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!