Wedded Bliss

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!

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

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

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

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!

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

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!

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.