askbakingtop.json

[
    {
        "history": "Can I chop up any candy bar that I like and throw it in a chocolate chip cookie dough in place of chips? My main concern is texture."
    },
    {
        "history": "Last week I asked for advice on my next cheesecake and I just want to thank everyone who helped. It came out amazing! There were no cracks and perfect in the middle!!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Why do some recipes improve with age, while others decline? What are the factors (if any) in recipes that will indicate if a baked good will benefit or be hurt by the passage of time?  I thought that cakes should be consumed immediately, lest they become stale and dry, however I recently baked a pound cake and was floored two days later when the flavor was much deeper, and the cake was much moister. A subsequent Google search showed exactly this, apparently pound cakes are better being baked 1-2 days in advance. I had no idea!  Now I am thinking is there anything (ingredients, technique, type of cake, etc.) that will indicate whether I should bake it in advance? Also, is there a \u201csweet spot\u201d because I\u2019ve had a sponge cake that was 5-6 days old and it was good but tasted slightly stale.  Similarly, what ingredients\/techniques\/type of dough affect cookies? For some recipes, I\u2019ve baked cookies and had to store them with a slice of bread to keep them soft or they would be quite hard\/dry\/crunchy the next day. Yet, my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe actually gets chewier, softer, and more delicious in subsequent days (if they last that long!).  Appreciate any insight :)"
    },
    {
        "history": "What's the best book to 'bake your way through' and learn a bunch of techniques? I'm a passionate home baker and I want to learn more! I'd love to have a great book on my counter to work my way through. What's your favourite go-to?"
    },
    {
        "history": "How do so many dessert places (donut shops, cake shops, etc) use whipped cream decoration without refrigerating it? I work in a bakery and we\u2019re always trying to come up with new flavors for our items (cupcakes and donuts). Often times we will think of something that would be very nice with whipped cream on top (like a strawberry shortcake flavor that has a swirl of whipped cream), but our products aren\u2019t refrigerated so we never execute these ideas- usually swap the whipped cream out for a vanilla buttercream or something.  But I follow quite a few similar places on Instagram and I\u2019m always seeing them use whipped cream in their products without a refrigerated display. How do they do this? Wouldn\u2019t it melt or go bad? I\u2019ve looked up stabilizing whipped cream but even then it says it should still be refrigerated. What\u2019s the secret?!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Getting the frosting smooth decorating the outside of a cake... HOW?! The cakes I can bake well, but decorating? Man let me tell you I am struggling. I've been trying for months and I still can't get it down. Is it the consistency of my buttercream? The angle I hold the cake scraper? Like I see videos and try to copy but there is always uneven-ness. And as for the top of the cake, how on earth do you get it looking smooth, I always end up with lines where I lift off the palette knife.  I know practice makes perfect but it's like, my practice is looking like we aren't progressing at all, so are there any tips for me please?"
    },
    {
        "history": "My chocolate croissants turned into massive puffy messes. What did I do wrong? I spent two days religiously following these recipes from Food and Wine:  croissant dough  pain au chocolat  When it was time for my croissants to proof, they expanded into MASSIVE puffy messes. I baked them anyway, because at that point I'd already invested so much time, and they baked just fine, but sweet baking gods, these are some truly ugly baked goods.  What did I do wrong?   Here's a pic of my unfortunate bread children: http:\/\/imgur.com\/gallery\/mTLzwIb"
    },
    {
        "history": "I'm dreaming of making a Croquembouche.... While I haven't made this, yet, what has been your experience & what shall I keep in mind when making this?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Cheesecake Tips How do you prevent a NY cheesecake from cracking?  Made one for NYE for the fam and its got a big crack down the center when I started to cool, not a big deal because I am topping it, but would love to know the secret behind the prevent it from cracking.  Do I need to grease or line the springform?  And Happy New Years to you all!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Looking to buy a (KitchenAid) stand-mixer. Would you recommend head tilt or bowl lift? Why? Thanks in advance!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Delicious mail-resilient cookies? Any recommendations for cookies that will still taste good and retain the same texture after 2-5 days in the mail? Perhaps a recipe that worked well for you for cookie exchanges this past holiday season?   One-day shipping is no longer reliable, and packages have taken 2-14 days to arrive! I usually package cookies in mason jars, Tupperware or double layer of plastic bags \u2014 ideas for other ways to keep cookies fresh are welcome too.   Thanks in advance, bakers!"
    },
    {
        "history": "How do you keep your stuff organized? I live in an apartment and every square inch is covered in storage solutions. What I'm having trouble with is all of the small baking tools. I've got a dresser drawer full of silicon mats, piping bags and tips, cookie cutters and other random tools. I've got bins full of food coloring, flavors and extracts, sprinkles, etc, just dumped together. I have to do a lot of rummaging any time I need something.   Anyone have tips for storing and organizing all the little things that you don't need constant access to (e.g. measuring spoons) but you want to be able to find as needed?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Russian Buttercream... A friend has asked for her bday cake to have Russian buttercream.  Has anyone worked with it? Does it pipe well? Sturdy? Im so lost with this. Any tips,advice, recommendations?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Using chocolate pudding for a cake layer ​  I am making a chocolate cake and want to use chocolate pudding in between the layers.  I usually make the Hershey's pudding recipe on the container of cocoa powder.  Do I need to make it thicker?  If so, how?  Is there anything special I need to do so the pudding doesn't make the cake mushy?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Do you use melted chocolate or cocoa powder for your brownies? I'm currently on the hunt for the perfect brownie recipe and most of the recipes (about 70%) use cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate.   What are the benefits of using cocoa powder instead of melted chocolate?  Which ingredient do you prefer?  I've also found a few recipes that use both, what's your opinion on that?"
    },
    {
        "history": "To simmer or not to simmer...fruit in pie filling I make lots of pies, I have had success with cooking fruit down or placing it in a pastry uncooked. I\u2019m trying to create more of my own recipes from scratch, and am curious which method is better, or why you would choose to do one over the other.  Thanks so much!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Brittle Butter Ive been using the same technique for many years for preparing butter for laminated products. Whether I am making croissant, Danish, or  puff, I use cold butter right from the walk in and beat it  with a rolling pin until it is pliable. I get great results from this, the butter ends up pliable and remains cold.  Over the years, I have worked in many bakeries and restaurants, and used many brands of butter. Occasionally, we will get a batch of butter that breaks when it is hit with the rolling pin.  It kind of falls apart instead of becoming malleable.  This is not a regular thing, but some brands seem to do it more often then other brands. At my current job we use the beloved Plugra, and I just had a case of Plugra that did this same thing.  Someone once told me that this is a result of the butter having been frozen, but I am pretty  sure that this is not the real cause. Our Plugra arrives frozen sometimes, and still works beautifully. Someone else told me it has to do with how quickly the milk is cooled after being pasteurized in the production stage. Does anybody out there know for sure what causes the butter to behave in this way? To be clear, it still works fine for pastries when it is like this, it just is a mess and is less pleasant to work with. Thank you for your input."
    },
    {
        "history": "What is the significance of creaming sugar and butter?  Also, what does melting butter and mixing it into sugar do differently?   I\u2019ve seen both methods in cookie and loaf cake recipes and don\u2019t understand how they differ.   Thanks!"
    },
    {
        "history": "What's One Ingredient Worth Splurging On? Having a stocked pantry can cost a pretty penny, but what is one staple ingredient you find is worth splurging on to make your bakes better? I've heard people say vanilla or chocolate, but I want to hear what you do!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Can anyone recommend things to bake from different countries? I'm from Scotland and have always wanted to try and bake things from different countries, but haven't been sure on what to try. Could anyone help?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Order of operations when baking cookies Hello Redditors! I'm working on cookie recipes and am curious about the order of operations when building cookie dough. It seems the conventional wisdom is to sift together the dry ingredients, cream butter and sugar, add wet ingredients, and finally add the dry ingredients.  I was trying the chocolate chip cookie recipe from Bravetart and the order was different. Instead the recipe calls for the butter and sugar to be creamed first along with the salt, baking soda, baking powder and \"seasonings\" (vanilla and nutmeg). The egg is added next and the flour last.  Does anyone know how this change in the order of operations alters the chemistry of baking? I'd love to adapt this technique for other recipes if there is something different going on, or is it just the cooks preference?"
    },
    {
        "history": "What kind of jobs are out there for people who wanna work with baking? I am reconsidering becoming a baker considering the long hours and how it seems like I\u2019ll have no time to myself, is there really I can work with baking in any way and still keep a social life? Are there different kinds of jobs?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Funfetti cake Has anyone made a funfetti cake? I\u2019m in the UK and I tried to make a funfetti cake for my Nana, but all the the sprinkles completely lost their colour whilst baking. I used sprinkles from Morrison\u2019s, and I\u2019ve read that maybe supermarket sprinkles aren\u2019t the best for funfetti cakes, but does anyone have recommendations for ones that will hold their colour? Thanks in advance!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Is 'cake soak' worth it? I've been reading that brushing syrup on hot cake prevents drying. I've also read that milk soaks are better if you don't want the cake to be too sweet.  Can I ask, how does a 'milk soak' affect the cake if I bake today, frost tomorrow and then serve it the day after that? I'm wondering if soaking in milk will keep the cake moist until then or if it will backfire and be a soggy mess by then?  I don't really have the space to freeze a whole frosted cake which is what I assume is usually done in such a case."
    },
    {
        "history": "Why did my carrot cake turn out flat and dense, rather than soft and fluffy? I went by this recipe here: https:\/\/sallysbakingaddiction.com\/my-favorite-carrot-cake-recipe\/#tasty-recipes-69458.   I omitted the optional nuts and used coconut oil as the oil. I only had 1 cake pan so I baked each layer (3) one at a time using the fan option on my oven (the recipe says 177 C so I put it at around 150 C). All of my ingredients except for the carrots were at room temperature, though the carrots had been out of the refrigerator for a while as I was preparing the other things. I did not open the oven until 25 minutes had passed for each layer, and they all passed the toothpick test.  The cake still tasted good, it's just that it came out very thin and dense, almost like a raw cake, rather than light and fluffy in the photo.  Can anybody tell me why, I would love to improve the next time I make this cake because I really love carrot cake."
    },
    {
        "history": "Any tips on how to achieve brownies with a crackly top? Hello there!  I made fudgy brownies a few days ago and I wasn't very pleased with the results. The brownies formed bubbles on top, instead of the crackly and flaky top I was trying to achieve.What could I have done wrong? And do you have any tips as to how I should have done it?  Any help is appreciated. Thank you so much!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Why is my tempered chocolate falling off my English toffee? Hey guys, really struggling here, I know how to temper chocolate, my chocolate looks good and shiny on top For some reason, when I go to break up my toffee, the chocolate falls right off. It\u2019s heart breaking   I make sure to blot the toffee off prior to putting chocolate on it if there is any butter seeping  I just don\u2019t know what else I can do or where I\u2019m going wrong!   Please help a girl out!   TIA!!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Looking for Cake Decoration Tutorials I want to learn some cake decoration techniques. Stuff like how to get neat frosting on the cakes, how to write on them, how to pipe shapes on the cake etc. Are there any structured resources on the net for this? Using stuff like non-dairy cream, chocolate etc. I see lot of videos about making the cake itself, but the decoration stuff i mostly see not very detailed."
    },
    {
        "history": "Why do my levain cookies always spread? So I\u2019ve always made these levain cookies from the channel \u2018cupcake jemma.\u2019 And every time I bake them, they never turn out chunky and instead end up spreading more than expected. They don\u2019t spread too much but they spread and end up looking like a normal cookie rather than a levain, chunky styled one. It\u2019s so frustrating because I follow each step to the T and have even experimented with factors such as leaving the cookies in the freezer for longer, letting my oven preheat for longer, putting my butter right at the BACK of the fridge so it\u2019s a lot colder for baking the cookies (cold cold butter is what needs to be used so they hold their shape), I even stopped using an electrical whisk and started using a wooden spoon reducing the risk of over mixing! Yet after all of this, they still never hold their chunky shape! Truly at loss here. Can anyone explain why this is so?  This is the recipe I usually use: https:\/\/youtu.be\/P1gqm9CG8sw"
    },
    {
        "history": "I made croissants today and everything seemed good but when I baked them a bunch of butter oozed out and they were left sitting in a puddle. What went wrong? I used high fat butter 82%"
    },
    {
        "history": "How do i color buttercreme in deep tones? How do i achieve a dark red, navy blue or colors like that? i always end up with a dull red or light (greenish??) blue :( I wanted to buy Wilton Gel Color because i heard so much positive reviews but it seems not to bw available here in Austria. Do you have some tips for me? Thank you in advance :)"
    },
    {
        "history": "Where to get cake 'slice bars' for cake levelling? Example of slice bar being used: https:\/\/youtu.be\/4NRyH5vk1I4?t=66  As stated in the title, does anyone know where to get such thing? I don't even know what its actually called. I've watched a few Korean\/Japanese cake-making videos on youtube and they've referred to such tools as a 'slice bar'.   Have tried to google it these past two days but no relevant results."
    },
    {
        "history": "Help with decorating skills I want to improve my decorating skills, do you know if is worthy to take class of that but online? And do you know any good online class- course ? I\u2019m good at baking but when it comes to decoration, my cakes doesn\u2019t look as perfect as I want to \ud83d\ude2d"
    },
    {
        "history": "Fresh vs. frozen raspberries I'm planning on making a cake with raspberries and wondered if I should use fresh or frozen as I've never baked with raspberries before. Is there a big difference, besides the price? Thanks!"
    },
    {
        "history": "How to make premade frosting better I recently bought a tub of premade betty crocker frosting but I forgot how much I dislike the taste. Anyone have any tips or secrets to make it better (in any way)? Thanks!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Brownies have dark chocolate bitterness Hey! As mentioned, my brownies have a slight dark chocolate aftertaste. I\u2019m a big fan of it but not everyone likes it. I don\u2019t want to add more sugar since I found it sweet already. I also use normal cocoa powder not dutch processed. Any recommendations how to tone down the bitterness\/darkness of the brownies? Recipe"
    },
    {
        "history": "Croissant Dough Advice Hey guys, I\u2019m wondering if I can throw croissant dough (detrempe) in the fridge for an overnight bulk ferment in addition to a second overnight bulk ferment after lamination to increase flavor, or if I should just stick to bulk fermenting after lamination. I\u2019ve also heard I could add a preferment step but have never done this with laminated dough. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance."
    },
    {
        "history": "Baking in bulk I've been baking milk buns and like how they turned out. I want to make them in bulk for a party. Would it be ok to just scale the recipe 5 or even 10, 20 times? I've scaled to 2x and 3x and they turned out fine. I like to bulk ferment in the fridge. Could I just leave the massive dough as one piece or should I cut and split them up? And if it should be kept as one mass, would I have to proof longer? The size\/weight wont inhibit anything?  How do bakeries do it?  Thanks"
    },
    {
        "history": "Mascarpone Substitute for Cake Filling I am making Bon Appetit's Buche de Noel for Christmas, but my partner can't have lactose. The cake has a Mascarpone Filling. What can I use in place of mascarpone, vegan cream cheese maybe? Can I make mascarpone at home the way I can make ricotta?   Thanks in advance."
    },
    {
        "history": "Filled brownies Hi, I want to filled my brownies with Nutella or sometting like that, but I want to know if it bakes ok or it will be better to filled the brownies with cream after they are cooked ?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Any good books on cake decorating? Does anyone know of good books to start learning cake and cupcake decorating? My baking usually tastes pretty good but I would like to start making them look a bit better."
    },
    {
        "history": "Bagels aren\u2019t staying firm Hello, I am a fairly new baker but have gotten pretty into making bagels for my friends in quarantine. I use this recipe which comes out tasting great but doesn\u2019t really stay firm after they come out of the oven. Is there anything I can be doing differently or is there another recipe anyone would recommend? Thanks!"
    },
    {
        "history": "French ingredient translation to English  farine gruau  is the ingredient being called for. the google translate says this is oatmeal flour but this seems wrong for a bread recipe. any native french speakers out there able to help me with this translation?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Best Book for Pastry I was wondering what the best book for getting into pastry may be; something fairly comprehensive. I have some basic experience, mainly with shortcrust and flaky pastry. These are the two I'm debating between:  https:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Professional-Pastry-Chef-Fundamentals-Baking\/dp\/0471359254\/  https:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Advanced-Bread-Pastry-Michel-Suas\/dp\/141801169X\/  In addition, I also plan to get this at some point:  https:\/\/www.amazon.ca\/Art-French-Pastry-Jacquy-Pfeiffer\/dp\/030795935X\/  Anybody have a preference between the first two? I heard that both are fairly detailed but Suas is a bit more so. I don't know how much that really matters for a home cook at a certain point, though. It's also more expensive. The Professional Pastry Chef seems to have more recipes. Outside the fundamentals, they also seem to cover some different topics (e.g. chocolates for Suas and ice cream for Friberg). Any advice is appreciated."
    },
    {
        "history": "Tried to make Christina Tosi\u2019s cinnamon bun cookies, but the dough melted into gross puddles in oven? I followed this recipe by Christina almost exactly. I checked the expiration on my baking powder and soda and they\u2019re fine. The only thing I did different was after I finished the dough in my stand mixer and shaped each cookie with a teaspoon of cream cheese inside I refrigerated them for a few hours because I didn\u2019t want to bake immediately. The result. In the oven the dough seemed to just melt off the cream cheese while the ball stayed intact.  Did the refrigeration really make all the difference? Anyone else baked these and had better results or similar issues?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Any idea what these ingredients make? I inherited some recipes from my grandmother a few years ago and came across this one with minimal information and no title. I suspect that it might be her recipe for cutout cookies but I can't be sure. Can anyone identify this with just this info?  * 1\/2 c shortening * 2 c flour * 1 T sugar * 3 t baking powder * 1 t salt * 3\/4 c milk  450 degrees 10-12 min."
    },
    {
        "history": "Hi everyone! Just a quick question, is it better to slice the top layer of cake off when the cake is hot or cool? Ive got a sponge in the oven now, Im only wanting to slice about a millimetre off, so its not brown on top! thanks! See title! :)"
    },
    {
        "history": "Accidentally made everything-bagel flavored crackers WAY too salty. What dips can I make to use them up? I made KAF sourdough crackers but I forgot I was using salted butter, and with the salt included in the toppings, they came out too salty to be edible on their own.   What dips can I make that will cut the saltiness to a tolerable level? Obv I will be omitting the salt in any dip recipe."
    },
    {
        "history": "How to adopt cake recipes for different size pans? I currently have 7-inch cake pans but majority of recipes are for 8 inch pans and by volume not weight. Any advice would be appreciated."
    },
    {
        "history": "Are you supposed to grease and flour a non stick pan? I\u2019m a beginner at this. I was reading a recipe that asked that I grease and flour my  loaf pan, but nothing is sticking to it. The butter and flour get swept away with a few wipes, same with the oil and flour. Is it okay if I skip this step if my pan is already non stick?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Can anyone help me recreate a recipe? :( So I was traveling in rome a few weeks ago and they had this amazing lemon cake at the hotel we were staying in.  I think the cake itself was vanilla flavored but it had a layer of lemon curd or cream in the middle, in a way that the edge of the cake was held together (you can see in the picture in the link it looks like they didn't cut the cake in half and spread the cream in the middle after baking).  https:\/\/i.postimg.cc\/0QjSsgPR\/lemoncake.jpg  I tried to make this at home by pouring half of a vanilla cake batter in a baking pan, then spreading a layer of lemon curd in the middle and topping it with the rest of the batter, but all the lemon curd sank to the bottom and didn't look at all like in the picture :(  Does anyone have an idea on how to recreate this?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Online baking classes? Can anyone recommend an online baking course?  I enjoy baking as a hobby and would like to learn a little more and improve my technique.  I am willing to pay for courses."
    },
    {
        "history": "Any tips for getting bread dough to rise in colder temps? I live in a typical NYC apartment where it's either freezing or blazing hot depending on the time of day. I haven't been able to get a good rise on my dough the last couple of times I've prepared bread.   Usually I can get away with keeping it in the middle of the apartment where there's no drafts or windows but I think it's still just too cold to get a good rise.  Please help!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Baking softer (softer?) cookies My boyfriend doesn\u2019t like cake, he likes cookies. My problem is no matter how hard I try or what recipe I find, I can\u2019t seem to ever make the perfect (or close to perfect!) soft chewy cookie. What could I be doing wrong or missing?"
    },
    {
        "history": "How do I get sugar to melt in my WIP brown butter cookie I was in the process of making Handle the heat's cookie dough and mixed in sugar to my hot brown butter. I didn't expect it to mix in because of the lack of water but thought it'd melt in when i add the 2 eggs and 1 yolk. I've been mixing for a very long time now and the mixture is still grainy with sugar particles!  What can I do to get my sugar to mix in fully? Should I bake it with the sugar grains still intact? Would it melt while baking? Does anyone have any suggestions to avoid this in the future? I did run the sugar in the food processor to make it roughly smaller. I should've made it into a powder smh.  (https:\/\/handletheheat.com\/browned-butter-toffee-chocolate-chip-cookies\/#wprm-recipe-container-26101)"
    },
    {
        "history": "Advice baking Christmas cookies for 100 seniors Hi y'all!  My dad lives in a senior assisted living home and the staff mentioned the seniors there don't have a lot of family who visit. They're also not allowing seniors to leave except for medical appts etc. to minimize the risk of COVID so I'm hoping to bring a little bit of Christmas cheer to them.   I was hoping to bake cookies for them. The staff has requested that they are individually wrapped as opposed to a platter of cookies so I'm looking for advice on beautiful Christmas cookies that won't kill me if I tried to make however many needed to gift to 100 people. I can do decorated sugar cookies and was thinking of doing a large-ish snowflake but decorating sugar cookies tends to take awhile since I have to wait for the flooded icing to dry first then do the second layer, so I was hoping y'all would have some suggestions for alternatives.  They also have 25 staff members so it'd be nice to include them too, but I may already be stretching it trying to bake for 100.  Any suggestions?"
    },
    {
        "history": "a Dalgona style icing\/topping for cake? we made the Dalgona due to boredom, I like the look, the taste was bad (probably because we really dislike instant coffee).  Got me thinking about cake, i like the look, but i cant figure out how I could make a coffee flavoured icing, or topping that has that creamy look and shine but just a way better taste."
    },
    {
        "history": "is salted butter good for buttercream frosting? Can I use salted butter for buttercream frosting.  Its easily accessible to me and I have never tried to make buttercream with it because most recipies state to use unsalted butter cream.  Has anyone experimented with it? Does it taste good? Is the difference that noticeable?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Is it posible to make caneles without making a huge mess? I love caneles. I love making caneles. I hate cleaning up after making caneles. So, I got to thinking, I'm probably doing this wrong. There must be a way to melt the beeswax and butter and coat the mold(s) without ruining a pan and a pastry brush.  I would really love some advice.   (Quick aside, my uncle passed away in December of '20.  About a year or so before that I had been posting on Facebook about wanting to try my hand at caneles. He quietly went on line and ordered a canele pan \\[is that really the right word? it's like a silicone muffin tin for caneles, but it's not just silicone and actually does a beautiful job. Turned out better than my expensive copper molds from France.\\] It was an amazingly thoughtful gift. I love the pastries, but I also love using the gift, because it was such a thoughtful one and it reminds me of him. It's really just the whole clean up that's slowing me down.\\]"
    },
    {
        "history": "How do I use vanilla bean paste? I just bought some today but don\u2019t have any idea what to use it for"
    },
    {
        "history": "Can anyone share any secret ingredients for cookies? Can anyone share your secret ingredients you use for your cookies and what they add to the cookie?  For me, I like to add a little cocoa powder as I think it darkens the cookie a little more to my liking."
    },
    {
        "history": "Things keep splitting after I add vanilla extract? I\u2019m a newish home baker and have run into this problem a few times now. The first time it happened, I was making the filling for this mascarpone cream fruit tart. Everything was creamy and nice until I added the vanilla extract, and it split. I even tried it again a week later and got the same result. The filling still tasted good but obviously the texture was off.   Then just yesterday I was making the dough for these sugar cookies, and the same thing - the batter was smooth and creamy until I added the vanilla. The baked cookies taste great but the texture isn\u2019t right.   The vanilla extract I have is a bottle from Mexico which allegedly has vanilla beans inside (the bottle is opaque so I can\u2019t see them) and to be fair, it is a few years old. But it smells and tastes great so I keep using it. Should I get some new vanilla and try that?  The only other thing I can think of is that each of those recipes requires some ingredients to be at room temp, and maybe I didn\u2019t give them enough time to reach the right temperature. Would that cause splitting?  Thanks so much for any wisdom you can offer!"
    },
    {
        "history": "when measuring out ingredients, is it okay to weigh the flour, then zero the bowl with flour and continue measuring the rest of the dry? or will it mess up the recipe? not that i have started doing it already or anything..\ud83d\ude02"
    },
    {
        "history": "I want to make mini muffins instead of muffins; do I need to alter the recipe time or heat to to not burn the batter? Hey all,  Basically as per the title. I'm not sure if I'll burn mini muffins given that they have a smaller mass."
    },
    {
        "history": "How do I stop pie crusts from slipping\/slumping\/shrinking when I blind bake them?!?? I\u2019d consider myself to be an intermediate and (maybe even advanced) home baker at this point, and every year around the holidays I make tons of pies for people. I\u2019m pretty good at making light, flaky pie crust and I think I\u2019ve almost perfected it by my own standards. However, I just CANNOT seem to stop my crusts from slipping\/shrinking down the sides of the pan whenever I blind bake.   Whenever I work with pie crust, I keep my whole kitchen cold, I chill everything before it goes in the oven, etc, etc. I\u2019ve tried making a thicker edge with crust scraps. At first I thought it was because my pans were made of Pyrex, but it happens in ceramic too. Then, I thought maybe it was because I don\u2019t use enough beans to weigh it down initially, but I doubled the amount I use and it\u2019s still happening. I\u2019m kind of going insane! It makes a perfectly delicious pie look so shrunken and ugly. Help :("
    },
    {
        "history": "When to pre-bake pie crust? This question has bothered me for sometime. When should I pre-bake pie crust? Does it matter what kind of pie?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Ratio of cream for whipped ganache In basically every whipped ganache (ganache mont\u00e9e) recipe, a portion of the cream is heated to mix with the chocolate to create the initial emulsion, while the rest of the cream is kept cold to be added to the already-emulsified ganache. How do you decide how much of the cream to heat, and how much to keep cold? Or does it even really matter?  I see some recipes just simply split the cream in half. I've seen other chefs say that the amount of cold cream should be equal to the weight of the initial ganache (i.e., hot cream + chocolate + any invert sugars), but I've never seen an explanation for why.   I assume it has to do with temperature control. You want enough hot cream to form a well-emulsified initial ganache, but that doesn't require very much. However, too much cold cream relative to the initial ganache will drop its temperature too low (I've seen people say to keep ganache above 35\u00b0C while mixing it). Is that correct?"
    },
    {
        "history": "When doubling a recipe, how should you adjust the baking time? I recently used this recipe for brownies: https:\/\/www.allrecipes.com\/recipe\/10549\/best-brownies\/  I baked them in an 8-inch square pan for 25 minutes and they turned out perfect. If I were to double the recipe and bake in a 9x13 pan instead, how should I adjust the baking time?"
    },
    {
        "history": "My sugar cookies are shrinking and losing some of their shape. Does anyone know what causes a sugar cookie to shrinking? I have a great recipe that works 90% of the time, nice crisp cut out lines. But then sometimes the cookies just shrink. Any ideas? Thank you in advance."
    },
    {
        "history": "What is the most economical way for a home baker to purchase flour, sugar and other commonly used dry goods? Baking has been a serious hobby of mine for a few years, and I'm at a point where I can easily go through a ten pound bag of flour or sugar in a month of baking. Right now I just buy the 10lb bags at the grocery store but I figure there has to be a more economical way to be purchasing dry goods in bulk right? Would a restaraunt supply store sell to someone like me?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Got lot of almond flour, no all purpose flour (lockdown) what can i make? So i got lot of almond flour, no all purpose flour. What can i make? Cakes or cookies suggestions pls"
    },
    {
        "history": "Amish butter and laminations Has anyone used Amish roll butter for making croissant dough, or other laminated doughs? I have been making croissants regularly using Kerry Gold, and have been very happy with them. This week I came across Amish Country Roll Butter in the store. Further googling said that Amish roll butter has a higher butterfat content than both American and European butter, 84%+. To me that means it would be great for laminations! However, while I was making the butter block, warning bells started to go off in my head. 1st, the butter was very pale, but I think that may be due to the time of year and the cows diet. Second, the butter was chipping\/breaking as I was pounding it out. Third, water started leeching out of it while working it into a square shape. Lastly it didn't really get pliable. Despite all the signs that this may not be the high butterfat butter I thought it was, I moved forward to the next step of locking in the butter. As soon as I made my first pass with a rolling pin, all the butter broke into a million pieces under the dough! Did I do something wrong? Did I get a bad batch of Amish butter? Any advice would be appreciated, thank you!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Baking for Farmer's Market! Hey guys!   I got accepted to be a vendor at a farmers market today and I AM SO EXCITED. I started making a list of ideas and things I want to sell but I thought what better people to ask and get ideas from than you guys!? So TELL ME, what would be an item you would buy at a farmers market in a heart beat?"
    },
    {
        "history": "What to do with chocolate batons\/pain au chocolat sticks? I joined in on a commercial bulk order with some friends and bought an inexpensive box of pain au chocolat sticks. I occasionally make laminated dough so I was happy to receive them but they have something like 200 batons in the box and wondered if there was something else other than pain au chocolat I could do with them?   ​  Apart from the obvious of just breaking them into chunks and using them as chocolate chunks, didn't know if there was something else I'm missing that would benefit from the stick of chocolate inside. Any help appreciated! Thanks!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Baking Equipment Recommendations for a Beginner Baker I\u2019m looking for advice on the best equipment for beginner bakers (mostly cakes). I\u2019m currently looking for rotating cake stands and round cake pans. I\u2019ve been doing a lot of research, but there\u2019s so many products and brands with mixed reviews, that it\u2019s all a bit overwhelming. I\u2019m hoping that I can find some help\/ advice through here if possible.   Also, if you guys have any other recommendations on what to get in relations to equipment or decorating supplies, I would really appreciate it!   Thank you!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Recommendations for a mousse cake? I'd like to make a mirror glaze mousse cake for a friend's birthday. He doesn't like chocolate and it needs to be gluten free because he has celiac.  Do you have any recipes you'd recommend?"
    },
    {
        "history": "What order to make stuff for my cake If anyone's seen my last post, I'm making an almond flour cake with coconut icing and a pineapple filling (thanks to everyone who commented and helped me figure that out!). I dont bake very often, so I'm not sure where to start.   Do I make the cake first and when it's in the oven start the filling or icing? Would it make sense to make anything the day before?   Thanks in advance!!!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Can GF flour be a substitute for cake flour? Planning to make a chiffon cake but I can\u2019t get cake flour here in the UK and I\u2019ve read that adding cornflour to plain flour (to mimic cake flour) might not be effective.  Do you think GF flour might be the answer? It has very low protein content though it might not be finely milled like cake flour."
    },
    {
        "history": "Ack! Can you help me figure out where my pumpkin pie went wrong and if I should do a redo? I baked a pumpkin pie today using the Alton Brown recipe from the Food Network website. I\u2019ve made this pie a few times in the past and it came out amazing. I just took it out of the oven and there is a brown crusty ring in the custard about an inch thick around the outside edge. I think it goes down to the bottom of the pie. The only things I did differently than in the past is used a glass baking pie dish and I am now at 5000\u2019, but I have done a lot of baking at this altitude and things have come out fine. I am wondering if the pie is burnt a lost cause or if this is just an aesthetic thing and I can still serve it? Help!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Can someone help me figure out this cookie recipe? Sorry for format, I'm on mobile. My grandma made these great chocolate chip cookies when I was little and one batch would make 100+ cookies. She passed away and I found her recipe card, but some of the measurements rubbed off, could someone help me guess what they should be? I would be really grateful.    The recipe is:   3 cups flour   3\/4 cup Cristo   3\/4 cup butter   Salt (can't read measuring) 1 tsp maybe?   ??? cups brown sugar   ??? cups white sugar   Baking soda (can't read measuring)   2 eggs   1 tablespoon vanilla  Any ideas on those measurements would be super welcome! I wanted to get advice before trying random measuring myself. Thank you!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Can anyone help me fix this gumdrop cake recipe? Recipe is 1 cup butter 1 1\/2 cups sugar 3 eggs 2 tsp lemon extract 3 cups flour 2 tsp baking powder 1\/2 tsp salt 1 cup milk 1 cup sliced gumdrops   Bake at 350 40-45 mins  It\u2019s an old family recipe that I love but every Christmas when I make it, it usually burns on the outside.  I\u2019ve purchased light loaf pans instead of using dark ones. I grease the pan with butter and line with parchment paper and it always comes out really dark and hard on the outside. The tops don\u2019t burn, just the sides and bottom.  I also watch it like a hawk and take it out as soon as the toothpick comes out clean.  I also have a thermometer in my oven to make sure the temp is correct. And I only fill the pans halfway with batter.  I\u2019m wondering if the recipe itself can be altered? Any suggestions are appreciated. Thank you!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Best way to freeze cookie dough? Hello everyone, I'm going away soon and I need to use up the eggs I've got and was thinking of making cookie dough and then freezing it.   I have ziplock freezer bags and was mostly wondering if I should form it into Pilsbury type cookie dough shapes so I can cut it later and it will theoretically thaw more easily than one big ball.   Is this a good idea? Any better ideas?   Thanks!"
    },
    {
        "history": "freezing unbaked choux dough can i freeze unbaked choux dough and will it affect its rising? i saw this french chef put his dough in silicone mould, freezes them and removes them and bake it. (not sure if he bakes straight from freezer or let it thaw) but he says the dough stabilizes by freezing"
    },
    {
        "history": "How do you know when a cheesecake is done baking? Been an hour since I put my cheesecake to the oven at 150\u00b0C but it still seems jiggly."
    },
    {
        "history": "When baking a cake, how do you make it leveled? Whenever I pull out my cakes from the oven, they are always bulging out in the middle. How do you get an even leveled cake?"
    },
    {
        "history": "How should I store cookies with cream cheese in them? I'm looking to make cheesecake cookies and was wondering how they should be stored. I understand with a cheesecake it needs to be stored in the fridge due to the high chance of bacteria growing on them. However, when it's been baked (to make cookies) does the same rule apply or can you keep them at room temperature?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Slice of Bread Trick My mom taught me to put a slice of bread when I store cookies. I\u2019ve always thought this was magic - why does the bread get stale but the cookies don\u2019t?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Better looking black forest cake? Black forest cakes look so boring! Atleast to me to it does. And I recently got an order for that. Has anyone got any suggestions on what to do differently? The chocolate shaving has got to be there as that's the signature of black forest cake decoration. I was thinking of giving it a fading look instead of flatly applying the crumbs. Or maybe give a ring with tempered chocolate on the curved and put the shavings in the top center ?    I would like some suggestions on making it look a bit more fun!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Do you use brown butter for recipes that called for softened or cold butter? If you use brown butter in your recipe and the recipe calls for softened\/cold butter. Do you chill or freeze the brown butter before use?  I haven't tried brown butter in recipes just yet, I see a lot of videos that do. I was just curious on how you'll apply it for recipes that don't need melted butter."
    },
    {
        "history": "Pastry Chefs please help! Can you substitute glucose syrup for glucose powder in an ice cream recipe? Hi guys, I was wondering if you had any experience with replacing the glucose powder with glucose syrup in a recipe.  The recipe is as follows  stracciatella  3.31 kg of milk 73.56%  1.38 g of milk powder 3.07%  480g sugar 10.67 10.67%  180g glucose powder 4%  60g trimoline (Invert sugar) 1.3%  16g ice cream stabilizer .35%  315g egg yolk 7%  500g of dark chocolate 10%  I'm worried if I replace the glucose powder with syrup I will be adding too much liquid to the mix. They have similar dextrose equivalencies though.  Thanks for the help."
    },
    {
        "history": "What to do with a failed lime pound cake? Hi everyone. I\u2019m here today to ask what can I do with a failed lime pound cake. I was thinking\u2026probably a bread pudding? Usually all my pound cakes come out really great, but today I am at my in-laws\u2019 and simply all went wrong.  The cake turned out flat and very buttery, dry on top but oily on the inside, not undercooked but very greasy. Also the lime flavor is completely gone.  The basic ingredients I used: all purpose flour, butter, sugar, lime zest, a bit of lime juice, salt, baking powder, milk and eggs.   What should I do? Should I just simply throw it away? Thanks in advance."
    },
    {
        "history": "Help with Gel Food Colouring: I use so much but can never get the darker colour I need! I\u2019ve been having trouble with achieving the darker colours of icing I need, like dark red or black, but I always have to use so much of the Wilton gel food colouring. It feels so wasteful. And even then, I don\u2019t always get the colour I\u2019m truly looking for. For example, I\u2019ve only ever achieved a dark grey as opposed to a true black. Thoughts on how I can improve my mixing and be less wasteful?"
    },
    {
        "history": "What's going wrong? Fresh vs frozen cookie dough The left is one day old frozen dough, the right is fresh. How can I achieve that fresh look everytime? http:\/\/imgur.com\/a\/Xgwa2BY"
    },
    {
        "history": "How do I make a chocolate glaze that will harden? My mum\u2019s birthday is soon, and I have an idea for what I want to make her. It\u2019s a 3 layer cake and between each layer will be icing and a layer of hardened chocolate glaze. I wanna add that nice crunch.   I\u2019ve been experimenting with recipes online and none seem to harden enough - at most becoming like a soft ganache. If anyone has any suggestions I\u2019d be so so appreciative. Thanks in advance!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Freezing and thawing Kouign-Amann (or other laminated pastries) I'll be making my first foray into laminated dough with some Kouign-Amann. The recipe I'm using makes 24 individual pastries\u00a0but there's no way I'll be able to eat all of them before they go stale. The recipe states they are best eaten the same day as they are baked, but that they keep well enough at room temperature for 3 or even 4 days. Is this the case?   I've been led to believe that they freeze well. Is this accurate? If so, do all laminated pastries freeze well? What's the best way to thaw them? Reheat from frozen in a low oven? Let defrost on the counter at room temperature? Toaster oven? Microwave? Thank you for your input."
    },
    {
        "history": "How to use Cream Bouquet flavouring So i have got a gift of Cream Bouquet flavouring from my friend who does not really know much. Someone just suggested it as a nice one. Do i use it along with Vanilla or as-is? I am planning to make a sponge cake just to check out the flavor."
    },
    {
        "history": "Is butter melting not a problem in croissant proofing? During the lamination stage it is stressed that the butter must not melt into the dough or else the layers will not be open. It is inevitable that the butter will melt to some degree during the final proof. Is this not a problem for the crumb?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Help with perforated tart rings? Hi! I got some 3\u201d perforated tartlet rings but I need advice on how to use them. I made a p\u00e2te sabl\u00e9e and lined the rings, same dough thickness as I use for normal tartlet pans, and everything looked good... but I\u2019ve tried baking with and without pie weights, after chilling, on a normal silpat, 375F for about 20min (though I kept a close eye) and both times the shells came out really bumpy, with dark brown spots in the center and at the edges. Taste and texture were fine so I know I\u2019m messing up the baking somehow.   Do I need to use pie weights with the perforated rings? Do I need to be using a perforated baking mat too? Does anyone have any recommendations for crust thickness, baking time and temp for 3\u201d shells? (If it matters, I\u2019m doing fully baked empty shells which will be filled later.)  Thanks for any advice!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Client wants lemon cake with whipped cream for their summer wedding - impossible? Hey friends, I am recipe testing for a client who is getting married this summer. Her requests for the cake are: lemon, fresh fruit, and a light whipped cream frosting.   From my experience working with whipped cream, it\u2019s very temperature sensitive and can\u2019t possibly remain stable enough to last a wedding. The venue is indoors, but I don\u2019t want to take any chances with the summer heat\/humidity potentially causing a cake collapse.   I\u2019d love some recommendations for the most stable, yet light and airy sort of frosting for a multi-layered cake.   Thanks so much!!!"
    },
    {
        "history": "What are your favourite cake flavours? I want to bake more lunchbox\/bento cakes for friends but I'm at a loss for what flavours to try. I've got a pretty solid coffee cake recipe and a chocolate one as well, but was curious about what everyone else liked. A classic yellow cake? Matcha? Any preferred recipes you'd care to share. Also, which frosting do you prefer to pair with that particular cake flavour?"
    },
    {
        "history": "ISO stable cream cheese frosting. i\u2019m making my first wedding cake for my boyfriend\u2019s best friends wedding, i have just under two weeks. it\u2019s nothing incredibly fancy, a three tier carrot cake (6\u201d for their frozen topper, 8\u201d and a 10\u201d bottom).    my only problem is that i really need a stable cream cheese icing, if possible. i know the cake will not be refrigerated after i bring it (i\u2019ll be in the wedding so it\u2019ll be there early) and the bride wants cream cheese if at all possible.    i know there\u2019s tons of recipes out there and the last one i tried melted so quickly at room temp.    if you have any suggestions, i\u2019d love to hear them! :)"
    },
    {
        "history": "How to repurpose crumbled peanut butter cup cookies? I screwed up a batch of chocolate chip Reese's cup cookies (you know the kind you make in the mini-muffin tins). I think I know where I went wrong and am prepared to make a new batch. But I don't want to throw out this batch. They're edible, they just didnt come out of the pan well and got all mushed and crumbled. I could mix them into ice cream, but I'm short on freezer space atm. Anyone have any other ideas?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Question about making Dulce de leche from condensed milk I attempted to make dolce de Leche out of condensed milk. After three hours I opened up the can completely and found that it was a very light brown Color and still taste like condensed milk. Can I put this back into a pot of water and heat it for a longer period of time even though the Cannes is now open and I put it in the fridge? I realize that my mistakes could\u2019ve been the fact that I didn\u2019t put a lid over the pot when I was heating at the first time but I\u2019m not sure if that is the reason"
    },
    {
        "history": "Can you brown butter in a dutch oven? Hopefully this isn't a painfully stupid question. I'm about to embark on my first attempt at browning butter, and I read that doing it in a light-colored pan makes it easier to tell when it's done. I don't have any light colored \\*pans\\* but I do have a medium-sized dutch oven that has a beige ish interior. Could I brown butter in that?"
    },
    {
        "history": "How to use up a fifty pound bag of powdered sugar. So, covid. Here in NYC the restaurant purveyors opened their doors and trucks to the pubic. We loaded up on flours, chocolate, sugar.. but my roomie has a problem. We had like 5 pounds of powdered sugar in the house, and then secretly added a 50 pound bag to the last order. Then said roomie fucked off to Colorado for the summer.   So, please, tell me what I can do to use up fifty pounds of sugar. Comedy responses are okay, but more I am thinking of over the top projects where 1, 2, 10 pounds simply would not do. Croquembouche but make it powdered sugar? World wonders along those lines.   Edible is nice but not necessary. She comes back in ten days so like a giant powdered sugar sculpture would be cool."
    },
    {
        "history": "Drop your favorites for me to bake! Have been in quarantine for almost 6(!!) months and baking has been the only thing keeping me sane. I usually enjoy mellow flavors more, something you would find in an Asian bakery like chiffon cakes and swiss rolls. I also enjoy making pastries and breads (not sour dough lol) and I would love to hear your favorite baked goods! :)"
    },
    {
        "history": "Should I refrigerate shortbread before baking? And if I do, should I cut into shapes before or after refrigerating? I'm about to make a batch for my mum and I was wondering what the best method was. I've baked them before without refrigerating and they went flat and didn't keep their shape."
    },
    {
        "history": "\"Healthier\" (or lower calorie) baking substitutes that actually work?   Hi all,  I used to really enjoy baking and baked goods but I have developed some issues with being almost scared of high calorie foods (i have an ed) and now I just end up baking stuff I'm too scared to eat. I'm sorry if this sounds nonsensical or stupid, EDs are kind of irrational but saying that doesn't help. I want to be able to eat some damn cake without hating myself so please please if you know any good substitutes for high calorie ingredients that actually work and what ratios, or even recipes you would recommend that don't use a lot of sugar and butter, but still don't end up tasting like cardboard, please share them. I'm not expecting the results to be the same but I guess maybe sometimes we can reduce some of the ingredients without ruining the results?? Idk but if you can think of anything lemme know please and thank you \ud83e\udd7a\ud83e\udd7a"
    },
    {
        "history": "Putting dough or fresh baked bread in fridge I've got two bread doughs that wont be picked up till Saturday morning (its Thursday 3:30pm now) . Should I bake it now and put it in the fridge when its cooled down or leave it in the fridge and bake it early in the morning ? I've only done the first rise. If I leave I  the fridge should I mould it into buns already or leave whole?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Accidentally forgot to shape my croissant dough before the overnight proof, can I still finish out the recipe? While making my croissant dough last night I forgot to shape it into the square wrapped in parchment instead, it has been in the fridge in a bowl (covered with plastic wrap) like a normal bulk ferment for a yeasted dough. Can I still roll it out, rest it, and start the lamination process?"
    },
    {
        "history": "New, unexpected flour. Not sure how to use it? I bought some flour that i thought would be like italian 00 flour, mostly because it is called 00 but it is also whole, organic and unbleached. I've tried making bread with it but it is extremley different from anything i've seen before, any recommendations on how to use it? also it feels coarser that my average AP flour, and, of course, more brown.  When I mix it with water it looks and feels like wet sand, i haven't been able to get it to rise as fast as AP flour with commercial yeast and I haven\u00b4t been able to produce a gluten window, it is just very stringy. I've made some pizza with about 10% of it and the dough was a lot more stickier, like it there's no threshold between absorbing water and repelling it."
    },
    {
        "history": "my banana cream pie is sooo runny! is there a way to solve it? Hi folks,     We followed this recipe but now our pie is sooooo runny and not setting at all. It's been in a cool fridge for a couple of hours and has not set at all. We were hoping we could serve it this evening (it would have been sitting for 7 hours) but it's not working.    Some recipes suggest baking after, some just say to let the custard set. I don't know if I should throw it in the oven, back on the stove with more corn starch, or what...Thanks for your help."
    },
    {
        "history": "Can I save my pastry cream and chocolate glaze? I made the NYT cooking Chocolate Eclair recipe and they taste phenomenal but need some tweaks and better technique.   I have left over pastry cream and chocolate glaze that I would like to turn into tart but the pastry cream is a tad too thin and the glaze needs to be sweetened a bit and is a tad too salty.   I have already folded in the whipped cream into the pastry cream but I think I initially didn\u2019t heat it enough.   I was thinking of reheating the pastry cream and adding a whole milk cornstarch slurry to help it thicken. Would this work even though the whipped cream has already been added?  For the chocolate glaze I was going to reheat in a double boiler and whisk in cream and another tablespoon on light corn syrup. I\u2019m also hoping to add some apricot jam to the top of the glaze.   What do you all think?"
    },
    {
        "history": "How to know if cookie dough needs to be refrigerated before baking? I found some cookie recipes that need the dough to be refrigerated and others don't. So, as the title says, how do I know if the dough needs to be refrigerated or not? And how long should I rest the dough?   Is there an effect on the cookies if they are not refrigerated when they should be?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Trouble with vanilla cake I have a very small cake business but I am very hesitant to make vanilla cakes. It either tastes too sweet, oily or bland for me. I am still experimenting and I\u2019m unsure how to make the cake perfect. I think my frosting is great but my cakes are definitely not soft enough. If I substitute cake flour for all purpose flour in a sponge cake recipe, will that help?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Non-dairy whipping cream Where can one find non-dairy whipping cream like Rich\u2019s, here in the USA? In New Jersey, to be precise."
    },
    {
        "history": "What's causing my bread dough to be so sweet? I noticed that my last two breads have been really sweet--I attributed the first time to maybe not wiping down my silpat well.  Then, I tried to make a poolish preferment and it also turned out very sweet smelling.   I use King Arthur flour, Saf Red Yeast (instant), and tap water.   what would be causing the sweet flavors?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Is stabilized whipped cream strong enough to dam cake filling? I'm brainstorming for a cake I'm doing for a friend soon. I want to make a strawberry rhubarb filling and I think it would go fantastically with whipped cream. I'm worried that the usual way of filling and stacking a cake won't work with whipped cream, though. I don't want my top cake layer(s) to squeeze out the filling and I've only ever used buttercreams (american, swiss meringue, and ermine) in the past, which have all obviously dammed my jam fillings, no problem.  Will whipped cream be strong enough? Should I pick a different frosting? Is there another option I haven't considered? Thanks much"
    },
    {
        "history": "Homemade Puff Pastry Tearing Hello fellow bakers! I usually do the folding for my criossant dough by hand and never had an issue until I recently changed the fat. Due to shortages in materials I started using margarine, but eventhough I've read it can be used, I'm getting nasty tears even if I allow it to rest and cool. What fat should I use? Any tips for working with margarine or should I discard it whole?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Homemade puff pastry worth it? I'm making a take on a cheesecake burrito that a fast food Italian place offers. While I've made the cheesecake filling from scratch, I'm questioning whether it'll be worth it to make puff pastry from scratch tomorrow or just go out and buy some. My plan is to essentially make an cannoli-style pastry that I'll pipe the filling into then drizzle with chocolate ganache. This isn't for a fancy event or anything, just want to show some friends how much better the dish could be executed with a few modifications  The original dish: unspecified cheesecake with oreo crumbs in a fried flour tortilla with chocolate sauce drizzled over. My dish: puff pastry stuffed with kahlua-chocolate cheesecake and oreo crumbs with chocolate ganache drizzled over"
    },
    {
        "history": "my bread scoring lines keep getting squished out I score my bread before baking -- the lines that I score are pretty deep, but when the bread comes outa the oven the whole loaf has balooned and I dont get nice edges on my scoring.  What can I do to encourage the bread to expand more in the scored lines, rather than over the whole of the loaf?  post bake  pre bake  any input is appreciated!"
    },
    {
        "history": "In Bravetart devils food choco cake. Slight baking soda after taste. Not enough acid to neutralize all BS? Can I reduce it a little? I made this Bravetart chocolate devils food cake today with very different technique (for me) and it was really easy and had a beautiful fine and moist crumb and great chocolate flavor BUT slight baking soda aftertaste which I dislike (of course)... what acid wasn\u2019t being neutralized? Maybe my brown sugar or my chocolate were lighter than she used.  So can I just slightly reduce the quantity (she calls for 1TB) of baking soda to fix? Also calls for 6 eggs (+ 3 yolks!)-thinking maybe plenty of leavening there?  Thoughts? TIA!"
    },
    {
        "history": "My bagels come out with a texture inside like bread. How can I fix this? So twice now I've followed this recipe:   https:\/\/sallysbakingaddiction.com\/homemade-bagels\/#tasty-recipes-66512   The first time the dough was too sticky and the bagels came out so uneven (they were so sticky I had a hard time shaping them, and I'm new to yeast doughs so I made a mess of it). Last night, I got a good texture dough, boiled then baked them, and the outside was nice and chewy but the inside was fluffier than a bagel, more like a loaf. What can I do to fix this?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Baking help? Strange lumps in wet ingredients? Sorry if this is question has an extremely obvious answer but I'm not sure what's happening. I've never experienced this before when I've baked in the past.  I was trying to make an apple cake, and while making it, the wet ingredients (milk, melted butter, brown sugar, vanilla, 2 eggs) become a weird lumpy consistency. This has happened to me three times (with all fresh ingredients each time) and I have no idea why this keeps happening. It's honestly kind of disgusting but it's driving me insane because I don't know why this keeps happening.  Does anyone have any advice or can tell me what's going on who have experienced this before?  Unfortunately it doesn't seem I can show pictures but if anyone asks I'll be happy to show."
    },
    {
        "history": "Alternative nut flour? This is mostly just a curious query: Could you make almond-flour like substitutes from other nuts and\/or seeds?    It might even be a thing? - I haven't really researced this."
    },
    {
        "history": "What can I add to enhance\/create flavor in cookies? I'm no professional, but I'm trying to make sugar cookies. [A standard recipe; Eggs, Sugar, Flour, Vanilla extract, etc.]  I'm looking to change its taste a bit because even if you add chocolate chips or sprinkles to the recipe, the cookie itself tastes the same. Even the sugar cookies in the grocery store have their own taste [I know its probably chemicals or something added by the manufacturer but still - not sure how it really works].  Is it appropriate to add a syrup like strawberry to the wet ingredients? I was also thinking of adding pumpkin spice as another alternative.   Please let me know what I can do or if you have a recipe in mind you could share. Thanks! <3"
    },
    {
        "history": "Brownies with paste texture. Tl;Dr I want brownies that have the texture of firm tooth paste and zero crumbs, any advice?  This is rather an odd one, so I've been trying to recreate these brownies I had at a cafeteria, super moist, crisp top and an almost paste like texture, no crumbs at all.  I found out they used a package mix and brought it for myself years later, the taste was exactly the same but it didn't have the texture at all, it suggested using more fat to make it fudgier and that helped a bit but no where near what I recalled.   I noticed it had modified corn starch and assumed that might be the key as  it works wonders in cakes to make them moist and wobbley. Playing around with various prepositions I've noticed it has some desired effect but adding too much or introducing added water ends up just making a more, sticky toffee texture over a soft paste.   I've tried almost every ratio apart from adding even more flour since I figured that would just make it more cakey.  I've thought about maybe using agar agar as it doesn't brake down like geletine. Any suggestions \/ ideas \/ hunches would be deeply appreciated"
    },
    {
        "history": "How to make bakery-style banana bread? What makes banana bread that you get in bakeries so much better than when I make it at home? Bakery-style banana bread seems to be so much more springy, moist, and cake-like. I've tried 3-4 recipes for banana bread online, all from websites I love, and even though they claim to be moist, they all end up being kind of dry and a letdown compared to when I get it from a bakery. I can't imagine it's the recipes I'm using, because most banana bread recipes are identical in ingredients and ratios. I also always make sure the bananas are overripe, the fat is in correct form, etc.  Is it in the method?  These are the recipes I've used so far, for those interested. They're not bad, but just mediocre. What am I missing?  https:\/\/cookiesandcups.com\/brown-sugar-banana-bread\/  https:\/\/www.chef-in-training.com\/the-best-banana-bread\/  https:\/\/livforcake.com\/triple-chocolate-banana-bread"
    },
    {
        "history": "Croissant help, failed lamination 4th Attempt at following this recipe here  My lamination is never staying as one layer, see pic, any suggestions on how to improve?  I have followed the recipe to the dot.  pic"
    },
    {
        "history": "Should I add back the moisture that is lost after I brown my butter? Basically the title.  I've been brown butter-ifying a few recipes, and I was wondering if it was common practice to add back a bit of moisture in the form of water and milk to the batter\/dough, since some of it evaporates off while browning the butter.  Is this a valid concern?  Because I am very obsessive over things like numbers and time and measurements so I can get carried away sometimes."
    },
    {
        "history": "Seeking banana cake well-suited for ice cream cake. I'm putting together an ice cream cake with banana cake layers for this weekend. Banana cakes tend to be very moisture-laden and I am concerned about the cake becoming rock hard when frozen. I've only made an ice cream cake once and don't eat it often, so I don't really even know if I should be using something light and fluffy or more on the dense and heavy side. My instinct tells me I should look for something with a relatively low moisture content, high sugar content, and at least partially oil-based. Any insights or suggestions?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Adding too much gelatin to no-bake cheesecake Hi, so I added too much gelatin to my cheesecake, will the texture be okay or will I be screwed?  &#x200B;  Thank you!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Rental apartment woes: Fluctuating oven temperature means no souffl\u00e9 (or macarons) for you! Are there any tricks for stabilizing oven temperature? I\u2019m particularly curious if a second passive element (e.g., pre-heated pizza stone, bricks, or covered pot of water) can be used to address the problem.   My new apartment\u2019s oven is electric. It heats well above the set temperature before the element turns off. Then, it cools quickly, falling well below the set tempt before turning on again.   It works okay for some things, but meringue-based recipes are complete non-starters."
    },
    {
        "history": "Super Market was out of yeast, any good alternative breads? Well I'm all floured up and nowhere to go. I've been getting into bread making recently but on my last trip to the grocery store they were out of yeast entirely so I'm a bit lost. Obviously I have to use a different leavening agent but I'm not even sure where to start. I have baking powder and soda, and a couple sacks of flour, but does anyone know any good alternative breads to make? it seems everything even pizza dough\/flatbreads require a yeast prove (also I'm with my family who are trying to cut out cakes\/pastries so I have limited butter to work with)"
    },
    {
        "history": "Troubleshooting failed cake Hi r\/AskBaking. I'm new to baking and have been following recipes to the dot to make a pound cake, a carrot cake and an almond batter pie, all very good. This weekend I tried following this Pecan and Graham Cracker Tea Cake and something went wrong. It appears like it failed to rise. Taste is otherwise okay (for how it is...).  I'd like to understand what could have gone wrong, so I can try to tweak my technique for next time I try. What is the likely culprit here, assuming I followed the receipt directions exactly as given?  2 notes on the ingredients side:  * The baking powder I used is this one, and the package had been opened only 2 weeks earlier (and then sealed). * The brown sugar is this one. It's the one we've always had at the house, and it's beet sugar (vs. the traditional cane sugar). Could this make all the difference?  The batter was mixed in the KitchenAid with the flat beater attachment for \\~10-15 mins at the lowest speed. I wonder if I had to mix it a higher speed to \"air it\"."
    },
    {
        "history": "Why is the crust on my sponge so thick? photo in comments] Made an oil based sponge loaf cake the other day. It was good with perfect colour but the outer edge was [really thick with a tough\/dry texture. The recipe called for a long 40 bake time at a low temperature (160c). What can I do?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Pie Crust Help Ok, I need some help with pie crust! I've been trying to make all butter pie crust from both Stella Parks and Erin Jeanne McDowell.  However, every single time I make them my crust comes out super tough.  When I say tough I mean I can't cut it with a fork and it's difficult for my knife to get through the crust.  I'm not really sure what I'm doing wrong.  Any advice?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Pasteis de Nata shell, but lemon curd filling? Hello, all! My partner and I are missing his dad's and brother's birthdays due to lockdown in Melbourne, so I was thinking of putting together a goodie box that we can have dropped off at their door. There'll be cookies, either cinnamon rolls or a Nutella babka, and I was hoping to do a lemon dessert to balance out all the richness.  I've been wanting to do Portuguese egg tarts for the longest time, especially for that crispy, flakey crust. But my MIL isn't a fan of \"eggy\" desserts, so I was thinking a lemon curd version might work best?  The thing I've found by looking up various recipes online is that the egg tarts use a much higher cooking temp (usually 210\u00baC\u2013280\u00baC) for a shorter time, whereas lemon tartlets usually go much lower (160\u00baC-180\u00baC) and slower.  I'm assuming the higher egg tart temp is just to get that nice burnt top, but will a low and slow method make the tart shell soggy if I baked it with the lemon filling? Or alternatively, can I blind bake the shells somehow and just scoop cooked and cooled lemon curd into them? If it helps, I'll be using a standard muffin tin with 12 holes.  Thank you so much!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Choux pastry deflated after baking Last week I tried making my own eclairs with choux pastry. They were pretty good, despite my piping newbiness. They came out lovely golden brown and nicely puffed out. However, the choux pastry completely deflated after the baking.  According to a bit of research, it might be a bit of moisture left within...  I >think< I might solve this by just baking it for a longer time. Is there a point where a choux can get too dried out (asside from obvious burning)?   I'd really like to try making new eclairs, so I hope just baking them for longer will do the trick. Unfortunately, my oven is terrible and can't get warmer than I did during that bake (170\u00b0C - recipe recommended 180\u00b0C), nor can I open the door a crack when it's on. Do you guys think just baking longer will work out? Or will I be doomed with flat choux until I get a better oven (which is NOT an option atm) ?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Trouble making fluffy Snickerdoodles; always flatten All,  I've tried to follow this recipe:  http:\/\/allrecipes.com\/recipe\/10687\/mrs-siggs-snickerdoodles\/  I've attempted a few different batches, but each time the cookies come out of the over a good height, but they always flatten out while cooling.  This time, I followed the creaming technique detailed in the Momofuku milk bar book from Christina Tosi. The creaming looked light and fluffy. never did the mix go above 70F, so I don't think i'm over working the batter or melting the butter too much.  I also attempted to cream barely at all, just 30s to incorporate everything. pretty much the exact same thing.  This most recent batch was using brand new Baking Soda, so I think I ruled that out. I tested my old BS and it reacted w\/vinegar about the exact same as the brand new stuff.  I scraped the sides often while creaming.  I use the beater to incorporate the salt, flour, BS, and cream of tartar, but I use it on low for only 1-2 mins to fully incorporate the ingredients.  I kept checking the batter temp throughout the process to confirm it wasn't too warm (< 70F).  I'm going to try again with one* major change. Same long creaming process, same new baking soda.. The change will be to try and use 100% cake flour instead of AP flour.  *i'm low on cream of tarter tonight... I will substitute 4 tsp of white vinegar (ew?) for the 2 tsp of tartar.  I pull the silicon pad off of the baking sheet, but maybe the heat of the silpad causes this? i wasn't really touching the pad before since I was avoiding the hot pan.. but I just tested and the silpad is fairly hot as well.. but seems to cool down in 1-2 mins... For my batch #2, I switched them to a room-temp silpad after about 1 min from pulling them out of the oven.  So, for my second attempt tonight:  using cake flour instead of AP using 4 tsp of white vinegar instead of 2 tsp of cream of tartar switching cookies from oven silpad to room temp silpad while cooling Here's an imgur album with some pics of attempt #2:  https:\/\/imgur.com\/a\/jCAF1 https:\/\/streamable.com\/s\/8g95r\/mtznnt You can see what i'm talking about here:  https:\/\/v.redd.it\/l2kfxuhec0701\/DASH_600_K"
    },
    {
        "history": "How does a goat cheesecake compare to a regular cheesecake? I want to try Claire\u2019s goat cheesecake recipe, but I\u2019m wondering how it compares in texture and taste to a cake made just with cream cheese. Does it taste more funky, more sweet, is it more smooth, etc? I\u2019m really curious to try but I want to know more of what to expect."
    },
    {
        "history": "Question regarding Water bath vs no water bath So I used the same cheesecake recipe twice. The first time I baked it with a water bath and then I baked it without the water bath on the second try. Now the original recipe calls for me to bake it for 15 minutes on 350 and then lower it to 250 for about 75-85 mins. So the first one that I made with the water bath came out smoother and creamier but I also think that it might\u2019ve been a little under-baked. Meanwhile the non-water bath cheesecake came out thicker and more dense like a traditional NY cheesecake.   So.....  Question 1: When baking with the water bath, should I actually bake the cheesecake longer than I would if I were baking it without the water bath?   Question 2: When baking with the water bath, should I let the cheesecake sit in the pan of water for a certain amount of time after taking it out of the oven?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Got some fresh blackberries, and am looking for cobbler tips. I'm fairly practiced when it comes to pie making.  Got a good crust recipe, etc.  What I really need is some ideas on how to put the filling together.  I'm looking for a nice and thick texture to the filling like a slowly running jam or something like that.  Every time I try to use fruit in a pie, it ends up being too thin and watery.  Also, what spices would work well in a blackberry cobbler?  Cinnamon and nutmeg are standard when it comes to fruit, but I don't think they'd be the best in blackberries.  Ideas?"
    },
    {
        "history": "REALLY, REALLY WEIRD QUESTION Looking to make blue bread without baking, very casual about the matter and willing to experiment Hello! So really weird situation, but I'm stuck in a brutal snowstorm (Canada amirite), and am pressed for time before an event at my house where I need (I say 'need' loosely, this is just me being weird) blue-tinted bread.   I have a fresh loaf, what would be your best suggestion for painting it blue? It could be just the outside. Maybe use a bit of water and food colouring, bake off the water? Any simple recipes anyone has (I can add food colouring to bread, but the \"pressed for time\" situation is kinda there so I can't wait for the yeast to do its thing.) (PS, this is for a bunch of college student's dungeons and dragons session tomorrow, so no biggie if it does or doesn't happen, I'm just looking for suggestions!)"
    },
    {
        "history": "Which is better: Baked or No-bake cheesecake? I've been wanting to make some oreo cheesecake for the first time and while i was watching numerous baking tutorials of it, baked or freezed, i got curious between the taste or quality differences of the two. May i ask if u guys know the differences between the two and your tips in making cheesecakes as well? Thanks a lot! :))"
    },
    {
        "history": "Thickness of Quiche Crust - How Thin should they be? I recently started to make quiche crust following J. Kenji Lopez-Alt\u2019s Pie Dough Recipe and I was wondering how thin should a quiche crust should be? I understand that they are usually thicker on the sides than on the bottom but how thin should the bottom crust be? And how do you make it thin as my quiche crust bends upwards even after poking holes on the bottom and using pie weights when I blind bake them (180 C for 1 hour)?"
    },
    {
        "history": "Pate de choux \/ choux pastry Pate a choux \/ choux pastry  I want to make choux pastry for the first time and looking up recipes I found some big differences. I would have thought most would be somewhat the same. I have a Dutch baking book written by a Pastry chef that has as a basis:  100 grams milk  100 grams water  100 grams butter  100 grams flour  4 eggs  Pinch of Salt   My french pastry book (Tarte tartin) says:  120 grams water  20 grams sugar  100 grams butter  1 1\/2 teaspoon salt  120 grams flour  4 eggs   These recipes have very different ratio\u2019s and I am planning to try both, but I was wondering how these recipes can be so different ratio wise for the same type of pastry. In the Dutch book the author mentions the milk for the shine on the pastry after baking but you do add it to the dough (so heat milk, water and butter, then add salt and flour and after that the eggs), but Merry Berry for example doesn\u2019t use milk and her ratio\u2019s differ from the two mentioned recipes.  In another book they add some corn starch and baking powder...   As i understand baking is more science and technique then cooking, so I would expect all recipes to be somewhat the same in basis.   So, whats going on here and what recipe would be best?   Thanks!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Help with chocolate cake Hey guys!! Today I made my first chocolate cake from scratch and the taste was really good but it was kinda heavy. Any tips on how to make the cake fluffier?? Or maybe a new recipe to try??"
    },
    {
        "history": "Question on cheesecake removal Hi everyone,  How do you remove the pan without ruining your cheesecake's sides? I'm having trouble removing the spring form pan without it ruining the sides."
    },
    {
        "history": "Random questions about baking Sorry if this has been answered but I really can\u2019t find a precise answer for some of the random questions I have about baking  &#x200B;  \\- Can you over-cream the butter and sugar when making a cake? Does it have an effect on the texture?  \\- What does over-stirring a batter mean? Like can only a few extra stirs make a difference or is it like leaving the mixer on for a minute that will cause a tough cake?  \\- Why do you have to end with the flour when alternating between the milk and the flour?  \\-Does it matter when you add in the vanilla extract?   &#x200B;  Sorry these questions have been bugging me!"
    },
    {
        "history": "Wet to Dry Ratios in Cookies I want to amend a recipe for Banana Chocolate Chip cookies that I have on hand, but the recipe uses banana extract and you can't REALLY taste it. So I want to use about 1 cup of mashed bananas (per batch, which is 1.5 dozen cookies) instead of the extract, but I don't know how to amend the dry ingredients in relation to additional wet ingredients.  For example there's about 2 cups of flour already, so do I have to add more flour because of the mashed banana?"
    }
]