Sweetie Pie's Bake Shop

Lunch with Larry

2009-09-01T11:38:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I attended "Lunch with Larry." Larry is the General Manager of L'auberge du lac and he frequently has lunch, breakfast, dinner with employees and managers to keep informed and to inform his employees.
As I mentioned in yesterday's post I was allowed to create the desserts for the buffet being served. I made a cream cheese and lemon parfait with blueberries and a poached pear and almond tart. We also served the chocolate bourbon pecan tart we already had on hand.
I was hoping that at least a few people would indulge in dessert, much to my pleasant surprise, they cleaned the platters. Larry praised the pear and almond tart to the entire room. (Honestly, I loved the way they turned out, they were delicious and I could have eaten an entire platter of them alone!) Since, I never see anyone eat anything I make it was a treat for me to look around the room and watch people enjoy my goods. When I saw the GM take one bite of the tart and lean over to the person beside him and recommend them I was ecstatic. I could only think, "This is why I do this!"

“Be careful what you wish for.”

2009-08-31T10:32:00.003-05:00

“Be careful what you wish for.” –Dad
Things at work have been stagnant for me. For the last few months I show up for my scheduled shift and, for the most part, I decorate cakes: five-layer cakes for the Desserts’ shop, seven-layer cakes for Le Café and three-layer cakes for the buffet. I’ve made a few other things along the way and I’ve made the occasional birthday cake as well. I’ve been frustrated and honestly a little disappointed. I have been itching to cook and use the skills I acquired at Le Cordon Bleu.
This week it was all handed to me over the course of a 24-hour period. I was assigned a two-tier wedding cake and was allowed to create a menu and produce the desserts for an employee luncheon with L’auberge’s General Manager.
The wedding cake was assigned to me on Saturday afternoon. The wedding reception was Sunday evening. The cake was baked at 9 pm Saturday night. I’d love to tell you that I didn’t have a few stressful moments about the timeline but I’d be lying. As it turns out my worrying was for naught, I had the cake finished with hours to spare and no major setbacks to report. Actually, it was a piece of cake well, make that about 250 pieces of cake!
I was given a little more notice on the luncheon and had a game plan in mind for what I wanted to make. The only problem was now with the wedding cake on my list as well as having to pitch in with some of the daily production I was forced to make a few sacrifices. The individual chocolate cakes I had planned were scratched so I used some chocolate bourbon pecan tortes we already had prepared. The other two desserts, a cream cheese and lemon mousse parfait with blueberries and a poached pear and almond tart were made by multi-tasking components and assembly while waiting for other projects to come together.
Everything was made in 24 hours with a quick trip home for a 5-hour nap in between shifts. For those of you who know me well, you know of my history with fondant and my love of sleep so I’ll admit, how I covered a cake in fondant on five hours sleep is a mystery, even to me.
I've included a few photos of the wedding cake. The bride wanted the cake covered in white fondant with black swirls, since I did not speak with her myself this was my interpretation. I'm off to lunch with the GM, I hope my desserts are gobbled up!

Strawberry Shortcake for 650

2009-06-25T11:15:00.006-05:00

Last week we had a banquet for 650 people, a birthday party. I knew when the banquet was mentioned at our morning line-up that the task would be an all hands on board project. (While L'auberge regularly does banquets this large it was my first since we see more large banquets during the holiday season.) The original plan was to make cupcakes. Somewhere along the way the plate-up changed to a individual size yellow bundt cake with, strawberry sauce and chantilly cream; a deconstructed strawberry shortcake.
To accomplish the task we laid out a table with sheet pans and placed the plates on each pan, then built layers of sheet pans and plates. We needed a total of 109 sheet pans to hold all those plates! Ok, I admit it, I had not imagined doing a plate-up of this magnitude when I started in this field and it is amazing to watch all the tricks the people who came before me have devised! Fascinating.
The plate-up took a staff of five about two hours. A lot of that time was spend gathering racks, sheet pans and getting 650 dessert plates that matched. The cakes had been baked off during the week and the strawberry sauce was made the day before. The chantilly cream was whipped as we went (there was some problem with it being too soft.) The actual task of putting the plate together was a well corriographed "dance." The bundt cakes were placed at the 2 o'clock position on the plate, another person followed behind piping a chantilly rosette in the 8 o'clock position, followed by another placing the chocolate sticks at an angle on the rosette, yet another person placed the "Happy Birthday" chocolate sail on the plate while another staff member placed strawberry sauce on the cake, the final touch was a sprinkle of powdered sugar across the cake. The plate's rims were wiped and they were removed to a rack, revealing a new set of plates for our dance to begin again. It was a like a team relay and found that it built a level of trust and comradery I had yet to see with this staff.
*Sorry about the photo quality. The pictures were taken in a rush on my iPhone, we had bigger priorities to worry about, but I couldn't resist sharing this with all of you.

Happy Father's Day, Papa!

2009-06-21T16:23:00.003-05:00

The Realities of Production

2009-06-15T10:51:00.004-05:00

On the transition from photojournalist to pastry chef I'm learning some important lessons.

First of all, producing products in a real kitchen, opposed to the culinary school kitchen, means we have to get the product out, en mass. The bakery is supported by the outlets in the casino. Which means we produce the desserts served in the restaurants and our Desserts' shop as well as all banquets. A large part of our production goes to the buffet. Sometimes, okay all the time, I think, "If I only had more time!" Things are produced quickly and so far, quickness means cutting some corners and not doing things the way I was taught in culinary school. I sometimes I find this a disappointment but wonder if I will one day cut corners in my own bake shop as well. After all, you have to keep up with demand. Of course, with the stipulation that you are not sacrificing quality.

As with photojournalism, I often create things that are not in line with the vision of the editor (or in this case, Chef.) It will be interesting to see as my career goes on how much creative freedom I am allowed. Or if, as it was with photography, I'll spend hours of my life trying to convince my boss to go with my vision.

This week was a great example of both cases: I had to make mini Hawaiian cakes (filled with coconut pastry cream and pineapple, frosted with whipped cream.) I liked the plain version and felt that was better left simple but, the chef wanted them piped with a star tip up the sides. I thought the final version came out okay but, I come from the elegant and classic training of Le Cordon Bleu where I don't think the instructors would have approved. Given more time I think I could have made each one look like an elegantly frosted little cake but, I had an hour to make about 50 of them ...

Yesterday, I had 26 cakes on my list! A challenge for me but, 16 of them were display cakes, which means "Make them look really cool and different!" I only got 8 complete but I played with some fun ideas and creating them takes a lot more time than just torting, filling and frosting a three layer cake. Overall, I was pleased with their playfulness.

The Here and Now

2009-06-11T19:29:00.000-05:00

Upon my return to Louisiana I had a few interviews lined up ...
The first was at L'auberge du lac, a casino in Lake Charles, La, for the position of Lead Baker. I was offered the job. The rest as they say is history. I moved to Lake Charles in early May and started work shortly after.
The casino recently hired a new Executive Pastry Chef, Bill Foltz. His resume is long and impressive. He is about to compete is the Pastry Olympics in Phoenix in early July. The staff has been told that upon his return to the bake shop following the competition we will roll out a new menu ... I am very excited to see the changes he makes.
Until then, I currently decorate lots of cakes.
On Sunday, I did a VIP plate-up of: milk chocolate cheesecake glazed with ganache and a white chocolate pitachio angalise, a triple chocolate torte with raspberry sauce and a white chocolate mousse filled tuxedo strawberry.
I've been busy in my home kitchen playing with new ideas, recipes and flavor pairings because The Bakery, My Bakery will be a reality before we know it. (Mom and dad enjoyed the lemon poppy seed muffins with meyer lemon glaze this morning!) Feel free to weigh in with your favorite bake shop goodies and the name is still in the works too ...

Portland and Beyond ...

2009-06-11T18:33:00.000-05:00

After my time at August (the externship was a quick six week program.) I took a little time off to visit family and friends. I also needed to go back to Portland to collect a few of my things. Largely, I missed my car!
I spend about a month enjoying all the bakeries of Portland I could find, even venturing out as far as Hood River to check out a really cute little spot called South Bank Kitchen. I did some hiking in the Gorge and wandered the streets of downtown. Sadly, I discovered a little too late that I really did love Portland. It is beautiful and convenient (the public transportation system is incredible) and offers something for everyone. I regret not exploring more while I was in school there. But, I don't regret the hours I spent hidden in the school's labs discovering. After all, that was my real reason for going to Portland.
After weeks of playing tourist in Portland, I wandered my way across country back home to Louisiana ...

Externship at August

2009-06-11T18:11:00.001-05:00

I’m back! It has been an interesting couple of months and I want to catch everyone up to speed.
After the Christmas break, I started my externship at Chef John Besh's Restaurant August in New Orleans, La. If you haven't heard of it, you can check it out here:

http://www.restaurantaugust.com/restaurantandbar.html

It was a great experience. I worked long and tiring days but I got a lot of insight on the world of a five-star restaurant. I worked along side Jennifer Loos, the Pastry Sous Chef . We created all of the desserts for service as well as all of the banquets, including a dessert banquet of the Queen of Mardi Gras.
I had the opportunity there to make every component of our desserts. I made more ice cream bases and churned more ice cream than I will likely eat in a lifetime. But it was a great first experience. I conquered a lot of fears and learned to share my kitchen with line cooks and runners and being in Chef Besh’s kitchen, a few TV crews. Tom Colicchio and the cast of Top Chef New York even stopped in for dinner one night.
One of our most popular desserts at August was the Napoleon of Nougatine with Valhrona chocolate bavarois and salted toffee ice cream. The dessert was so popular I made salted toffee ice cream everyday.
The tart pictured is a buttermilk custard with blueberries. It was for a bridal brunch banquet.
The chocolate towers are part of the Trio of Chocolate dessert. It is a bittersweet pate incasing a milk chocolate Bavarian.

To new beginnings and old friends!

2008-12-27T13:54:00.000-06:00

Stories have beginnings and stories have ends,
so say goodbye to all your friends.
And now that we've finished the very last rhyme,
We'll close the book until the next time.
- Mercer Mayer, Little Monster's Bedtime Book

To my very first kitchen friends: Thank you for all the dishes you washed that weren't yours, for all the pots you stopped from boiling over, for all the tools you loaned out, for all the baked goods you saved from burning, for all the hands you offered and advice you gave, I will never forget our days together. My love always, Sarah Beth

Sugar Wonderland

2008-12-27T13:45:00.000-06:00

My final project ... although nearly obsolete due to snow days ... was a winter wonderland sugar showpiece. It might be the first and last time I play with sugar for a showpiece as it is not commonly used for anything other than competitions. It was fun learning to blow, pour and pull sugar. They are difficult techniques and would take years of practice to master. I did enjoy creating my amateur piece of holiday spirit though. It was even more fun walking home through downtown Portland ... after about 3 blocks of pointing and head turning I was smiling and wishing folks Happy Holidays!

Cajun Night Before Christmas

2008-12-15T18:26:00.000-06:00

I'll admit it, I'm in love with my gingerbread house. Even looking at it today after the hurricane came in the night and took out the two trees, I'm still loving it.
I knew months ago that I'd get to make my gingerbread house so close to Christmas that everyone would be in the spirit. I knew too that by then I'd be dying to come home to my beloved Louisiana and all our cajun-ness! Combined I could think of no better gingerbread house than a representation of the "Cajun Night Before Christmas." All credits to "Trosclair" and James Rice for their fabulous inspiration.
It was the best three days at school, period. I even felt a sense of pride when my hands turned a horrible shade of green from making all eight alligators for hours. I made marzipan (one of my favorite candies) into a completely inedible substance by adding herbs de provence, cloves, and nutmeg but I had the perfect swamp dirt afterwards. I made Santa's piro and sack full of toys. I hung garland over the windows as I know the poor swamp family could not afford expensive decoration. I had the most trouble with the cypress trees, they wanted to flop over and I wanted them to stand up. Sure if you are at home you stick something in the tree to make it stand up but if you are a student at Le Cordon Bleu making a gingerbread house, everything has to be edible. Thin spaghetti saved the day but thats about as long as they lasted ...
In case you are thinking of trying this at home ... A couple of tricks: Bake the gingerbread long and cool, dry it out completely, it will make a more stable house. Use well whipped royal icing to glue it together and let if dry completely before moving it around. Then just have fun with it! The more the merrier!
This was incredibly fun and I can't imagine a Christmas in the future without a gingerbread house. They are magical.
"Merry Christmas to all 'Till I saw you some mo'!"

Sweet Dreams

2008-12-15T17:30:00.000-06:00

Candy!
We made candy for days. Seriously, we made candy everyday for over a week. It was wonderful. Nothing puts you in the Christmas spirit more than making toffee, brittle, divinity, caramels, truffles, mints, fudge and chocolates.
The technique is difficult. Dipping and shelling takes practice and more practice. Confectioners are highly skilled ... now I know why truffles and chocolates cost so much.
For those of you back home I know you have already seen and eaten or given away most of the 15 pounds of candy I mailed back to Louisiana! Glad I could share with folks back home for once...Merry Christmas!

Wedded Bliss

2008-11-26T23:09:00.000-06:00

Well here she is … my first wedding cake. Nearly a week worth of work and our biggest, hardest project in culinary school is complete. It was nerve racking and stressful and incredibly fun. (Except for the bit where the fondant tried to kill me!)

The theme of my wedding cake is inspired by my parent’s wedding day. The cake topper is a “B” for “Barnett.” The magnolia is the state flower of Louisiana, where they met and were married. The green fondant matches the shade of my mother’s wedding gown and the smaller flowers match the lace on the gown. The blown sugar heart represents the month of February in which they were married. The extension lace “snowflakes” are inspired by the fact that completely out of character for Louisiana, it snowed on their wedding day preventing many of their guests from arriving.

Thanks for always supporting me Mom and Dad, this one’s for you. Love, S

Little Monster's Birthday Cake!

2008-11-17T19:45:00.000-06:00

I am so excited about my children's birthday cake. I used the book "Little Monster's Bedtime Book" by Mercer Meyer for my inspiration. It was my all time favorite book as a kid and I insisted that it be read to me at nearly every bedtime. It was also given to me by my deceased "Grampie" who I miss dearly.
The cake is a devil's food cake with raspberry jam and chocolate buttercream frosting. I used modeling chocolate to create the little monster and for the painting's frame. After nearly a week finally, the pastillage dried and I was able to do my cocoa painting. (It is just like it sounds ... painting with cocoa powder.) I piped both the side message "Little Monster's Birthday Bash" and the "Happy Birthday" with royal icing.
I wished I could give it to someone with a birthday, alas, no one with a birthday coming up is near by so the upstairs neighbor who held the door for me today and the guy two doors down who loves chocolate got the cake. Enjoy the pics.

Fall is in the air

2008-11-09T11:04:00.000-06:00

The final project was to plate four unique desserts created by you. The requirements were hot dessert, custard, chocolate and seasonal.
My menu was very seasonal and is meant to invoke a warm fuzzy "it's FALL!" feeling.

APPLE SPICE CAKE
Hot apple spice cake filled with cranberries and pecans
topped with warm caramel sauce, served with candied cranberries

DARK CHOCOLATE TRUFFLE TART
Rich velvety chocolate filling in a sweet crust,
served with a tart cherry sauce

GINGERBREAD ICE CREAM
Creamy gingerbread ice cream
sandwiched between fresh baked gingerbread cookies

EARL GREY POACHED PEARS
Poached bosc pears served in an earl grey reduction
with dries apricots, cherries, toasted pecans

We had 4 and half hours to create everything for the plates. I've never moved so fast in all my life. Well, I might have some Saturday slinging sandwiches at the old Q ... none the less it was hurried and stressful. I got big props for doing ice cream (very time sensitive and therefore adds extra difficulty.) I spent about an hour cutting out the stencils for the maple leaves (fortunately I could make the stencil ahead!) Chef really liked my candied cranberry garnish as she had never candied cranberries herself. But the star of the show was my standing gingerbread man ice cream sandwich. The perfect man.

It is a Mystery

2008-11-09T10:42:00.000-06:00

The deeper we dug ourselves into plated the harder things got. Ever thought about playing with sugar that is 320 degrees? It is as intimidating as you think it might be, but once you start working with it caramel garnishes are a beautiful addition to a plate .... you just have to be really careful.
The last week was amazing. We made pear charlottes. I plated mine with caramel garnishes (spirals and pulled caramel) and a pear chip.
On Wednesday we walked into class not knowing what we would be working with. Mystery ingredient day ... turned out to be one of my favorite ingredients, pumpkin! A lot of the class had never chopped up a whole pie pumpkin and made use of it! It was a really fun day. I had a lot of tricks up my sleeve but I decided to try something I'd never done before. I made a pumpkin mousse with mascarpone (not too sweet) and then I put it in a pate sucree crust brushed with melted chocolate, topped the whole thing off with chocolate chantilly cream and a drizzle of chocolate ganache. I just happened to have the pumpkin chocolate cut-out garnish. I made the colorful cranberry coulis the hard way, cooked down cranberries, pureed and then food milled for a really beautiful sauce. It was so tart and tangy. Chef couldn't believe I went to all the work ... cranberry puree doesn't come in a tub, you gotta to do what you gotta do.

Le Cordon Bleu Chariot

2008-11-09T10:38:00.001-06:00

Somewhere among all the plating of desserts and constant search for ideas of plating desserts. I managed to put together a pumpkin for the pumpkin scholarship contest. Unfortunately it won no money but is sure is cute. Big thanks to all the people who helped me put my vision into a pumpkin!

Lavalicious!

2008-11-09T10:17:00.001-06:00

Week one was short so week two was demanding.
We spent a day of class learning about chocolate and chocolate garnishes. It was the first time that we spent nearly an entire class in lecture and demo. We made spirals, cut-outs, cigarettes, filigree, tulip cups and I am sure I'm forgetting something (it is my day off!)
We all found it was more difficult to come up with more than one plate design each day. One plate would be great and totally inspired then you fall short on the next plate.
Some of week two was guided, for example we all made mousse cake with untempered chocolate wrapping. We all felt they turned out dreadfully but it is so difficult to do that of the school's instructors only Chef Erica has continued to work on mastering the technique and is the only one who teaches it. Mine is plated with gingerbread anglaise and chocolate sauce.
We all baked lava cake. Trickly little thing. But so rich and delicious that is so worth it. Mine is plated with chocolate spirals and two-tone tuiles with a raspberry coulis.
For the tropical puff project I made a lemon mousse napoleon sandwiched with pineapple slices.

Plate up

2008-11-09T10:04:00.000-06:00

Now plated is the first of our four advanced classes. It focuses solely on individual desserts plated with at least one sauce and one garnish.
The really fun part of this class is it is our first taste of freedom. We chose what to make, what flavor to make it, what sauce to pair with it and what type of garnish we want to use. The first week we started with some guidance: we all made ice cream, panna cotta, chocolate mousse ... then we chose the rest.
The panna cotta was our first plate up. Mine is mint panna cotta with strawberry coulis and a tuile cookie. My chocolate mousse is served in a tempered chocolate tulip cup with strawberry coulis and chocolate sauce.

Gateaux!

2008-11-09T09:55:00.000-06:00

It has been a while. It has been a whirlwind. Advanced classes are more demanding, which equals more lab time, more homework, bigger projects and overall more dedication. Fortunately it is also the most fun working I've ever had.
Before I begin telling you all about my plated desserts class I thought I should show you how my cake came out. Almond cake with lemon curd filling, frambois syrup and lemon mascarpone frosting, of course topped with little marzipan lemons! It came out perfectly, and is an absolutely fabulous flavor combination. This is a real keeper and God willing will be on the menu at Sweetie Pie's Bake Shop.

The Class!

2008-10-16T19:59:00.001-05:00

These guys have been my family for the last several months. I love them.

Where did all the cake go?

2008-10-16T19:45:00.000-05:00

I can't believe tomorrow is our final cake practical. The last three weeks have been so fun and amazing that they have just flown by.
This week we made the tastiest of the cakes so far. A few of the highlights include:
Orange chiffon cake, it is like eating air, so light and fluffy. Delish! We made Brasilia ... hazelnut cake with coffee, caramel buttercream and a nougatine top. Stef and I couldn't stop eating the nougatine! Yum! And the Dobos. For all my south Louisiana folks that are familiar with the Doberge this one might actually be more fabulous. It is certainly more spectacular than the New Orleans rendition. Almond sponge cake with French chocolate buttercream, caramel and almonds. Wow!

Everything is Rosey!

2008-10-12T19:37:00.000-05:00

It is the start of last week of cakes. So I better give you the run down on the end of last week. We made a Birthday cake with devils food cake and quick fudge frosting. There ain't nothing quick about quick fudge frosting ... the recipe we worked with set up so quick you could barely get it on the cake. Cupcake Jones had a much easier and tastier version that I would have preferred but apparently every bakery in the country uses this one?? I guess I'll let you know more about that later but I didn't care for the flavor of this one, shortening might be cheaper but are we focusing on quality or quantity?
The Alhambra cake was our practical this week. In a change of routine we had never made this cake before (normally the practical is something you have already had the chance to make in a previous class.) The cake was a really dense hazelnut sponge cake crumb coated and filled with ganache and glazed with chocolate glacage. Alhambra has to be written on the top of the cake in glacage or ganache and a natural marzipan rose dusted with cocoa powder is placed on top.
I really enjoyed working with marzipan this week and I can't wait for celebration cakes class where we will work with gum paste.
We have to create our own cake for next week's practical so after class on Friday I played with the prototype ... Almond cake with lemon curd filling and lemon mascarpone frosting. It was so delicious.

Carrot Close-Up!

2008-10-08T16:55:00.000-05:00

Slice of Heaven!

2008-10-08T16:31:00.000-05:00

I've died and gone to cakes class. It is little slice of heaven tucked away on the fifth floor of the Galleria. My instructor is amazing: helpful, generous, understanding and joyful. Besides the chef's ability to impart her bounty of knowledge to all of us we are making cake.
Now here is the thing. When I came to Le Cordon Bleu I expected to love bread's class. I thought that would be my passion and I'd go on to bake bread everyday. I've always been one of those people that didn't really care what my food looked like as long as it tasted good. Well, I guess I was wrong on a couple points. Bread turned out to not be my passion and decorating cakes is one of the funnest things I have ever done. Making tiny shapes out of marzipan, amazing. Frosting a cake beautifully, amazing. Pretty food that tastes good, actually tastes even better. Trust me, it is true. Remember we eat with our eyes first. Besides who wanted to pay money for an ugly cake they can make at home?
Well, week one was somewhat review for us. Genoise with french buttercream. Black Forest Cake make with chocolate genoise. Triangle cake, jelly roll sponge with chocolate buttercream and chocolate glacage. (Any idea how we put that one together?)
Week 2: So far we have completed banana cake filled and frosted with sour cream ganache (even if you don't like bananas you will like this!) Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. Yes, we made the marzipan carrots and bananas! So cute and so tasty!

Happy Birthday Momma!

2008-09-30T19:00:00.001-05:00

Strawberry Shortcake

2008-09-27T12:35:00.000-05:00

So the week went splendidly. The homestretch was the mousse cake we had three weeks to prepare for. I turned over idea after idea in my head searching for the right flavor combinations. Which sponge cake to use? What mousse am I sure will set up in the three hour timed allotment? Yes, I did lose sleep over it. I think we all did. Pracitals are stressful and this was our own inflicted misery. No chef to tell you what to do, it was all on our shoulders. A new and exciting venture on our own. I settled on a play on strawberry shortcake. Layers of bavarian cream sandwiched between a ladyfinger sponge cake and fresh strawberries. It turned out beautifully and just as I had envisioned it. Although I couldn't even eat it (the whole gelatin, vegetarian thing again) I was more proud of that cake than anything I have done here. When it was my turn to bring it to the chef to be graded I was so confident. I can't explain the feeling of going to the chef with a product, you are either fixated on its flaws and scared to death (which is mostly how I have felt every week.) But to present something you have created from idea to completion and to be proud of it is amazing. The chantilly on the day was the chef was proud of me too.

Mousse! Souffle! Ole!

2008-09-27T11:57:00.000-05:00

As badly as my second week of custards went, my third week went the exact opposite of that. Everything was going my way this week. (I think I may have even managed to impress my chef this week, no small feat!) All the flavor combinations and creations are mine and I think the chef particilarly liked that I took some risks. Lemon and black current frozen mousse cake. Frozen mousse can be made three different ways: meringue based, fruit and syrup based and custard based. My digestive system was happy that none of them contain gelatin because they are set by freezing and not with gelatin. I made a gingerbread spice ice-cream, molasses, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon ... I think I'll pair it with some hot apple pie. (sorry, not photos, ice cream isn't very photogenic.) We made crepes and souffles. I made a lemon crepe souffle topped with creme anglaise and pineapple coulis. Crepes and souffles are simple and fun to make, not at all scary like they seem to be portrayed. Although, if you are thinking of serving a souffle keep in mind... Souffles will fall as quickly as they rise. They only last a moment out of the oven. Along with ice cream we also churned sorbet. Going back to my southern roots I decided to make a Mint Julep sorbet; mint, lime and bourbon. When I served it to the chef she really liked it and I said that I would add more bourbon next time. (Since alcohol and sugar effect ability to freeze I was shy on the bourbon ...) She said I should serve it with flambeed bourbon. So we did. Everyone loved it.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Check-offs!

2008-09-21T19:14:00.000-05:00

That is my line of check-offs waiting for chef to critique. That is my friend, Lori, in the background plating her rose water panna cotta.

Filigree, filigree, filigree, filigree ...

2008-09-21T19:11:00.000-05:00

Piping practice. You just pipe rows and rows until you get it right. Consistancy and flow are key.

Gelatin anyone?

2008-09-21T18:52:00.000-05:00

Since most of the people reading this blog are friends and family (who am I kidding? its really just mom and dad reading.) I feel it necessary to be honest with you, this custard stuff isn't a piece of cake. Seriously, its tedious work that I find a very easy to screw up. I can't tell you how many products I have started over this week. That said, every mistake is just a learning opportunity and I'm starting to get the hang of working with gelatin.
This week was heavy on production so I'll just give you a taste of the things we created. A blackberry mousse sits in a tempered chocolate tulip cup topped with chantilly and filigree. (Be glad you missed Lori popping the balloon covered in still wet chocolate!) Bavarian cream molded in a fleximold, topped with chantilly and filigree (yes everything is garnished with chantilly and filigree!) The lemon bavarian creams were also molded in fleximolds. They sit on a base of ladyfinger sponge and are plated with creme anglaise and a pineapple colis. Almond panna cotta (chef says my garnish is more expensive than the dessert itself!)

Jiggling Brain Cake

2008-09-21T18:31:00.000-05:00

So since we are just over half way through our education at (our soon to be newly named school) Le Cordon Bleu Portland, I feel it necessary to share a little trip down memory lane...
It was our first week of school our small class was learning about sanitation from the awesome Chef Bruce. The subject matter was a bit dry and we were all tired of sitting and very antsy to start playing with our new tool kits when Chef Erica came in with it. "It" was a Jiggling Brain Cake! Alright, "it's" real name is Charlotte Royale. So this week it was our turn to make the mysterious brain cake. (Oh come on, look at the picture, doesn't it look like a brain? AND it is made of gelatin so it jiggles ... like a ....ok, you get it.) First you make a jelly roll sponge and fill it with raspberry jam. Then it is sliced to about 1/4 inch thick and used to line a round mold (we just used mixing bowls!) Then once your mold is prepared you can begin making your bavarian cream. The bavarian cream is poured into the mold and chilled for at least 45 minutes but overnight is best because the gelatin becomes stronger the colder it gets. Once set the rest of the slices of jelly roll are placed on the bottom of the cake the edges are trim then it is flipped out onto a cake board and decorated with chantilly cream and chocolate filigree. Ta Da. Brain cake!

Pate a You!

2008-09-21T17:42:00.000-05:00

These weeks move so quickly I feel I can hardly take a breath between weeks. Well to finish off the first week of custards we made Paris Brest and Gateau St. Honore. Both are made with pate a choux paste.
The Paris Brest is made with pate a choux paste piped into rings (like a doughnut) and sprinkled with sliced almonds, then baked. They are cut in half and then we piped praline pastry cream in the center. The tops are decorated with a thin striping of dark chocolate and dusted with powdered sugar.
The St. Honore is a little more complicated. Ok, a lot more dificult. First you need a blind baked base of pate brisee with rings of pate a choux paste piped on top. We also baked off pate a choux paste in rounds or puffs. The puffs are filled with chocolate and vanilla diplomat cream (pastry cream and whipped cream.) Then we made caramel (sugar cooked to 320 degrees) and dip the tops of the puffs in the hot caramel. (carefully!) Then the bottoms are dipped in caramel and attached to around the edge of the pate brisee base. The center is filled with a decorative "V" pattern piped with the contrasting diplomat creams. The whole thing is topped with spun sugar. Did I mention this was a challenge to make?!

Blue Cheese Cake?!

2008-09-11T19:10:00.000-05:00

Creamy goodness. My lunch today: Blue cheese cheesecake. Panko and walnut crust, cream cheese and blue cheese with a dash of Tabasco. Yummie! I was the only one in class brave enough to make it. I guess the cheese stands alone!

Clafoutis!

2008-09-10T17:02:00.000-05:00

Alright then, now that I'm caught up with Viennoiserie we can talk about custards. This is a clafoutis. From the Limousin region in France, it is traditionally made with cherries but alas cherry season in Oregon is over and the peaches are abundant so we made peach clafoutis. It is baked in a brisee crust. The peaches or other fresh fruit is arranged in the blind baked shell and then the custard is poured over the top and it is baked until set. It was tasty but not as good as my White Chocolate Bread Pudding ... look out Grapevine!

Phyllo, Polonaise, Phun!

2008-09-10T16:45:00.000-05:00

In the last week of Viennoiserie we worked with Phyllo dough, the commercially produced product in your local grocery store. We also made Brioche again. We have done a lot of Brioche and what was kind of tricky and seemed so hard in the beginning has gotten a lot easier with practice. We made a tete and nanterre loaves out of the brioche but with a much higher fat level this time. It can be made with as low as 15% fat and as much as 80%. We stayed in between with 35% and 50%. The phyllo is very delicate and hard to work with. It is important to keep the dough covered and moist while working with it and it needs to be brushed with clarified butter between each layer. Never handle frozen phyllo it will crack. We made strudel from the phyllo and assisted chef with a demo on real strudel. I remembered watching some little old ladies in a church basement in Wisconsin making strudel, really neat stuff. We also made cups and purses filled fruit filling out of the phyllo. What do you do with day old brioche a tetes? Cut off their heads, core their centers, fill with pastry cream, put their heads back on and pipe on french meringue, torch and devour. Or at least that is what we did and it is a real pastry, it is called Polonaise and it is so delicious. With the leftover nanterre we made toast covered in almond cream and almonds. I sure wish I had some Polonaise leftover ...

Danish anyone?

2008-09-10T16:42:00.000-05:00

This is amazing. It seems like we only were just starting Viennoiserie and now here we are in Custards. So sorry folks I have some catching up to do. We will start with the second week of Viennoiserie and work forward from there. In the second week we made Danish and croissant doughs. They are laminated doughs and formed much the same way as I described the puff dough. We working the butter into the dough through turns. The big difference with these two doughs and the puff is the amount of turns and the fact that the danish dough is enriched (with milk and egg.) These two doughs need less turns because they have yeast in the dough acting as a leavener and no longer relying solely on mechanical leavening. By the way, real danish is a far cry from the "danishes" on the breakfast buffet at the hotel you stayed at last week. On the same note, croissants should always be light and airy with a buttery flavor, if they are dense and chewy send them back. The photos are of the pinwheels and rosettes filled with pastry cream or almond cream and topped with fruit filling. The two croissants are the chocolate and almond cream filled and the plain. The pain au raisin is filled with pastry cream and rum soaked raisins. Think these will sell in my bake shop?

Back for Breakfast?

2008-08-24T17:58:00.000-05:00

Last week we were back in the kitchens beginning a new class: Viennoiserie (or laminated dough.) For those of you that haven't studied your morning pastry before enjoying it, Viennoiserie is a Viennese style pastry. It is a high fat, rich baked good product similar to bread. The breads are enriched with butter, sugar, milk and eggs. They can be either sweet or savory. Last week we made and studied puff pastry. There are three types of puff pastry: ordinary, reverse and blitz (literally meaning "lightning.") The ordinary is made of a beurrage (butter) encased in detrempe (dough) to create a laminated dough. The paton (package) is then rolled out and given several tourage (turns) or folds that create the layers to the dough. The reverse is just the opposite, the butter is on the outside and is wrapped around the dough. Yes, this is a very difficult dough to work with. The Blitz dough is made like flaky pie dough by combining all the ingredients at once and then rolling and folding the dough. The blitz is easier to make and much less time intensive however you will not get the rise you would with the other two doughs.
Pictured are several of the products made from the ordinary and reverse doughs: The vol au vents are filled with pastry cream and topped with fresh fruits. The pithivier is a almond creme filled pastry meant to bring prosperity with a sunburst scored on the top. The chausson aux pommes are essentially apple turnovers in a circular shape. The bouchees are the circular shaped pastry filled with a mushroom Newburg sauce. The fruit band is a larger version of the vol au vents filled with pastry cream and topped with fresh fruit.
Next week we are making croissant and danish doughs. Until then, I hope your morning pastry is less of a mystery and more appreciated.

Rich Bread, Sweet Bread

2008-08-02T16:38:00.000-05:00

This week was all new. Sweet, enriched and laminated doughs. Sweet dough, like the kugelhoph makes a really sticky dough that is hard to work with. Brioche, the enriched dough, is easier to work with but the shaping is a challenge that would take practice to perfect. The nanterre loaf pictured is the easier shape. We also had a brief intro to our next class by creating classic and chocolate croissants with a laminated dough. We will continue work with lamination doughs in the next section: Viennoiserie. We also made my favorite this week Panetonne. Christmas in July!

Bounty of Bread

2008-07-25T16:25:00.000-05:00

And ... back to Bread again.
The first week of this class has been a lot of repetition from our intro bread class. Baguettes everyday, Focaccia, white pan loaf, pita, tortilla ... with a few added bonuses like ciabatta (which is more like batter than dough), honey buttered oat and fougasse. All of these doughs are straight dough method (everybody in the bowl and mix) or sponge method (make a sponge with the yeast and ferment that before adding the rest of your ingredients.) Next week we will try some poolish breads and starter breads. I was assigned Anadama bread for my final project in the last week of class. Stay tuned to learn all about it ... or if you have some knowledge on Anadama you can share it with me!

Elvis Has Left The Building!

2008-07-20T18:57:00.000-05:00

Bye Bye Buffet.
We finished up buffet this week with Opera cake, petit fours and Battenburg cake. The final two days of class were devoted to our final practical (a project we have been planning since the first day of class.) We had to produce five products, each filling a different category. My chocolate and fruit themed menu consisted of: New York Cheesecake with a chocolate crust and a raspberry swirl, White Chocolate and Grapefruit Truffles with hazelnuts, Elvis Pie ... peanut butter and chocolate pastry cream with banana and chantilly in a flaky crust, Chocolate Orange Madeleines dipped in white chocolate and Cacao Nib Macaroons sandwiched with a strawberry ganache. For my centerpiece I candied lemons, limes and oranges and dipped them in tempered chocolate along with fresh strawberries.

Tarts, Tarts, Tarts

2008-07-08T18:31:00.000-05:00

From Bread to Buffet.
We are into our second week of Buffet. Buffet is the opportunity to learn how to produce and plate smaller size (2-3 bites per piece) items for .... yes, a buffet.
Last week we worked on dough products. I made 60 tartlets, cheesecake bars and apple pie bars. On Monday I had a chance to plate all that work on a mirror.
The small plates are from my practical (test) on Monday: chocolate chiffon with chantilly creme and frozen fruit pie filling in a pate brisee crust with a streusel topping.
On top of all that production work at school I started a new job at the cutest little cupcake bakery ever. Check us out: http://www.cupcakejones.net/
Enjoy the spread... I'll make lots more!

Tortilla Thursday

2008-06-26T16:53:00.000-05:00

Whew.
Today was a whirlwind. We made dinner rolls, tortillas, pita bread, baguettes and pizza - in 4 hours. Yeah. Try that at home without chef supervision why don't ya? Although I have to say this. You could make all these things, you just need to know the technique.
Dinner rolls.
Made with pain au lait dough. A slightly sweet milk bread. If it isn't fabulous enough on its own we stuffed them with goodies like brie, sharp cheddar, chives, walnuts and dried cherries ... some sweet, some savory.
Pita bread.
If you have never made pita bread this is so fun. You put them in the oven and they puff up, I mean completely puff up. Neat.
Tortillas.
I may never purchase a tortilla again. Flour, water, fat and salt. Mix. Knead. Rest. Roll out. Cook in dry pan over low heat. Seriously, don't buy them. Make them.
Pizza.
Fresh pesto, cheese, olive oil, red pepper. Lunch.
So much food. So little time.

Loaves of fluff

2008-06-25T17:40:00.000-05:00

White Pan Bread.
Maybe a future pastry chef and baker should not admit this but ... I LOVE this bread. White fluffy goodness. Oh well, everyone else in class was chowing down on the stuff too! I smeared mine with pb & j.

The dough knows

2008-06-24T16:52:00.000-05:00

Bread. Baguette. Focaccia.
We will make Pain Ordinaire (baguettes) everyday this week. Normally you make something once and move on. But baguettes are hard. They might look like a simple long loaf of bread but to get that beautiful interior texture takes technique. Even the slashes on the outside take a careful hand.
Focaccia is an easier bread to make. Not an easier dough to handle. It is nearly 75% liquid and that makes for a really wet sticky dough. Kneading a dough that wet takes patience and this bread tested all of us. We put fresh herbs in the dough but only salt on top. The traditional way. It was just as delicious as it looks. Sandwiches all around!

Hot out the oven!

2008-06-21T21:21:00.000-05:00

Hello to friends, family, co-workers, customers and just those dropping in to see what's cooking. Come with me on my new journey, my dream come true.

I'm about to start my sixth week at Western Culinary Institute, the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Portland, Oregon. It has been a wild couple of weeks so far and the veteran students say it only gets harder.

By seven a.m. we are lined up for inspection. Chef's coat, check pants, apron, side towel, commis cap, cravat, nametag, student id badge, sharpie, pen, thermometer, no jewelry, no nails, hair tucked under cap. We start our day in demo, chef describes each step while showing you what to do. After demo its our turn to make what the chef has demoed. We get out of class at noon but most of us stay for lab to work on our projects usually not leaving until 2 or if we can get away with it 3 p.m.

I've burned myself twice, only one of which did I have to go to the doctor for. I've gained about five pounds. (Taste, taste, taste...) I've made dozens of cookies, cakes, muffins, pies, custards and tarts and that's just the intro class.

Each day is new chaos and discovery. Who knew I could make a cake like the one in the bakery display case or that I'd even think of whipping batter by hand for thirty minutes so that my cake would be the desired texture.

Monday we start a week of breads (real food opposed to the sugar we've been eating every morning!) This is our final week of Intro to Baking then we go into specialized classes for different subjects.

I'll post photos along the way of the best work (and maybe a few of the worst!) If you are wondering about the missing piece of each item ... that's how the chef grades you!

Until next time ... sweet dreams.