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

Moving onto the next Paper

So, 'Pastries' are over and done with. We're moving onto Cakes and Christmas baking in this next paper. Yup- Xmas bakes in April! I suppose Easter is the closest thing to Xmas... But in any case, it doesn't bother me because I LOOOOVE Xmas goodies and could eat Gingerbread and Cinnamon Stars all year long :)~ What i've been learning the past 2 weeks:- Meringues. Self-control is needed. I ate the last one today- not too bad i made them last 2weeks!

New Zealand's claim to culinary fame. Pavlovas, with Passionfruit Cream and Raspberries. Yummms..

Lekerli (also known as Basler Gingerbread). This is one of my top favourites so far in this course. Resistance is futile... Almonds, hazelnuts, orange peel all balanced off by a dark chocolate layer. This lasted only 3 days in the pantry. So good, so evil.

An assortment of traditional Christmas cookies: Spekulatis, Brunsli, Cinammon Moons, Springerle, Mailanderli

My Ginger breadhouse!! I had so much fun decorating it. Almost a shame to rip it apart and eat it. Almost. Nom, nom, nom... (well, I DIDN'T actually eat this- but I'm sure the kids at tomorrow's birthday party will enjoy tearing it apart!).

No photos of the Cupcakes and Muffins from Friday's class :( Gave them away before snapping a pic.

Am on Easter break, so no updates till after! Happy holidays all!

xoxo

Pastries pt.2

The Pastries paper has concluded, and here are some of the items produced: continuing on from Puff Pastries and onto Choux. Puff pastries, hand-made using the French method. Front to back: Mielle Fuille with fondant icing; Cream horns silled with Grand Marnier Diplomat cream; Shoe soles (stacked); Fruit Vol Au Vents; and Palmiers

Apple Turnovers, made using the Scotch method

Choux buns (cream puffs) and Chocolate eclairs

Choux Swans and Paris Brest filled with Chocolate Cream and almond croquant (my favourite of all the Choux pastries!)

So it's goodbye to Pastries as we move onto the Cakes module tomorrow :)