Thank you.
I had some free time yesterday. One thing led to another and I ended up with Why-I-Can’t-Keep-a-Six-Pac Pies, aka Whoopie Pies.
Anyone else here a fan?
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Completely a fan. Whoopie pies are very popular in southern Pennsylvania, nearby where I live. Is that your own pic?
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Yes. Just after making a second batch, orange water filling. 
I’ve been reading up about them. There’s a lot of room for creativity. In your area do they create a lot of specialty flavors or stick with the basics? This coming weekend the kids and I are going to try dipping them in chocolate.
When we go up to Lancaster and surrounding areas, there are a lot of flavors like pumpkin and red velvet.
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Portuguese Orange Olive Oil Cake. Simple, yet greater than the sum of its parts. Sadly, you must wait a day before slicing it. (It really does make a difference.)
There is an alternate version with almost identical ingredients, but different method. The recipe I linked above, however, has a tad lighter crumb. Also, the bake time is off in the alternate version. A regular home oven cannot bake the full recipe in 35 to 40 minutes.
I actually make a half recipe which does bake in 35-40 minutes. I like to get more of a hump, so I bake at 375F for 36 minutes. At 350F, a half recipe will be done in 40 minutes. I don’t body shame the cake – I don’t flip it over and dust it with powdered sugar. It looks beautiful to me just like this. If you do want to flip it over so the smooth side is up, stick with 350F. For this cake, I enjoy irregularities in the crumb, but you can tap the batter-filled pan on the counter a few times if you want an even crumb.
The recipe instructs you to use the paddle attachment. For a half recipe, you will need to use the whisk attachment for the eggs/sugar and whip for much longer than 3 minutes, closer to 8 minutes. Then switch to the paddle attachment and continue. I use the Fat Daddio 9" tube pan (model RMP-9), which is absolutely perfect for a half recipe. I also reduce the sugar for a half recipe from 300g to 200g.
Having baked this cake many times, I feel if I am making the full recipe, I cannot reduce the sugar. The longer bake time dries out the outer part of the cake and, as it sits for a day, the moisture from the sugar travels to those drier areas. However, with the shorter bake of a half recipe, there is less dryness at the outer edges. Also, with the full recipe, I always have to cover it with foil midway through baking to avoid overbrowning.
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New York style cheescake (scroll down). Matcha crust. Topped with whip cream, strawberry sauce, and toasted almonds. A forkful that’s the full height of the cheesecake is the perfect bite, otherwise the matcha is a little strong.
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I made, what I call, a Raw Apple Pie. The apples are not cooked, the apples are partly candied. It’s sooooo good. The darker slices were marinaded in rum and a splash of vanilla.
I often make it with a think layer of pastry cream in the tart shell but not this time.
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Are apples in season where you live? How did you candy without cooking?
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Apples are always in the market here. 
What I do is super easy: peel, slice, core some apples. Weight them. Put the apples in a bowl and add half the weight in sugar to the apples and toss. Let it set for a full day tossing to make sure the all the sugar dissolves. This will bring all the water out of the apples (that’s what I’m calling ‘candying’ here). The next day, take a slice of apple and bite into it. If you like the texture, you’re done. This is what’s in the photo. However, if you don’t like the texture, add a little of the syrup to a sauce pan and boil the apple slices and then line the tart. Either way it’s very good.
Easy.
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Mine are thicker because I reduced the sugar to 200g, used European-style butter, and used bread flour. There is plenty of sugar in the freeze-dried corn, so I always reduce the sugar. However, usually I go for either European-style butter or bread flour, not both. (I was out of regular butter and AP flour this time.) The freeze dried corn is essential, but I substitute cornmeal for the corn flour and like it better that way.
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Batch of light brioche rolls for the freezer. I got the pan thinking it might be better for burger buns but I don’t like the height of them compared to the free form ones. Will try again with less dough.
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I have the same experience with burger roll pans. Free form is better.
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THose look delicious! Perhaps repurpose the pan to make muffin tops?
I use them for mini layered cakes.
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Oh that sounds great!
Thanks. Will try that next!
Made this quickie tarte tatin, with a ripe mango, so good! Squeezed 2 orange, juice and zest, reduced in a pot until syrup like with 2 teaspoon of honey for about 10-15 minutes, added some grated ginger. Sliced the mango finely, lined them in a pan with parchment paper, added syrup and topped with stored bought puffy pastry. Baked in the fanned oven for 25 minutes at 200ºC. Made this once before, wasn’t particularly impressed, the ripeness of the mango makes all the difference!
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I remade this again. Actually the ripeness of fruits aren’t so important, I’ve made with a fruit that wasn’t ripe straight from the fridge, it tasted more or less the same, with some tartness. The variety of mango is import, we have preferences with 
reddish South American mangoes than the Asian mangoes that were extremely sweet.
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