Baked.

Lately, I've been stuck at home with a million baking ideas. So I baked them! I went out and got some puff pastry; store bought..I know, bad. Anywho, and I baked some palmiers. Those were my favorite things I did in school and love baking them. They are so sweet and crunchy and just all around delicious. My fiance loves it when I bake some up because he will consume about half of the batch. Here are the palmiers: they were so good :)


Next, I baked some champagne cupcakes. I've been waiting to try this for a long time and finally got the nerve to do it. I used a Spumante Sparkling Wine, the Moscato was all gone :( but I have tried two different recipes, and while both were good I prefered the second one I tried and those are the ones I have photos of. I also ran out of cupcake liners so I cut my parchment paper into squares and made my own liners, which I'm in love with much more than oridnary liners. The cupcakes are light and airy and so delicious. The champagne is subtle, but the flavor is still there. I love these little bites of yum and so does my fiance. Lets just say they won't be in the kitchen for long!
Champagne Cupcakes:

The beginning...

I am officially done with kitchen classes at Le Cordon Bleu. I cannot believe it. I am done attending classes at Le Cordon Bleu! My last day was bitter-sweet. I mean, I am thrilled; over-the-moon happy that I am so close to graduating and being 100% done..but at the same time, I am starting to get a little nervous and sad. I'm about to be thrown to the wolves of the real world in the baking industry where you don't get graded or second chances on almost everything. You can't afford mess-ups or breakdowns. The excitement definitly rules over the nervousness, but its pretty close in amounts. The last day was sad overall, all my baking sisters [the very close ones, my dear friends] were all leaving me. Lisa, the witty blonde sister was leaving for Germany for her externship a couple of hours of departing ways. Kacey, the one closest to me, was driving home to Gulf Breeze and then heading west to New Orleans to extern at Sucre. And sweet Taryn was leaving for Brooklyn today. All 3 of them going away, spreading their wings to explore the whole world of baking. I'm so happy and excited for them, they are going to go so far and learn so much. I wish them the best! So the last day was just a little bit of tear-jerker. Our sweet and dear Chef Naz said her little speech that got us all to tears was holding us together as a whole and it was so intense with emotion. Chef Naz has been one of the best chef's we've had all year. She has taught us so much about everything, I mean she took her time to make sure we did our best at everything. I hope she stops by the place I'm externing at here in Maitland.
My externship site is called The Sugar Suite. It is so adorable, definitly how I would set up my bakery. I am learning how to deliver a wedding cake, set up a repair kit, make more gorgeous gum paste flowers, covering shaped cakes in fondant and so much more. I'm beyond thrilled and giddy. The best outcome of everything has been the support from my family. They are all proud and it means so much to me. Zach is probably the most proud. I honestly could not of finished without him. He was there when I doubted myself or didn't have the strength to get it done. I am truly blessed for my family and friends. I love them all so much..
Well I am officially starting my career on Monday, September 27, 2010..!

What I've Been Up to Lately...

Well this is my first attempt [EVER] with modeling chocolate. I have three cakes in three weeks, cake one...modeling chocolate with pastillage. I did lovebirds! I wanted something to sweet and innocent, something everyone could look at and smile. The signs are pastillage, the heart is cocoa painted and says "They Were in Love", and they are still in love. The banner reads "Happily Ever After" and it too is cocoa painted. I did a border with my pastry well to have diamonds and took my new little fondant roller and created a kitchy quilted pattern, which if seen up close, it is not even..for a reason. I wanted a homey look that was equally beautiful and innocent. I love it!




Second, I did an at-home bakery night. Yes, these are indeed the cupcakes. Blood Orange Cupcakes. They are soo yummy. I used a simple yellow cake recipe and just added half of blood orange sorbet. The icing is just simple whipped cream, the white icing is vanilla and the orange is of course, blood orange! I find them to be so cute, just so girly and happy. I love when the mood strikes and I crave sugar...and this is what I come up with. Cupcake love is in the house!

Creme Brulee*

Drum-roll...! Lavender-oil, rose oil, and lemon creme brulee! The sugar coating is done perfectly! I am very pleased with this dessert, sadly the chantilly cream melted due to the heat from the sugar. The garnish is just pate a choux, sprinkled with 10X sugar. The crack of the sugar was music to my hears when my Chef tasted it. The creaminess is delightful, such a good little piece of heaven!

Not Your Average Rice Pudding..

This little number is my newest creation in plated desserts. It is indeed rice pudding, but with some twists. That cute little bowl its in is actually Florentine dough, and the sauce its sitting in is vanilla bean cream angelise with curry-lime caramel sauce. The rice pudding began its flavoring with the boiling of the rice, I threw in some star anise and sticks of cinnamon. After all that bathing, the custard was flavored with cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, and raspberry extract. It smelt amazing, sadly I did not taste it due to my own non-liking rice puddings. But the plate looks beautiful and I've a very proud patisserie and baking student testing the waters in my class. Soon will be lavender-oil, rose petal, and honey creme brulee. Oh la douceur de vivre!

Plated Desserts

Today was my first experience with plating desserts. It was very...stressful. I had to keep reminding myself to breathe [a lot]. All week we had to come up with crazy flavor combos; well things out of our comfort zone. Trying to mix fruits with spices and herbs is actually hard. Just throwing extracts together does not always make a great and fabulous flavor. Well in the end with all the tears and sweat that shed it all came together. I was very pleased with my desserts. The baklava was filled with pecans, maple, and star anise. My pastry cream was star anise. The sauce was chocolate. Of course I had a garnish and it was a simple chocolate design. The second dish was a puff pastry, the pastry cream was blueberry all-spice with chocolate raspberry coule. The kicker on the puff pastry was it was atop a graham cracker crust! I got good reviews from the graham cracker mixed with the sauce. I hope to get better with each practice run and it will benefit me in the future with my career. I can seem myself enjoying this class and it will be over before I know it.

My baklava called Crunch of Warmth:


and the beautiful puff pastry named Spice of Summer:

Under The Sea ..

This is the sugar sculpture me and my friend did in class for our practical. It is all sugar [minus the cake board] and it took us 4 days to finish. We started out with just colors and started playing with all the pieces and came together with the Under The Sea theme. I am in love with our final product! The vibrant colors, shine, and the flow of the pieces looks like a pro did it. We are very proud of our "baby" and are proud parents! I do not know if I will attempt something like this again, but I know I can tackle it if I want to .

WeddingPlanning

Today I am hunting through bridal magazine and blogs like crazy. I am looking for ideas from other wedddings are finding the greatest idea..a dessert bar! & what a great idea to showcase my talents and bring more sweet treats to our reception ?! It is perfect. So far I have fallen in love with these little sweets and the bakers and decorators who did them are amazing! The pops of color and menu place settings are adorable! Who wouldn't want to sink their teeth in a cupcake at a wedding? I cannot wait to have cupcakes displayed at our wedding next to the wedding cake I will be making.


&& I LOVE these too! They little addition of color from the sanding sugar and paper cups makes them pop!

The table with the framed card adds romance in an unexpected way. They are beautiful cupcakes!

Oh Sugar, Sugar

This is my pulled sugar rose. The process for this thing is incredibly hard, my thumbs are raw and sore from the heat of the sugar. I am thrilled about this class and the skills I will learn. Sadly, my hands say no. We have to wear thin latex gloves and handling sugar up to 155 C is awful. The product outcome is gorgeous and beautiful, I do love my flower. Many classmates are more skilled than I am, but for my real first attempt I am proud of myself. The roses will keep getting better as said by my Chef because I have to (his words) but the next thing is blown sugar. For anyone wanting to try this please watch a class or get some great instructions.

Hard Boiled Eggs

Today I am attempting the perfect hard boiled egg! Eggs are the hardest thing to get right everytime. It is not like baking, there are no measurements. Hopefully they will be fabulous because I have been craving them all day! I am looking forward to eating them lightly salted with a hint of pepper* YUM-O! Here are some pictures so far..I added a hint of color to one to add some flair.

Chocolate Box

This chocolate box has taken me all week. It has 3 fans, 3 straws, filigree, and candies inside. The box is made out of dark chocolate and the fans are white, milk, and dark chocolate. I am proud of the final outcome, but it was very hard and stressful. I'm so glad I had the oppurtunity to do something like this for my portfolio.

Chocolatiers

Today was fun in our chocolate class ;; we made truffles. We actually finished off our candies. Kacey and I did mimosa truffles. Sadly, the white chocolate was not tempered enough [our mistake] and it didn't set properly [again, us...oops]. They still look beautiful and the sheen is great on the dark chocolate. The shape is from a mold also. Here are some pics... enjoy!

Opera Torte

Delicious Opera Torte with ganache, coffee simple syrup, and coffee swiss buttercream. It is a classic cake.

Dobos Torte

We made Dobos Torte in class today. Its a very interesting cake, it has 6 super-thin layers with chocolate buttercream filling and icing. The sides are masked with roasted almonds and the top decoration is another sponge layer covered in caramel and then sliced to form "wedges" and rest on piped roses. Its beautiful*

Rhubarb-Strawberry Buttercream&Devil's Food Cake

Devil's food cake with some rhubarb-strawberry buttercream. It is very delicious and light. The rhubarb had to be reduced and cooked over the stove until it resembled applesauce and then I just added some warm strawberry puree and let it simmer until well blended. Beautiful*

Cakes&Cupcakes

Today was another Happy Fun Thursday and my fellow "sisters" and I made these delicious treats...

First is Mary Lou, she made these yummy and beautiful snickerdoodle cupcakes :)


Taryn made this coffee cake, it smells soo good and the rustic-ness is beautiful.

And I made maple-walnut cupcakes..smells like pancakes and syrup :)

Rustic Cakes

Banana cake with devil fudge icing & ...

... carrot cake with cream cheese icing&buttercream carrots. yummy *

Happy Fun Thursday

Chocolate pound cake with peanut butter glaze...yummy.

...and cherry sheet cake.

Pineapple Upsidedown Cake

A beautiful pineapple upsidedown cake.

Pistachio Raspberry Cupcakes

These are the pistachio raspberry cupcakes I made today! They have a raspberry cream cheese frosting and are wonderful!