BAKING AND PASTRY TECHNIQUES

May 13, 2013

This is the final week of intro to baking class.  We have both a final written test and a practical exam.  We are required to make the Vanilla Custard Sauce, Bavarian Cream, Sponge Cake, Basic Pie Dough, and Pizza Dough. Of the five items required for the practical exam, I have made only one, Basic Pie Dough.  I will be gong to the store this evening and getting the ingredients required to make each of the items today so that tomorrow will not be the first time I am making these items. 

BAKING AND PASTRY TECHNIQUES

May 9, 2013

 

The goals for the kitchen today were Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce, New York Style Cheesecake, Chocolate Mousse, Vanilla Custard Sauce, Raspberry Sauce and completion of the Chiffon Cakes.  Yes this was a lot to accomplish in just two and half hours after the demonstrations were complete.

We split up the tasks and each team member took a different item to scale and make.  Sean took Bread Pudding and Bourbon Sauce, I took the Cheesecake and Raspberry Sauce, Arnold took Chocolate Mousse and Cecilia took Chiffon Cake and Vanilla Custard Sauce. We were able to get everything baked but did not finish assembly of the Bread Pudding or the Cheesecake.  These are being completed on Monday.

The Chocolate Mousse was finished. The Mousse turned out grainy but still tasted good.  I will have to make a batch at home to practice the process we learned in class and see how it turns out.

Chocolate Mousse

The Chiffon Cake was also finished.  The cake was iced with the vanilla buttercream and then covered in chocolate and topped with strawberries.  In the end the cake was light and fluffy but the vanilla buttercream was a prevalent flavor.  It would have been better with the orange buttercream instead. 

Orange Chiffon Cake

BAKING AND PASTRY TECHNIQUES

May 8, 2013

 

The goal of the day in the kitchen was to complete cake assemble and decorating. We started by having demonstrations on how to make the buttercream for the yellow cake, assembly and decorating of the yellow cake, along with assembly and decoration of the chiffon cake. 

After demonstrations we started on our buttercream for the yellow cake.  There was a mix up with the cakes which resulted in our team having three beautiful fluffy lemon yellow cakes and one brown half size cake. The chef took pity on us regarding the situation and allowed us to switch out the half size cake for one of hers that was more in line with the rest of our cakes.  Lesson learned, always label the bottom of the cake boards (not just the parchment) with your team number so there is no question as to which cake is yours even if it is completely obvious by looking at them.

 

Cake Torte

After the buttercream was complete, we started with the cake torte, which is leveling and cutting the cake into three equal pieces. Once the top was level and the cake was cut, a line of buttercream was placed along one side of the cake to mark it so that it can be lined up in the exact location when assembling it after icing each layer. 

 

For the next step we put a new cake board on the turntable, placed a small dab of buttercream on the board, and then flipped the top piece of the cut cake onto the bottom of the new board and frost the layer.

 

Cake Assembled

The buttercream mark was lined on the side with each layer until the bottom piece was now on the top. 

Crumb Coat

Once this is complete, we started the crumb coat.  This is a very thin see through layer of buttercream to coat the crumbs so they do not come through on the final layer of frosting. After the crumb coat was complete we completed the final layer of frosting.  We then used a comb to smooth the sides with a decorative style. 

 

Decorative Comb

 

 

 

The top was then smoothed. I decorated mine with a basic shell border. We had to write Happy Birthday on top with chocolate using the paper cone (I would have preferred to use a pastry bag).  Below is the end result of my cake.  I have never used a comb before and there was a edge on the board that caught the comb on the side so the end result was not a smooth finish that I would have liked.  I was also in a rush to complete the writing on top before clean up so the writing was a bit sloppy. 

 

 

The Italian buttercream that was made to complete the Orange Chiffon Cake was put in the freezer by mistake so it was ruined and all teams had to remake the buttercream to complete the cake. We did not have any more orange juice concentrate so we made vanilla instead.  We ran out of time and were unable to complete the chiffon cake so that will be on the agenda for tomorrow.

  

BAKING AND PASTRY TECHNIQUES

May 7, 2013

 

We continued on with cake decorating discussion in the classroom.  We discussed pairing cakes with frosting, cake assemble and cutting guidelines.  We reviewed the use of pastry bags and learned how to make a paper cones which we will use to write on our cakes tomorrow when decorating in the kitchen. 

BAKING AND PASTRY TECHNIQUES

May 6, 2013

 

In class we reviewed icings (a/k/a frosting). We discussed the different types of buttercreams, American, Swiss, and Italian (French will be covered in a later course).  We also discussed the use of shortening versus butter in frosting (butter more flavorful but shortening more stable and easier to work with). 

 

After frosting, we started discussion of cake decorating.  We made it as far as the tools used for cake decorating and will finish up the rest tomorrow in class. 

BAKING AND PASTRY TECHNIQUES

May 2, 2013

 

Even though yesterday's pies were incomplete, we moved on to cakes first thing.  Just like yesterday, today was an extremely stressful and busy day in the kitchen.  

We started by making a high ratio yellow cake.  This is mixed using the two-stage method, which is named because the liquid is added in two stages.  It is high ratio due to the high ratio of sugar and liquid compared to flour.  It also requires that an emulsified shortening be used so that it will hold more sugar and liquid without curdling. I tasted the batter before we placed in the oven.  This is usually an indicator for me whether the cake will taste good when it is finished baking.  It was not flavorful but had a smooth texture.  After the cake were baked and cooled, we placed them in the freezer for decorating next week.



After putting the yellow cake in the oven we moved on to Orange Chiffon Cake.  This cake is made using the egg foam/chiffon mixing method, where egg whites are folded into the batter.  We baked this on sheet pans for rolling the cake after it is baked and cooled. 


While the Orange Chiffon was in the oven, we made the Orange Italian Buttercream.

After the Orange Chiffon Cake was cooled, we spread the Buttercream on the cake and rolled it into a tight log.  We covered them with parchment and placed in the freezer for completion next week. 

As we didn't complete yesterday's pies, we also made the meringue to complete the Lemon Meringue Pies and completed making the Fruit Tarts from the sweet dough and pastry cream. 

Lemon Meringue

Fruit Tart

Apple Pie and Lemon Meringue Window Display

BAKING AND PASTRY TECHNIQUES

May 1, 2013

We started in the kitchen with making free form apple pies. We rolled the dough and put them either in a shell or free form on the parchment and filled with apples soaked in a liqueur,  cinnamon, sugar, topped with butter and streusel. Unfortunately, our team member who put them in the oven did not note the time and the pies were taken out before they were complete. They were put back in oven and did cook more but in the end they were not done and ended up in the trash.



After apple pie, we moved on to lemon meringue pie.  Another unfortunate insistent as one of our other team members scaled the cornstarch incorrect and the lemon filling was not thickening appropriately.  Fortunately, this was a fixable mistake and the filling turn out good.  The pies were left to cool before moving on to the meringue. We ran out of time to complete the meringue so they were placed in the refrigerator for  completion tomorrow.



After lemon meringue we moved on to sweet dough and made the crust for fruit tarts.  After rolling out the dough, we used a cutter to measure and cut the dough in circles and then pressed them into the tart shells and baked.


We also made a caramel sauce to drizzle over the apple pies.  This was a bit difficult to make as it requires that you use a thin aluminium pan so it does not scorch, brush the sides of the pan down with warm water so there is no loose sugar, and skim the top of the sugar during cooking for better clarity.
Also once the sugar boiled to an amber color, it is removed from heat to add the cream and butter, but have to move very quick otherwise the caramel will scorch. The Chef's demonstration batch did scorch and tasted burnt.  The batch our team made ended up turning out good although I would say it is not a preferred recipe for a good caramel sauce. 

By the end of class, the only completed item for the day were the apple pies (with the exception my team's underdone pies).