Baking Pro Tips

A lot of times when people try something we've baked we receive a very similar reaction to the product: "I make this all the time and it doesn't taste anything like what I'm eating now!"  It's not a bad thing...people are just awed that something they may be familiar with can have a different taste than what they're used to.

We usually don't share full recipes with people (it's taken us awhile to develop some of them), but we figured we'd take some time to let you in on a few tricks and tips we use in our kitchen to reach the desired results in our desserts.  Some you might have heard of, others you might be shocked to read, but we hope next time you're baking you remember a tip or two and try it out in your kitchen.

1. We use a lot of salt in our icing.  A lot.  Most recipes you see for call for a "pinch".  Depending on the amount of icing we're making we will use anywhere from a teaspoon to a tablespoon.  We feel like it really helps to balance the sweetness so it's not too overpowering.

2. When you want to make a chocolate icing from scratch, melt down good chocolate in a double boiler.  Yes, you will pay more, but you will definitely notice a difference.  And before you ask, no, Hershey's is not considered a "good" chocolate.

3. We mentioned this before in a past post, but you really need to start using buttermilk in recipes that call for buttermilk.  The taste is just the tiniest bit different, but it's definitely worth the extra effort.  Try it once, and you'll never go back to cheating with regular milk again.  We promise.

4. If you love vanilla cake (and really who doesn't), make yourself a batch of vanilla sugar.  Take a whole vanilla bean, split it open, and put it in a plastic container full of sugar (one that seals tight).  Put it on the shelf and forget about it for awhile.  Next time you go to bake a vanilla cake, use the sugar in the container.  Sugar takes on flavors of objects around it, so your sugar will be infused with vanilla, adding to the ridiculous amounts of vanilla you're about to add to the batter already.  This will send your cake into the vanilla stratosphere.  Trust us.

5. A lot of cheesecake recipes out there tell you not to "over mix" the egg/cream cheese mixture you're creating.  We couldn't disagree more.  We like our cheesecake to be a bit on the airy side, still thick and full of bad-for-you calories, but with just a hint of a whipped surprised.  If your cheesecake weighs the same as a small child, we feel it's a little too dense.  We over mix our cream cheese mixture, and love the results.  Sure, there are probably some cheesecake connoisseurs reading this who are cursing at the very idea of over mixing their batter, but if you're up for a fun challenge, try it next time.

6. If you ever make a Boston Cream Pie (and really, they're so easy, who wouldn't?) there are lots of ways to cheat on the recipe a little.  Use a boxed mix, microwave the chocolate topping, etc.  One are you do not want to cheat, though, is the cream center.  DO NOT use Jell-O mix, guys!  It takes just as long to make the pudding as it does to make some delicious from-scratch cream.  Just google a recipe.  It's worth it.

Hope this helps you guys next time you're in the kitchen!  Share all the yummy things you might cook up, we love fun stories!

Surprise Cake

So for the past few posts we have been hinting about a surprise cake we were creating soon but couldn't give you the details about.  Maybe that was kind of mean of us to do, dropping hints and offering no other details, but we have been so excited about this cake for so stinkin' long it was hard not to just tell everyone what was going on.  But we were patient, and the cake was finally delivered last night so we can tell you all about it.

This is our little sister, Allison.  She used to be that annoying little sister who follows you everywhere, but she has grown up to be a pretty awesome human being, and one of our best friends.  She runs her own wedding photography business (shameless plug here) so it's safe to assume she's pretty obsessed with photography.

A few months ago, we decided to do something nice for all of our siblings for their birthdays.  As much as we bake for customers, we don't ever really take the time to bake for close friends and family, mainly because we're so busy filling business orders.  But we decided to go with a themed cake for Ali's birthday, and what better theme than a camera?

The cake itself was actually a pretty straight forward design.  It's nothing ridiculously over-thought, and the cake inside is a classic vanilla bean (after red velvet, that's the cake Ali prefers).  What made this cake a bit of a challenge, though, was we did not make this in our own kitchen, where we have all of our supplies labeled and organized and ready to go.  We made this back at home, in our parent's house, where nothing seems familiar, and the only supplies we had were the ones we remembered to pack.  Imagine trying to paint a picture with only half of the paint brushes you normally have.

Even though we were limited in supplies and space, and the humidity tried to melt the fondant a good half dozen times, we're fairly happy with how the cake turned out.  Simple, whimsical, and pretty, exactly how the perfect cake for our baby sister should turn out!

Next up -- a pretty awesome cake for the baby brother.  But again, that idea will have to stay under wraps until we finally deliver it to him.

Happy Memorial Day weekend, guys!!  Enjoy the beautiful weather!!

Keeping Up Appearances

May!  Wonderful May!  What a great month it's been!  And we're not just talking about the warm weather that's finally arrived in the Burgh (although that's wonderful too)!

Business has been booming, guys, and we couldn't be happier!  Between baking for the restaurant (more on that later), online orders, and fun "surprises" for friends, we cannot believe that we're already more than halfway through May.  Where has this month gone?

Today we had the opportunity to do something we've never done before: go shopping at Restaurant Depot.  For those of you who have no idea what RD is, it's similar to a Sam's Club in terms of it offers bulk food at wholesale prices.  However, unlike Sam's Club, which is tailored for families, RD is tailored towards, well, restaurants.  You can buy a 50lb bag of flour in one aisle, and then head over to the next aisle for a swimming pool of Heinz ketchup (slight exaggeration).  For someone who regularly flies through flour, sugar, butter, and flavorings, it was pretty much like Disney World on a rainy Saturday morning.

We ended up buying a 25lb bag of powdered sugar, which sounds like a lot, but that will not last us long.  Maybe we should've picked up another one.  Oh well, we can also go back.  We also picked up a tub of peanut butter you could fit a small child into, and a wonderful find of almond extract.

This picture above, we've added for comparison.  The bottle on the left is one most of you are probably familiar with, all major grocery stores sell it.  If it's on sale, you can snag that baby for $3.99.

The bottle on the right.  We bought for $9.14.  We could drink that bottle of almond extract, and the value is ridiculously good.  As we mentioned, the Restaurant Depot may be the best place in the world (don't get too excited, it's a pretty exclusive club...you actually have to own a restaurant to shop there.  Sorry guys!)

We need all this almond extract because we have been baking so much for our new restaurant deal.  It's definitely been an adjustment, baking every night getting stuff ready for our weekly delivery, but we have loved it so far.  And the feed back has been great...cheesecakes, pies, cakes, everything seems to be a big hit.

If you want to head out for some PSR treats yourself (and we think you all should!) you should head out to Champs Sports Bar in Penn Hills.  That's where everything available for you to buy and consume.  The address, for those of you up for a road trip, is 540 Rodi Rd Pgh.  If you head down, go for a meal, the food is good, and decently priced.  Just make sure you save room for dessert!! :-)  For example, this week this apple pie is on the menu (and trust us, it's amazing!!)

We will be updating later this week, we have a cake we're pretty excited to tell you guys about (it's a surprise delivery, so we can't detail too much here.  Just in case someone other than our mom reads this blog).  But check back, we'll be posting some pretty awesome pictures!!

Even though it's raining, enjoy the weekend!  We have two cakes in the oven right now, our work is never done!!  Talk to you guys soon!