The belated birthday cupcakes I made for Greg last week turned out to be somewhat of a tricky treat. These Hot Chocolate Mexican cupcakes have a lot going on, and the recipe is not kidding when it says to fill the cupcakes only 2/3 full before baking. My “bake them big” instinct kicked in and the results were interesting…
Hello cupcake overflow. Luckily, I was able to cut off the excess filling and frost around the imperfections.
And we ate the scraps, so nothing went to waste.
Even though the preparation was a bit tricky, four different kinds of chocolate in one dessert is definitely a treat. Especially when there are Reese’s peanut butter cups involved. These cupcakes get their name from the combination of chocolate, cinnamon and chili powder in the frosting. Don’t worry – I used low fat cream cheese in there as well. And while there were no candles in the cupcakes, a round of happy birthday serenading did occur. Emma howled along.
The other treat over the weekend was the carving of our first pumpkins. Here they are coming home from the farm.
And sitting happily on our porch after a good de-gunking and carving session.
And lit up to scare the neighborhood children. Any guesses on which pumpkin belongs to whom?
We toasted the pumpkin seeds to crispy perfection and they made the perfect salty snack. This weekend I will be making chocolate chip pumpkin muffins, but not with our purchased farm pumpkins. They’re busy on the porch scaring children, remember? Also, local squirrels appear to enjoy snacking on them since a few teeth and eyeballs are now missing in action...
One year of pastry classes. Hundreds of pastries. Fifty blog posts. Another term is over.
I have successfully completed my term on specialty cakes and frozen desserts and I have several images to share with you, but first I want to say that I can't believe how far I've come in a year. Do I still have a lot to learn and experience to gain? Yes. But I am amazed at and proud of all of the time and hard work I've put in over the last year that have gotten me to this point. Our final practical last Saturday was two plated frozen desserts and while I was a bit nervous during the process, I also really felt like I nailed it. It's a great feeling to do something you love, actually know what you're doing (and why) and then receive praise for the end product. And a few critiques to work on for the future.
The final two weeks of the term involved more fancy cakes, including the Julianna which I don't have a picture of, all of which have many components and details that go way beyond the simple birthday cake that you're used to. The alternating layers of sponge cake, syrup flavoring, ganache, Italian butter cream and a variety of other filling/topping options, made me long for a simple white cake with white butter cream frosting. Hmmm...perhaps our one year wedding anniversary cake could be eaten nine months early? Doubtful, but I am already excited about it.
My group assisted Chef by making a tiramisu and opera cake for an event at the school this Monday. I was also able to practice my cutting skills to get the fifty pieces we needed out of each cake. Cutting skills practice included cleaning and then heating the knife with a blowtorch after each cut to ensure a clean cut was made every time. Happiness = using a blowtorch confidently without worrying about burning your fingers off. After a few tries, I became a pro. Here are the mini-cakes.
Two weeks ago, we made a deliciously tart passion fruit sorbet. Sorbet has way less fat than ice cream, but a heck of a lot of sugar. Mary Poppins would sing gleefully about this spoonful.
Our frozen mousse for our practical was whipped up as well. We chose a raspberry brandy flavor since we also had to pair it with our mango icecream for our bombe plating. The flavor was subtle, but the mousse turned out smooth and creamy after sitting in these molds in the freezer for a week.
And that brings us to the final practical. The plating presentation for desserts can have as much variety, color and tastes as an individual wants, however, I am one to keep things clean and simple. I like a splash or two of color, but nothing crazy or overpowering. I think the food should speak for itself. With that said, here is my frozen bombe dessert presentation.
What you see here is a mango ice cream bombe with a raspberry brandy mousse inside and candied lemons on top. The dessert is sitting in crème anglaise with raspberry and mango sauce accents and shells of whipped cream around the bottom (a requirement). The sidekick is a curled piece of tuile cookie holding a piece of chocolate. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the bombe after it was cut open, but unfortunately I did not. To make up for that, here is my frozen mousse dessert presentation.
We now return to your regularly scheduled blog programming. And it’s two for one time. I promise that the photos alone will more than make up for last week’s MIA blog. Let’s rewind shall we?
Ice cream was the new kid on the menu two weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to make. This may be because I am now familiar with how to make a good crème anglaise or because the majority of the ice cream making procedure is letting your mixture sit in a bowl in the refrigerator, churning it in an ice cream maker, or hardening it up in the freezer. The actual preparation time is fairly quick and the choices of flavors are endless. We’ve come a long way from my childhood memories of turning a crank on a wooden pail-like contraption. Which we did once or twice before putting it in a box for years. The new and improved model is very impressive.
Our first churn around we made cinnamon ice cream.
Last week we made mango ice cream using pureed mangos. The taste was not quite as good as I had hoped, but it definitely tasted like mango. A basic chocolate is still on my ice cream dream list.
Two Saturdays ago, we also had another chance to perfect the Black Forest Torte that we tried our hand at last term. This time around I learned even more tips and the end product was quite delicious. We didn’t have the chocolate shavings for the outside of the cake; however, we did have the all-important cherries for the inside layer.
And don’t forget the cinnamon ice cream.
A twist on the swiss cake roll was next. Move over Little Debbie, we’re bringing the traditional European cake rolls back. Fun and fairly simple to make, we panned up a thin sponge cake, smeared chocolate pastry cream on top and rolled it up for freezing. This could be covered with chocolate ganache and eaten as is, but we went one step further and made a Charlotte Royale. The roll was sliced up to make what would eventually be the top layer (see below) of a white chocolate Bavarian cream filled cake with another flat sponge layer on the bottom. After it’s frozen, the whole sheet cake gets flipped over and cut into individual pieces.
It was pretty good, but I must admit that I sort of missed peeling off the outside chocolate layer of the roll to eat first like I used to do with my Little Debbie rolls. What can I say; it was a great treat of my childhood. Perhaps someday I will make a giant version of the American-style Swiss Cake Roll and call it a Big Debbie.
Next up is a specialty cake to die for. The Alhambra is full of detailed steps and various flavors with plenty of room for complicated mishaps. Nonetheless, it’s all worth the effort after one bite. Well, actually several bites because one is not enough. You’ll see why.
