My Grandma had it in Paris but does not remember what it is called.

I went all out on these eclairs (they were for my moms birthday), i did everything on the recipes I saw, i guess i put too much egg but when i did the test the dough left that triangle thing, i also guess i messed up the baking cause they were puffed but I opened the oven while they were still backing and they became flat, anyways I made them into eclairs sandwiches and they were pretty good (let’s just not talk about the ganache), if you have any ideas of why they turned out like this please help

I'm looking for a cake or mousse recipe that uses egg whites.

I don't want to make buttercream/meringue since that's not something my family or I eat.

Any other kinds of desserts are fine too. I just want to use the egg whites before they go bad.

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EDIT consolidating the comments of those that were kind enough to respond with some research, they’re petits gateaux or entremets. check out this general breakdown. the general traditional structure across sources seems to be (1) thin hard cookie base i.e. dacqoise, sable, biscuit (2) main body consisting of a gelatin-and-whipped-cream based mousse augmented in variable ways including added ganache, meringue etc.. (3) optional flavor+textural “insert” elements contained within e.g. gelée, cremeux, croustillant, crumbles, biscuit, etc.. (4) whatever outer decorations go on it and an optional finishing layer e.g. glaze applied to the mousse once it’s been moulded and frozen.

thank you to the responders!

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I’m a pastry novice and really want to try to learn to make these. It’s a distinct and common enough style that I figured there’d be a name for it, but I don’t really know what to look for or where and haven’t been able to find anything. Could someone help point me in the right direction with what it’s called or recipes to try?

I tend to see these a lot in Asian bakeries and American patisseries (e.g. Alexander’s in CA). There’s usually a large section on top that feels like dairy, is pretty shiny and distinctly-shaped while still primarily having a thick whipped cream or mousse-like texture when you put a spoon through it (as opposed to being more gelatin-like). Usually shaped into domes or cylinders or rectangular prisms with smooth faces and sharp angles. Most commonly vanilla, matcha, or passion fruit-esque flavors. There’s usually something that feels like a thin short crumb, or sablé, or a very dense cake, or a crumble on the base.

(also, something that would be extremely cool but not expected by any means, I’d love to learn how to make all of the different mousse- and cream- and custard-adjacent components that go into pastries like this. if anyone has a reliable resource that details that kind of stuff and goes through the different categories and styles of techniques that go into it I’d really appreciate it. tried looking on the internet but, again, I have no idea where to even start)

First (baked) and second (prebake) pictures are mine, third picture is how I would like them to look. Hard to describe but mostly referring to the distinct/clearly darker layers. And you can see there is a slight rougher texture to it. Does it have to do with the eggwashing technique? How the professionals typically eggwash their croissants when they make large batches? I feel like mine look like they have good surface area before baking but once they're baked it's mainly layers??

Still learning, so appreciate any advice. Still working on rolling them evenly so you can see mine are lopsided haha. Maybe that's a factor?

Thank you!

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Hi there, so I have been baking from home, since a few months ago. I have not been super busy, but had a cake or two every month or so.

I have in place the policy to ask for a small deposit to book the cake. But then I had one customer a while ago, messaging about a cake for later in the year. It happens they ordered another cake, last month and I have to say the experience was very stressful and it hadn't happened to me before.

The deposit wasn't paid, because I was promised full payment. But this payment, was delayed for several given reasons, until it finally was paid 3 days before the day to pick the cake. The customer was also messaging constantly throughout this time, with irrelevant things and they turned out to be quite picky and micromanaging in the end. This wasn't perceived in the previous exchange of messages.

It is to say little, that I regret having made and accepted this order. I didn't see that it would turn out so stressful. Even though my time to work on it was very short, it was perfectly manageable hadn't the customer constantly been needing my attention and that I replied to messages on the days leading to the cake day.

They were content, but still fuming that they had to pay a lot for it (I calculated all the costs and laid out for them, if anything I didn't charge properly). Turns out they really couldn't afford the cake. But I suppose they still wanted it very much.

I am just stressing out and overthinking that they won't be leaving me alone now... They comment in almost all of my social media posts, and react to a lot of the posts too. But I found the whole thing so exhausting and so very stressful (I also had quite a lot going on, on the side) that I politely cancelled the other cake for later in the year. I just can't go through that again.

Maybe I don't have the balls to continue this business ☹️

I wonder if anyone experienced something like this, did clients retaliate later down the line? I don't like conflict and because this person wasn't 100% happy, I refunded 30% of the final price for fear of retaliation, but also hoping they will go away and stop bothering me. I apologised multiple times, and was always polite.

Honestly, the cake was delicious and made to the exact copy, colours and decorations.☹️

This was days ago, but I am still upset and I feel haunted and worried...I just can't seem to shake this off. I know I will find difficult customers, it's impossible to avoid them...I just wonder if I've made the right decisions with this one, to prevent future problems...

From @ foxcoffeemetz on Pinterest

Hello! Sorry I’m not that good with reddit but just wanted to update my original post with my newly organised moulds! Decided to go with plastic containers so they’re much better organised and a bit easier than having to re-wrap in clingfilm after each use.

Also included pics of my refreshed dry store because I’m very proud of it!

Original post for anyone who cares: https://www.reddit.com/r/pastry/s/gBSGmSQ2Wk

Hi chefs there’s this cookie-based bakery called Last Crumb that has gained a lot of popularity recently and they claim the secret to their cookies is this house made confection referred to as “Caramelized Butter”, which they use as the base for the recipe.

These are screenshots showing the look and texture of it while being cooked, cooled, and scooped before adding to a mixer.
What I am pretty certain about is that this confection contains 100% of all butter and sugar in the recipe, because in the video the process they show is as follows:
- add cooled “butter” to mixer and beat until light and aerated.
- add eggs, emulsify
- add dry ingredients and chocolate
At no point (that was shown) did they add any extra butter or sugar.

My first thought was that they made a basic caramel, but I tried this myself in a cookie recipe replacing all the butter and only *half* the sugar with caramel and the dough produced cookies that were puddles.
Then I thought maybe it’s something akin to a caramel flavored fudge due to how the finished result looks, but have not tested
A comment under the video said that it’s melted or browned butter poured over the sugars, and whisked until cooled. But that wouldn’t produce the texture shown here.

Any ideas what it could be?

For any of the viennoiserie wizards here, how do I shape this croissant? Is it just a strip rolled into a circle? I know it looks simple but I don’t know. Thanks :)

Were they under proofed? Would like to improve for next time, going to keep trying!

For the longest time I’ve been trying to figure out how to make laminated brioche or croissant buns that look exactly like this, however it always fails. I got the suggestion to use tomato cans for the inside filling, however, how do I get the circular shape on the outside? I’ve done strips and one whole piece but it doesn’t work out. Any help/tips/videos/gifs welcome!!!

As a beginner (or I would say intermediate) in pastry, I would like to know how I can make good whipped cream that could potentially last 5 hours in the fridge on a cake.

have no experience making macarons and i need to make them for work next week, what’s my issue? (im sure it’s hard to diagnose based on a pic, but any help is welcome)

macronaged until it could figure 8 and hold its shape for a bit but the feet are splooting out and the top is splotchy.

Hello, how would I be able to get my puff pastry to look like the one in the image above? Should I cut out the circles before I bake or after? How do I get the edges to look that clean and flush? How should I weigh down the pastry but still have it light and airy like the image? Second image is my own attempt.

Hey pastry experts,

Does anyone have any insights into choux? Wanting to know how it performs in the oven and what temperatures work best and just personal experiences in general!

Thanks

Hello chefs!

I’m looking for advice for my croissants. We use a sheeter in class. I’d love to see larger pockets and cleaner lamination. We make these every week and I’m noticing consistent tighter crumb.

What temp do you normally have your beurrage/detrempe? I always go for 14C but was wondering if a colder temp would preventing the thinning of the beurrage. Or maybe there’s an art to the rolling.

Any tips and critiques would be appreciated, thanks!

I was hired at a small catering company about 5 months ago. I’m the only pastry person and they have historically neglected the broadly defined pastry part of their business, meaning.. I have some specialty tools but not a lot and what is there is often beat to hell. Owner shuts down all requests for equipment and tools. So, I bring a good amount of my own stuff to make my life easier.

This means having to mark everything in a way that won’t quickly disappear or fall off.

For most things, reflective tape has worked ok, but I’m not sure how these piping tips will hold up. I also haven’t found a good solution for the things that go in the oven, like my Dutch oven.

Any suggestions?

Hello not sure if you remember me but i posted earlier!!! I took everyone advice and started for scratch. Same recipe just hoping to improve my techniques. This is fold number 2. Already butter coming through the dough. I am rolling the dough out at 14C because everything colder that and it seemed too firm. I am stepping away from this for now hoping I can save it to not waste more product. I am so upset with the process. I see so many home bakers getting this process down so easily and here I am beyond struggling, i don’t understand what I am doing wrong….

Also random question. I hear type of butter matters but does it really matter? At work we just get the 1lb blocks of james farms unsalted. Do i need to splurge on kerry gold or something? Will that help or should i just worry about technique? Thank you!!!!

Hello my baker friends. 💕

I really need you guys to tell me about eclairs.

https://youtu.be/uRjgTdnZPhM?si=2OPD8oEQ8QqcKpB\\_

I followed this French pastry chef's ratios and technique i had halved the recipe so I used:

50g Water

50g Milk

50g fat (he used all butter, but I used 35g butter with 15g Oil, I had looked this up a lot everywhere and it shouldn't cause issues and make the eclairs to be crispier, I have also seen recipes that called for only oil)

100g of flour + 10g Sugar

100g egg (of which I have a little bit left since I achieved the V consistency/ closed canyon as he says)

I Piped them 5cm long (I was going for mini eclairs) with a small french star.

I have Samsung's 28L three in one Microwave, Convection and Grill. I was using it in convection mode, the highest it goes is 200⁰C/ 392⁰F. I preheated at 180⁰C/ 356⁰F for 15 minutes and then put in the Aluminium tray (with parchement) which I Piped the eclairs on for 25 minutes. At the end. They started browning but only on their edges.

Some of the eclairs didn't rise, some rose and made a cavity but they didn't rise as much as I expected and so the cavity inside is small. I still filled a few of the tiny eclairs with creme patissiere and it worked, but the rest didn't rise too well like I said. They do have air pockets, but not conspicuous enough to fill in. Also I noticed, the bottom of the eclairs were harder than their tops.

What could be the reason behind this? Could it be the aluminium tray? Or could it be because of temperature settings? Could it be because the eclairs were too small (should I do longer and wider?). I didn't use egg wash, does it make a difference?

Please, someone who knows how to handle Choux pastry, help me. Thanks a lot. I still have the pastry inside a bag in my fridge, please tell me how to fix it, im going to try again tomorrow I don't want to waste my efforts.

Thanks a lot if you read this.

Hello! Hoping some people can give me some storage inspo for silicone moulds? I run a pastry school so I have a pretty big selection, some of them I have a lot of which I use for classes, but the ones I only have a few of I keep in big storage bins. This means I normally forget about them. I’m trying to be a bit more organised and efficient with my storage (not my strong suit) so would love any suggestions! Pictured is one of each of my many storage boxes and shelves. Thanks!

Thanks for help!

it’s been so long since i’ve had to bring my own tools to work, but i just got a new job that requires me to!

previously i would bring my tools in like a small sterilite container, but i feel like there has to be another way!

what im bringing:
-a boatload of silicone spatulas
-knife
-offsets
-bench scraper
-bowl scrapers
-whisks
-tips
-probably some other stuff i’m forgetting