Whirlwind

My life has been a whirlwind of adventure, hard work, some loss and mostly gain lately.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Shortly after my last post my grandfather-in-law died. He was an amazing man. The loss of him was felt deeply in our house and in my husband's whole family. That sort of put our lives on pause for a week while we helped with funeral preparations but it felt really good to be part of the process.

The next week I finished up my cakes class (with an A) and headed off to Hawaii. Boy did we both need that. It is maybe the first vacation we have ever taken with absolutely no agenda but to relax and enjoy the ocean. Hawaii is the perfect place to learn to relax. We kayaked, hiked, snorkeled and swam with dolphins. My husband made a fun video recap of our time. 

When I got back it was time to start a new class, plated desserts and tempering chocolate. On top of that I have been staging like crazy in an effort to learn as much as possible and secure an externship site. I think both goals are being accomplished. I have started staging every Saturday at the best bakery in town (in my opinion) and I was accepted for my externship at the restaurant with the best desserts in town (fact). I'm excited. But exhausted. 

I'm in week three of my plated desserts class and loving it (I added my instagram feed to the sidebar so you can see what I am working on). It has been the area I am least comfortable with but I am gaining confidence. Cooking on gas no longer terrifies me. I don't sweat at the idea of making caramel, or sugar garnishes any more. In fact, I am less nervous in general in the kitchen. It has only taken 7 months to get there.

Where am I?

 What have I been doing lately? Making cakes of course! Last week in class we made 3 cakes and they were all pretty tasty. First we made a yellow chiffon cake. It was light and fluffy and we filled and covered it with whipped cream. It was basically a cake to practice on. We practiced cutting it into thirds, doing a crumb coat and then mixing pretty colors to decorate it with.

The next cake we made was serious. It was a chocolate butter sponge cake with a layer of chocolate mousse, a layer of raspberry bavarian cream and covered in Italian buttercream. It was a practical exam so we had a lot of requirements. It had to be pastel, have a shell border, have three roses and six leaves, say happy birthday in chocolate, have even layers of all the fillings and have no more than a 1/4 layer of buttercream over the cake. I managed all of these things and got an A.

The last cake we made was an angel food cake. I like angel food cake because it is easy to make and once it is done you don't really have to do anything else with it, unless you want to. We got together with friends over the weekend and I brought the angel food cake along with some whipped cream and strawberries. The strawberries did not get eaten. Instead we put bacon, whipped cream and maple syrup on the angel food cake and found heaven. It may sound like a train wreck on a plate to you but I assure you that it was fantastic.

Over the weekend I made cupcakes for my adorable godson's first birthday and a little cake for him to smash. The smash cake looked like a barn. He actually tried to pick it up and throw it. So cute!

I had another stage yesterday. This one was in a restaurant. Quite a different experience than the bakeshop I staged in last month. But I loved it! I'm kind of leaning towards working in a restaurant now. I like the fast pace. I'm going to do a little more staging around before I make any final decisions. I have another stage on Saturday and I am hoping that the nerves start wearing off soon. Eventually I should be able to walking into a kitchen and get to work without butterflies in my stomach right?

Cake, cake, cake, cake, cake

I really like making cake. Good think too since I will be making a lot of cakes. Last week I made 3 cakes and yesterday I made 3 more. We assembled 2 of them earlier this week.

One was the Sacher torte. It is named after the chef who created it. It is actually patented so if you wanted to make it and sell it you would have to call it something else or get sued. I really liked this cake, mostly because if turned out perfect. It is a European style cake so it is a little on the dry side. It is made with cocoa powder and almond flour, brushed with simple syrup and has a layer of apricot jam in the center. It is covered with chocolate ganache and then a layer of chocolate glacage which made it super shiny. The tricky part of the glacage is you get one shot at it. You pour it over the cake and try to get it to cover the whole thing. If it doesn't you are pretty much just screwed. Any attempt at a touch up will be very noticeable. If there is any dent or imperfection in the cake the glacage will highlight it. If done correctly though it looks awesome.

The carrot cake was a whole other beast. This cake is so full of stuff. Spices, nuts, carrots, oil. It is really dense. Almost the opposite of the sacher torte. The best part about this cake was getting to make the little marzipan carrots on top. I love marzipan. So. Much. I don't love carrot cake usually but this recipe was pretty good (except it was a little crumbly).


I have a yellow chiffon cake, devil's food cake and two chocolate butter genoise cakes in the freezer at school. I'm excited to see what they will become!

12 Step

This weekend I had some spare time so I decided to make bread. I kind of miss baking bread all the time. It is almost therapeutic. Besides, during our breads class we had an assignment to create our own original bread recipe and I wanted to see if mine would actually work and taste good. I made a variation of ciabatta bread with fresh herbs and pine nuts.

Making bread involves 12 steps. It occasionally involves a bonus pre-step as well. I actually managed to take pictures along the way as I made my bread so here we go.

0.5. Bonus pre-step. Make a preferment. This is a bit of dough that you ferment 12-24 hours ahead of time. It gives the bread a lighter texture with more air bubbles (the sign of a good bread). I made mine the night before. This preferment is called a poolish and it made by mixing yeast, bread flour and water. It is really important whenever you are mixing yeast with water to have the water between 90 and 95 degrees. Warmer and you will kill the yeast. Cooler and it may not activate and ferment as much as it should.

1. Scale. It is important to measure all the ingredients accurately. We always use a scale.


2. Mixing - Bring all the ingredients together in a bowl first. Once they come together you can start kneading the dough on a lightly floured surface. Most breads get about kneaded about 140 times (or turns). You can see if it is ready by checking for what is called a windowpane. You pull up a bit of dough and stretch it out til it is a little bit translucent. If the window tears quickly it needs a few more turns.

3. Ferment - Cover the dough and leave it alone for about an hour or until it has doubled. You can check if it is ready by poking it. If it collapses it isn't ready. If the hole stays there and doesn't close up it is ready.






4. Punch - Once it has doubled punch it. Squish it down, fold it over, squish it down, repeat.

5. Scale Again - If your recipe is for 2 or more loaves now is the time to divide the dough. Weight it to make sure you have equal amounts.



6. Round - Pretty much was it sounds like. Roll the dough into a nice smooth ball.








7. Bench - Cover again and let the dough sit for 15 to 20 minutes.

8. Make-Up - Now is the time to make the final shape of the dough. I made mine into kind of an oval shape.








9. Proof - You need to let the dough double again. In bakeshops you would use a proof box, a warm and humid environment. Most people don't have those at home. You don't really need one, it will just take a little longer to proof. Put your dough in a warmish place like on top of the fridge. I had my oven on earlier and it was still a little warm so I put my dough in there with some hot water. If you do this make sure your oven isn't too hot. about 90 degrees is perfect for most doughs. Either way you can tell if your dough it ready when it doubles or when it springs back a little if you tap it lightly.

9.5. Score - Another bonus step I guess. If your bread needs scoring (cuts with a serrated knife), now is the time. If you want to egg wash the bead or add any kind of topping, like sesame seeds, now is the time.

10. Bake - Finally! Bake your bread. Most breads bake at around 450 degrees and will take 20-30 minutes.

11. Cool - Let your bread cool all the way before you cut or store it. I think this is impossible. I usually cut my bread when it is still a little warm. I just can't wait.

12. Store - Another important step. If you are making a crisp crusted bread store it is paper once it is cool. For a soft crust bread store it in plastic.

There. You did it! Or, at least I did. Don't worry, you can live vicariously through me this time. My bread actually worked! it is soft and tasty. It made a great sandwich for lunch today. I'm excited to try making my own dough recipe again.

All at once

Yesterday it seems like every thing came together at once. We have worked for a week on components of various items and yesterday we finally assembled. We were also surprised to find out that we would be graded on two of the items. 

First up was the Gateau St. Honore. This is the most complicated item we have made so far. It has a pastry crust, alternating rows of chocolate and vanilla diplomat cream, pate choux balls filled with cream and dipped in caramel. I made some caramel spirals just for fun. 

We made these little pate choux circles filled with cream called paris brest. Apparently they were named after a pastry served on a train in France that went from Paris to Brest. 

We made chocolate souffles as well. They were pretty simple to make.

We knew going in to this class that we would be evaluated on 13 items. In our last classes we were evaluated on 3-4 different items. We have also been able to practice the items a couple times before the test in the past. Not anymore. We have to do it right the first time and get graded on it. So far we have been graded on the souffle and the gateau. I got 100% on both! I actually think it helped not knowing that I would be graded on them. I was a lot less nervous that I normally am when making a practical item. Hopefully the winning streak continues!

My new love

Crepes.

I have never really cared much for crepes, or really tried them very often. We made them in class last week and the light bulb finally went on. They are so easy to make and so versatile! You can make them savory or sweet depending on your mood. The batter whips up quick in a blender and then you can store it for about a week in the fridge. They take less than a minute to cook on a hot pan. And, they taste great. AND! They aren't too bad for you, especially if you fill them with fresh fruit.

On Saturday my husband and I filled our crepes with strawberries and blueberries. Today some friends picked up savory ingredients to fill them with. We had grilled chicken sausage, sauteed red pepper, green onions and a little cheese in our crepes. Amazing. As a final treat we had crepes with strawberries, nutella and whipped cream.

I see crepes happening every weekend.

New Beginnings

New class this week! International pastry, cake formula and assembly. So far we have made many components of items but have not yet assembled anything. We are back to the lecture one day, production the next schedule which also slows things down quite a bit. I am very excited about this class though. It is all about technique. This is the first class we have had where the teacher critiques almost everything we do. Awesome and frightening at the same time. 

So far this class has been going well except for burning myself yesterday. It was bound to happen. I grabbed a hot pot handle and wound up with an inch long blister on my index finger. At least today is Friday so I will have the weekend to heal.

More bad news. I made a cake last weekend and forgot to take a picture. Growl! What is wrong with me? Friends! You are now in charge! Take pictures of things I bring you and send them to me. Please.