Pastry Class: Cakes

On my last day of Pastry Class we made two different cakes and learned some very basic decorating techniques.  I am so sad this series is over, and even more sad that I have to wait for Pro Pastry 2 to be on a Sunday again.  In the meantime, I'm really excited about trying new recipes from the CIA book we were given in class. 

This is a Hot Milk Cake adapted from the Miette book.  It's a pretty standard white cake, but using a cup of milk allows the very wet batter to create a spongy cake.

We baked two cakes, trimmed town the tops and layered them with Italian (egg white meringue) Buttercream.  I made two flavors: Strawberry for the center and Almond for the Icing. While I did love how this turned out, I think I prefer regular buttercream to Italian, this was a little over the top, even for me.

I used these heart shaped sprinkles to cover up and imperfections in my side frosting job.  That was not easy!  One trick I learned was to coat the cake in a very thin layer of frosting first and stick it in the fridge to harden.  This will allow the rest of the frosting you put on to spread around more evenly. 

We also made a Chocolate Decedent cake that was pretty amazing.  We practiced slicing the cake in half here, look how well  I did! 

I used a basic dark chocolate ganache as a frosting, which I layered on thick.

It turned out really well.  I could put this ganache on everything. 

For More Recipes and Information Check Out The Gourmandise School 

Pastry Class: Pâte à Choux

Week Five of Pastry Class was focused on Pâte à Choux pastries.  These were a little tricky, I definitely think this is one of those desserts you have to master over time to get just right.  Above are my Cream Puffs, some stuffed with vanilla pastry cream and some with caramel pastry cream.  The cream itself is so delicious you could just stop there and forget the pastry.  Stuffing them was not fun, I could have use two more arms, but again, practice makes perfect.  We dipped the top in a delicious chocolate ganache made with the 65% dark chocolate and whipping cream, so easy!

We used caramelized sugar to seal up the hole on the bottoms where we filled the puffs, but we were also shown how to stack the puffs to make a Croquembouche, a traditional French wedding cake. 

The inside of a Caramel Cream Puff. 

Some students also made savory puffs with cheddar and dill.

 We also made Eclairs, which is exactly the same as a Cream Puff, just a different shape.  These were tricky to pipe because you need to leave enough room for the filling.

They were pretty cute and just the right size for a little treat. 

For Recipes Check Out: The Gourmandise School

Pastry Class: Custards

Week four of my Pastry Class was all about learning how to make egg based desserts (I've never used so many egg yolks in my life). It might have been my favorite, and also most successful class yet.  This was the Butterscotch Pot du Creme topped with a little Sea Salt. I love using muscovado sugar to create a butterscotch flavor, it was seriously so good.

Chocolate Put du Creme.  This is always one of my favorite desserts to order at a restaurant, so I was really excited to make one of my own.  We used the dark 65% chocolate (which I also just purchased a ginormous box of), and it came out perfectly.  Dense yet fluffy with a bold bittersweet flavor. 

And for the winner: Creme Brûlée! I've probably eaten ten thousand creme brûlées in my life and never attempted to make it because I was always intimidated by the water bath and using a blow torch.  Turns out it's all super easy.  This was so delicious I ate the whole thing as soon as it was ready. It was silky smooth with such a rich amazing vanilla flavor. Of course the crispy crunchy sugar on top was incredible.  

Look at all the vanilla! Now that I know how to properly spit a bean I can't imagine I'll ever use extract again.  This was SO good, I can't wait to try making it at home. 

For Recipes Check Out: The Gourmandise School