Let Them Eat Bread! Pt 2

Leaving our Lean Breads behind and forging on with Enriched (ie FAT laden) Breads, here's where it really gets naughty ;) Sugar, Spice and every thing nice and calorific gets tossed into the dough.



Coconut Buns (in loaf tin) and Custard Buns

Chelsea buns with Cinnamon, Sugar and Sultanas. Love, love, love!!

Hot Cross Buns! Seeing I didn't get any this Easter I'm chuffed we made these :)

Plaited Zopf Bread. I imagine this would make an awesome French Toast for brekkie tomorrow

or transformed into Bread Pudding Mmmmm...

Donuts!! Deep-fried pillows of Happiness rolled into delectable Cinnamon Sugar.

I am in Heaven.. so please leave me here.

(Here's hoping no one EVER buys me a deep-fryer!)

Let Them Eat Bread! Pt 1

It's back to class, and straight back into the ovens! Been busy kneading, and kneading, and kneading until my shoulders feel like they're dislocated! I should have pretty toned arms by the end of this paper- but probably a lot LESS toned around my gut from OD'ing on carbs day in and out :P Bread is my kryptonite. Whilst I can easily turn down a slice of cake or choc chip cookie, I could inhale a loaf of bread in one sitting. It's been known to happen. More than once...

Here are some pix from class of the breads we've made so far:-

Dinner Rolls

(excellent with soup on these cold winter nights)

Sourdough loaves

Turkish Pide (the oblong loaves) and Focaccia-Pizza bread

Olive Focaccia- thin and crisp, the authentic way apparently :P

I've been eating imitation Focaccia my whole life!

End of Semester One

At the end of each paper we're required to produce 3 items during a three and a half hour practical asessment. Here's what's been produced for our Pastries; Cakes; and Sponges, Gateau and Torten papers over the course of the Semester.

 Pastries: Fruit flan with custard cream filling and decorated with sliced peaches; Savoury petit four sale; Cream-filled Choux buns

 Cakes: Piped Meringues; Madiera cake; Chocolate Hazelnut Gugelhopf

Sponges: Genoise sponge; Orange Roulade; Black Forest Torte

Gateaux Pt.3

Photo of Kate's Yoghurt Torte. I didn't attend class that day so missed out on this and the Quark Cheesecake :(

Raspberry Mousse Gateaux.

Passion Fruit Mousse Gateau with Coconut Wafer Thins.

Chocolate Mousse Gateaux.

Thus concludes the Sponges, Gateaux and Torten paper, and the final day of class before we take leave for Winter hols (3 weeks of Tropical HEAT! Yay!). Just one last Practical Assessment next week then i can kick back and relax :) More updates come Semester Two and we start learning about BREAD! I heart Carbs!

Gateaux Pt. 2

More sponge cakes... My Chocolate Hazelnut Torte with hazelnut praline buttercream. We get to decide how we'd like to decorate our cakes today- so i went for modern and simple with choc decor and toasted hazelnuts.


Some of the cakes churned out by the class:

Mary Vetsera Gateaux. Mary Vetsera was the mistress of the Crown Prince of Austria, and both were found killed under mysterious circumstances... OOoh the scandal! But anyhoo, back to the cake: Layers of dacqoise (nut meringue) between layers of Cointreau Ganache and covered in crushed nougatine/croquant.

Concorde Gateaux: Chocolate Walnut sponge sandwiched between Kahlua Ganache and decorated with chocolate meringue fingers.

Gateaux & Torten- Pt1

Our first sponge cake: Mimosa Gateaux. Vanilla sponge with strawberry jam, Kirsch cream and toasted Genoise cubes
Cross-section:-

Black Forest Torte: Chocolate sponge, sour cherry jam and chocolate cream filling, Kirsch cream and chocolate shavings

Princess Torte: Almond Genoise, Grand Marnier Diplomat cream, fashioned into a half-dome and covered in green Marzipa. Yes, GREEN. That's how it's traditionally presented! And despite looking like a turtle, it tasted REALLY good! Pleasantly surprised :)

More gateaux to come in the next 2 weeks, so watch this space! ;)

Cakes, Cakes and more Cakes!

Where did the month go? Back from Easter break and it was full steam ahead into the Cake paper. Here's what I've learnt over the past few weeks :) It takes will power when you're constantly surrounded by freshly made goodies- Give me strength!

Chocolate Hazelnut Gugelhopf. Crazy name, and crazy delicious! Ground roasted hazelnuts and almonds folded into a meringue batter then covered with chocolate. This was very popular at the dinner table that night :)

From 12 o'clock: Angel Food cake (no fat! :P); Banana cake with Chocolate frosting; Carrot cake with Cream Cheese frosting; Gateau Basque (almond flavoured cake with a baked custard centre); and Flourless Chocolate cake (gluten free). And yes, i tried them all... and i still love banana best :)

My decorated fruit cake! Brandy soaked fruit cake covered with almond paste and rolled fondant, and adorned with hand crafted fondant roses! Time-consuming (2.5hrs for 7 flowers!), and yet so fun and satisfying :D Will definately need to put more time aside for more practice.

Full view of the Fruit cake.

The Chocolate Divinity Cake, with hand made White Choc Waterlillies. Looks very elegant, no? Also extremely delectable. I could eat this every day. And i did :P To ease my guilt i did share the calories amongst a few others...

With assessment week finally behind we step right up into Gateau and Torten, so stay tuned!

XOXO