Cakes

Lemon and peanut butter sound good, but the best is chocolate!

I had the most wonderful chocolate cake a few weeks ago during my first visit to Cafe LouLou. I think it was chocolate cream brulee cake? Sorry Marsha if I got the name wrong (I am sure I spelled it wrong too) I was distracted by the heavenly taste. Do you know when you will have it again or is it a regular?

I'm thinking about changing it sometime soon...

(as untraditional as this may be for a cake dish...)


right now i have on the menu:

Chocolate Sesame Cake
chocolate-plum wine sauce, black sesame "granola", sesame crumble, wasabi ice cream



very Asian inspired, very abstract, very much black and green.


It's sort of "chocolate zen on a plate"


...I swear it's good.



Originally it had a chocolate-menthol sauce, but the vapo-rub aspects seemed to be too over whelming to some people...
So i had to tone it down, and make it more approachable.


Menthol in chocolate very much evokes mint like qualities (think Andes chocolate mint candies... which was the inspiration.)



for a comparative reference-point check out the Vosge "Black Pearl" chocolate bar (i know Old Town carries it).
That served as a primary inspiration amongst traditional Japanese flavors and somewhat of an approach (flavor-wise and in presentation) of that of Jordan Kahn.
(...after visiting a Vosge store in Chicago)



I've been on a huge monochromatic kick in my current dessert menu.
Focus on one color and build the flavors around it...




Next up, familiar flavors yet in forms and textures unexpected.

Fun, "Summery" desserts. Not so far out that they really need an explanation.

"Key Lime Mojito Pie" and "Root Beer Float in Three Textures" are being hashed out on paper currently.

Lemon and peanut butter sound good, but the best is chocolate!

I had the most wonderful chocolate cake a few weeks ago during my first visit to Cafe LouLou. I think it was chocolate cream brulee cake? Sorry Marsha if I got the name wrong (I am sure I spelled it wrong too) I was distracted by the heavenly taste. Do you know when you will have it again or is it a regular?

Karen, I think you must be talking about Chocolate Souffle Cake. I'm so glad you liked it, and it's currently on the menu.

I suppose my offerings must sound pretty mundane next to Ethan's, but I've been on a big "make something people will order" kick lately. Focus on flavors people like and build the dessert menu around it.

Sorry, Ethan - I couldn't resist. Just having a little fun with you. I'm actually quite jealous of all your fancy equipment and your freedom to explore the outer reaches of the pastry universe. I wasn't even able to sell an amazing stout ice cream to the denizens of St. Matthews last summer - it eventually got thrown out to make room for whatever came next that folks were ordering. I don't have room to store my clunkers or much time to experiment too far afield beyond what I think will sell...because, well, our patrons just seem to keep eating almost everything else I make, and some weeks I can barely keep up!

I love your root beer float dessert idea. I used to make a sassafrass anglaise at Limestone that I bet would be heavenly with it. The most far out thing I'm working on at the moment is some sort of riff on "RC Cola and a Moon Pie".

Marsha,

I really enjoyed the delicious peanut butter cake (and meeting you) but now will have to try the Chocolate Souffle Cake.
Or one of your tasty and cooling sorbets to counteract this hot weather. So much for my diet!

The stout ice cream sounds good and kind of reminds me of the wonderful Bourbon Stout Float at the late and
lamented Jazz Factory.
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/?p=76

Marsha,

I really enjoyed the delicious peanut butter cake (and meeting you) but now will have to try the Chocolate Souffle Cake.
Or one of your tasty and cooling sorbets to counteract this hot weather. So much for my diet!

The stout ice cream sounds good and kind of reminds me of the wonderful Bourbon Stout Float at the late and
lamented Jazz Factory.
http://www.louisvillehotbytes.com/?p=76

Hank, it was great to meet you, too! You might get some more stout-flavored dessert if you go to the Great Hotbytes Forum Book Exchange and Barbecue (click for a link to the planning). David Pierce is bringing a stout cake. Which brings us full circle, back to the subject of...CAKE!

Hi everybody. My husband, Bill (of the Shady Lane Cafe), is a truly awesome cook of just about everything, and his pies are second to none. I, on the other hand, mostly hang out by the register and get to know our customers. One day, when Bill seemed especially tired, I decided to try my hand at baking a cake from scratch. I had never cooked much up to then, but I found I really enjoy baking cakes, and now I bake a different cake nearly every day. I invite one and all to come & sample one of our delicious desserts. The offerings change daily, as we make all of our own desserts. Bill makes the pies, brownies, etc., and I make the cakes. My cake today was a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. I'm thinking Hummingbird for tomorrow, but one never knows. Every day we sort of take bets as to whose desserts will sell out first. Come on down. We're right next door to the Party Mart on Brownsboro Road at Rudy Lane. We just moved our 1953 Pink GE Electric Stove into the dining room - it's the same one Bill's mom cooked his meals on when he was a kid, and I used it for 15 years, as well. See ya, and have a great summer!
Susi Smith
Shady Lane Cafe

Making The Most Amazing R2-D2 Cake
http://www.bsideblog.com/2008/06/making ... r2d2-c.php

I suppose my offerings must sound pretty mundane next to Ethan's, but I've been on a big "make something people will order" kick lately. Focus on flavors people like and build the dessert menu around it.

Sorry, Ethan - I couldn't resist. Just having a little fun with you. I'm actually quite jealous of all your fancy equipment and your freedom to explore the outer reaches of the pastry universe. I wasn't even able to sell an amazing stout ice cream to the denizens of St. Matthews last summer - it eventually got thrown out to make room for whatever came next that folks were ordering. I don't have room to store my clunkers or much time to experiment too far afield beyond what I think will sell...because, well, our patrons just seem to keep eating almost everything else I make, and some weeks I can barely keep up!

I love your root beer float dessert idea. I used to make a sassafrass anglaise at Limestone that I bet would be heavenly with it. The most far out thing I'm working on at the moment is some sort of riff on "RC Cola and a Moon Pie".

not to get entirely off topic from cakes, but on the subject of pastry work in restaurants...
(and as usual, my apologies for a belated, and overly lengthy reply.)

Marsha:

I've taken a turn to the whole "make something people will order" thing myself.


People just aren't getting it.
The flavor pairings are no more "out there" than what you'd see in restaurants in Chicago or NYC...
but, alas...

I've gave it some thought.
I started out relatively tame, then moved on to even more bold flavor combinations.

My original notion was: "give them something they've never tasted (that tastes good) and open the diner to a new experience beyond traditional dessert expectations"

now i've moved more to: "give them what they want, but with a little of what i want to give them... and by my rules" (if that makes any sense?)


Example:

Root Beer Float in Textures: variations on vanilla and root beer

1. Root beer float - Traditional (it serves as the reference point of this dish)

2. Vanilla & soy milk 'faux tofu', root beer film and 'soil' (the 'faux tofu' is play on words here. i now make panna cotta using a blend of agar agar and locust bean gum, which as a gelatin substitute makes it entirely vegetarian. It also produces a mouthfeel quite similar to very silken tofu... so subbing in soy milk for milk and/or cream = 'faux tofu')

3. Root beer float in reverse (Shooter) - encapsulated root beer sphere, cream soda (a sphere of root beer suspended in cream soda, take it as a shot... tastes like root beer float.)

4. Vanilla bean sponge, root beer ice cream (self explanatory enough)




In regards to fancy equipment:

I only recently got a new ice cream machine, and although brand new... it churns like any other model. It's no Paco-Jet.

I still use portable burners on my station, an immersion blender and vita-prep to blend things, and silpats and acetate to keep stuff from sticking.

I use PVC pipe moulds because i couldn't find the size i needed.

I do have a few shelves full of all sorts of industrial additives, but that doesn't really fall into the realms of "fancy equipment"
Most of the additives are dirt cheap and easily accessible for purchase retail or wholesale.

In all truth, the fanciest equipment i use are two gram scales: one accurate from 1-4500 grams, the other accurate from 0.1 to 300 grams (crucial for measuring down to the fraction of a gram)


I read a lot, research a lot, dream a lot, and have a strange ability to imagine what flavor pairing will taste like in my head.



I may get to spread my wings and experiment, but people flock to eat your desserts...
and for that, i am truly jealous.

I may get the prize for "risk taker" or "most innovative"...

but i swear it's not as satisfying as "most loved dessert" or "people's choice".
Those laurels rest upon your work.

(and i am equally jealous in the entirely opposite way)

For your body of work Marsha...
I salute you.