A Cake's a Cake, right?

If I wasn't covered in icing I would swear I couldn't make such a cake. We started by making a sponge cake yesterday. The layers chilled overnight and then got a city-girl makeover. Now they're runway ready, or at least they'll get in the door. We made a Swiss buttercream, which sounds really impressive, but really isn't that complicated. I weighed out egg whites and sugar, then cooked them in a double boiler over simmering water. After the mixture had come up to 120 degrees, and the sugar was almost melted, I removed it from the heat. Then we poured the syrupy liquid into the mixer and fitted on a whisk attachment. We whipped it until it was just above room temperature. Then we added more butter than I would ever care to admit and added a little vanilla. Now comes the fun part. We place our single cake layer onto a spinney stand. Then we proceeded to slice our cake into three even layers. Next we filled each layer with raspberry jam, sealed in with a little vanilla buttercream. After the cake was completely stacked we coated the outside with the butter cream. This process involves a lot of waste since you're not supposed to get any crumbs in the icing. Next we attempted to smooth the surface and remove any excess. Then we marked the cake (where to slice) and made simple puff-swirl things on the top of each slice. Last we coated the sides with this flaky crunch. It looks like fish food, but I was told it tastes like a waffle cone. I'll take your word for it. Personally, I would have left it off. However, I think the Meklenburg Food Bank got some pretty tasty cakes. Well done class. We made it through our fist lab. Now we just have to pass the final!

Pies all around!

A day of pies would not be complete without the classic apple pie. Perhaps my expectations were too high, but I was thoroughly underwhelmed. The filling was overly spicy and sweet. However, I really enjoyed making the lattice top, which wasn't has hard as it looks. We brushed the top with an egg wash then sprinkled it with sanding sugar. This gave it a nice golden, crystallized top. Overall, not my favorite, but I wouldn't be opposed to trying it again.




I am officially hooked. This pie totally proved me wrong. We made the crust, rolled it out, and pressed it into the pan. Next we made the custard, then added chopped pecans and a handful of chocolate chips. Into the pie shell, into the oven, and then into my mouth. I have never had anything so tasty. The custard was rich and creamy, but not too sweet. The pecans were still firm and retained some crunch, and the bursts of chocolate were just right. The crust had the perfect crunch. I will definitely be making this for Thanksgiving.

This was the pie I was most looking forward to tasting. We made the same pastry cream as in the eclairs and added the chocolate ganache into the cream. We poured it into a pre-baked crust and chilled it overnight. The next day we topped it with an oreo crumble and sliced it up. The pie was very tasty. The filling was smooth and creamy and the crust was buttery and crisp. The oreos were a nice accent but needed to be crushed finer. I also felt that a contrasting element was needed on the plate, something to brighten it up.

So I'm not a fan of coconut, but I had high hopes for this pie. Maybe it could convert me into a coconut-lover. We made pastry cream, but instead of regular milk we used coconut milk. I tasted the warm pastry cream and it was surprisingly subtle, not at all over-powering. The filling went into a graham cracker-almond-spice crust and was topped off with roasted coconut flakage. This was a nice round off to a pie-lious day.

Whisk. Whip. Dip.

This is round two. I previously made eclairs and there is simply no comparison. These are infinitely better. The dough we made is called Pate a Choux, pronounced pat u shoe, meaning "cabbage dough" in French. It's a cooked dough that made from butter, water, eggs, salt, cornstarch, sugar, and flour. After mixed and cooked you pipe from a pastry bag onto a sheet pan. Baked, they puff up to about twice their original size. Then you pipe the chilled pastry cream (basically homemade pudding) through two holes in the top of the eclair and fill. Next they take a dip in the chocolate ganache (2 parts chocolate to 1 part cream) and back into the fridge to chill. There's nothing quite like an eclair.

Cream Puffs have got to be the cutest desert ever! You just wanna squeeze 'em. After we piped out the eclairs we made some little dough kisses. Once baked, they were all puffed up and hollow inside. We filled them with sweetened whip cream or as chefs call it, Chantilly Cream. Then we dusted the tops with powdered sugar and it's CHOW time! They were light and airy with a slightly bready taste. Delicious!

I'm on a roll!

This is a repeat effort that turned out much better this go round. I was so excited to hear that we would be making Challah and that I would have an opportunity to make it the right way. We have made so many different types of bread that the process has become pretty familiar. However, learning how to braid the dough was very exciting. Once you get the hang of it, its fairly simple. The loaves turned out golden brown, light and airy. It also feels good to know were doing our part for the community, after learning that much of the baked goods made here goes to local food banks and shelters. If I were homeless, I think I'd move to Charlotte!

Non-Bananay Banana Bread

I have to start off by saying that I have never been a big fan banana bread. I usually only like bananas in there natural state. However this was on a whole other level. The process was fairly uncomplicated, just more practice in weighing out ingredients as apposed to the norm of using measuring cups and spoons. The only thing that I had never done before was to make an indention along the center of the loaf to "control the burst". This basically means making sure the air comes out in a pretty, attractive way. When I tasted this bread I was really surprised. the banana flavor was very mild. It was faintly sweet with crunchy walnuts. My opinion has definitely changed and I can see this becoming a breakfast favorite.

Magnifique Croissant

I am officially a student studying the art of food. My first lab is An Introduction to Baking and Pastry. The last couple of days we made croissants, something I had previously thought a near impossible feat. We worked on them for two days. The first day we made the dough. The typical bready ingredients got mixed in a mixer with a dough hook. Then we pounded out about six or seven ounces of butter until it was about a quarter of an inch thick and an eight by eight inch square. Next we encased the butter in the dough and through a series of roll-outs and folds we layered the butter in between the dough. After a final roll-out we used a special cutter to create the croissant shape. Next we rolled them up and brushed on an egg wash. They baked into buttery flaky goodness and became that night's dinner. Yum!