One dessert that eluded me for many years was the sticky bun.  I had been making sticky buns for years and even with my Aunt Lena’s recipe, they were never quite as good as hers .  It is the same

Aunt Lena's Sticky Bun

thing for my dad’s potato salad.  I used to make it when I was in college and my roommates loved it, but I would always say that it is not my dad’s potato salad.  They had no point of reference, but I grew up with it.  Don’t get me wrong, I thought my potato salad was good, but not as good as my dad’s.  It is that slight of hand that makes the difference.

I asked my cousin for his’ mom recipe again because through the years of trying to perfect the sticky bun, I had changed the recipe so many times that I needed to get back to the original recipe. I stopped over thinking it and let the flavors remain very simple.  To my surprise, my dad, who is one of my most honest and harshest critics, said that they were great.  All of us at the shop were also happy with the outcome. The sticky bun is so simple, yet so complex and truly delicious.

For any frustrated pastry chefs or culinary chefs at home, as I had to remind myself,  don’t over think what you are doing, trust your instincts.

Whenever customers come into our pastry shop for the first time, we like to tell our philosophy about baking and
all about our desserts.  We almost always lead with explaining the fact that our cakes are made with real buttercream not frosting.  Many bakeries and pastry shops call what they put on the outside of their cakes buttercream, but in reality it is frosting.  There is nothing wrong with frosting, which tends to be denser and sweeter; in fact we make a lemon white chocolate frosting for the icing on our lemon pound cake loaf.  The truth is a real buttercream should taste rich, like….like…BUTTER!

We explain that our cakes need to be refrigerated, but they are meant to be enjoyed at room temperature, so they require  little extra care, but it is well worth it.  Many times when we tell our first time customers to leave the cakes out at room temperature for at least 4 to 5 hours before serving, the initial response is, “Are they frozen?”

We explain that because we use a true buttercream our cakes need to be refrigerated, but the mouth feel and
flavor is so much better when the cake and buttercream are at room temperature.  The best analogy we give is
using cold butter versus room temperature butter on your bread.  Most would agree that the room temperature is preferred.

I remember giving a new customer our “care for your cake” instructions and she had a certain look that said, You lost me at hello.”  She came in a few weeks later, admitting that she really was not listening to my instructions, but she was trying to be polite.  She said, “The cake was good cold, but OH BOY was it awesome when it was at room temperature.”

Buttercream is less sweet than frosting and is made with 100% butter instead of using shortening or margarine.
Our buttercream is made with an Italian meringue, which is cooked sugar and egg whites then we add some creamy butter and pure vanilla extract, which gives this buttercream a rich tasting, but light on the palette finish.

An Italian buttercream is relatively simple to make with five basic ingredients.  Be on the lookout for instructional
video.

Pastry Tips

I have been baking ever since I was little.  I remember baking, from scratch, chocolate cupcakes with a vanilla frosting. I actually made the cupcakes from one of Maida Heater’s Cookbooks. I took them to my friend Tanya’s house when we were in Junior High.  She was having a lot of people over, so I decided to increase the recipe without any real science to it…..a little more milk here and a little more flour there and a few eggs to get the consistency I was use to looking for.  As I sat in a chair talking with friends, I turned my head and noticed someone BANGING, yes banging my cupcakes on a table.  The cupcakes were hard as a rock.  Well, maybe not a rock, but pretty close.  I heard some ask who made them, but at that very moment I did not confess.  My friends thought that they knew what to expect when I was bringing dessert, so they never considered that I had anything to do with making these inedible cupcakes. Oh, boy were they wrong.  I soon confessed and we all had a good laugh.  This was a pivotal moment in my baking career.

It was great when I baked and the desserts turned out as planned, but I wanted to know about the exception, not the rule.  For example, I wanted to know what factors played into a cake falling, was it overmixing or not the right flour.  I wanted to know what happened.  I learned that baking is truly a science and I quickly grew to respect the art of baking.

Well, thanks to a great friend I decided to start blogging.  I so enjoy the education of baking and pastry, but it can get a bit long in my newsletters and facebook posts.  I love talking and listening, as many of my friends know, so I am hoping that everyone will find the information helpful and that we can have a great exchange of ideas.

If I wasn’t baking in my shop, I would love to teach, so this should be fun for me and I hope fun for others as well.  I intend to give many useful tips and to receive tips from you.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Let the blogging begin!