Hello all,

  It’s been a while since I’ve made the raspberry cloud cream and I need some clarification, please.

To make the cloud cream (pg. 265 in TCB) it says to use 1 cup unsweetened raspberry puree. I assume this means to omit the optional 2/3 cup of sugar in the raspberry puree recipe (pg. 337 in TCB), yes?

To make the puree itself RLB instructs the reader to thaw the berries completely and then press the them to force out all of the juice and this should yield one cup of the juice. Then, we are supposed to boil the juice and reduce it to 1/4 cup and pour it into an oiled heatproof cup. Next we are supposed to puree the raspberries and sieve them or use a fine strainer to remove all the seeds and then obtain one liquid cup of puree. To this puree we are supposed to stir in the syrup and the lemon juice. This is where things are a bit confusing for me, so I have a few questions.

1) The syrup is the juice that was reduced to 1/4 cup, correct?

2) Are the raspberries that are pureed the raspberries that were pressed after having been thawed to obtain the one cup of juice that was reduced for the syrup? If so, does this mean there is still enough water left in the pressed berries to yield the one cup of puree, or does a little water need to be added these pressed berries to get a full cup of puree?

 
  My other questions are regarding white chocolate. I have read about white chocolate and I’m wondering which white chocolate is best to use. The last time I made a white chocolate buttercream frosting I think I used Lindt white chocolate, but I’m not 100% certain about that. I was wondering if there is a better white chocolate to use? I am making the white chocolate variation of the mousseline buttercream and the last time I made it it turned out wonderful, but I’m just wondering if there may be a better white chocolate to use for this. In general, what makes a white chocolate a “fine quality” white chocolate?

Thanks for any help you can offer, folks. I hope you all enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.

-MP

Yes, the syrup is the reduced juice (easiest to do in the microwave!).

The one liquid cup of puree is indeed the pressed berries; sometimes it’s a little short of one cup and yes, that’s where a little extra water helps.  Sometimes you have to press the berries twice (I have the power strainer, it’s amazing) if you are doing them by hand with a sieve or strainer to get as much puree as possible.

I like Lindt white chocolate, it’s easy to find even in a grocery store.  Sometimes Whole Foods has Valhrona or Callebaut in blocks near the cheese section; we use this at the shop and have good results with it.

I also like Green & Black’s white chocolate, somehow it doesn’t seem as sweet as some.  You can taste the vanilla beans (though they give a speckled appearance to your bc).

Hey, MP!  Welcome back!  Haven’t “seen” you in a while!!  I made the raspberry puree, and you have to really work to get it through the strainer by hand—getting enough is hard!!  I use Ghiradelli white most of the time.  I’ve been pretty happy with it.  Both hub and self did a blind taste-test with G&B and found it less waxy.  Although my guess is most people prefer G&B, the Ghiradelli is pretty readily available, so it’s worth tasting, anyway.  I love Lindt, too, but it’s not quite as available here.

MP, have you made the raspberry puree before?  Just to let you know so you can plan for it and not be frustrated, it takes a very long time to press it all through a strainer.  Last time I did it, I gave up after an hour and decided that my puree was good enough without any little bit left clinging to the seeds.

Thank you for all of your responses, ladies. I appreciate all the help here.

Jeanne, thank you for clarifying the directions and your recommendations for the white chocolate. I have a KA stand mixer and I was thinking of purchasing the the food grinder and power strainer attachments and I didn’t know if this is the one you have. If not, which one do you have? I’m curious because I have no idea how well the KA attachments work. I love the stand mixer, but I have none of the attachments, so I have no idea how well any of them work.

Julie, thanks for your insight about the white chocolate. I have made the puree before and it took me quite a while to press the berries through the strainer, too. That’s the main reason why I haven’t made this in a while. Although it tasted amazing when it was finished, I remember it being quite a labor-intensive process and that kind of turned me off of making as often as I’d like to, but if I can find a good power strainer that’s affordable then I’ll probably make this and other purees more often.

 
Anne, thank you for the tips about the chocolate and the warm welcome back. I still stop by here quite often, but don’t chime in too much since I can’t contribute as much as many of the others here due to my lack of experience. Plus, my cakes aren’t that great to begin with. I have also had a hard time getting enough puree using the hand method and as I just mentioned to Julie, it’s why I have been reluctant to make this as often as I’d like to.

If any others out there reading this have a KA stand mixer and you use the food grinder and power strainer attachments I’d like to hear your opinions of how well they work. I saw a video clip of them being used on the KA website, but I couldn’t tell how well the strainer worked with respect to keeping the seeds out of the puree or how much of a strain it puts on the motor when in use. I know there are limitations to how much strain you can put on the motor, especially when using the dough hook for making breads, but I figured using the attachments is likely to put less of a strain on the motor than kneading heavy bread doughs would. However, if many of you have found that using these attachments puts a lot of strain on the mixer’s motor, then I think I will look for a different power strainer rather than investing in the attachments.

Thanks again for all the responses here. They’re very much appreciated.

-MP

I still stop by here quite often

Glad to hear it!!  I’d been wondering about you, so I’m glad all’s well, and you’re still out there doing your thing—even if it is on the QT most of the time !!!!

I just wanted to throw my two cents in.  I ended up buying the OXO food mill to sieve all those nasty raspberry seeds.  It is hand operated and I use the smallest size mesh.  It works great and alot easier than pushing them through a strainer.  ( I did that numerous times )  I have the 7 quart cuisinart stand mixer and it doesn’t have a power strainer as an option, so I purchased this instead.

I have always used the lindt couverture white chocolate.  It comes in little hexagonal disks and has a cocoa butter percentage of 36 percent.  I really like the taste of it, very smooth and creamy.  I don’t have access to any other good white chocolate here except green and blacks.  Although I like the taste of it, it is quite expensive and it is only sold as bars..  I can get the lindt white chocolate in 2.5 kg bags for about $36.00.  I vacuum seal it in portions and throw it in my deep freezer.  I have about an hours drive to get it though so last time I went, I bought 3 2.5kg bags of it.  So I have lots to keep me going for quite a while.  The white chocolate mousseline and the white chocolate cream cheese frosting are two of my favorites from TCB.  I can also get the callebaut white chocolate, but it doesn’t have as high a percentage of cocoa butter.  I do use however the callebaut bittersweet callets.  They taste great.

Anne, thanks again for your kind words. I really appreciate that.

Liza, Thank you for sharing your experience and tips with me. I’ll have to look at that OXO strainer. I’m not at all opposed to using a hand-operated strainer as long as it’s a lot easier than trying to make a puree by pushing the crushed berries through a strainer. That took me forever last time I did it! Fortunately I have easy access to Lindt white chocolate, but I keep hearing good things about this Callebaut chocolate so I’ll have to see if I can track some of that down locally if I can. I don’t mind ordering stuff online, but if I can I like to buy locally and not have to deal with the hassle of having it shipped to me. Thanks again for your advice. It’s much appreciated.

-MP