Sugar 1: Week 1: Nougatine Baskets with Marzipan Fruits

We started on the Sugar 1 section of Pastry 2 and learned how to make a Nougatine Basket and how to shape Marzipan fruits. The fun of marzipan is that when you shape it, it doesn't have to look "real". They are meant to look kind of cartoon-y (not sure if that's a word, but you get my drift, right?!) and fun. We shape it without color, then we just air brushed the color on. The cool part is that we learned how to layer color. And yes, even though it is not supposed to look "real", we tried to make the coloring look real by making sure that different colors kind of peaked out, like the real thing.

The Nougatine Basket was fun, but a little difficult and hot to make! You have to shape the nougatine while it is still hot and maleable. And if the nougatine gets too cold, off to the oven to heat up again, then try again... =( BUT - yes, there is always a but, isn't there? You can only reheat and try molding only a few times, because as the sugar caramelizes and gets darker, it exponentially gets less maleable and hardens much, much faster each time. In other words, try to get the job done within the first 3 tries - MAX!

Anyway, here's the final result... Chef Toni told us to try decorating it with the houndstooth and classically it is further embellished with royal icing - as seen here!

Day 65, 66 & 67 - Chocolate Candies and Chocolate Candy Stand

Tonight we finished up our Chocolate Candy Stands. I have to say I was extremely impressed with my class!!! I thought everyone did a WONDERFUL job! I've posted the pics on Facebook, so take a look when you have time!

On day 65, we made the chocolates to go into the bowl of the stand. We made 4 different types of candies: Chocolate Nuts, Rochees, Carres and another one I can't remember the name of! Shame on me... I know... I do know that it is basically a little bit of chocolate and then before it completely sets, we put 3 different pieces of either nuts or dried fruits on it. It's nice to make them kind of colorful, so we did combos like Pistachio, Coffee Bean and Dried Apricot. The Chocolate Nuts were bad. Well, bad for me because I couldn't stop eating them! It's one of those things that you just can't have one of... They are basically nuts, with crystallized sugar, then coated in chocolate, then rolled in either powdered sugar or cocoa powder. (cue in heavenly "ahhhh"). The Carres were also quite the delectable treat! This looks like a chocolate sandwich of sorts. It is a layer of chocolate with praline paste and feulletine (this stuff tastes a lot like crushed sugar ice cream cones) sandwiched between 2 layers of straight chocolate. Yes, it made the tummy happy!!! As for the Rochees (translated as "rocks"), can I just tell you that I am SO addicted to the Orange and Chocolate and Almond combo, that I finished all the ones I brought home almost all by myself and I still ate more of these at school tonight... And - I still want more!!!

Okay, so on to the Chocolate Candy Stand. We basically spent the last 2 classes completing these. They are made of all chocolate and need to have 2 kinds of chocolate. I chose dark and white chocolate. Another requirement was that it be at least 4 inches high - no problem with mine for this category since it was 8 inches high. Finally, the last requirement was that it should be at least 700 grams. Well, unfortunately, mine turned out to be about 462 at my final weigh in, so I was scrambling for ways to "pack the pounds". In the end, it still didn't add up to the 700 grams, but what can you do? The first picture is me scrambling put more chocolate in my already chocolatey chocolate stand! Then you have pictures of the final product. It's simple but I like it a lot!

Day 59: Fondant Chocolate Roulade Cake with Pistachio Butter Cream filling and New York Cheese Cake

We are another day closer to the end of Pastry 1. I can't believe Tuesday will be our last day in the crowded and warm Pastry 1 classroom! Today we baked New York Cheese Cake with a graham cracker crumb base. Truthfully, I haven't tried it yet, but I'm looking forward to it! =)

We also had a recipe for a Neopolitano Cheese Cake, but we didn't get around to make it. I don't think I have ever had that kind of cheese cake before, but it sounds kind of interesting, except that it has raisins in the recipe. Yes, if you have been following my blog, you know that I'm not a big fan of raisins. Actually, my mother told me that I used to LOVE raisins as a child, but being the very impressionable child that I was, I followed my brother's lead with the raisin hating... He used to say things like, "Ewww... you like raisins?! YUCK!" and that was the end of my raisin eating days.

Anyways, we also finished up our Chocolate Roulade with a Kirsch (cherry for those of you who may be wondering) soak and Pistachio butter cream filling. It was fun finishing it off with the fondant. Unfortunately, though, I didn't have time to decorate it at all. *sigh* Well, at least I think I did a pretty decent job actually putting the fondant on the cake. Fondant is kind of fun to work with... I was secretly reminiscing back to my younger days playing with Play Dough! Take a look at my handiwork. Then take a look at the cake itself - pretty cool, huh?




This one was definitely a fun cake. My husband liked this one a lot because the cake was not too sweet (though the fondant was extremely sweet).


Now, it's time to crack the books and start studying for my mid-term written test. We already started with the practical test by baking and building our cakes. I wanted to do a Kahlua soak, but I couldn't find any, so I went with an Amaretto soak with coffee butter cream. I was a little nervous about the combo, but when I actually tried it, it tasted pretty good! YEY! So, again, wish me luck and send all your happy and studious thoughts my way! =)

Day 58: Back to cakes! White Cake with Peach Butter cream filling and Marzipan Frosting and Black Forest cake

We are back to cakes and quickly approaching the end of Pastry 1! I can't believe it... In fact, we have the start of our Mid-term tomorrow and I'm a little nervous about it. We get to bake our cake and build it up tomorrow then finish it off on Tuesday. For the mid-term, we pick the kind of cake we have to make out of a hat, or rather in our case, a quart container! So, UNfortunately for me, I picked a Chocolate Genoise with Butter Cream filling (that's not the bad part) with CHOCOLATE GLAZE frosting. UGH! I'm terrible at glazing... *sigh* oh well, c'est la vie... Not like there's anything I can do about it now except pray to Saint Honore for a pastry miracle!

So, on to happier things before I get myself all worked up over this darn mid-term!

Let's start with the oh-so-yummy White Cake! I really liked this cake a lot, I just couldn't stop eating it!!! Luckily, I didn't get a tummy ache like my poor partner from all of our snacking on the scraps. We filled our cake with a Peach Butter Cream. Yes, you read that correctly - PEACH! We learned how to make fruit flavored butter cream and I'm uber excited about it! The bonus is that it tastes absolutely divine! The extra bonus is that we got to learn how to work with Marzipan as a frosting. Can I just say that I'm addicted to marzipan as well? I'm surprised I have not gained 5 pounds in class just making this cake - because you know where the scraps go, right? Yes, that would be my stomach... Anyway, I digress... I have always wondered how it was done and lo and behold, I now know! Not too shabby, right?













The next cake is our Black Forest cake. Traditionally, this is frosted with whip cream or stabilized whip cream, but the classroom was SO hot, all of our whip cream kept breaking! Luckily, we didn't throw out our Creme D'Or which was used as one of the fillings, so Chef said we could use that to finish up our cakes. Traditionally too, it should have chocolate shavings on the bottom, but as you can see from the pic, I didn't quite get around to it. Now, for your added viewing pleasure, I'm adding a picture I took of the Black Forest when I was in gorgeous Germany. =)















Now, back to work on my sketches for my mid-term cake! Wish me luck - I need it...

Ube Petite Four Experiment and the Unbroken Egg Yolks

I am utterly and completely in love with Gerbet Macaroons. Actually, a few years ago, we had a baby shower for one of my dear, dear friends Natacha and we ordered food from Wegman's for the party. We ordered some of these scrumptious macaroons, but they called them Nicolettes. Ever since then, I have been searching high and low for some where else I could purchase these. Never did I imagine that I would be learning to make this at the FCI! (yay!)

And so, I tried making this at home using Ube for the filling. I am a HUGE fan of Ube (I think it is also called a water yam or purple yam). I love the result! It was just heavenly - at least for me. So here's a pic that I snapped before I gobbled up the rest!


















As for the next picture - I was just so fascinated with the fact that I did not break 1 yolk in this tub of egg yolks! Mind you there are more than 50 egg yolks in that container! That has never ever happened in the history of my egg cracking! I know, I'm a dork sometimes... I just couldn't resist taking a quick pic!

Day 46: 5-Grain Rolls, Sweet Potato Brioche, Ciabatta, Soft Rolls, Pissaladière, Banana-Crumb Bread

Yes, day 46 was a rough day to be bringing home the fruits (or rather - the breads) of our labor! I was so exhausted when I got home, I went straight to sleep - a rare occurrence! It seems that the 5-grain rolls alone weighed it's weight in healthiness... =)

I haven't tried the 5-grain rolls yet, but I've been told that you actually feel healthy when you're finished with one! So what are the 5 grains included you ask? Flax seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and rolled oats. These rolls used the sour dough method (liquid levain).














With our Sweet Potato Brioche dough, we made 2 different items: Shallots and Craqueline. In the Shallots version, well, of course, there were shallots cooked in butter and olive oil. We also added Bleu Cheese - a very welcome addition. Everyone who tried this one loved it - EVERYONE!














In the Craqueline, we added sugar cubes which had been marinated in orange liquor and orange zest. Because of its name, I thought that it would be crunchy somehow, but the places where the sugar cubes were turned out to be kind of gooey (in a good way) instead.














I'm going to skip ahead to the Banana Crumb since it is in the picture above with the Craqueline. So, this really had a lot of bananas in them! I think they would have been even more spectacular if we added some walnuts to them, but I suppose I could just try that on my own someday... Anyway, I was a little worried that these wouldn't turn out so good because our bananas looked a little green and of course, the perfect bananas would be ripe to over ripe for banana bread. However, they turned out to be just fine and rather delish in fact! This was our quick bread of the day, using the creamed butter method.

Now, for the Ciabatta, this was probably one of the easiest, but messiest breads we've made so far. For those of you who don't know, Ciabatta actually means "slipper" and this bread is named so because supposedly it is sort of shaped like a slipper. Okay, just to warn you before you see the picture, these are probably the ugliest Ciabatta you will ever see... Chef said not to fuss with it, so I didn't. I'm thinking I probably should have fussed with it, at least a little...














The Pissaladière is a French-version pizza (at least that's what I think Chef told us...). It has onion, anchovies and Niçoise olives. We used pizza dough so I was really, really excited because I wanted to toss it up in the air like in my favorite commercial, but unfortunately, we didn't have enough time for fun and games... =( Anyway, the toppings on mine got kind of burnt (I'm guessing it was on the top rack of the oven) so we ended up composting it. I did manage to take a picture before saying farewell, simply because supposedly this will be on our final and I want to make sure I keep a record of how everything needs to arranged - "classically".














And finally, the Soft Rolls. These were so good! I had a lot of fun making these and eating them too!!! We used this dough to learn to make different shapes. I wish we had more time so we could play more, but of course, we are almost always rushing (I guess sort of like a real kitchen) NO DILLY DALLY!

Allergy Foodie!!!

Hi everyone! My friend Anu has started up a new blog which is really a GREAT resource for anyone with food allergies. She's got a degree in food and nutrition, which really came in handy when at the age of 4 months, her son was diagnosed with allergies to all of the following: wheat, soy, dairy, nuts, tree nuts, fish and shell fish. She is truly amazing and she has done all kinds of experimentation in the kitchen. She even shares some wonderful recipes along with tips for people living with these food allergies. I love her motto: "Thrive with the top 8 food allergies!" So, if you have food allergies or know someone who does, I truly recommend this site!

ALLERGY FOODIE

Day 45: Tarte Flambée, Oat Bread and More Croissants!

Day 45 was a good day! Tarte Flambée, also known as Flammenkuchen is wonderful! When I went to Germany for work back in 2005 (I think - it's been a while) I tried this for the first time and I was hooked! I never thought I would ever have it again, let alone make it myself! Oh happy day!!! So the Flammenkuchen has a sort of custard base comprised of sour cream, creme fraishe, and egg, then toppings of your choice, we used carmelized onions, bacon and gruyere cheese. Oh, and did I mention that the dough we used was the delicious Baguette dough?! Yes, it sort of looks like a pizza but I think this tastes better. Mind you, I am a total pizza fan, but in the battle of Flammenkuchen vs. Pizza, Flammenkuchen wins in my book. And yes, I ate about 1/3 of this all by myself when I got home from class!!!














I haven't tried the Oat Bread yet - I put it in the freezer for now since I've got way too much bread to finish up already! When I get around to trying it, I will update my blog.














Croissants gallery! Yes, we made croissants already, but I guess we are sort of reviewing them since our Chef-Instructor told us that croissants will be on our test. We also learned different shapes for different fillings. The packet looking ones have ham and cheese in them! I didn't actually get to try this one because I gave it to my wonderful husband Mike who said that they were really good (yey!). He's not too into the sweet stuff that I bring home so I was happy that we had some meaty/savory stuff this class. The long one with the almonds has - you guessed it Almond Cream in it! And yes, that was scrumptious! Ahh... almond cream. Maybe one day I'll write an ode to Almond Cream and the joy it brings me!!! =)














Oh, we also made 5-grain rolls which looked really good, but since they just came out of the oven, I didn't want to bring them home while they were so hot, especially since I had a bunch of other things to bring. Our teacher offered to put them in the freezer for us for next class. I'll take pictures on Tuesday.

Day 44: Baguettes, Bagels and Austrian Danishes

This class was bittersweet for me! Everything we made was delicious - all my favorite carbs! The bitter part was that I was one of the 2 bakers for the week, so unfortunately, I left late and just missed the 9:35 PM train so I ended up getting home after 11:00 PM! The good news is that I got to enjoy 1/2 of a WARM and mouth-watering baguette on the train ride home! =) So here are pictures of the whole baguettes and also a pic with the one that I picked at on the ride home...
















I have to admit that I haven't tried the bagels yet, however I'm sure that they are scrumptious. They are authentic hand-rolled bagels, boiled and baked in the traditional way! I have those in the freezer for a day when I'm desperately looking for something to eat. We received recipes for a whole grain and the regular version. My team was chosen to make the regular and my classmate Jen's team made the whole grain version so we swapped so we could try each. Can you guess which ones are mine - yes, the boring sesame ones are. What can I say, I like sesame bagels!














Now, for the danishes. Oh my! These were the Austrian version (according to the recipe) and there are no words to describe these! I am a total danish fan and so, I was in danish heaven! I especially liked the swirly looking ones. We put almond cream, cinnamon sugar and chopped walnuts in the dough before swirling them, so those have an extra yummy surprise in them! Those were definitely my favorites... Unfortunately, since I was kind of rushing through finishing up all the different danish shapes, I didn't remember what I put in which danishes! The different fillings we used were pastry cream, almond cream (my personal favorite), cream cheese filling, cherry compote, blueberry compote, apricots, cinnamon sugar and chopped walnuts. We were allowed to make up our own combos which was nice and if you've been reading my blog, you can guess that I had a lot with almond cream and chopped walnuts! =) Sorry the pictures are not so great, but I was rushing (trying to get to the train that I missed anyway)!
















I'm excited for tomorrow when we make flammenkuchen!!!! Ah... takes me back to Germany! =)

Day 43: Back to Breads!

So tonight we went back to breads! We made Petit Pains and Pain de Provence. Our quickbread for the night was Irish Soda Bread.

So, let me tell you about the Petit Pains - OMG, they are SO good! They kind of remind me of the bread I had when I was in Europe. I already ate 2 of them since I got home tonight!!! They are sort of like mini baguettes... sort of...















I haven't tried the Pain de Provence, but it certainly smelled very good! It had olives and a special assortment of herbs supposedly native to Provence. I'm sure that it will be delish!















And finally, the Irish Soda Bread. Sorry, but I wasn't really into this one. The texture was nice and tender as a quick bread should be, but I just wasn't feeling the taste and I can't quite put my finger on what exactly was bothering me about it... *sigh* I really wanted to like it! I remember my second grade teacher (Ms. Bernadette Boland - yes, can you believe that I remember?!) made some for us on St. Patrick's day and I remember loving it!!! I haven't been able to find a version like that ever since... Oh well...














Anyway, I'm pretty excited about next class because we will be making bagels - regular and whole grain! Yes, FCI is now becoming more health conscience! We even had our first "nutrition" class today. This is a good thing.

Chef Cynthia Peithman

So, let me tell you about our wonderful Chef-Instructor: Chef Cynthia! I like her a lot. In addition to being incredibly talented, I think she is a great teacher too. I was trying to explain to my brother why I like her, saying that she is very nurturing but kind of strict at the same time, but in a good way. My brother's response to that was, "oh, sort of like you!" and I guess that's true! I suppose that's why I like her! =) Anyway, she is a wealth of knowledge and she makes some pretty awesome cakes too - here is her website - Cakeline. Oh, and did I mention how humble she is?! She has never once mentioned that some of her wedding cakes have been featured in magazines such as New York Weddings and Marth Stewart Weddings. Hopefully someday I can be even half as talented as her!

Day 42: Cakes 1 Test Day

So, today marked the end of our Cakes 1 unit. We had our written exam and our practical exam. It was back to the basics for our practical exam. Here is a list of all the elements we needed to include:

Basic Genoise
Butter Cream icing
Raspberry Jam filling
8 Rosettes piped on top
Bottom border of nuts
Plaque with "Happy Birthday" inscribed
2 Marzipan roses with leaves

I think my cake was nice to look at but unfortunately, I over heated my genoise so it was kind of crumbly inside, then I didn't cut my layers evenly, even though when I was scoring the cake it looked even to me! There was also the issue of too much icing on the top and not enough on the sides. Chef Peter could tell that I was fitzing with it... What else? Oh, and apparently I put too much filling. On the bright side, Chef Peter did say that I was very organized and very clean and it was evident in my work. He seemed pleased with the overall appearance of the cake.

Day 41: Fraisier and Lemon Chiffon Cake

Hurray, hurray for the Fraisier (pronounced fre-see-ay)! OMG! This one was REALLY REALLY good!!! I think it helped a lot that the Strawberries were perfectly ripe and just delectable! So, the cake we used on this was the American Milk Sponge and the butter cream was a Mousseline (also known as German Butter Cream). The green top was made of Marzipan and we practiced our piping with royal icing. I'm so happy about how mine came out! It's by no means perfect, but it came out a lot better than I imagined! And yes, I did pipe that all by myself (but thanks to Chef Peter for showing me a nice but simple border for this one)!!!
















The next cake was the Lemon Chiffon Cake with Lemon Curd filling. We really just used this cake to practice our decorating on, so here's a sample of what I did. I know this one is not so great, but hey, I'm learning!!! So we learned the basketweave, Swiss dots and swags (I think that's what they're called). Our teacher told us that the swags come out much better with Royal Icing compared to Butter Cream - thus all the lines that fell... =(

Well, regardless of how it looks on the outside, the cake on the inside is very tastey! And I'm so sad that I forgot my scraps in class! I was SO planning to snack on them on my way home *sigh*. Oh well... The class tomorrow is probably going to put it in the compost. *bigger sigh* Well, at least I've got the recipe and can make it again! =)

Thus ends the CAKES 1 unit! So day 42 = TEST! Wish me luck!!!

Day 40: Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Cake and Bouche Noel

The Nate Update!

So one of my cool classmates has volunteered to be a "reporter" of sorts for the Pastry Program at the French Culinary Institute. He is an extremely gifted writer, so I just wanted to share his blog with all of you!

Enjoy!

Day 39: Sachertorte & Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Meringue logs

So today we finished up our Sachertortes that we started last class. We didn't get to finish up the glaze because we were having issues with our Apricot Jam... Okay, so for those of you who don't know, this cake is basically a very rich cake - creamed butter chocolate cake with apricot jam spread as the filling and an outer seal and then finally the final chocolate glaze made with fondant (not the rolled version). The back story on this cake is something along the lines of the Austrian King looking to send a cake to his embassies during a war. He was looking for a cake that wouldn't spoil easily since it would have to travel far. And because this cake is so rich, it doesn't spoil right away!

Our second cake for this class was the Flourless Chocolate Cake! This one is yummy! We actually used Almond Meal or Almond Flour. Since this cake has no gluten (since there is no wheat), the middle kind of sagged down. You really don't notice it though because of all the chocolate meringue that we put all around it! I liked this one a lot. Our teacher told us that they sometimes use this cake for a lava cake and they just inject the middle with some ganache so that it is runny! Ah... another cake demystified! =) Anyway, feast your eyes on our creations:

Day 38: Dobos

This is pronounced Do-bosh! When I read it I almost want to say ADOBOS! =) Anyway, this is an Austrian Cake composed of 5 layers of Biscuit Dobos with a Chocolate Butter Cream. The top is another layer of cake with caramel on top. That's my favorite part!!!

Day 37: Cassis Mousse Miroir, White and Dark Mousse Gateau, Chocolate Cupcakes, Carrot Cake and Pecan Crumb Coffee Cake

Whew! That sure was a mouth full! Okay, so actually, we made the last three today and just finished off the first two (we made those last class minus the tops)! The theme of today's class is liquid fat cakes. I know, it really doesn't sound very appetizing, but that is the reality folks! Yes, this is one of the basic types of cakes. There is also whole-egg foam cakes, meringue cakes and all colors of different combos in between. Gosh, that sounds so "Paula", but you get the gist (I hope!).

So let's begin! Below are the pictures of our "Liquid Fat" cakes: Carrot Cake, Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Glaze and Pecan Crumb Coffee Cake.
















Okay, so here are the mousse cakes that we did! The first is our Fruit Mousse Miroir. Our teacher picked Cassis for the "Fruit". For those of you who don't know what Cassis are, Cassis are Black Currants. Don't feel bad because I didn't know!!! For those of you who did know, smart aleck! =) Oh, and those are little blueberries we dipped in the puree/nappage mix on the top, arranged to look like the currants. I thought that was pretty cool. We also did a White and Dark Mousse Gateau. This one was fun to make. The outside is a Pate a Cornet with the chocolate part made with a stencil (no, I don't pipe quite that perfectly, far from in fact). This was actually very easy to make and you can use colored batter instead of chocolate if you want! From that, we cut a piece to fit into a mold. The bottom of the cake is a kahlua soaked chocolate genoise then we carefully layered the chocolate and white mousses so that when you cut it, it looks like a checker board! It looked pretty cool (wish I took a picture of it cut *sigh*) and it also tasted very good! It was light and mmm, mmm good! I was nervous that the mousses didn't turn out too good because our chocolate had cooled down by the time we were folding them into the rest of the ingredients and it looked lumpy. But, you know what, when I cut into the cake, you couldn't tell!!! And the bonus is that tasted pretty good!!!!!!! Oh, and those scrumptious looking chocolate curls are a hazelnut chocolate! I forgot what it is called (bad student!), but they kind of remind me of Huny chocolates found at your local Filipino Grocer! =) Enjoy the pictures!!!