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!!!

Day 36: Charlotte Royale

So today we finished up our Charlotte Royale. I've seen pictures of this before and always thought they looked pretty cool, up until class. Well, I still thought it looked cool in the picture, but then our instructor told us that they call it "brain" cake and now, it just doesn't look too appetizing to me anymore... =( I know, I probably shouldn't have posted that because now you will think that it doesn't look appetizing despite it's fabulousness! So, on to the yummy description: the "swirls" are made of a cake called Jaconde which is basically an almond sponge cake rolled with an apricot jam filling. We then lined a bowl with slices from the roulade and then filled it with a Creme Anglaise Bavarois (a bavarian cream), then a piece of Genoise for the base. You're supposed to finish it off with some Creme Chantilly shells piped along the bottom and a small circle on the top.

(I'm keeping the picture small because it's kind of blurry. Sorry.)

Day 35: Marjorlaine, Charlotte Russe, Lemon Cake

Clear the lane for Marjorlaine!!!! Yes, I know, you're probably tired of my little rhyming attempts, but sorry, you'll have to live with it!!! =) So, wow, the Marjorlaine, where do I begin?! This is a rich cake so you only need a little slice, but it is a little slice of heaven! So I don't really remember the story behind this one, but I think it is safe to say that it is named after a lady... Alright, I know you are dying to know what is in this delectably delicious cake! Okay, you really have to pay attention because there's a lot of layers! Sorry I didn't get a chance to take a picture of a sliced piece... Ready?! We're going to start from the bottom going up: Chocolate Genoise soaked with Hazelnut flavored Simple Syrup, Chocolate Ganache, Dacquoise, Creme D'Or, Dacquoise, Hazelnut Praline Butter Cream, Dacquoise, Stabilized Whipped Cream and finally another layer of Dacquoise. The whole thing was crumb-coated with the Praline Butter Cream, then finally, Glazed with more Chocolate! Is your mouth watering yet?! =)

Note that I did a really bad Glazing job and also as I was moving my Marjorlaine to get it ready for transport and it's portrait, I accidentally dropped some of those hazelnuts on top. *sigh* I'm going to have to learn to be more careful in the future!













Now, for those of you who are more into fruit, we have the luscious Charlotte Russe. We learned about Bavaroise and for this Charlotte, we used White Peach as the base. Oh, BTW, for those of you who don't know what a Charlotte is, it is a cake made using a mold. There are both cold and hot Charlottes and this one is a cold Charlotte. Anyway, the outside and bottom of this is made of Lady Fingers! This combo with the White Peach Bavarois was SO good!!! I really, really, really enjoyed this one!!!!! Maybe I'll make this one for the shop... I just don't know if our customer base would be interested... We'll see.

And finally, the quick bread style cake of the day - Lemon Cake! This is an interesting cake which I thoroughly enjoyed! It had bits of real lemon in it! We sliced up some lemons supreme style and added it to the mix. I froze these and enjoyed them for a quick breakfast on my super hectic mornings.

Day 34: Chocolate Ganache Cake

Chocolate Genoise Cake soaked in Hazelnut flavored simple syrup, layered with lightly whipped chocolate ganache, then glazed with even more chocolate and finally topped with candied rose petals (yes, they are edible!). Chocolate lover or not, you only need a small slice! =)

Day 33: Angel Food Cake, Dacquoise au Cafe

Day 33 was a heavenly day! Angel Food Cake - need I say more? Then there was also the Dacquoise au Cafe! This is a dried almond meringue with coffee flavored butter cream. Yum! For those of you familiar with Sans Rival, this is sort of a Mocha Almond version! It is mouth-watering! In fact, I'm thinking about selling these in our shop... =) Unfortunately for you, I wasn't able to take a picture because I didn't get to finish my up (since I ran out of time being the baker). BUT, my wonderful classmate Claudia gave me hers!!! Oh, it was a home run in my book!

Anyway, here is a picture of the Angel Food Cake...

Day 30: Speedy Vol au Vents, Dartois, Mille Feuille (Napoleon)

Day 27: Stollen, Croissant, Croissant Au Chocolat, Savoy Scones

Stollen has literally stolen my heart!!! *queue in fake laughter* This bread is unbelievable! Of course, I'll admit that there must be like a zillion calories in each slice from this loaf, but when eaten in moderation, it is SO worth it! It's got some dried fruits and lots of nuts (again with the nuts!!) and then it is coated with melted butter and a quick roll in powdered sugar. I forgot to take a picture of it, so SORRY! But it is definitely worth writing about. I don't remember the story for this one, but I think I remember our teacher saying something to the effect that it is shaped the way it is because it is supposed to symbolize a swaddled baby (since I think this is a Christmas bread). Anyway, I have it in my freezer at the moment and every so often, I'll take a slice for dessert! =)

Croissant and Chocolate Croissants are pretty self explanatory, but I must say that these are probably the best croissants I have ever had! And I'm not just tooting my own horn (or rather the school's since it's their recipe), but honestly, these were delish!





























And finally, we come to the Savoy Scones. These are the traditional scones made with dried currants. Nowadays, you can find scones in all different varieties, but my teacher told us that a dried fruit is usually used. With that thought, I went ahead and made my own version which I make on Sundays and sell at the shop: Mango Scones! =) I love them! They are like biscuits with bits-o-mango in them. I think it's an interesting combo!

Day 26: Brioche, Kugelhopf, Blueberry Muffins

Day 25: Challah, Danish, Fruit Cake

Challah (pronounced "HALLA" for those of you who don't already know). Yes, I was going around pronouncing it just the way it was spelled, but my partner corrected me gently and didn't openly laugh at me in my face (thanks Amanda!). Oh, and yes, I did braid it myself, thank you very much!















These Danishes were really yummy!!!! I think I ate like 3 of these - not all at once, though I really wanted to! =)















Fruit Cake is not one of my favorites, but this was good! I guess it's because our teacher told us that we could put anything we wanted in them! My partner and I opted for more nuts than fruits and that was an awesome choice! Oh, they were delicious!!!

Day 24: Viennoiserie!! Pecan Sticky Buns, Sally Lunn Buns, Orange Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Yessirree, Viennoiserie!!! Here is our intro to breads! This unit is somehow wedged between Puff 1 and Puff 2, but I just don't see why... I'm not complaining though! Anyways, the bread world is quite different from everything else we have learned so far. There's more "waiting" time between steps. It's good, but bad. We really had to learn to manage our time well, because once you start something when something else is proofing, you'd better make sure that you don't forget about that thing that's proofing. And being a baker during this unit is not a happy task. Thumbs up to our bakers for this unit!!!

And now, without further ado, I present the start of our Viennoiserie!

First up is the Pecan Sticky Buns! Move over Cinnabon!!! Oh, this was really, really good. I'm a total sucker for Sticky Buns and I was not disappointed! =)















Sally Lunn, oh Sally Lunn! I loved these buns. So did my little one! It was a good bribing tool while it lasted!















And finally, the Orange Cinnamon Swirl Loaf. This was good, but it would have been great without the raisins. Sorry peeps, I'm just not a raisin fan (you can thank my bro for that)! Though I have to say that letting the raisins soak in rum makes it more tolerable! =)