photo update

well I don't have any good stories or updates this week, but here is a quick catch-up of what I have been up to, through photos.



Cranberry Lemon Financier with Lemon-Sage Sabayon, Mascarpone Sherbet, Cranberry Sauce, and Tuile Crescent - from my RPD class two weeks ago

Spicy Pecan and Caramel Mango Pie - Spicy Pecan Shortbread, Fresh Mangos, Cream Cheese Mousse, Caramel Gelee, Pie Crust Cage, and Pecan Twig - from my RPD class last week

 

Petite Pots de Creme au Chocolate (left) and Mocha Pots de Creme (right), both with Kahlua whipped cream and and raspberry sauce - from my IPP class last week

 

the fall-inspired cake I made yesterday for Trev's work meeting today - spiced pumpkin cake with salted caramel mousse filling and caramel cream cheese icing

my first tortoise cake

this past weekend, I made a cake for a customer that was challenging, nervewracking, and exciting all at the same time.  When she first called several weeks ago to ask me to make the cake, I was very apprehensive.  I had never worked with fondant, and I had never carved a cake into a shape.  And beyond not having the skills, it wasn't really the type of work that I really want to do long-term.

However, I'm still in a place where I just feel like I don't have the option to turn down any business or new customers.  I wrote her a long email explaining my lack of experience, but told her I would give it a try if she still wanted.  Despite all of my disclaimers, she still decided to go for it.  Then I started getting excited, because it was an opportunity to do something new, and truth be told, she is exactly the kind of customer I need while I am starting out - willing to trust me even though she has absolutely no reason to, and willing to give me a chance even though I'm so green.  Ok, I know part of the appeal is that I still haven't gotten past my "I'm just starting out" pricing structure, but I am raising the prices a little more each order and getting closer to some realistic numbers.  I'm just still struggling with that part and being bold enough and confident enough in my work.  I know I'll get there, I'm just taking my time. 

Luckily I had plenty of time to do some research on a few different techniques and come up with my plan of attack.  Here's what she wanted - two small cakes that look like tortoises.  And not just any tortoises, HER tortoises.  A South American Redfoot and a South African Sulcata, to be exact.  The cake was for her and her boyfriend's first anniversary, and without going into her personal business, she wanted to do something extra special for him because they have been through a LOT in their first year together. 



The reference pictures she sent me - Redfoot on the left, Sulcata on the right

We decided on chocolate cake with peanut butter mousse filling and chocolate buttercream.  Originally I was going to do a chocolate French buttercream because that is my favorite and we all know my aversion to American buttercream, but after doing some of my fondant research, I realized I really needed the sturdiness of the American....sigh.  It was actually pretty good though, still too sweet for me but when all combined, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Step 1 - six thin layers of cake

Step 2 - Carving

Step 3 - Icing

I ended up using six layers of cake (well, in the middle).  I will say, one of the benefits of carving cake is there are a lot of scraps leftover for taste tests. 

The colors of the tortoises were my biggest challenge by far.  I really struggled trying to get food coloring to make realistic blacks, grays, and browns.  I used gum paste to make the heads, legs, and tails, and I was happier with the coloring on those than in the fondant. 

Finished product

And although I had plenty of constructive criticism for these guys when they were all finished, all in all I was fairly satisfied with the outcome, and pleased with my first attempt at several techniques.  And the only thing that really matters is a happy customer, and she was thrilled and has already promised to call me frequently for more cakes.  I even got to meet the tortoises when I delivered the cake, and they posed for the perfect comparison shot. 



meeting my muses - they dropped their lettuce and came right over to check me out

chocolate covered cherry...again.

well this week in RPD, instead of doing a new dessert, we were challenged to improve upon our fruit bavarian mini-entremet from two weeks ago.  If you remember, I was pretty happy with mine, especially the flavors.  I thought the garnish could be a little better, but overall I didn't really want to change much.  And I wish I hadn't.  The second go-round was much less successful. 


Chocolate-Covered-Cherry Mini-Entremet - Take 2

the original Chocolate-Covered-Cherry Mini-Entremet

First, we replaced the stencilled chocolate biscuit surrounding the outside with a chocolate cage technique I had been wanting to try.  As you can see, my cage only stuck in a few places, which is not the look I was going for.  Second, we added an almond japonaise layer to boost that almond flavor from the amaretto.  This probably would have worked out well, except that we didn't have amaretto to work with this week.  We substituted almond extract in our cherry compote, which wasn't bad except that we also didn't have any fresh cherries left and had to use some from a jar. 

Comparison between our two dessert plans (first on the left, second on the right)

We left our fudge cookie recipe, ganache recipe, and bavarian recipe the same, since we were so happy with the flavors.  However, the cookie came out too thick this time, and the bavarian didn't have nearly as strong of a cherry flavor.  Then for the garnish, we decided to get a little more creative.   We repeated the chocolate curl technique, a little more successfully this time.  We also added a quenelle of whipped mascarpone and cherry caviar.  The whipped mascarpone was also supposed to be flavored with the missing amaretto, and before I knew what she was doing, my partner substituted almond extract.  Now I am a huge fan of almond extract, but not in its raw state, completely overpowering the lovely mascarpone. 

The cherry caviar was an idea a few classmates and I had seen while eating at fancy restaurants (thank you Orlando Magical Dining Month!), and we wanted to try it out.  The true fruit caviars are a more complicated molecular gastronomy technique (that I still want to learn one day) made with chemicals and equipment I don't have access to...yet.  So a classmate found a great copycat recipe on the internet that only used fruit juice, agar agar, oil, and apple juice.  I practiced it at home with some leftover mango smoothie just to make sure it would work when I got to school.  Actually, my home test turned out better than it did at school.  It doesn't have the pop of the other caviars, but it was a good substitute, and it worked great as a garnish.

Mango caviar (still floating in the oil)

The previous week was also a repeat recipe - the deconstructed Gateau St Honore from week 3 that failed miserably.  Nobody's chiboust set at all, so we had to throw it out, along with all of our cream puffs, etc because it wouldn't keep that long.  So we started over and it came out a little better this time.  We did a chocolate pastry cream instead of chiboust, and it set in time to be sprayed in chocolate.  The disc of chocolate pastry cream is on top of puff pastry.  On top of that is some tiny profiteroles (cream puffs) filled with more chocolate pastry cream and then dipped in caramel.  Then there is a pate a choux lattice dusted with powdered sugar and garnished with a spun sugar nest.  Oh, and the sauce in the plate is a basic cream anglaise. 

Gateau St Honore, deconstructed

I was happy with how the presentation of my plate turned out (except that my chocolate spray cracked a lot when I moved the pastry cream to the plate), but I wasn't crazy about the taste or texture.   I'm not a huge anglaise fan (too eggy for me without added flavoring), and there just wasn't much flavor or texture to the dish over all - a lot of creamy, not enough crunch.

So after two frustrating weeks in RPD, I am really hoping that next week goes better.

Speaking of frustrating, IPP is just getting worse.  Last week my group made baked apple galettes.  Now I don't have any personal problem with galettes themselves, but rather the way we made them.  We used premade, frozen puff pastry, premade frangipane from week 1, premade cinnamon sugar, and then we peeled and sliced some apples.  Sure, we assembled and baked the tarts, but we didn't actually cook or make anything in my book.  The galettes turned out fine, but I don't need to go to school to learn how to cut circles out of premade dough and slice apples.  It all just felt like a waste of time.  I feel like there are sooo many techniques out there that I still want to learn, and we are very quickly running out of time to learn them all.  After all, there is only a matter of weeks left in this semester, and next semester my only lab class is Confectionary Arts!  I guess what I'm trying to say is that I just don't feel like I am learning what I need to be learning in this class.  I know I said I'd give the new teacher a chance, but come on...it's week 6. 

Baked Apple Galettes

And this week in IPP wasn't any better.  We were challenged to make one plated dessert (three portions) and three petit-fours (four of each), all from whatever extra components we could find in the coolers & freezers.  Again, it's not that it was that miserable to do, but I didn't. learn. anything.  I know how to raid the fridge and piece together a haphazard, unplanned dessert.  Although I wasn't mad at our final products:

Our plated dessert - chocolate cake, raspberry bavarian, chocolate mousse, cherry ganache, cherry sauce - the only thing we actually made during class for this was the raspberry mousse

Our petit fours (l to r):  chocolate macaroons with mocha pastry cream and pistachio ganache; baklava with lavendar honey ganache and a chocolate covered hazelnut; rustic lemon curd tartlets - the only thing we actually made during class on this whole platter was the lemon curd

Ok, enough ranting and raving.   I am going to go put on my optimistic pants and try to convince myself it can only get better from here!  Plus I have a very exciting but very challenging cake order that is due tomorrow....wish me luck, I'll let you know how that one goes!