So while I was worried that maybe other people besides my cheesecake-obsessed customers who never get tired of it wouldn’t want more of the same cheesecake, my friend who bought a slice the other day found out I’d made another and said it was so good and she’d buy the whole thing. So now I don’t have enough cheesecake. I think I will sell it to her since I didn’t promise my other customers that I’d have it today and I can make another tonight so I can sell tomorrow.
Oh and this time I added the mascarpone after beating the cream cheese and it worked perfectly. Much easier than Boyle’s fussy method of beating it separately then mixing with part of the batter.
Do you find it difficult to make much of a profit? My daughter thinks we should make and sell bags of cookies but I don’t think there’s much profit in it.
The difficulty is due to clientele honestly. In the USA I think you can easily make a profit. People here (specifically this town, as in cities it’s not so bad) like high-quality baked goods, but too many balk at paying fair prices. As it stands I’m not really paying myself as much in terms of labor as I’d like, but since things like cheesecake aren’t that laborious to make it’s not too bad. Bread on the other hand is a lot more labor, so even though ingredients are cheaper, it’s less profitable when people seem unwilling to pay for a really good loaf that they can’t get here (seriously when I finally visited the local bread bakery here I was taken aback by how bad the quality was— all breads had the same crust and you can tell use a lot of yeast and possibly dough improvers).
The classic Dominican cake made with pound cake as the base and frosted with Italian meringue is sold pretty cheap here (around $30 for “a pound”, which is actually around 4 lbs of batter, so a pretty large cake), so it’s hard trying to get anyone to pay for a cake that is smaller than that because they’re not going to understand that you’re using all butter as opposed to margarine or a mix, plus who knows what other ingredients more expensive than the typical cake. But anyway I also have no interest in making layer cakes, as the labor is even higher for that, so it’s definitely not worth my time, and I don’t enjoy cake decorating. That’s another thing here btw— baking is for people here synonymous with decorating. People complain of bad quality, but they always focus too much on how a cake looks rather than tastes. So another reason for me to try to move away from cakes. I like simple cakes that taste good best of all.
In the USA people have a much better understanding of the cost of ingredients and of baked goods.
However a nice thing here is that it’s kind of free. In the USA and first world countries in general there is always so much regulation. It’s not nearly as stifling here. You’re a lot more free to make a product and sell it to those interested.
Birthday cake by me for me🥳. Browned butter carrot cake from Bravetart. A lot of work and a very large cake but worth it - best carrot cake I’ve ever tasted. And the frosting is so silky smooth.
Only change was I used 7 ounces of pecans rather than 14 ounces in recipe. Sort of a messy assembly but by the end I was tired. Edit to add the cake is very white in color, dh thought the pic looked like a mustard cake.
Excellent cake, thank you to Stella.
Dessert was something posted by a member of a FB food group a few weeks back (she’s also a member of HO but I’m blanking on her HO handle!) that was intriguing and I figured I’d make a go at it: Wisconsin Blueberry Batter Cake from a lost American recipes site. The cookbook it came from was “Be Milwaukee’s Guest - the Junior League of Milwaukee, 1959”.
I’ll be honest, I was skeptical with pouring a cup of boiling water over the layers as instructed, but it was good! The batter gets a bit crunchy, and it’s not cloying sweet, although it IS sweet. I can see using fresh wild Maine blueberries in season for some added tartness.
Then followed the rest of his instructions and made 2 of the best 10-inch Neapolitan style pizzas we’ve ever had (my oven maxes out around 585°F - so as he says, not quite real Neapolitan, but close). Wow it was great. Kicking myself for not getting pics. This crust really hits a new level.
I’ve also followed his instructions for baguettes and been okay-pleased (similar to some other instructions). But this pizza, man, it was killer crust.
4 Likes
CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
197
Meanwhile, Daughter #2 came home from college to make bagels for a big (all-girl) Valentines party of her undergraduate friends.
Bagels (look pretty much like her usual - she no longer needs to refer to any recipe, though, which I think is cool!).
There’s a cake I make that also uses this method but I’m blanking on it … oh I KNOW. It’s a crispy peach cobbler from Smitten Kitchen! I love it! I’ll have to try this one as well
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BarneyGrubble
(Fan of Beethoven and Latina singers)
199
Stella Parks’ lemon ricotta cheesecake. As I do now with all ricotta recipes, I use Dominican queso crema instead because it’s much better than the Galbani sold here.
I’m not sure how I feel about this one. The texture is wonderful. This baked up beautifully smooth. It’s the flavor that I’m not sure people will love. Stella calls for either extract or lemon oil in equal amounts, so I trusted her, but ordinarily I’d use half lemon oil compared to extract, and I wish that at most this had just 1/4 tsp. I’d probably prefer to just leave it out, though. Lemon oil/extract I think is good for cookies and cakes, but I’m not crazy about the slight bitterness here.
I meant to make a half batch of this, but accidentally added the full amount of sugar, so I had no choice but to make a full size one which I baked in a regular 9x3 cake pan rather than the 8x4 loose bottom pan she called for. And frankly I still feel the slices are too tall and massive. I think I could make a half batch of this in an 8-inch pan and still be satisfied with the height. Definitely going to try 7-inch at least. But I’m leaving out the lemon oil.
To offset the slight bitterness I made a strawberry topping with some gelatin added for body.
So now I don’t have enough cheesecake. I think I will sell it to her since I didn’t promise my other customers that I’d have it today and I can make another tonight so I can sell tomorrow.
