... covered in dark velvety chocolate ... When you pop it in your mouth, stainless steel bolts spring out and plunge straight through both cheeks!
Constable: Well, where's the pleasure in that? When people pop a nice little chockie in their mouths, they don't expect to get their cheeks pierced!

[HappyWife]

I have made cowboy cookies and Baklava in the last few days.

Goggleeyes: Although I don't usually have a problem with shortening and flour, I use parchment paper to line my pans when a perfect cake is a must! You will cut out one circle which fits perfectly in the bottom of your pan. Then you will cut a long strip which will wrap around the interior of the pans. Spray the bottom of the pan with just a spritz of PAM, then place down your circle. Wrap your strip around the inside and overlap where needed, do not fold under. Pour in your batter and tada, you should get a perfect cake. Wait 15 minutes after removing from the oven before turning your cake out on a cooling rack. Then allow cake to cool completely before attempting to move, frost, or refrigerate!

Good Luck!

[goggleeyes]

I have made cowboy cookies and Baklava in the last few days.

Goggleeyes: Although I don't usually have a problem with shortening and flour, I use parchment paper to line my pans when a perfect cake is a must! You will cut out one circle which fits perfectly in the bottom of your pan. Then you will cut a long strip which will wrap around the interior of the pans. Spray the bottom of the pan with just a spritz of PAM, then place down your circle. Wrap your strip around the inside and overlap where needed, do not fold under. Pour in your batter and tada, you should get a perfect cake. Wait 15 minutes after removing from the oven before turning your cake out on a cooling rack. Then allow cake to cool completely before attempting to move, frost, or refrigerate!

Good Luck!

Thanks, I'll try that! I doubt I'd have thought of it, either, in spite of how much we love our parchment paper around here.

[JacafamalaRedux]

I made strawberry shortcake today -- the kind with sponge cake and slightly firm (from gelatin) whipped cream icing.

Yes, you may move in with me. I need an extra person or two to help with the tot.

Pink to match your hair?  :-* How Lovely!!!

I made a devil's food cake on Sunday. Well, Ok I admit it was a cake mix. Yes, I do sometimes stoop that low, on a Sunday. But a box cake's better than no cake, if you ask my kids. Actually they don't even know the difference. Both go down their little gullets same as each other.

[JaganshiKenshin]

Hmm ... It's been a long time since I made fudge, but I used to do it every Christmas as a kid and don't remember using a candy thermometer. In fact, it was really easy ... What recipe are you using?

I do sympathize about faulty candy thermometers, though. If they decide to go bust on you while you're in the middle of a batch of candy, you end up stuck with a mess of burnt sugar unless you're practiced at discerning the soft ball stage, etc. But don't feel bad about your phailed phudge. The last time I made penuche, I popped a piece of the delectable confectionary in my mouth only to crunch on tiny pieces of glass from the tip of my thermometer, which apparently had decided to shatter whilst stuck in my pan of penuche-to-be.

Rather like the Monty Python sketch "Crunchy Frog":

Constable: And what about this one ... "Spring Surprise"?
Proprietor of Wizzo Chocolate Company: Ah, that's one of our specialities ... covered in dark velvety chocolate ... When you pop it in your mouth, stainless steel bolts spring out and plunge straight through both cheeks!
Constable: Well, where's the pleasure in that? When people pop a nice little chockie in their mouths, they don't expect to get their cheeks pierced!

This was a recipe with no chocolate, only sugar, corn syrup, and a bit of butter.  You know, cook to soft-ball stage (I should've used the water test), cool to 110 degrees, then beat until it turns fudgy.  Crunchy frog, indeed.

Ur glass thermometer, we hates them for ever!

I have bought myself an instant-read thermometer with a STEEL probe.  No more crunchy frog fudge.

[Texican]

An acquaintance of mine, uses a Fluke brand multi-meter, with a temperature probe.  He has it calibration tested every year, and his fudge ( which is great, BTW), is now known as "Fluke Fudge."

He came to using that, when he broke too many glass thermometers.

[JaganshiKenshin]

I believe this was the third one we've broken. 

It's too hot and humid to attempt fudge now but I look forward to testing my new probe.

[Satori]

The "tried" that wasn't successful got eaten in short order. It was a delicious failure. But a failure nonetheless.

What happened is I poured half the cake batter in the bundt pan, then carefully spread the pudding over the batter, then poured the rest of the batter on top. When I took it out of the oven, it looked fine except for a little pudding bubbling out of the sides, but when I tried to remove the cake from the pan, it fell in half. I had two separate cakes: A top layer, then a bottom layer covered with pudding. (They did not separate in an aesthetically pleasing manner, and the bottom layer fell apart when I removed it from the pan, so trying a two-layer cake with pudding in between wasn't going to work.) However, the cake tasted very good, especially the part that baked next to the pudding. It was o so tender and yummy.

[Historian]

My mother used to make bundt cakes with pudding filling all of the time.  I know she put the pudding in later, after the cake was cool, and that there was surgery involved. She probably used to flip it upside down, cut out a trough, put in the pudding, and replace the trough.   I tried to ask her, but she doesn't recall having done it.

[JaganshiKenshin]

Or you could do it the Twinkie way, though it may not work on such a big and deep cake.