Cakes!

Tuesday we made Devil's Food Cake, Almond Cake, Carrot Cake, and Chiffon Cake.

Chiffon Cake:

This uses the Chiffon method. Sift together cake flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Combine oil, yolks, water, and extract - whisk. Making a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add wet ingredients and stir well, without over-mixing. Stir in lemon zest (if using). Whip egg whites to soft peaks; add in sugar and cream of tartar and continue whipping to form firm, moist peaks. Fold meringue into cake batter. Pour into parchment lined, ungreased 2 8" cake pans, filling only 2/3 of the way. When done baking, line rack with parchment, place on top of cake, and flip over - this flattens top and it won't sink further.

You'll see what we do with this in the next post...

Devil's Food Cake:

Mmmmm. Devil's food cake. This. Was. Amazing. Use the creaming method (you know what that is by now, right?). The most important step for this one is not to overmix once you've added the cocoa paste (which is just warm water and cocoa powder - nothing fancy). Don't worry if some of the flour isn't completely mixed in - scrape it down and stop the mixer. Use parchment and spray sides and bottom. Don't you wish you could have been there to smell this? I am not a huge chocolate person, but I think I could have just sat in a room filled with this smell.

Almond Cake:
Creaming method. If it starts to break when adding the eggs, just add a tiny bit of flour. Once all 12 eggs have been added (in three batches), fold in dry ingredients. Parchment line and spray pans. Spread with an offset spatula and pinch edge away from pan. Ha. This one was clearly too thin on one edge - I gave it to Master to work with, because if I do three out of four cakes, why should I get stuck with the burned one? Especially when she is very open that she doesn't care.

Carrot Cake:

This uses the two-step method - mix wet, mix dry, then mix together. Pretty simple. Irish says she has a much better recipe, but this tasted pretty good to me. Apparently her's has pineapple in it.

Lessons Learned:

Oh my goodness does chocolate cake smell amazing. And I like baking cakes! I really think I am going to have to go out and buy myself these different flours - I tried to make chocolate chip cookies at home but only using all-purpose, and they definitely did not turn out as well as the batch I made in class. Now, I also have a sucky 2/3 oven, but still. And I really want a kitchen-aid. But that's silly until I have an actual kitchen.

Fancy Desserts

Monday we made Creme Brulee, Creme Caramel, cheesecake, and souffle.

Creme Brulee:

Whip together egg yoks, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Scald heavy cream in a pot, gradually whisk into yolk mixture. Be careful when you do this - you don't want bubbles floating on the surface. If there are, you can pull them out withh a paper towel. Fill ramekins to the top and bake at 300 in a bain marie (water bath). Bake until set in center - shake to make sure it doesn't jiggle. Cool. Remove from cooler and spread a thin layer of sugar on top. Caramelize with torch in an even, steady movement, being careful not to scorch the sugar, which will create a bitter taste.

Creme Caramel:
Pour 1/4" layer of caramelized sugar into prepared ramekins. (I will explain how to make this on my practical day - Master made the creme caramel this day). Whisk eggs and sugar together. Scald milk and gradually mix into egg mixture. Stir in salt and vanilla. Use the same tactic as with the brulee to get rid of bubbles. Pour custard base into ramekins (once caramel is completely set) and bake at 300 in bain marie till custard is set in the middle. Allow to cool. Using a paring knife, separate custard edge from sides of ramekins and invert onto serving dish.

Cheesecake
We made a flat cheesecake - this is how they do it in catering and restaurants in order to cut out bite-sized pieces. Fancy restaurants of course do not serve gigantic triangle slices - having never been to one, I can't vouch for this, but I've seen photos...

Make a graham cracker crust out of a combination of graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar. Bake for about 8 minutes.
Paddle cream cheese until lump free (must be completely lump free!), then add sugar till smooth, then bread flour until smooth. Add eggs and yolks a little at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Scrape well between additions and afterwards. Add in cream, sour cream, and vanilla extract. Blend well. Pour over crust. Bake.

Now, to do what I have on top, those are different step.
From left to right:
Before cooking the cheesecake, draw thin lines with thinned out jam or chocolate. Then pull the paring knife gently down through the lines all the way down. In-between those lines, pull the paring knife in the opposite direction.
Marbeling, drop dots of color in a random formation. Take your paring knife and gently swirl the dots.
Hearts, drop dots of color in order. Pull your paring knife through the dots in one direction.

Souffle
Combine bread flour and butter to form a paste. Combine milk and sugar, bring to a boil then remove from heat. Temper a portion of the hot liquid into the flour/butter mixture, and then add all of this back into the pot. Beat vigorously to ensure there are no lumps. Return mixture to the heat and bring it to a boil, beating constantly. Allow to simmer for several minutes until it is thick and no starchy taste remains. Tranfer to mixing bowl, cover and cool 10 minutes. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.
Prepare souffle dishes by buttering and dusting interiors of ramekins.
Prepare meringue, whipping to soft peaks and then add sugar, whipping until firm and moist. Fold meringue into souffle base, 1/3 at a time.
Portion into ramekins. Flatten top with offset spatula and clean the edges (pinch edge between thumb and forefinger - circle the edge). bake for about 15 minutes for small dishes.
This is a sweet souffle - other flavors are chocolate, lemon and coffee.
Clearly, these are supposed to rise straight, but we were kind of rushed. We just barely got them in on time - Chef kept shouting if we didn't have them in the oven, not to bother, but I refuse to listen to that. As far as I could calculate, we had just enough time to have them in the oven and clean out space, and pull them out right before class ended. I was right, but clearly we messed up on something.
But she said they looked good on the inside. I sampled the tiniest bit, but really could not stomach any more sweetness.



Lessons Learned:
I lost track and almost ruined my cheesecake, but it turned out okay! I've made a lot of cheesecake for my boyfriend in college, but never this way. I also like this recipe better.
Also, people always think souffles are really hard, but you should expect them to start to fall almost as soon as they come out of the oven. In kitchens, the saying is, "people wait for souffles, not the other way around."

Dessert Presentation

Friday night we worked on plating desserts. We learned how to make tuile and sabayon.

To make tuile cream butter and powdered sugar, then paddle in egg whites, cake flour, and vanilla. Bake in 2-3 piece batches for about 3 minutes in a 300 degree oven. Must be shaped while hot - lay over a cup or a rolling pin, or shape in some other way. You can also spread it onto a silpat; this is called "marbeling."

Chocolate Mousse: This was my first and second one. The cookie you see sticking out is tuile.

Bavarian Cream:

I really liked my last one, but she pointed out, which made sense, that you don't want to tilt the bavarian cream because the fold makes it unattractive. But otherwise she said I had good ideas.

Lessons Learned:
Plating is fun, but I don't know that I have the best eye for it. I love art, but I don't have any training beyond junior high and photo in college.
I really enjoyed this activity - it's making me think I might be able to do my externship either in a restaurant under a pastry chef or a catering company.

Perishable Pastry

Thursday we made mousse, bavarian cream, ice cream and sorbet. Master and I both like lemon, so we made lemon sorbet. I had to almost double the amount of simple syrup before the baume would read solidly at 15. It's supposed to be at 16.

Master and I made a lemon sorbet. Combine lemon juice with simple syrup. Test in baume - a measuring device to determine how much density there is to sugar syrup. 11-14 intermezzo, 15-18 dessert sorbet (16 is the best reading), 20 cloyingly sweet and won't set up. I could not get it to move from 15, no matter how many times I poured in more simple syrup. I gave up after about 10 minutes - I figured I prefer the tartness of lemon, so I didn't need to keep making it sweeter. Process through an ice-cream machine.

We also made vanilla ice cream. Scald milk, whisk yolks and sugar in a medium bowl, then gradually temper hot liquid into yolk mixture. Whisk well and return to the pot. Using a wooden spoon, stir until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pour through chinois into clean bowl over ice, then pour in vanilla and cream. Process through an ice cream machine, after resting overnight.

To make chocolate mousse, melt bittersweet chocolate with butter over bain marie (bowl over boiled water - heat turned off), then whisk in yolks. in a separate bowl, whip egg whites with sugar to medium soft peaks. Fold into chocolate mixture. Whip cream separately to soft peaks, then fold into mousse. We stored these in ruber molds refrigerated overnight.

To make fruit bavarian, combine fruit puree (any kind), sugar and lemon juice. Bloom gelatin in water and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Warm over bain marie until gelatin granules are completely dissolved. Stir melted gelatin into puree mixture. Whip heavy cream to medium peaks and fold into puree/gelatin mixture. We also poured these into rubber molds and refrigerated overnight.

Lessons Learned:

It's really easy to make these frozen desserts by yourself, but you just need to buy a good ice cream machine. The hardest thing with mousse and bavarian cream is the folding: put one third of whatever you are folding in in with the whipped eggs, then cut down the center and move the spatula under to the left and fold the mixture over. Keep doing this, turning the bowl around as you go.

These will be plated - get excited!

Puff Pastry

Wednesday we started off with a quiz - weights and measures. I'm really glad we had to memorize this - I think it's really good to know without having to always check references. She did throw in some curveballs by making us do real math. We had to figure out how many ounces are in 3/4 cup, how many cups 8 T makes, and how many tablespoons are in 1 pound.
Just in case you're curious,
1T = 1/2 oz = 3t
2 cups = 1 pint = 16 oz
2 pints = 1 quart
2 quarts = 0.5 gallon
4 quarts = 1 gallon

We finished off the eclairs with chocolate fondant, dripping chocolate, powdered sugar, and almonds. To cut open the rounds, cut with a serrated knife, turning the pastry underneath your palm as you cut. This way you won't cut your hand and you won't break the pastry.

To make chocolate fondant, warm the fondant, stir in melted chocolate and simple syrup to make a smooth and creamy consistency. No one makes fondant from scratch - you have to buy it ready made. Some classmates told me you can find it online.

To make caramel, cover sugar with water and 2 oz of corn syrup in a pot, making sure there is no sugar on the sides - this will cause it to cede and ruin the whole batch. Put it on heat, and don't touch! Wipe down the sides with a wet pastry brush, making sure not to touch the boiling water. Cook to a medium amber color.

Fill the puffs with pastry cream in base, even with top, then dust with powdered sugar. To fill eclairs, poke two holes in the bottom, and pipe in creme chantilly. For the Paris Brest, pipe diplomat creme with a star tip, then drip chocolate, put down almonds (always an uneven number), and dust with powdered sugar. For the caramel, poke hole in the bottom, dip in, allow to harden upside down, and once cool, pipe in creme.

I love eclairs - and these turned out really well. They were a childhood treat, my dad would bring them home and they would be in the freezer - I would eat them after microwaving 10 seconds to soften the creme but keeping it cold. So tasty!

In order to clean the caramel pots (never, never pour this down a drain - you will pay a lot of money for a plumber), pour water to cover and then put on the heat. Once all of it becomes liquid again (including the bottom), pour hot down the drain. We had about six pots going, one by one finishing. The last one won't finish! Chef yells at us, twice, and finally tells us we will pay penalty points the next day. I want to point out that it's only 11:30 and technically class ends at 11:45, or that by yelling at us, she makes me want to dump the unclean pot under clean ones in the dish room and ditch it for someone else to deal with. Right after she threatened the penalty and walked out, the pot was finished and actually clean.

Lessons learned:
Start cleaning caramel early - it takes a really long time to finish.

Cookies, continued

Tuesday we made pate a choux and pastry cream (praline and vanilla). Brief lecture to begin again.

Pate a choux is a a tasteless batter that is piped and filled with pastry cream. You can tell the batter is done when it looks like stalagmites and stalagtites connected in caves.

Combine water, butter, andd salt in a pot and bring to rolling boil until the butter is completely dissolved. Add flour at once, stirring vigorously until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pan (about 10 minutes, your arm will hurt). Mix on moderate speed with a paddle attachment until dough cools below 140. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until fully absorbed. Will be piped into rounds, Paris Brest (logs), or eclairs.

I was way more on time today - I got done plenty early with my mixing, and then the baking took way longer than to be expected. You're supposed to do about 15 minutes at 425 and then 5 at 375 to brown. You know it's done at the first oven when you can press on it and they don't collapse under your finger. Mine took at least 25 minutes. Probably because people were in and out of the ovens since I was the first in.

Took home some mexican wedding cookies and biscotti to give to a couple people at work.

Lessons Learned:

Practicing piping is important. Chef may not be the friendliest, but she really does help. She showed me how to stop at the end of the cookie, and then pull back up or roll around the edge so there is no tail.

Baking and Patisserie 2

Monday we began cookies. Things weren't really going well. Master and I partnered up. The night started with a lecture - some girl in the bathroom called Chef L a "nazi" - which, I hate that word. But then I pointed out to Master that we've both seen that girl out in the hall during class on the phone, so no wonder she failed the class twice - Chef L is really strict about the rules. But. We get out around 11:30.

Anyway we made madeleines, three versions of mexican wedding cookies, and biscotti. I don't know why, but I felt majorly rushed - I felt like I was way behind. We screwed up the madeleine twice - first time mixing the eggs in right away, and then the next the butter wasn't soft enough. But the third time, the batch turned out well.

But by that time, I was having these chest pains that were freaking me out. I was bent over trying to breathe while still putting together ingredients.
Mexican wedding cookies:
sift confectioner's sugar, then cream butter and sugar.
add pastry flour, vanilla extract, and chopped nuts to creaming mixture.
3 shapes: small ball, small ball rolled in nuts then thumbprint for filling, and icebox (log 1.25 inches in diameter) then slice thin.

They got dipped the next day: some in chocolate, the rounder version in powdered sugar as soon as it came out. This isn't our dipped tray - I accidentally dipped the madeleines in the wrong side. Oh well.


Lessons Learned:
We learned how to make paper cones for dripping chocolate our of parchment paper. This works really well for a thin drip. Fold the parchment to make two triangles (kind of like starting an origami crane). Then cut the triangle in half. Grab with two fingers along the hypotenuse, fold one corner into the tip. Roll the other side around, then shuffle your fingers to make the tip sharp as a point. You should be able to fill the cone without any water dripping out. Fill with chocolate, then cut the tip enough to drip out the chocolate.