sarabakescakes's Profile

Is it the process of baking you love so much? Why not keep doing it and just gift it or sell it to friends/family/strangers? I bake a ton but 99% of it goes to other people. For the most part, baked goods make people happy and I get to enjoy them enjoying them!

More details about the US testing are buried deep in the site. Says that it's approved for children who weigh between 52 and 80 pounds, so great for older kids, but definitely not 3 and up.
http://easycarseat.com/2009/11/dekra-test-laboratory-7/

I agree with @vitor and @TAMom. The NY Times recipe is great. I made w/o the cinnamon and chili power, used some vanilla instead. Delish and easy!

I used to love my 6 quart KitchenAid until it broke after 4 years. The customer service dept was no help, I have to take it to a KA service center to have it looked at. The closest one is 50 minutes away (I live right outside of NYC). Minimum price to fix it is about 200 bucks. UGH. Very annoyed and will probably not buy another KA. Thinking about getting the big Cuisinart. Anyone have anything good to say about it??

@berkelybaker - I must have the non-Hobart motor version. 4 years and it's done. Sigh.

You could also take the vanilla buttercream recipe you like and add some melted chocolate to it (chocolate shouldn't be too warm). Since it's already sweet, the darker the chocolate the better. It's delicious, and definitely not runny.

I do this a lot, and agree with @tallsarah - 2 1/2 sheet pans (12x18) is the way to go. My standard cake recipe yields 2 9" layers and I make 1 1/2 times the recipe. That amount should feed 35-40. If you wanted a third layer, make 2x your cake recipe (a scale is very helpful in leveling the batter).

Definitely butter the sides of the pan well and use parchment on the bottom of the pans so they come out easily.

Once you loosen the sides of the cake, you can tip out the first layer onto your serving platter. Frost that layer (don't forget to peel off the parchment!) and then do the same with the top layer - this way you won't have to worry about the layer breaking when you're putting it on top, and the top of the cake will be flat since it's actually the bottom of the cake. To get clean edges on your cake, slice off about 1/2" on each side and save the scraps for a snack.

Hope this is helpful!

Cellophane bags would also be great for this, tied with a festive ribbon. Not as airtight as a mason jar, but less expensive and could be easy enough to open and close up again.

I've been doing this for a while - it makes adding 3 lbs of 10x sugar to my buttercream recipe a really speedy process. I don't know if it really makes a difference, but I use a large damp towel can completely cover my mixer, rather than just the bowl. It seems less likely to get caught up in the paddle that way.

now it's just a matter of deciding what's worse - buying plastic wrapped toilet paper from the grocery store, or buying paper wrapped toilet paper that needs to be shipped to you on a gas eating UPS truck!

They need to start selling this stuff in stores! Or maybe the more mainstream brands will get on board and start wrapping in paper as well!

They aren't recyclable where we are, so for a while we were saving them and turning them into blocks for the kids. I didn't realize how much milk we went through until we were overrun with milk carton blocks!