baked custards, molded cookies, and tortes

So this week was baked custards in Pastry Techniques and I was NOT excited about it.  On the list of recipes, the only thing I actually liked was cheesecake.  I have never been a custard person - I'm not big on things that taste like eggs, and I have a weird thing about textures.  Knowing I was going to have to taste quiche, flan, and creme brulee had me waaay less than excited.  And the quiche and flan were everything I thought they would be - yuck!  Ok, I'm sure they were great for people who like those types of things, but they just aren't for me.  But on the bright side, the flan made for some beautiful pictures! 

Creme caramel (flan)

Also, for the first time EVER, I loved the creme brulee!  I have never liked it before, but this one was way creamier, less firm, and I accidentally added too much salt and made it a "salted caramel" creme brulee.  That's what we call putting a spin on a mistake, people.  But no really, it was delicious!  If I make it again, I will add the extra salt on purpose.  I was a little nervous about using the torch (see previous mention of emotionally-scarring kitchen fire) but once I got going it wasn't so bad.  Maybe, just maybe, even a little fun.

We also used the torch again to finish our dessert using the strawberry semifreddo from last week.  This was my favorite part of the day.  We used the meringue nests from an earlier class, then put the frozen semifreddo inside.  Then we piped Swiss meringue all over the top and torched it.  And then ate it!  It was delicious. You can tell by my crazy eyes that I was pretty excited to get to eat this one.

We aren't tasting the cheesecakes until next week, but that's alright, I was pretty full from finishing the entire strawberry dessert.

Thursday in cookes we did molded cookies.  My group did the thumbprints (with raspberry and apricot jam, yum!).  Those and the stroopwafels (filled with caramel ganache, yum!) were my favorite flavors of the week.

In cakes class, we finished our Sacher Torte from last week.  This was a dense chocolate cake (Austrian), assembled in two layers with apricot jam in the middle.  Then we covered the outside in more apricot jam and glazed the whole thing with a dark chocolate glaze.  I liked the bites on the outside with the chocolate glaze, but the bites of just cake were dense and not that great.

We also made and assembled a Dobosh torte (Hungarian).  We made six layers of a thin sponge.  Then we used five of them for the cake, brushing each with simple syrup and then filling with chocolate buttercream.  We covered the whole cake in chocolate buttercream.  Then we used the sixth layer as the garnish.  We made a caramel, poured it on top, cut it into 8 slices, and used it to decorate the top of the cake (with buttercream rosettes as support) in the classic style.  I liked this cake just because I love the chocolate buttercream, but I think my favorite part was the caramelized piece from the top.

I also got to practice some of my piping skills this week.  I worked on shells, cornelli lace, and even tried some handwriting - I obviously ran out of room, the hole in my piping bag was too big.  But hey, that's what practice is for, right?

Oh yeah, one more thing.  Remember how I signed up for Contemporary Cakes for the summer semester?  Well I am sooo excited now, and can't wait to start taking that class.  This semester, that class finishes right before our Basic Cakes class and yesterday they had leftovers of this beauty - a mint chocolate entremet.  It was amazing!!