This week we made a Celebration Cake. Devils Food Cake to be exact. It was a basic straight forward cake, and it was fantastic! It was rich and moist, certainly something to make again. We used Italian Buttercream as a crumb coat and a Silky Ganache Deluxe as a finishing touch. My pouring was good, but I scraped a little too much off of the top and had to add more. As a result may cake was not completely smooth. We also made modeling chocolate. I had never made it before. It was a little to hard, but I managed to make some fairly decent flowers. Over the weekend I will get a little more practice with me flowers in the form of Gum Paste. We were going to make them in class it use on our Wedding cakes next week, but we ran out of time.
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Week 5 was our last week working in groups. For the rest of the quarter we will work on individual projects. Our final group was quite demanding. We made Orange Souffles with a Dark Chocolate Syrup and Almond Brittle, Salted Caramel Macaroons with Praline Cream, Almond Sable with Chocolate Mousse, assorted Cremeaux Tarts, White Chocolate Mousse Cake, and Fruit Tarts. I enjoyed making everything, however there were a few glitches in the formulas. The Chocolate Syrup was too thin. We had to cook it for almost 20 minutes longer than the formula stated just to get the right consistency. Also the Almond Brittle formula was just odd. The brittle was far to dry. I actually made it three times. On the third attempt, I just cooked to less. If I made it again, I would toast the nuts before hand in order to get a better color.
On week 6 we made a High Ratio Chocolate Cake with Italian Buttercream. The focus was decorating. As a baking and pastry student, I understand the need to develop this skill. But truthfully, I don't like it. I appreciate it, but I don't like it. Give me yeast and I am a happy girl. After much frustration, I managed to make a few roses. Frankly, I surprised myself! The key I suppose, is to just be patient. I need to work on that skill as well! The three main desserts we made this week were Roasted Pears with Chamomile, Baked Alaska and a Lemon Raspberry Tart. The Roasted Pears were served with a Hazelnut Financier, Chamomile Jus and Pear Sorbet. It was really good, but I would have used a Bartlett pear instead of Bosc. The Bartlett has a better shape and structure. The Financier had a fantastic taste and the sorbet was bright and tasted very fresh. We could not finish the Baked Alaska. In order to properly "bake" it, the Alaska needs to be frozen solid. We will finish it later. It was filled with Vanilla Ice Cream, Blueberry Sorbet and a Vanilla Cake. All of those tasted very good. Finally we made a Lemon Tart with Raspberry Preserves, Raspberry and Mango Coulis, Coconut Shortbread Tart, Italian Meringue and Isomalt Lace. The lemon curd was phenomenal! Super sharp and fresh. The meringue was smooth and shiny and the crust was light and crisp. Great week!!
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AuthorKimberly-baker and food history enthusiast! Archives
March 2015
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