classes catch-up!

I managed to fall really behind on my blogging, so here is a quick update of some of the recipes we have done over the past couple of weeks in my classes. 

Two weeks ago was pie dough in Baking and Ingredients, and then more yeast breads in Specialty Breads:

And then this past week was meringue day in Ingredients, and more..yeast..breads... in Breads.  (I think we move on to something else next week!!)  Ingredients was fun because every group did a different recipe, so we got to taste lots of yummy treats!  I have to admit I was a little jealous of the group who made creme anglaise and then used it for an ice cream base!

The focus for the country bread recipe was different shapes.  We tried a "fleur," but it turned out looking more like a spaceship...ahh well.  It was still tasty!


Another quick update, I registered for next semester's classes this week and I am very excited!  My schedule looks great and all of my baking classes sound very intriguing:  Pastry Techniques; Cookies, Tarts & Friandises; Basic & Classical Cakes and Pastries.  Can't wait!!  But I need to focus on making it through this semester first :)

I also finally tried out a recipe from school at home this week.   I made focaccia bread for Trevor and I and topped it with a homemade basil pesto, asiage cheese, and thinly sliced tomatoes and red onions.  It turned out very tasty, but it over-proofed like crazy!  It was supposed to proof for two hours, and within 45 minutes it had already doubled in size.  I hurried to shape it and get it in the oven, but it still baked up huge.  I'm not sure what I did differently, I even checked the temperature in our apartment.  Oh well, guess that's why Chef Tony tells us to practice, practice, practice at home!  Better to work out these kinks now before I open my bake shop....

THE cake

I haven't been doing much baking myself the past couple weeks due to wedding and honeymoon, but since this is a blog about baking, I had to dedicate one post to the most amazing wedding cake I have ever tasted, thanks to Pawley's Island Bakery!

When I originally went for the cake tasting, I thought I was pretty much going to have to pick one flavor of cake and one flavor of icing.  As much as I love cake, that was going to be pretty tough.  Since Trevor couldn't go tasting with me, I was going to have to rely on knowing what he likes, my discerning sweet tooth, and my mom's help (and her favorite is raspberry, the one flavor Trev ruled out!).

When we got there, we were told that not only could we pick a different flavor of cake for each tier, but we could pick three different flavors of filling for each cake flavor.  This made it even more exciting, but no less challenging!  All of the flavors were delicious, and here are the combinations I finally narrowed it down to:

Bottom Tier:  Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache, Strawberry Mousse with Fresh Strawberries, and Chocolate Mousse

Middle Tier:  Lemon Cake with Peach Mousse, White Chocolate Mousse, and more Peach Mousse

Top Tier:  Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Filling, Lemon Mousse, and Cream Cheese Filling

Needless to say, I continued to dream about the cake in the months between the tasting and the wedding, building it up to an expectation no average cake would be able to fulfill.  However, this cake was anything but average and it turned out even better than I expected!  Even if I almost had a heart attack when I saw it being delivered 5 minutes before the wedding instead of the planned two hours before (apparently everybody else knew it was arriving late but didn't want me to stress out). 

And it turned out beautiful too, exactly how I had pictured - and even decorated with the extra flowers from the ones I made for the bouquets.  Can't wait till our first anniversary when we get to eat it again! (Well, the peach layer at least!) I highly recommend picking a bakery who will make you an extra anniversary cake so that you don't have to worry about trying to save any during the wedding.

The obligatory feeding-each-other-cake picture! 



My mom cutting the cake...she's getting to be an expert!



too many carbs for wedding week!

So I didn't think I would have any extra time for blogging this week, but I am way too antsy to sit still, and I was really excited about some of my pictures from the last week, so here they are!

In Ingredients class, we experimented with different flours again, and also with different types and amounts of fat in Honey Wheat Bread.  My group had the original recipe, and it turned out really yummy.

Then in Breads class, we made more bread, similar to last week with a lean dough recipe, but we got to try two new shapes, that I think turned out really pretty.

We also made focaccia bread, and my group ended up making two recipes because we made a mistake in the first.  I was really excited because we got to choose toppings for the focaccia (always fun to raid the fridge in a very well-stocked kitchen!), and when both of our doughs turned out okay, we got to choose two different combos. 

For the first one, we put the toppings on top like the original recipe called for, and then to switch it up on the other, we mixed the toppings inside the dough and formed it into loaves instead.  Needless to say, I ate a LOT of bread yesterday!  Between the bread baking and all of the different toppings that different groups were using, that kitchen smelled ah-mazing.

Oh and a quick follow-up from last week - I did go back and try that butter/almond cake recipe in cupcake form.  I ended up making a lemon-amaretto buttercream to frost them, but I couldn't really taste the amaretto.  Still, some of my favorite flavors and I really liked the combination.  I'll definitely use this recipe again when I am looking for something other than chocolate - not often, I know.