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!

The Case for Buttermilk

Ah buttermilk...what can be said about it that hasn't already been said?

To be fair, has anyone ever written a blog about buttermilk before?  Anyone...anyone...Bueller...??

We're going to be honest with you, for years we've kind of looked at buttermilk as the black sheep of the cooking world.  That random product they still sell at supermarkets that no one ever uses.  Honestly, how many of us can say we've ever had a glass of buttermilk?  Well, besides our grandparents.  Has anyone born since 1980 had a glass of buttermilk?  Honest question here.

Since we don't drink buttermilk, we've never had much reason to buy it.  In our humble opinion, why bother?  It's not that we're lazy bakers, but we're practical with our baking.  Why buy whole milk AND buttermilk when one can pretty much do the job of both.  Remember, this is a start up business...we're not rolling in the funds right now.

So we used regular milk for all of our baking needs.  We figured, hey, this tastes delicious, what could the harm be?

STOP!

If you were thinking the same thing, let us correct you.  There is a huge difference between buttermilk and milk.  If you're a casual baker, or baked good consumer, you may never notice the difference.  Half the time we still don't when we're eating the finished product.  But let us tell you, there's a HUGE difference.

  

What makes buttermilk buttermilk is that it's more acidic than regular whole milk, which gives it its different (and to many Gen Y- and X-ers unusual) taste.  Maybe this doesn't seem to be a deal breaker to you, but remember, baking is all about chemistry.  Ahh, chemistry, one of our least favorite classes in high school.  And chemistry, in baking, is super important.  It's what makes things taste so good.

So the extra acid in the buttermilk actually helps your baked goods.  It helps the milk to react and incorporate itself quicker into your batter (milk is usually one of the last ingredients you add), which leads to fluffier cupcakes, richer cookies, and beautifully dense cakes.  

Is it necessary?  Absolutely not.  But over the past few months as we've experimented with buttermilk more, we've found it's sometimes is exactly what you need to bring that "wow" factor.  Think about it this way...in baseball, a home run is a home run, so long as it leaves the park.  But for all those Pirate fans out there, how many of you remember a home run that just makes it over the fence, and how many of you will always remember the few baseballs that have landed straight into the river?  We want to launch our home run cupcakes into the river each and every time we pull them out of the ovens.

If you don't want to splurge and buy buttermilk (who does?) head over to this site, where you can learn how to make your own buttermilk with things you have around the house.  We usually use lemon juice, but have also used plain yogurt with similar results.

Next time you're baking, we challenge you to try using buttermilk.  Add some lemon juice to your milk, let it sit, and see how much better your baking becomes.  It's gonna be outta the park...and into the river!!

Happy (almost) Friday, friends!