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!