This was a super fun week in pastry class. We focused on plated desserts. We were instructed to spend lots of time looking in books/magazines/online at beautifully plated desserts. As a class, we were told what we were going to be making- three desserts in total. We all volunteered to create one element of the dessert. I made hazelnut semifreddo. After all of the components for the three desserts were made, we were able to prepare our own garnishes and presentation elements, including lace cookies, caramel garnishes, chocolate garnishes, and tuiles. The next day, we came to class and were given between 8 and 10 minutes to plate our dessert and bring it to the front table. As a class we looked at each dessert and constructively commented on them…then, we ate! It was so neat to see how unique each plating was- we all used the same components, and produced all different ideas!

The first dessert to be plated was a apple-lime mousse with walnut japonaise, mango sorbet, apple chips and walnut-caramel sauce. Unfortunately my mango sorbet melted before I could get it in the picture! I think you can see it in some of the class pictures, though. I chose to serve my mousse in a lace cookie bowl, and crumble the japoniase on top, with a gooseberry garnish, and framed by the apple chips.

The next dessert was a chocolate-hazelnut-espresso terrine, with hazelnut semifreddo, black-cherry wine sauce, and caramel garnish. I chose to serve this one in a lace cookie bowl with chocolate dipped mint and a strawberry. Man do these things melt fast in a hot kitchen!

The last dessert to be plated was a lemon-coconut brioche bread pudding with passionfruit-caramel drizzle, lemongrass cream sauce, raspberry coulis, honey-thyme ice cream, and candied citrus. I added strawberries, mint leaves, raspberries, and a lace cookie bowl!

And one more group shot!

P.S. Check out these fun little tuiles I made when my Olympic spirit was running wild!

I thought I would share this cake with you all because it’s tasty and looks very pretty. It’s killer rich, and you won’t want toooo big of a slice, either The cake is a hazelnut sponge cake and it’s topped with a mocha Italian buttercream and some chocolate run-out decorations.

Hazelnut Sponge Cake

• 50g egg
• 120g yolks
• 85g sugar
• 5g vanilla
• 55g pastry flour
• 160g ground hazelnuts
• 180g egg whites
• 85g sugar

Whisk eggs, yolks, first amount of sugar and vanilla to ribbon stage. (You should be able to take the mixer whisk out of the bowl and have the batter drip in ribbons for about 4 seconds before it stops dripping.)

Sift flour and combine with hazelnuts. Fold into egg mixture.

Whisk whites with remaining sugar to medium peaks.

Fold 1/4 of the whites into batter.

Fold remaining whites into batter and put in prepared cake rings.

Bake at 375F until golden- test with a skewer if you like.

Mocha Buttercream

• 7 egg whites
• 375g granulated sugar
• water as needed
• 625g lightly salted butter, softened

Place egg whites in a mixing bowl. Place 120-130g sugar in a saucepan with enough water to moisten all of it. Bring to a boil, and add candy thermometer. Begin whipping egg whites to stiff peaks. When the sugar syrup reaches 116 degrees C, remove from the heat immediately and slowly pour into egg whites with the mixer running. Continue beating until the egg whites are completely cool. Gradually add the softened butter. When all the butter is added, add a 1-2 oz of melted dark chocolate. Add coffee extract to taste.

Building the Cake

Cut the hazelnut sponge cake into three equal layers. Place buttercream between each layer, and a thin crumb coating on the outside of the cake. Refrigerate for 20-30 minutes. Do the final presentation coating of buttercream. Add 8 even rosettes to the top of the cake, and top with chocolate decoration or shavings on each rosette.

You wouldn’t believe the amount of things I had to take home from pastry class this week! We had so much food! The long-awaited truffle torte finally came home, along with apple turnovers and meat pies made with homemade puff dough. We also brought savoury croissants- ham & cheese and plain cheese. We made a charlotte russe which is a white cake, lined with homemade lady fingers and a gelatin mousse filling (I used a black currant/raspberry flavour). We also made creme brulee, and for some reason ours tasted like Mcdonalds vanilla ice cream! Can you imagine me standing on the train during rush hour trying to carry all of this and balance- whew! Not to mention the looks I was getting from other passengers….I could tell they wanted my cake

As you can see, I made gigantic truffles, and they had started to melt by the time I got home!!

We lots of delicious (unhealthy) food this week in baking class. Heavenly lemon bars, flavourful rosemary rolls, classic banana bread, unique carrot bread, and a new favourite- streusel kuchen. I will post a couple recipes for these, and if you ever want to the recipes for something I haven’t posted it for, just let me know!!

Banana Bread

• 300g peeled bananas
• 300g brown sugar
• 65g eggs
• 165g oil
• 165g milk
• 10g baking soda
• 300g bread flour

Mix bananas and brown sugar in bowl with paddle attachment until smooth. Add oil, egg, milk and mix. Sift flour and baking soda together and add to mixer. Mix until it just comes together- do not overmix. Pour into two 7.5″ x 3.5″ loaf tins.

Bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean

This week’s pastry classes were extremely frustrating and stressful, but I made it through. We made a ton of stuff, which worked out great, as it was my brother’s birthday this week. We made a cheesecake that I haven’t tried yet, but it looks quite good, except for the crack on top. I’m going to go ahead and take a lucky guess about the crack– just after we put our cheesecake in the oven, my partner and I noticed a certain measuring cup full of cream sitting on the tabletop. Oops! To make up for the lack of moisture, I made a nice gooey mixed fruit sauce to go on top of the cheesecake.

We also made 3 different kinds of danishes from one danish dough. We learned how to make rolled, or ‘pigs-in-a-blanket” style danishes, as well as pinwheels, and also diamonds. We filled the rolled danishes with frangipane, the pinwheels were filled with pastry cream and apricot halves, and the diamonds were filled with a fruit mixture. They got a bit squished on the ride home, but you’ll get the jist.

Adding to the panic, we were given 15 minutes to put together a black forest cake from start to finish, with no ingredients prepped. In the process, I managed to cut two of my fingers while cutting the layers for the cake. After digging up some bandaids and gloves, my partner and I pulled together our cake. Slightly sloppy, yes….but we did it.

Lastly, (and the best-tasting) we made a lemon sabayon tart with a Swiss meringue and it was soo delicious. I normally dislike anything ‘lemon meringue-y’, but I really enjoyed a bite of this. We used a pate sucree base, and created the lemon sabayon filling. The Swiss meringue was so fun to pipe on and then torch!

This week, I had an absolute ton to carry home from my baking class…not an easy task while standing on a jam-packed skytrain, but everything made it home in one piece!

I’m really proud of my Apple Pie that I made- it’s probably the best looking pie I’ve ever managed to make. I will definitely be making a healthier version of this crust and pie recipe in the future.

We made Italian bread, which was nice- but slightly underbaked. We also made some cinnamon buns and they were tasty, but the sticky topping did not turn into a syrupy liquid.

One of the yummiest things we made was a rosemary focaccia bread. Poofy, and baked with a generous helping of olive oil, dimpled and topped with plenty of fresh rosemary and coarse salt. It was fantastic dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I went out after I had dropped it off at home, and when I went to have a bit that night, it was gone!

Focaccia

1050g bread flour

700g water

45g fresh yeast

25g honey

100g olive oil

21g salt

Combine all ingredients in a mixer to make a smooth dough- use the paddle attachment first to combine the ingredients, and then switch to a dough hook. Proof on the table until doubled in size. Roll dough out to fit a half sheet pan (or just use your hands!). Proof until doubled in size, again. Brush generously with olive oil, sprinkle with coarse salt and fresh rosemary. Bake at 380F until golden brown. Cool to room temperature. Enjoy!

Yesterday we got the opportunity to finsih off our choux pastries. We whipped up some pastry cream, which I’ll post the recipe for, and then we chilled it. We got our  pastries out of the freezer, and we poked one whole in each of the puffs, and a hole at each end of the eclairs. We put the pastry cream in a piping bag (after mixing it up with a lot of muscle!) and used a small round tip to pipe the pastry in the holes. We dipped the eclairs in chocolate, and sprinkled the puffs with icing sugar. These were fun, easy, and yummy!

Pastry Cream

• 1/2 litre milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split or vanilla extract
• 113g granulated sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 37.5g cornstarch
• 30g butter

Mix half the sugar in a pot with the milk and vanilla and bring to a boil. Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl and gradually add the other half of sugar. Whisk in the cornstarch to combine.

When the milk comes to a boil, add it to the egg mixture little by little and whisk. Add the mixture back to the pot, whisking continuously until boiling. Allow to boil for a minute or two. Remove from the heat and pour into a clean bowl. Stir in the butter little by little until melted. Do not overmix.

Cover by placing plastic wrap right on the surface of the custard so no skin develops. Chill on an ice bath. Remove the vanilla bean if you used one.

Today we also iced our ‘birthday cake’, which is a classic white genoise cake with a beautiful Italian buttercream.

And probably my favourite thing we have made so far, are these croissants. It was really neat to see how croissants are made from scratch. They came out flaky and crispy on the outside, with a beautiful soft, buttery inside. With a dab of orange marmalade, these were delicious. I will just try to forget how much butter they contain…..:s

P.S. The picture totally doesn’t do them justice!!

Lastly, I have a picture of the Vanilla Poached Pear Frangipane Tart that we made.

Today I had my first baking class and it was much less like the bootcamp experience we had in Pastry class. With a more relaxed atmosphere, we made blueberry muffins, peanut butter sandies, and soft rolls. I’ve chosen to share with you the soft rolls, because they look quite nice when they are done, and……they managed to only get slightly squished in my backpack compared to the muffins!! The cookies we made will be baked off next week- I snuck a taste of the dough, though, and I approve

Soft Rolls

• 385g water
• 25g fresh yeast
• 670g bread flour
• 13g salt
• 65g sugar
• 35g milk powder
• 65g butter

Yield: 24 rolls @ 50g

Scale and mix dough using a paddle first and then switching to a dough hook. The dough is ready when you can stretch it quite thin without breakage- “the window test”. Divide dough into 50g units and round. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with topping (poppyseeds, sesame seeds, etc). Pan rolls 6 x 4 on a sheet pan. Proof until dough bounces back quickly when pushed in with finger. Bake at 400 degrees until golden.

I’ve now started my second term at cooking school and this includes an Introduction to Pastry class. We started the week off by making several things- vanilla poached pears, pate sucree (sweet tart dough), frangipane, classic genoise, and choux pastry to name a few. So far, I have only taken pictures of the choux pastry- with the pear frangipane tart to be marked this week, I won’t get it until later. The choux pastry was easy to make, and because there is no sugar in it, it can take on the characteristics of both sweet and savoury dishes. For example- eclairs, or lobster/shrimp salad.

Choux Paste

• 335g water
• 145g butter
• 3g salt
• 180g bread flour
• 300g eggs (6)

Bring the water, butter and salt to a boil. Add the bread flour all at once and stir until the dough forms a ball and comes away form the sides of the pot. Cool slightly (to approx 60 degrees C) in a mixer with the paddle attachment. Add eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Pipe the choix paste immediately- a small, flat circle will make the puffs, and a thin, finger-length line will make eclairs. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes, without opening oven, reduce temperature to 375 degrees F and bake until shells are firm and dry (5-20 more minutes). Cool to room temperature. Use immediately or store in the freezer for later use.

I’ll let you know what we made with these when the time comes! Please excuse my grainy pictures, as well- when I am in class I will be using my point-and-shoot camera, or my cell phone camera to take these shots.

In my last day in the kitchen at cooking school, we had a ‘black box competition’ of sorts. Normally in a black box competition all of your main ingredients are a secret (hidden in a black box). For us, only our protein was a secret from us. We were allowed to prepare recipes and bring in any special spices or ingredients we thought we might need. Someone in my class asked our chef if I could bring in tofu and he said yes! I am so glad she asked him that, because I thought that would be out of the question. After finding this out, I was VERY excited. I knew instantly what I was going to make. Sweet Chili Lime Tofu with my Citrus Quinoa and I ended up making a side of thinly sliced red/yellow/green/orange bell peppers sautéed,

We had two hours to present our meal, and I found that to be a long time- I was waiting around for probably more than a half hour! After plating and garnishing my dish, I felt so proud! I was happy with the flavour and I thought it looked beautiful. I really wanted to show everyone that ‘weird’ food like tofu and quinoa can be delicious and I think I was successful. I had quite a few people in my class tell me that they ‘normally hate tofu, but that was the best tofu they have ever had’. When we were all shaking our chef’s hand and thanking him, he came up to me and said ‘I loved your tofu!’. That meant a lot coming from him, as in the first day or two he said I would have trouble getting through the course because of my vegetarianism. I think I just had to prove myself and I’m glad I was able to!

The judges were several other staff Chef’s, including the president of the BC Chef’s Association, our career advisor and a few office staff. It was so neat to see everyones creation- we all stuck to what we knew best and there were some beautiful potstickers, and spring rolls, pasta, risotto and other dishes.

I ended up coming in 6th, which I am ecstatic about! I was only one point behind 5th place, and 3 points behind 4th! When the judging rolled around, I really thought that there was no way I would come close to the top spots- which chef would like tofu more than meat….but it looks like they enjoyed it!

Here is a link to my posts about the tofu and the quinoa. It’s been a great 11 weeks in the kitchen and I can’t wait to start some baking when I get back from the break!