Comments on: Holiday Pine Cone Chocolate Cake

By: gartblue

gartblue — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 10:52:32 +0000

hanaa … cheers .. and your whipped cream cake was a sure winner!

By: Hanaa

Hanaa — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:32:55 +0000

Congrats on being Featured Baker. Your cake looks delicious. No wonder if it was eaten in no time )

By: gartblue

gartblue — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 04:41:19 +0000

noni .. thanks for the heads up .. but i’ve read and reread the ingredients list and there’s no traces of any alcoholic components .. i guess if you’ve done the research and you know, then it’s fine to avoid it .. but as yet, I’ve not found evidences to disprove that. i’ll keep looking though.

By: noni

noni — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:54:12 +0000

hi…i am noni, i’ve studied about vanilla essence and i just want to tell u that the one that u use is non halal…if u check any vanilla essence or extract that contain vanilla extract, it is considered as non halal because it contains alcohol…u can check with jakim because they have proposed that if any ingredient contain “vanilla extract” it is considered as non halal…it is very,very,very,very difficult to find vanilla essence that is halal…i have tried so hard to find vanilla that is halal, the one and only that we can use is start brand vanilla essence which i can say, it does not taste as good as the the one that contain alchohol…i am sorry to tell u this…i do really care about this and i hope u do care to…

p/s: org yg jual kat cake connection tu kate halal, but i’ve done banyak research ttg vanilla, it is definitely tak halal…sorry…

By: gartblue

gartblue — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 03:40:43 +0000

vicki .. can’t move to a drier climate .. so must make do ..

By: Vicki

Vicki — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:21:29 +0000

Really good idea using the ganache as the outer layer. I am in total agreement that is is a delicious recipe. My hats off to you for baking in such high humidity.

By: gartblue

gartblue — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 03:56:57 +0000

rachelino .. that’s what I always tell my hubby .. it’s not the heat that kills a fondant, always the humidity .. i had to work with some fondant for a batch of cookies and it got sticky and yucky and sweated and all … I’ll wait for january then ..

By: Rachelino

Rachelino — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 03:38:22 +0000

This looks great! I sympathize a bit on having the weather interfere. I made a batch of candy that never set up and had to throw the whole thing away…and this was on a dry cool Bay Area day! ARGH. So I totally understand why you would not want to make it in REAL humidity.

By: gartblue

gartblue — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 03:15:38 +0000

barbara … think it’s an all-around consensus that the ganache was great … i have not found a ganache that I don’t like in HCB ..

nicola .. i actually thought I made too much but I was spot on with the measurement. It sure does make an impersonation of a pine cone .. hmm .. that picture was taken after it’s thawed to room temperature and I like it that it’s still stiff enough to frost .. mind you, room temperature here is around 30C.

NancyB .. I’m with you on this. Though I like the ganache a lot, it soon became too much because I can’t taste the cake at all. what cake?

By: Bungalow Barbara

Bungalow Barbara — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:25:01 +0000

Love your roulade! Yes, ganache = heaven as far as I am concerned, too!