Happy new year to you too (not an old chum but whatever)

My old chums are the inimitable @Stephie @Cerberus and @rumtscho, but I'll take an HNY from anyone :)

the result of the poolish (give or take some time and other stuff)

Ooooh. That makes me hungry :D

there should be a word for the impatience felt while waiting for bread to cool

panstipation perhaps

panticipation?

panxiety?

possibly, possibly

@ElendilTheTall Happy New Year!

@ElendilTheTall In that vein, I am still under a pan-ban. Hubby doesn’t trust his self-control when facing a fresh loaf.

So I focus my energy on the new job and the new course on coaching.

And I bake cakes instead.

So far, I only got grumbling, no outright “please stop”.

@ElendilTheTall You are quite inimitable yourself! Unique, even!

@ElendilTheTall Wow, this looks so good.

@Stephie Good, everyone knows cakes are far more wholesome than bread.

@Stephie grumbling with his mouth full of cake, I get it

My daughter's birthday party is this weekend, one of her friends is vegan so we need a vegan cake. I can't find anything premade that I'd want to feed anyone, so I want to bake one. I am therefore making a recipe request, if anyone has a bulletproof vegan cake recipe I'd love to get it.

Chocolate or vanilla are both fine.

No recipes here (In your situation I might try something without eggs and then just add vegan butter/milk for real milk. Paying attention to fat content and sugar in the substitute).. or just ask the vegan for a recipe ;)

I have a friend that's a dietary disaster and I usually just do fine with substituting dairy for plant-based alternatives or asking her for ideas ;)

@GdD I once made veganist mini lemon tarts (tart crust with lemon curd). It was OK but less good than the real thing.

I think what I would do is just give the veganist something different.

@GdD absolutely - there’s this one-bowl depression era chocolate cake. Lucinda Scala Quinn has a version, there are others on the Internet somewhere. I have made it plenty of times and the average person would never guess that it’s vegan. Add a vegan ganache (vegan cream + vegan chocolate), and you are ready to impress.

175g flour

225g sugar

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp coarse salt (I just do a few turns of the salt mill)

6 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

250ml cold water

Bake at 175° C for about 35 to 40 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.

The recipe is for a 20cm square pan.

^ or make 12 cupcakes.

And I have played around with the liquid, including a Guinness-instead-of-water version for a very special (adult) friend.

For the record, we’re omnivores, so when I say it’s “real” cake, it’s hopefully trustworthy advice.

Or watch this guy make it.

Nice!

I’ve recently gotten tempted to make salt cured egg yolk, but have 0 intended uses for it. Any suggestions or ideas?

Thanks @Stephie, I'll give that a try!

@Stephie, is that enough for a decent size layer cake, or do you think I'd want to scale that up a bit?

If it's for a single 20cm square pan I'd probably want to almost double it.

@GdD that’s definitely not enough for a “big” cake. I have so far only scaled down, from square to cupcake, never made more in one pan. So I can’t give a definite answer on how it would behave for larger baking times and lager areas.

@fyrepenguin same. Let me know if you find good ideas.

I’ve seen suggestion of just shaving it like a hard cheese over pasta/etc

@GdD what size did you have in mind?