A place for everything; everything in its place!

Hi all, just a quick comment about mise en place. Ever heard of it? It's a fabulous french term (ooh la la)used in cooking, which basically means putting everything in its place. It's so important to be organized in the baker's kitchen! That means setting up before you start! I know, I know, sometimes it's hard to know what you need, but read ahead! Take a closer look at your recipe: what are the ingredients? Should your butter be soft first (almost always), eggs room temperature (ditto), and milk at room temperature (you guessed it)? Make sure you've got all of your ingredients prepared, but also take the time to put your dry ingredients together (if recipe permits), put your eggs and vanilla in a bowl together, and get your butter and sugar ready in your mixer. Trust me, if you have everything ready to go ahead of time, making a cake will be a cinch!

Which came first...the chicken or the egg?

This question plagues us on a daily basis. It consumes us, much like the SATs, GREs, and other state tests.


Which do you prefer: chocolate or vanilla? (insert dramatic music of choice here)


Yes, this question is tough to answer! Are you Switzerland and choose both? What is the consequence of choosing one over the other? The thoughts and concerns are endless! But fear not dear readers, because I'm here to help! You don't have to choose just one; there are so many options when choosing either chocolate OR vanilla.


With chocolate, try pairing it with strong coffee flavors. Get a good instant espresso powder from your supermarket and carefully add that into your chocolate cake. It intensifies the flavor of the chocolate and the end result is magnifique!


As for you vanilla-ites (ahem, much like myself), there are a lot of things you can do with flavors. Try adding a few tablespoons of liqueur, chopped chocolate chips (they came in a rainbow of flavors and varieties - chips, chunks, disks), nuts, or an exotic vanilla extract or vanilla bean. The possibilities are endless!


When it comes to baking, there is a science to the amount of ingredients and the order in which they are added, but for the little extras, let your creativity go wild!

Perfecting Flavor

I'm going to let you in on a trade secret.There IS a difference in the end result of your cakes if you don't use quality ingredients. Seems silly; seems simple; but it's a step that is often overlooked. If you're going out of your way to bake a dessert for someone special, don't you want the finished product to be as tasty as can be? Sometimes it's necessary to spend a few extra dollars to buy the better chocolate or vanilla. Often these ingredients are easily accessible!


For starters, let's talk chocolate. I'll delve into some better brands another day, but for now let's walk through the supermarket together. Put down that Nestle! Don't touch the Hershey's! For a deliciously rich taste and smooth texture, pick up a bag or two of Ghirardelli chocolate chips. This California-based confectionary adds a sophisticated taste to any cake. I often use Ghirardelli in my kitchen, always to rave reviews. The chocolate melts well over a double boiler and has a very creamy taste, unlike the chalky after taste of some of its competitors.


As far as vanilla extract, if you're in a pinch you know where to go in the supermarket but I challenge you to take a trip to the mall instead. If your mall is anything like mine, I'd suggest getting there at opening time and go to Williams Sonoma (one of my FAVORITE stores!). Buy the Nielson-Massey Madagascar Pure Vanilla Extract (http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/nielsen-massey-vanilla/?pkey=cbaking-decorating-ingredients). Truthfully, I realize $19 for 8oz might seem like a lot, but recipes never call for much and if you want the best result, you need the best ingredients! This elevates the flavor from the regular store-brand bottles, and it's often a better deal.


Good luck baking! Be sure to send me pictures of your finished cakes, and check out my website: www.lizzybeesbakery.com

January 26, 2012 Tip of the Day

It's important to keep the right tools in your kitchen. Be sure to have a variety of spatulas and offset spatulas at the ready. I prefer spatulas that are heat resistant with silicone heads. My favorites are worth the price ($9.99) at www.chefcentral.com: they have metal handles (I just don't love the wooden handles!) and come in a few different colors.


When thinking of offset spatulas, make sure you have at least two - one big and one small. The smaller one is great for leveling flour and sugar as well as working on smaller cakes, and the big one works well for smoothing the outside of an 8in or larger cake. These tools are a must in any baker's kitchen, and you can find them anywhere, even your local supermarket!

A brand new Lizzy Bee's Blog!

Hello friends of Lizzy Bee's Bakery! The new year has arrived and thus the resolutions begin! I have been trying to design my blog to make it more functional so I can post on a regular basis, and I think I've come up with a plan! Keep your eyes peeled for new Lizzy Bee's updates that include recipes, daily tips, and exciting news from the bakery!

Cake Boss

I spent last week rushing around like a crazy lady, trying to get the right ingredients for a baby shower cake I was delivering Sunday. It took 4 stores, 3 trips, and a full tank of gas to find quality ingredients. When I couldn't find Ghirardelli cocoa powder in my local A&P, I was crestfallen. I would have to shlep 45 minutes in traffic just to get to Fairway, where my ingredients awaited me. My fiancé Alex and I have been together for awhile, and when he innocently suggested I just use Hershey's, what's the difference? he should not have seemed so surprised by my answer. First, the stare...then a glare. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? That's DISGUSTING! I use QUALITY ingredients! It's the main ingredient in a CHOCOLATE cake! Don't you remember our taste test?" Obviously, there was a day I'd sat him down and had him try Nestle, Ghirardelli, and Callebaut. He was a good sport and said he could really taste the chalky flavor of lesser quality versus the good stuff. I kept asking him to really taste each one and see what I was talking about...I think he just wanted to eat the chocolate. "I can taste the difference. Can I try that one again just to compare?" Uh huh. Riiiight.

Well after I yelled at him for his obvious stupidity, he offered to go to Fairway for me the next day and buy all of the ingredients I needed. Hmm. Time to reevaluate the situation.

I digress. Anyway, I started baking Friday night. A delicious chocolate recipe I have from a fabulous wedding cake chef who graduated from the same culinary school as me. I am usually a fan of white cake over chocolate, but this one is just fantastic. Unfortunately, just one chocolate cake was not enough. I had decided to make a 10 inch square base and a 6 inch round cake on top. I wanted layers, I wanted depth, I wanted the WOW factor. So I decided to make a vanilla cake as well. I failed to mention that Alex bought me special cake flour at Fairway, which I thought I needed for the chocolate, but it turned out I was actually thinking of a different recipe...this vanilla recipe. So I kill 2 birds with one stone. A WOW cake and a happy fiance. So Saturday came and I quickly made the vanilla cake...and a cookies and cream filling...and a Tahitian vanilla buttercream. But on Friday...

Alex wanted to help me make a WOW cake and I wanted to attempt some Cake Boss meets Charm City-quality decorating. We both rolled rice krispy treats (which I’ve only made maybe twice in my life) into bears and compared. I liked my bear because he was fatter and looked fluffier (or krispier?) and Alex liked his bear because it was smoother and would ultimately be easier to cover with fondant. Alex also made me 3 cubes for my blocks, and a beach ball. By the time we were done (late late late!) we were exhausted, so fondant covering would wait until the next day.

I was on my own on Saturday, as Alex was working all day. I spent all evening rolling fondant, covering the bears, gluing arms (with royal icing…which, by the way, I made a huge bag full and only needed a few squirts), gluing feet, dying fondant for a nose and eyes…it was a late night and I didn’t even finish! I woke up early Sunday morning (baby shower day) and decided the cake was too bare, so I added fondant stripes in 4 different colors around the edges, attached my bear and the blocks and beach ball and looked again. I was pretty impressed…rice krispy figures weren’t so hard! Meanwhile, after all this work, I sat on the edge of my seat at the shower as I watched all of the little children surround the cake, surreptitiously sneaking licks of the icing. Maybe this is why they never invite the chef…

I'm the Boss

I was never good at sharing. It took me years (more than 20) to figure out how to share. But now I pride myself on being an excellent sharer. Oh, I still repeat a mantra to myself every time I share (you can always buy more Luna bars; you can always get more sushi), but overall I've gotten much better at it. That being said, there is one thing I'm not good at sharing: space in the kitchen. Something inside of me gets fired up and takes over whenever I enter the kitchen. With this need to be the Top Banana (or perhaps more fittingly, the Top Cheesecake) comes the responsibility of working for myself. I have my own pastry business and I sell desserts to the masses (albeit small...some might say peanut-sized masses. Well, really masslets. Mini masses.). At any rate, I would like to use this blog as a place to share with you the trials and tribulations of a pastry chef. And to be quite frank, I am much better at blogging than I am at creating websites. I get too wordy...but in a blog, I think that's acceptable. Should you like to view a more extensive gallery of my baked goods, check out my website: www.lizzybeesbakery.com. Otherwise for now, let's just dive right in, shall we?