I Love Doing Homework.

Tonight our homework was to take home a lump of Marzipan, and create a rose to fit on a six inch cake. Then, with the left overs, I created a second teeny little one. Our chef made one at the end of class, and sent us home with the lump of Marzipan - it was our first project to complete without any guidance. It was a bit intimidating, and got really, really interesting when I also started making applesauce, and my teeny little kitchen got my teeny little roses all humid and soft, and sticky. It made things a bit difficult, but it all worked out.

The quarter's just there to show how teeny it is! So cute!

Soon there will be more cake pictures, but for now just my teeny little roses.

Cheers. 

The Single Most Beautiful Place on Earth - Pescadero, California

This past weekend my very best friend, the one and only Kelly Arthur came to visit, and we had the most fabulous time. A friend of mine from school had told me about a goat farm, that also had a cheese shop on the farm. Kelly is an Animal Sciences major at school, and loves all animals, but especially farm ones. (And dogs!) So we headed out West to a little town called Pescadero, which turned out to be the single most beautiful place on Earth. Just miles south of Half Moon Bay, this is a little farm town, just off the coast, and surrounded by nothing but nature for at least fifteen miles in each direction. After visiting the farm, we bought some cheese, some beer, and some crackers, and headed to the coast. Lucky for us it was freezing (California freezing....heard it was a blizzard in Colorado just the next day, hehe) so there was not a soul on the beach. Extra lucky for us, I had loads of clothes, and a spare quilt in the trunk of my car. It really made for the perfect day. 

The Coast..

Kelly with the cow..

I love this one.

Goats!

Their cheese...Cranberry Walnut Goat Cheese. So yummy. 

The Farm..

This one is super pregnant and super tired. Babies are coming around March 1st. I'll have to go back to see them...so precious. 

I love these things. (And the yarn they make!)

Flowering Mustard Plants..

A House in Town.

Being a Colorado native, I think I'd seen the ocean less than ten times before I moved out here, and I can say I am officially obsessed. The Northern coast of California is just incredible. And the best place for knitting and eating. 

We found a couple to take out picture - we were so cold! I had pants over shorts, Kelly had stacked on a few shirts, and my beautiful winter hat my Mom knit me. Freezing cold, but one of the best days. Ever. 

Cheers.

The Beginning of Cakes..And a Farewell to Viennoiserie.

Well. My camera battery died during class this week, so a friend snapped some pictures for me, which I'll be uploading soon...but until then, here's the start of the cake unit.

This is a silly litte pastry. It's called a Beehive, and is layers of Brioche, soaked with a Honey Simple Syrup, and layered with Pastry Cream, before being coated in Meringue, then torched to get that lovely color. Then, to top it all off, it's drizzled with honey. The little bees are marzipan, striped with dark chocolate and have almond wings. This was a really...interesting pastry. At first, I was skeptical at the thought of making Brioche into a cake. But, turns out Marie Antoinette really said, "Let Them Eat Brioche," so maybe she was onto something. When the Brioche soaks up that honey simple syrup, it almost transforms into cake, leaving behind an incredibly soft, moist cakelike bread. Incredible. But! It's nearly impossible to slice and eat. So, I'm thinking this would make the darned cutest baby shower dessert ever, just in miniature form. How adorable, to have a bazillion little beehives plated around a table to celebrate a new baby. And it's pretty gender neutral. I'm also thinking that you could make tiny lemon curd tarts, pipe a similar shape Meringue beehive on top, and put a single marzipan bee on top. So cute! 

It's a baby bee...

The Pullman Loaf! I am obsessed with this bread. It's just the most perfect slightly crusty, moist, white bread out there. I cam home, made egg salad for dinner, with Farmer's Market Lettuce, used it for Toast the next morning with my Aunt Beth's homemade Apple Butter (soooo yummy) and ate probably four slices in class, warm, with room temperature butter. And, it's a perfectly square loaf. Just so stinkin cute.   I think this one's going to find it's way into my bakery's menu one day. 

This was a really great day in class, because it spurred a conversation about how everyone's mom used to cut their sandwiches - either rectangles, or triangles. It also led to me telling my class how cool my mom is, for grinding her own wheat, to make her own bread. I just love the smell of fresh bread, more than really anything else. There's no dessert out there that smells more homey, comforting and delicious than fresh bread. 

Panettone. I have to say that out of all the dried fruit breads we made (Stollen, from Germany, Kugelhopf from Austria, and Panettone from Italy) the Stollen was by far and away my favorite. It was the perfect balance of sweetness, and citrus zest. This Panettone was a bit too zesty for my liking, and not as texturally enjoyable as the Stollen. (This could in part be due to my affinity - almost obsession - with Germany, and Bavarian pastries). But, the Panettone makes a truly beautiful loaf - the color and height alone are tremendous. 

These are the first two cakes we've made in our new, nine day long cake course. At first, I thought I would enjoy this unit the least, because cakes have never really been my thing. But, so far, it's been more enjoyable than I anticipated. I still don't see any future for me in the cake industry - it's never my favorite thing to make, and certainly not my favorite to eat. Which, is good to give the waistline a break after the Viennoiserie unit, where I ate everything all the time. Such a great unit. 

 This cake is a Chocolate Genoise, with a Chocolate Whipped Ganache filling, and a Chocolate Glaze exterior. It was really fun to do, and I think it turned out really beautifully. The glaze is such a stunning finish, and I think the Cocoa Nibs around the bottom add a nice visual, while still staying in the deep brown color scheme. Then for the top, I crystallized a single Orchid Petal. The school had a random bag of Orchis floating around, so we took them for our cakes. Lots of people (actually, everyone) in my class, including the chef, crystallized entire flowers, and put two or three on top of this six inch cake. I started out with three petals, in a little mound in the center, but then took them away to leave this single petal. It's sort of stunning this way I think. Simple, clean, and stunning. And very fun to make.

This is the cake I was telling you about, Mom. 

My mom would love this cake. Neither one of us is a big cake person, but we both die for Italian Buttercream, and Meringue, baked until it's dry. This cake is built of five layes of Almond Dacquoise, which is an Almond Flour Meringue, baked dry, which are layered with Coffee Buttercream, and finished with Candied Almonds. This one was dangerously delicious. The piping on the top was required, and used as an exercise in mimicking the chef. I don't think I would do it like this again, but the finished product does look quite nice. I would just do the rosettes with the almonds, and leave the shells out. But the color! Just incredible. 

Soon to come...pictures of the most beautiful place on Earth. 

Cheers. 

So Many Pastries...So Little Time...

Well, after recently starting a new waitressing job, I have had so little time for uploading pictures. So, I am just now getting ready to post the rest of the Puff Pastry pictures, along with the beginning on the Viennoiserie photos - which is hands down my favorite unit so far. I still don't have lots of time to write about each thing, but maybe I'll get the chance to go back and do it one of these days. But here they are - a collage of photos for my wonderfully supportive mother. She loves pastries, and photos of them, and is easily one of my biggest fans (next to my awesome Dad hehe). And it's her birthday on Monday. Happy Birthday Mom!

Poire En Cage...

Pears poached in White Wine with Vanilla Beans, enclosed in Puff Pastry

Butternut Squash Galettes...

Puff Pastry folded around Butternut Squash roasted in Maple Syrup to make a Rustic Tart

Apple Tarte Tatin...

Caramelized Apples over Puff Pastry

Pithivier...

Puff Pastry with a mound of Frangipane (half Almond Cream, half Pastry Cream) in the center. So simple, and incredibly delicious. My favorite of the Puff Pastry Unit.

Our first plating exercise....Chocolate Puff Pastry with Pastry Cream and Caramelized Bananas. Served with Candied Pecans and Peanut Butter Ice Cream. This is where my very simple style becomes very evident. 

Chocolate Puff Pastry Palmiers.

Chocolate Napoleon...

Chocolate Puff Pastry with Chocolate Cream D'Or

Apple Dartois...

Apples baked inside Puff Pastry. SO simple and so yummy.  To die for, really.

Exam Palmiers...

Classic Napoleon...

Those two rows of chocolate are kinda squiggly, unfortunately.

Sticky Buns...

THE best sticky buns I have ever had. Watch out people of Longmont...when I open my bakery in town, these are gonna be there. Most definitely.

My adorable friend Sarah with her lovely swirl bread...

Cinnamon Swirl Bread...

Makes awesome toast.

Dinner Rolls...

With Fleur de Sel and Poppy Seeds.

Challah!

Walnut Dried Cherry Danishes...

I've never really loved Danishes until I had these ones..incredible. 

Fruitcake!

Not the usual fruitcake. Dried Pears, Cherries Apricots, and Pecans. 

 My friend Mary's Danishes all stacked up. Needless to say, we definitely held these up over our ears and pretended to play Princess Leia. 

Headed off to San Francisco tomorrow to eat and explore with a friend from school. Hopefully some pics to follow. 

Cheers.