At the end of our practice session, we had to demonstrate the techniques on a 10 inch cardboard cake round. Here's what I came up with:
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Cake Decorating
In Thursday's bakeshop class, we practiced cake decorating techniques using icing on parchment paper. We used a decorating icing of shortening, butter, and powdered sugar. Um, definitely not something I'd want to actually eat, but it was effective for the practice session.
At the end of our practice session, we had to demonstrate the techniques on a 10 inch cardboard cake round. Here's what I came up with:
At the end of our practice session, we had to demonstrate the techniques on a 10 inch cardboard cake round. Here's what I came up with:
Croissants and Pain au Chocolate
In Thursday's laminated doughs class, we worked with the croissant dough we had made on Tuesday. We made two types of croissants, regular basic croissants and Pain au Chocolate. These two products will be reproduced in a few weeks for our midterm practical exam, so this was a good learning experience because not everything went flawlessly.
To make croissants, we cut triangles of dough and then rolled them, starting with the larger end and finishing with the small point. These were egg washed and put in the proof box to proof for quite a while. The Pain au Chocolate is made from a square piece of dough that is rolled over two bars of chocolate. These were also egg washed and put in the proof box. After enough time to raise, we egg washed both types again before baking.
I only have photos of Chef's Pain au Chocolate. We finished those with a chocolate drizzle and a bit of powdered sugar. Here's two photos, and on the second, you can really see the lamination of many, many layers.
To make croissants, we cut triangles of dough and then rolled them, starting with the larger end and finishing with the small point. These were egg washed and put in the proof box to proof for quite a while. The Pain au Chocolate is made from a square piece of dough that is rolled over two bars of chocolate. These were also egg washed and put in the proof box. After enough time to raise, we egg washed both types again before baking.
I only have photos of Chef's Pain au Chocolate. We finished those with a chocolate drizzle and a bit of powdered sugar. Here's two photos, and on the second, you can really see the lamination of many, many layers.
Jelly Rolls
In Tuesday's afternoon bakeshop class, we began our series on different types of cakes. We started with jelly rolls, and prepared two of three types: fruit, peanut butter and jelly, or oreo cookie. Each jelly roll was made by making a thin sponge cake layer. We then layered on whipped cream and the appropriate topping. I made the fruit jelly roll with cherries, blueberries and mandarin oranges, and I made the oreo cookie which was covered in a chocolate ganache:
Napoleans
On Tuesday, we made Napoleans in my Laminated Doughs class. Napoleans are one of the most traditional French pastries. It has three components - puff pastry, diplomat cream, and flat icing.
To make the puff pastry, we docked the dough (this is the process of putting holes into it) and baked it between two sheet pans. For this pastry, the dough must baked thin and this process is how we achieved this. We then cut the dough into three equal 4 in x 12 in pieces.
To prepare diplomat cream, we made pastry cream and whipped cream, and combined them together. The diplomat cream is layered between the layers of puff pastry, then the whole piece is put into the freezer to set up. After it sets, flat icing is placed on top and then chocolate flat icing is piped onto that, then a paring knife is used to get the appropriate design. Flat icing is strictly confectioner's sugar with milk, and the chocolate is made using cocoa powder. This is then put into the freezer to again set up before being sliced into pieces.
Here's what the end result looks like:
And here is Chef's final presentation of his product:
To make the puff pastry, we docked the dough (this is the process of putting holes into it) and baked it between two sheet pans. For this pastry, the dough must baked thin and this process is how we achieved this. We then cut the dough into three equal 4 in x 12 in pieces.
To prepare diplomat cream, we made pastry cream and whipped cream, and combined them together. The diplomat cream is layered between the layers of puff pastry, then the whole piece is put into the freezer to set up. After it sets, flat icing is placed on top and then chocolate flat icing is piped onto that, then a paring knife is used to get the appropriate design. Flat icing is strictly confectioner's sugar with milk, and the chocolate is made using cocoa powder. This is then put into the freezer to again set up before being sliced into pieces.
Here's what the end result looks like:
And here is Chef's final presentation of his product:
Monday, October 25, 2010
Carrot Cake
In today's cakes class, we made Carrot Cake, which has an extraordinary amount of fat grams and calories. No, seriously. It's not a "healthy" alternative when choosing amongst a variety of cakes, especially when it has a cream cheese frosting which it often does.
Anyway, the carrot cake we made had three layers. We used a cream cheese icing as the filling as well as for decorating. We also practiced some piping skills and formed small carrots on the top of each slice. My cakes are improving and I still have a long way to go but today was a generally good, stress-free day in class. Here's my cake:
Anyway, the carrot cake we made had three layers. We used a cream cheese icing as the filling as well as for decorating. We also practiced some piping skills and formed small carrots on the top of each slice. My cakes are improving and I still have a long way to go but today was a generally good, stress-free day in class. Here's my cake:
Friday, October 22, 2010
Four Times Pastries
Bakeshop classes this week focuses on Laminated Doughs and Pastries also so I had four opportunities on Tuesday and Thursday to learn more and work on these types of delicious treats. I had a pretty great week doing so.
On Tuesday, in my Laminated Doughs class, we accomplished two tasks. First, we made another batch of puff pastry dough; this time, we used a table top dough sheeter to help roll out the pastry rather than just use rolling pins. This machinery is pretty awesome. We also made baklava from phyllo dough with our partner; Gilly and I chose to cut our baklava in triangle shapes, and they looked (and tasted) pretty amazing:
In Tuesday's Bakeshop class, we made croissant dough and manipulated danish dough. We learned three different ways to fold the danish dough - snails, eyeglasses, and S's. We then filled them with cherries and blueberries, and used a powdered sugar glaze:
In Thursday's Laminated Doughs class, we made palmiers and pithiviers. Palmiers are rolled puff pastry with sugar. They are a delicious buttery sugar pastry:
A pithivier is made from puff pastry dough. I cut a circle of puff pastry dough for the bottom. I then piped the filling of frangipane (which is made from almond butter), apricot marmalade, and crushed toasted almonds. Another circle of puff pastry is placed on top. I then sealed the sides, added egg wash, formed the fluted edges, and put the carvings on top using a circular disc as a guide for my paring knife. After baking, the final product looks like this:
My pithivier was a true success. Chef complimented my working approach for the product and my final result, saying it was the second best in the class, second only to his! It was such an amazing feeling to have produced a really fantastic product. Here's another photo where you can see more layer definition in the pastry:
In the afternoon, we made apple turnovers:
And, we made croissants:
I am still on a bit of a baker's high, or maybe it's just the combination of butter and sugar going to my brain!
On Tuesday, in my Laminated Doughs class, we accomplished two tasks. First, we made another batch of puff pastry dough; this time, we used a table top dough sheeter to help roll out the pastry rather than just use rolling pins. This machinery is pretty awesome. We also made baklava from phyllo dough with our partner; Gilly and I chose to cut our baklava in triangle shapes, and they looked (and tasted) pretty amazing:
In Tuesday's Bakeshop class, we made croissant dough and manipulated danish dough. We learned three different ways to fold the danish dough - snails, eyeglasses, and S's. We then filled them with cherries and blueberries, and used a powdered sugar glaze:
In Thursday's Laminated Doughs class, we made palmiers and pithiviers. Palmiers are rolled puff pastry with sugar. They are a delicious buttery sugar pastry:
A pithivier is made from puff pastry dough. I cut a circle of puff pastry dough for the bottom. I then piped the filling of frangipane (which is made from almond butter), apricot marmalade, and crushed toasted almonds. Another circle of puff pastry is placed on top. I then sealed the sides, added egg wash, formed the fluted edges, and put the carvings on top using a circular disc as a guide for my paring knife. After baking, the final product looks like this:
My pithivier was a true success. Chef complimented my working approach for the product and my final result, saying it was the second best in the class, second only to his! It was such an amazing feeling to have produced a really fantastic product. Here's another photo where you can see more layer definition in the pastry:
In the afternoon, we made apple turnovers:
And, we made croissants:
I am still on a bit of a baker's high, or maybe it's just the combination of butter and sugar going to my brain!
Monday, October 18, 2010
New York Style
So, I am pleased to announce that I did not overwhip chantilly cream today! The fact is, I didn't whip any cream today, so there wasn't an opportunity to overwhip it. Haha. No seriously. Over the weekend, I made a cake with chantilly cream and I totally rocked the icing. I am getting better.
In class today we made a New York Style Cheesecake - that's why we didn't work with any whipped cream. It was really a fun, low-key, laid-back, stress-free day. Even with a midterm exam (which I dominated), it was a nice easy day in Cakes. I really needed that!
Here's a picture of my cheese cake:
We each had the chance to decorate the top of our cheese cakes with whatever fruit assembly we wanted.
Like I said, a pretty good day. Though we did calculate the amount of calories and fat grams in one slice of cheese cake. And basically, it's a ton. Like a whole day's worth of fat intake. It's kinda depressing to actually see the numbers. Seriously. Depressing.
But, I've never eaten a piece of cake and really cared about being healthy. So maybe it doesn't much matter. Moderation is key.
In class today we made a New York Style Cheesecake - that's why we didn't work with any whipped cream. It was really a fun, low-key, laid-back, stress-free day. Even with a midterm exam (which I dominated), it was a nice easy day in Cakes. I really needed that!
Here's a picture of my cheese cake:
We each had the chance to decorate the top of our cheese cakes with whatever fruit assembly we wanted.
Like I said, a pretty good day. Though we did calculate the amount of calories and fat grams in one slice of cheese cake. And basically, it's a ton. Like a whole day's worth of fat intake. It's kinda depressing to actually see the numbers. Seriously. Depressing.
But, I've never eaten a piece of cake and really cared about being healthy. So maybe it doesn't much matter. Moderation is key.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Cookies
In my bakeshop classes on Tuesday and Thursday, we made a variety of cookies. On Tuesday, we made sugar, chocolate chip, gluten free peanut butter, and cowgirl cookies.
That's a picture of the great job I did scooping 84 cowgirl cookies, which have chocolate chips, pecans, coconut, and oats. As I was finishing my scooping, Chef discovered the container the oats came in had mold on the bottom of it. Those 84 cookies went right in the trash. Whoops.
My friend Anna made these great chocolate chip cookies:
And Mandy made the gluten free peanut butter:
On Thursday, we made different types of biscotti; I made almond flavored ones. And we decorated sugar cookies - which is not really my strong suit - and I would be more than happy to pay someone to do this for me in the future.
That's a picture of the great job I did scooping 84 cowgirl cookies, which have chocolate chips, pecans, coconut, and oats. As I was finishing my scooping, Chef discovered the container the oats came in had mold on the bottom of it. Those 84 cookies went right in the trash. Whoops.
My friend Anna made these great chocolate chip cookies:
And Mandy made the gluten free peanut butter:
On Thursday, we made different types of biscotti; I made almond flavored ones. And we decorated sugar cookies - which is not really my strong suit - and I would be more than happy to pay someone to do this for me in the future.
Laminated Doughs & Pastries
On Thursday, I welcomed my 29th birthday with a new class called Laminated Doughs and Pastries. The word "lamination" in the pastry world refers to layering a fat (usually butter) between two layers of pastry dough, and then using using different techniques to turn those three layers - dough, fat, dough - into multiple (sometimes hundreds) of layers. When the product is baked, the result has hundreds of crisp flaky layers such as in croissants.
During Thursday's class, we made Austrian Apple Strudel. We first made strudel dough and then prepared a filling with diced apples, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, walnuts, raisins, and cherries. This was an unbelievably amazing process. Chef demonstrated how the strudel dough can be stretched so thin that you could slide a piece of paper under it and read the paper. Here's what I'm talking about:
Seriously, we started with just over a pound of dough and were able to stretch it this thin without putting holes in it. It is pretty amazing. After stretching the dough, it is buttered. My friend Gilly took this photo, and again you can see just how far we were able to stretch this dough:
After adding the butter, we layered panko bread crumbs. Along the edge of the dough, we placed the apple filling in a line, and then began to roll the dough with the help of the tablecloth. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the product after rolling, but you can imagine that it was the width of the table and rolled about 10 times. In this sense, the lamination comes through the rolling process, when the dough and butter become rolled over the filling. Here's the finished product with Chef's presentation:
During class, we also began to prepare Puff Pastry, which we'll make often and use often throughout the course. We prepared the puff pastry dough by mixing and kneading it by hand, and placed it in the cooler. Puff pastry dough needs to be extremely cold to work with. After it had time to chill, we took 2.5 lbs of butter and created a butter block. To create a butter block, you basically take a rolling pin and beat the butter into a sheet. The butter also must be cold for this process. A high quality butter will maintain its shape and become pliable. We were then able to knead the butter like we would knead dough. Once the butter block was prepared, we rolled the puff pastry out into a rectangle, and placed the butter block onto half of the dough. We then folded the second half of dough over the butter, so we had three layers - dough, butter, dough. Throughout the class, we performed different folds with the puff pastry dough. After the first fold, we ended up with 12 layers. After the second fold, we ended up with 36 layers. After the third fold, we ended up with 144 layers. And we still have one more fold to do next week. It's quite fascinating to know and see how puff pastry becomes so flaky. Can anyone guess how many layers we'll have after the fourth and final fold on Tuesday?
On a side note, I already have a hugh appreciation for people who make and sell product made from puff pastry. Once you actually see the amount of time and energy that goes into the process, it's certainly understandable how these products are able to be sold for a higher price. The labor (and labor of love) is intense.
During Thursday's class, we made Austrian Apple Strudel. We first made strudel dough and then prepared a filling with diced apples, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, walnuts, raisins, and cherries. This was an unbelievably amazing process. Chef demonstrated how the strudel dough can be stretched so thin that you could slide a piece of paper under it and read the paper. Here's what I'm talking about:
Seriously, we started with just over a pound of dough and were able to stretch it this thin without putting holes in it. It is pretty amazing. After stretching the dough, it is buttered. My friend Gilly took this photo, and again you can see just how far we were able to stretch this dough:
After adding the butter, we layered panko bread crumbs. Along the edge of the dough, we placed the apple filling in a line, and then began to roll the dough with the help of the tablecloth. Unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the product after rolling, but you can imagine that it was the width of the table and rolled about 10 times. In this sense, the lamination comes through the rolling process, when the dough and butter become rolled over the filling. Here's the finished product with Chef's presentation:
During class, we also began to prepare Puff Pastry, which we'll make often and use often throughout the course. We prepared the puff pastry dough by mixing and kneading it by hand, and placed it in the cooler. Puff pastry dough needs to be extremely cold to work with. After it had time to chill, we took 2.5 lbs of butter and created a butter block. To create a butter block, you basically take a rolling pin and beat the butter into a sheet. The butter also must be cold for this process. A high quality butter will maintain its shape and become pliable. We were then able to knead the butter like we would knead dough. Once the butter block was prepared, we rolled the puff pastry out into a rectangle, and placed the butter block onto half of the dough. We then folded the second half of dough over the butter, so we had three layers - dough, butter, dough. Throughout the class, we performed different folds with the puff pastry dough. After the first fold, we ended up with 12 layers. After the second fold, we ended up with 36 layers. After the third fold, we ended up with 144 layers. And we still have one more fold to do next week. It's quite fascinating to know and see how puff pastry becomes so flaky. Can anyone guess how many layers we'll have after the fourth and final fold on Tuesday?
On a side note, I already have a hugh appreciation for people who make and sell product made from puff pastry. Once you actually see the amount of time and energy that goes into the process, it's certainly understandable how these products are able to be sold for a higher price. The labor (and labor of love) is intense.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Final Exam in Artisan Breads
Today was a pretty intense day. It was my last day of class for Artisan Breads, which is really sad on one level. I really love the Breads class and I enjoy learning new breads and working on my skills with the different doughs. Anyway, the final exam for this class had two parts. First, we had to submit a paper that answered two questions: what is artisan bread baking, and what does artisan bread baking mean to me? The second part of the final exam was our practical.
For the practical, we had to make four baguettes and then we could choose our best three to be graded. We also had to pull a mystery bread out of a list, and I pulled pretzels. Here's a picture of me with one of my baguettes:
So, I did an excellent job with my baguettes! Seriously, they were the best baguettes I ever made. They baked well, tasted great, had a properly porous interior, and I did a great job on my slashes - they opened up well and formed "ears" which is what I've been working hard to get to happen all semester. It was a pretty amazing feeling, especially because I was nervous they wouldn't turn out well. Chef was really happy with them, and he even gave me a high-five. It was pretty exciting, and, did I mention it was excellent?!?
My pretzels turned out OK. Not great, but OK. They were rolled a little too thin so they didn't bake with any real girth which is expected in an artisan baked pretzel. But they tasted great and I executed the formula and the procedure successfully so overall, it was an above average effort.
The day culminated in putting together a display of our baguettes, mystery dough item, and our dead dough project. I mentioned the dead dough project last week, so now you'll finally get to see it. Here's my presentation:
Yes, that's right, I made the Philly Phanatic out of dough! How freakin excellent is that?!? I wasn't sure it could be done, but Chef was a great motivator and provided me with really good guidance to pull it off. He also helped me with the assembly and the Phanatic does stand on his own. It's really fun, isn't it?
This was the inspiration for my design:
The project had to incorporate bread in some way, so the Phanatic is holding a bread plate with baguettes and pretzels. He's leaning on a bread peel which is a wooden paddle we use to move bread in and out of the oven. Here's another photo, you know, a close up:
Like I said, this was really so much fun and such an excellent way to bring the class to a close. I haven't yet figured out how to get the Phanatic home, but I will have it in my possession soon. I'm sure there will be some requests for me to make this for family and friends, and as much as I'd love to do that, it took me almost 14 hours to pull this one together. Seriously, it's an amazing amount of work. But I'm hoping to experiment with dead dough some more over the next few months and I should be able to come up with some things a little smaller that can be shared with friends and family. I hope you like it. Isn't it Phantastic!?!
For the practical, we had to make four baguettes and then we could choose our best three to be graded. We also had to pull a mystery bread out of a list, and I pulled pretzels. Here's a picture of me with one of my baguettes:
So, I did an excellent job with my baguettes! Seriously, they were the best baguettes I ever made. They baked well, tasted great, had a properly porous interior, and I did a great job on my slashes - they opened up well and formed "ears" which is what I've been working hard to get to happen all semester. It was a pretty amazing feeling, especially because I was nervous they wouldn't turn out well. Chef was really happy with them, and he even gave me a high-five. It was pretty exciting, and, did I mention it was excellent?!?
My pretzels turned out OK. Not great, but OK. They were rolled a little too thin so they didn't bake with any real girth which is expected in an artisan baked pretzel. But they tasted great and I executed the formula and the procedure successfully so overall, it was an above average effort.
The day culminated in putting together a display of our baguettes, mystery dough item, and our dead dough project. I mentioned the dead dough project last week, so now you'll finally get to see it. Here's my presentation:
Yes, that's right, I made the Philly Phanatic out of dough! How freakin excellent is that?!? I wasn't sure it could be done, but Chef was a great motivator and provided me with really good guidance to pull it off. He also helped me with the assembly and the Phanatic does stand on his own. It's really fun, isn't it?
This was the inspiration for my design:
The project had to incorporate bread in some way, so the Phanatic is holding a bread plate with baguettes and pretzels. He's leaning on a bread peel which is a wooden paddle we use to move bread in and out of the oven. Here's another photo, you know, a close up:
Like I said, this was really so much fun and such an excellent way to bring the class to a close. I haven't yet figured out how to get the Phanatic home, but I will have it in my possession soon. I'm sure there will be some requests for me to make this for family and friends, and as much as I'd love to do that, it took me almost 14 hours to pull this one together. Seriously, it's an amazing amount of work. But I'm hoping to experiment with dead dough some more over the next few months and I should be able to come up with some things a little smaller that can be shared with friends and family. I hope you like it. Isn't it Phantastic!?!
Chocolate Mousse Torte
In yesterday's cakes class, we made a Chocolate Mousse Torte. This is three layers of devil's food cake and three layers of chocolate mousse iced with chocolate chantilly cream. It is absolutely decadent and delicious, if chocolate is your thing.
My cake should really be called the "overwhipped" chocolate mousse torte because, yet again, I struggled with the silly chantilly cream and almost had a breakdown. It's not that I expect to be perfect, because I'm 100% sure I will never make a perfect cake; but I know how overwhipping happens and I know it's not correct and I try everything in my power to prevent it from happening but it does. And then I get frustrated and then I get annoyed at myself for being frustrated about icing on a cake, and you know, it's just a crazy vicious cycle.
My friend Sarah is pretty optimistic and tries to balance my negativity in class, and she kept pushing me to say that I did the best job I could with what I had to work with, and she was right. I did do the best I could. And in reality, my icing skills are getting much better. In fact, over the weekend, I made a cake at home with chantilly cream and I absolutely nailed it - no seriously, it worked the way it was supposed to. So, I'm still trying to find the balance with cakes and I'm determined to get it. And in all honestly, this mousse torte would be a pretty good one to practice with - it was amazingly delish.
My cake should really be called the "overwhipped" chocolate mousse torte because, yet again, I struggled with the silly chantilly cream and almost had a breakdown. It's not that I expect to be perfect, because I'm 100% sure I will never make a perfect cake; but I know how overwhipping happens and I know it's not correct and I try everything in my power to prevent it from happening but it does. And then I get frustrated and then I get annoyed at myself for being frustrated about icing on a cake, and you know, it's just a crazy vicious cycle.
My friend Sarah is pretty optimistic and tries to balance my negativity in class, and she kept pushing me to say that I did the best job I could with what I had to work with, and she was right. I did do the best I could. And in reality, my icing skills are getting much better. In fact, over the weekend, I made a cake at home with chantilly cream and I absolutely nailed it - no seriously, it worked the way it was supposed to. So, I'm still trying to find the balance with cakes and I'm determined to get it. And in all honestly, this mousse torte would be a pretty good one to practice with - it was amazingly delish.
Plated Desserts
Last week in my Bakeshop class, we made different types of pound cake and different types of brownies and blondies. The pound cakes were plain, marble (plain with chocolate), or lemon. Some of the brownies were fudge and some were cream cheese. The blondies had chocolate chips and nuts. After a day of baking on Tuesday, we then used these to make a simple plated desserts on Thursday.
This is my classical plated dessert.
The "couli" - which is the sauce on the plate - was originally five circles that matched the size differentiation of the sponge cake - you get the point. Anyway, classical plated desserts have specifications - they have to contain 3-5oz of the dessert itself, 1 oz minimum of a sauce, a fresh fruit garnish, chantilly cream, and the dessert must have some amount of flour.
For our second plated dessert, we made a contemporary plate, which doesn't have any specifications really. Anything goes. This is what I came up with.
This is an exercise that isn't the easiest thing in the world for me - the artistic and creative stuff is challenging for me, but I really enjoyed it. And "Plated Desserts" is a full course I can take in the future, so I'm sure there will be some good opportunities there to expand some skills. Not anytime soon though.
This is my classical plated dessert.
The "couli" - which is the sauce on the plate - was originally five circles that matched the size differentiation of the sponge cake - you get the point. Anyway, classical plated desserts have specifications - they have to contain 3-5oz of the dessert itself, 1 oz minimum of a sauce, a fresh fruit garnish, chantilly cream, and the dessert must have some amount of flour.
For our second plated dessert, we made a contemporary plate, which doesn't have any specifications really. Anything goes. This is what I came up with.
This is an exercise that isn't the easiest thing in the world for me - the artistic and creative stuff is challenging for me, but I really enjoyed it. And "Plated Desserts" is a full course I can take in the future, so I'm sure there will be some good opportunities there to expand some skills. Not anytime soon though.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Dead Dough Project, Day 1
In today's Breads class today, we began working on our dead dough project; dead dough is basically dough with no yeast. It's sort of like working with really thick clay. We use different seasonings for coloring; for example, spinach powder turns the dough green while paprika can be used to turn the dough red. Chef was really helpful in assisting me to get my project off to a good start, and I made some really good progress on day one. I don't consider myself a creative, artistic person but I really wanted to challenge myself to do something that would stretch my talents and creativity and it's off to a good start.
I want to keep you in suspense so all I'm going to say is that the final project is going to look phantastic. Stay tuned for Thursday's finished product!
I want to keep you in suspense so all I'm going to say is that the final project is going to look phantastic. Stay tuned for Thursday's finished product!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Black Forest Cherry Torte
Today's Cakes class was lightyears better than last Monday's so I am feeling way better about the start of this week. We made a Black Forest Cherry Torte today. To be classified as a Black Forest Cherry Torte, it must contain chocolate cake, chantilly cream, tart cherries, kirschwasser (cherry flavored brandy), and chocolate shavings; so, of course, we made all of these components.
The chocolate cake is a chocolate chiffon genoise. We flavored simple syrup and chantilly cream with the kirschwasser for good flavor. It is a three layer cake that includes one layer of the tart cherries and two layers of chantilly cream. The exterior is covered with chocolate shavings, and the rosettes are topped with a 1/4 slice of candied cherry.
I had a good day overall; improvement is still necessary, of course, but I feel like I took some steps in the right direction today. I sliced my cake layers pretty evenly so that was a good start. I also did a much better job icing my entire cake, which is what I've struggled the most with so far in the course. It wasn't near perfect, but it was definitely an improvement. My rosettes still need some work so that was somewhat frustrating about today, but like I said, overall a pretty decent job. And I did like the taste of this cake for sure. What can I say, I prefer chocolate cake to vanilla any day of the week.
And if you're curious, this cake originates from Germany; its German spelling is Schwarzwaelderkirschtorte. Yeah, I can't pronounce it either.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Coconut Cream Pie
We made cream pies and lemon tarts during Thursday's bakeshop class. Unfortunately, I again forgot to take photos. We had the option with the cream pie and I chose to make a coconut cream instead of chocolate. I love coconut. For the lemon tarts, we made lemon curd from fresh lemons. We also made meringue for the topping so they looked quite decorative.
Roasted Potato Bread with Bacon
On Thursday, Chef did a full demo on baguettes, again so we could observe in order to prepare for our final exam. We also made roasted potato bread with bacon.
We roasted fingerling and red potatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper. They were cut into small chunks and added to the dough, with the addition of small pieces of bacon. This is such a yummy bread. It slices well for sandwiches also, which I experimented with for dinner the other night. I will definitely be making this in the future, and adding garlic and rosemary.
We roasted fingerling and red potatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper. They were cut into small chunks and added to the dough, with the addition of small pieces of bacon. This is such a yummy bread. It slices well for sandwiches also, which I experimented with for dinner the other night. I will definitely be making this in the future, and adding garlic and rosemary.
Appetizers
In Wednesday's Nutrition class, we made different appetizers to look at fat content. My group made guacamole while others made hummus, spinach dip, pico de gallo, and crostini with kalamata olives and asiago cheese. The crostini was my favorite in terms of taste; the guacamole was also pretty good, but I would have preferred more garlic and more salt. I didn't care for the hummus because it was too dry, and I didn't care for the spinach dip because it didn't have very good flavor overall. The pico de gallo wasn't bad. It was a good tasting experiment, despite taking place at 10am. This was one of those days where I didn't need to consume as much as I did prior to noon. But school is school, and eating is required.
Pretzels, Baguettes, Pie Dough
In Tuesday's breads class, we got to practice baguettes in preparation for the upcoming practical final on October 12. I saw some improvement in my baguettes, but still have some work to do in order to ace the final.
As a class, we also made 250 bavarian pretzels which the school will utilize at A Taste of Charleston, which is an event held at Boone Hall Plantation on October 10. I enjoy the pretzel making so this was a pretty fun class overall.
In the afternoon Bakeshop class, we worked with pie doughs. I've worked with pie dough in the past so my frustration level was high when my pie dough wouldn't cooperate with me. I also knicked my finger while slicing apples so the combination wasn't too great. We baked a granny smith apple pie, which was extremely tart for my taste. Nothing too exciting here.
As a class, we also made 250 bavarian pretzels which the school will utilize at A Taste of Charleston, which is an event held at Boone Hall Plantation on October 10. I enjoy the pretzel making so this was a pretty fun class overall.
In the afternoon Bakeshop class, we worked with pie doughs. I've worked with pie dough in the past so my frustration level was high when my pie dough wouldn't cooperate with me. I also knicked my finger while slicing apples so the combination wasn't too great. We baked a granny smith apple pie, which was extremely tart for my taste. Nothing too exciting here.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
The Crunch Torte
I posted a photo of The Crunch Torte the other night, but only described to you what was wrong with it and never also described what it is. So here's a bit of info. Again, we made the yellow genoise (sponge cake) and used this for three cake layers. We also made chantilly cream which was placed between each layer and used on the exterior of the cake. The "crunch" came from an almond nougat, and here's how we made it.
We heated sugar, glucose, lemon juice and shortening in a heavy saucepan to 350 degrees F where the mixture thickened and became caramel. Chef gave multiple warnings about being careful in the process because sugar burns are perhaps the worst burns you can get. Anyway, working quickly, we stirred in the sliced almonds and then spread the entire mixture on a sheet pan lined with parchment and we then covered the top with parchment so we could use a rolling pin to thin out the mixture as much as possible. It sets up quickly so this was rather difficult. I should have taken a photo of this to show you, but unfortunately, you'll have to believe me that it looked like almond bark.
After it cooled, we broke it into small pieces and used a rolling pin to vigorously crush it into sand-sized pieces. I can't even fully describe to you how ridiculously time-consuming and tiring this was. Seriously, we rolled this stuff into smaller pieces for what seemed like an hour; I worked up a decent sweat and my arms were actually sore. This may be the result of the fact that most groups got to do this in fours while I worked in a group of two. The rationale for crushing this into such small pieces is so that the nougat doesn't stick in your teeth. (And yes, I did ask if this could be done in a food processor but apparently it can't because as it breaks it can form into a ball in the food processor and cause a real mess.) I totally get that we wouldn't want to serve something that would stick in a client's teeth, but I'm not sold that the labor needed to pull this off is worth the time it takes to pay someone to do it. The cake looked nice at the end, don't get me wrong, but it didn't seem to have that much flavor.
I did enjoy learning how to make the chocholate molded decorations. We used Semper, which is a chocolate that's already been tempered, so all we had to do was melt it, make a pastry bag out of parchment paper, and pipe the chocolate into molds. After the molds were cooled, we popped them out to use on the cake, careful not to screw up the designs.
I actually ended up witha good grade on this cake, because the crunch nougat on the outside was able to cover up a great deal of my mistakes. I don't feel great about that, knowing I had so much difficulty with the cake overall, but I guess I'll take it.
Friday, October 1, 2010
The Week to Week
My friend Heather posted some great questions in the comments section of my blog a few weeks ago, and I totally didn’t see them until today. Whoops! So I wanted to take some time to answer the questions she asked, as well as do a general update. I’ll start with the update.
My last post was kind of depressing, wasn’t it? I was feeling like a bit of a crazy person earlier in the week, but I am happy to share with you that I have spent the last few days really working through my feelings and emotions. I appreciate the kind words sent via text, email, facebook, and on my blog from many of you – it means a great deal to me to have your support and I am truly appreciative of you reaching out and sending your encouragement. So, many thanks for that!
The past few days have been much better. I have leaned on the support of new friends in Charleston who have really helped me in my adjustment and I feel like I am developing a good support network here. I also am trying to be more conscious of working toward some lofty personal goals, namely, trying to take things more in stride, trying to be more relaxed, and trying to appreciate each moment for what it is no matter what the challenge. I am determined to get better and improve my skills. Each day brings its own set of madness, so I am trying my best to stay as positive as possible – easier said than done, I know, but I’m working on it.
I think that’s a good bit of perspective for now. On to Heather’s questions.
First, my new digs. I’m renting an apartment in the part of Charleston known as James Island. It takes me about 30 minutes to get to Main Campus in North Charleston, 15 minutes to Palmer Campus Downtown, and 15 minutes to Folly Beach. This location is one of the main reasons why I chose this apartment. My apartment community has a pretty eclectic mix of people; my immediate neighbors include two families with children in kindergarten (who tell me about coloring and recess) and a mix of twenty-somethings who run the gamut of professions. They’re all friendly so it’s nice to come home. And I love my landlord – she’s so sweet, helpful, and an avid baker herself so I love sharing my baked goods with her and getting her feedback. It’s nice again to have a place to call my own.
Second, my school. The Culinary Institute of Charleston is part of Trident Technical College, a primarily two-year institution offering an array of associate’s degrees and certificate programs. It’s state-funded so tuition is fairly cheap. One of the main reasons I chose to move out of state to go to school is because my tuition here is so affordable, even as an out-of-state student. It’s less than half of what it would have cost me to go to Penn Tech in Williamsport, PA, for example. And with everything else Charleston has to offer, it made complete sense to make this move.
Like a more traditional four-year school, my classes are all 3-credits. They vary a little in terms of the time commitment. My Nutrition/Sanitation Course meets for 3 hours on Wednesdays. During our in-class hours, we focus on Nutrition; the Sanitation component is mainly at-home and includes a decent amount of reading, online assignments, and online quizzes. This course culminates in taking a national exam to become certified in ServSafe Sanitation. My grade comes mainly from the Sanitation exercises, but there are a few Nutrition exercises as well.
My cakes class meets on Mondays from 11am-5:30pm. Each week I execute one cake from start to finish; I am graded on my cake each week as well as the effort I make throughout the class period. Chef occasionally gives in-class pop quizzes, which include questions about culinary terms/processes or the recipes themselves. I’ll have a written midterm and a written final, similar to the quizzes. In addition, I’ll have a final practical exam, where I’ll turn in my own cake recipe and execute the cake during a designated class period.
My artisan breads class is a fast forward class, meaning it meets for the 1st 8 weeks of the semester. That is why I have this one Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30am-2:00pm. In this class, I am graded on the breads we make each day. I also take written quizzes and have taken a written midterm exam. Again, the quizzes deal with concepts/processes used in class. For example, one quiz was to list and describe the 11 steps of yeast bread baking, which is the process we use every single day. Next week, I’ll be working on my artistic “dead dough” project – lots more on this next week – and on October 12, I’ll have a final practical exam, where I’ll have to make 3 baguettes and a surprise bread during the class period – the surprise bread will be something we’ve done during the semester.
My bakeshop class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:40-7:10pm. This class is an introduction to all different elements of baking as well as many of the different types of baked goods. Each week, I have assigned reading in my textbook, which coincides with workbook exercises and online quizzes. Each week I also have to complete two costing sheets, where I determine how much it would cost to make the recipe and how much it can be sold at wholesale or retail prices. I’m graded on each day’s product and process and I’ll have a practical final where I’ll make cream puffs and éclairs for a grade.
On October 14 (also known as my 29th birthday), I’ll start another fast forward class on Laminated Doughs and Pastries. The magical world of puff pastry, butter, and sugar. This class will take the place in my schedule where artisan breads currently is, so my actual daily schedule remains the same; my advisor did this so I could take 15 credit hours for the price of 12. Good times. I’m excited about this!
And finally, Heather asked if I have to bake things at home. Technically, the only baked goods I am graded on are the ones I do in class. However, I do practice certain things at home, and will be doing much more of this in the next few days and weeks. I’ll be practicing baguettes to prepare for my breads final and I’ll be experimenting with my cake recipe to prepare for my cake final in the coming days. I also love the fall ingredients like pumpkin and nutmeg and I’m feeling inspired to try some new ideas and recipes.
I hope that gives you a better perspective on my week to week life here. I can’t believe I’ve already finished six full weeks of school. It’s going by so quickly! I promised my friend Ben that I would take some photos of the bakeshop I have classes in and post them to show you what my world looks like; I haven’t forgotten this promise, I just forget when I’m actually in class. Hopefully next week I’ll get that rolling. And like I said earlier, next week is going to be really excellent if I can execute my dead dough project. I hope you’ll stay posted!
My last post was kind of depressing, wasn’t it? I was feeling like a bit of a crazy person earlier in the week, but I am happy to share with you that I have spent the last few days really working through my feelings and emotions. I appreciate the kind words sent via text, email, facebook, and on my blog from many of you – it means a great deal to me to have your support and I am truly appreciative of you reaching out and sending your encouragement. So, many thanks for that!
The past few days have been much better. I have leaned on the support of new friends in Charleston who have really helped me in my adjustment and I feel like I am developing a good support network here. I also am trying to be more conscious of working toward some lofty personal goals, namely, trying to take things more in stride, trying to be more relaxed, and trying to appreciate each moment for what it is no matter what the challenge. I am determined to get better and improve my skills. Each day brings its own set of madness, so I am trying my best to stay as positive as possible – easier said than done, I know, but I’m working on it.
I think that’s a good bit of perspective for now. On to Heather’s questions.
First, my new digs. I’m renting an apartment in the part of Charleston known as James Island. It takes me about 30 minutes to get to Main Campus in North Charleston, 15 minutes to Palmer Campus Downtown, and 15 minutes to Folly Beach. This location is one of the main reasons why I chose this apartment. My apartment community has a pretty eclectic mix of people; my immediate neighbors include two families with children in kindergarten (who tell me about coloring and recess) and a mix of twenty-somethings who run the gamut of professions. They’re all friendly so it’s nice to come home. And I love my landlord – she’s so sweet, helpful, and an avid baker herself so I love sharing my baked goods with her and getting her feedback. It’s nice again to have a place to call my own.
Second, my school. The Culinary Institute of Charleston is part of Trident Technical College, a primarily two-year institution offering an array of associate’s degrees and certificate programs. It’s state-funded so tuition is fairly cheap. One of the main reasons I chose to move out of state to go to school is because my tuition here is so affordable, even as an out-of-state student. It’s less than half of what it would have cost me to go to Penn Tech in Williamsport, PA, for example. And with everything else Charleston has to offer, it made complete sense to make this move.
Like a more traditional four-year school, my classes are all 3-credits. They vary a little in terms of the time commitment. My Nutrition/Sanitation Course meets for 3 hours on Wednesdays. During our in-class hours, we focus on Nutrition; the Sanitation component is mainly at-home and includes a decent amount of reading, online assignments, and online quizzes. This course culminates in taking a national exam to become certified in ServSafe Sanitation. My grade comes mainly from the Sanitation exercises, but there are a few Nutrition exercises as well.
My cakes class meets on Mondays from 11am-5:30pm. Each week I execute one cake from start to finish; I am graded on my cake each week as well as the effort I make throughout the class period. Chef occasionally gives in-class pop quizzes, which include questions about culinary terms/processes or the recipes themselves. I’ll have a written midterm and a written final, similar to the quizzes. In addition, I’ll have a final practical exam, where I’ll turn in my own cake recipe and execute the cake during a designated class period.
My artisan breads class is a fast forward class, meaning it meets for the 1st 8 weeks of the semester. That is why I have this one Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:30am-2:00pm. In this class, I am graded on the breads we make each day. I also take written quizzes and have taken a written midterm exam. Again, the quizzes deal with concepts/processes used in class. For example, one quiz was to list and describe the 11 steps of yeast bread baking, which is the process we use every single day. Next week, I’ll be working on my artistic “dead dough” project – lots more on this next week – and on October 12, I’ll have a final practical exam, where I’ll have to make 3 baguettes and a surprise bread during the class period – the surprise bread will be something we’ve done during the semester.
My bakeshop class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:40-7:10pm. This class is an introduction to all different elements of baking as well as many of the different types of baked goods. Each week, I have assigned reading in my textbook, which coincides with workbook exercises and online quizzes. Each week I also have to complete two costing sheets, where I determine how much it would cost to make the recipe and how much it can be sold at wholesale or retail prices. I’m graded on each day’s product and process and I’ll have a practical final where I’ll make cream puffs and éclairs for a grade.
On October 14 (also known as my 29th birthday), I’ll start another fast forward class on Laminated Doughs and Pastries. The magical world of puff pastry, butter, and sugar. This class will take the place in my schedule where artisan breads currently is, so my actual daily schedule remains the same; my advisor did this so I could take 15 credit hours for the price of 12. Good times. I’m excited about this!
And finally, Heather asked if I have to bake things at home. Technically, the only baked goods I am graded on are the ones I do in class. However, I do practice certain things at home, and will be doing much more of this in the next few days and weeks. I’ll be practicing baguettes to prepare for my breads final and I’ll be experimenting with my cake recipe to prepare for my cake final in the coming days. I also love the fall ingredients like pumpkin and nutmeg and I’m feeling inspired to try some new ideas and recipes.
I hope that gives you a better perspective on my week to week life here. I can’t believe I’ve already finished six full weeks of school. It’s going by so quickly! I promised my friend Ben that I would take some photos of the bakeshop I have classes in and post them to show you what my world looks like; I haven’t forgotten this promise, I just forget when I’m actually in class. Hopefully next week I’ll get that rolling. And like I said earlier, next week is going to be really excellent if I can execute my dead dough project. I hope you’ll stay posted!
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