Sweets Bakeshop Externship

Hello again! I thought I'd write up a little post about my externship experience. I'm about half way through my externship at Sweets Bakeshop in St. Paul (they have a shop in Minneapolis now, too!)

You can check out their website here: www.sweetsbakeshop.com

Last week I had the opportunity to help with this awesome cake that won first place in the Czar of Cakes competition at the Food & Wine Experience. Pretty cool, right? The challenge was to make a food and wine themed cake that showcased a pan from Nordic Ware. Ly, one of the owners at Sweets and the lead decorator, came up with this great decorative urn design using a turkey pan. We must have baked eight or nine turkeys in order to get as much perfect detail as we could! I think I cut out a million fondant leaves. It was a great experience! A lot of work but it's all worth it when you see the final result.

Sweets is known for their French macarons. Not too many places in the Twin Cities have them, although they are growing in popularity. The fan favorite is Salted Caramel (not pictured, as I ate it before I got around to taking photos).

The retail shop also features ten flavors of gourmet cupcakes each day. Everyone asks me what my favorite flavor is but it changes all the time! I do love the peanut butter cup (moist chocolate cake and pb buttercream) but I also enjoy the Kettle corn (a dense cornmeal cake with a carmelized top and honey buttercream). Or maybe it's the Pucker Up (Bright, tart lemon buttercream and a raspberry-filled cake). See? Luckily, I don't have to choose.

Everyone is super friendly, and I've had the opportunity to work on lots of different projects. I'm learning a ton about running a small business. I know it will help me tremendously when I eventually open my own place!

Chocolate!!! and some recipes......

It's hard to believe but I'm in my very last class at Le Cordon Bleu. I've certainly packed in a lot of learning over the past year and am pretty ready to be done with school.

Anywho, we are making a lot of chocolate treats in our Chocolate & Confections class (duh, I guess). Pictured above are my dark chocolate truffles topped with a little candied ginger.

Here is a pic of something we made that is called Knackerli. It's a strange name for a simple treat - tempered chocolate topped with a dried cherry, apricot, and a pistachio.

Directly above are the other truffles I made - raspberry dark chocolate, rolled in raspberry powder (freeze-dried raspberries that have been crushed into a powder). Aren't they pretty?

And last, but not least, these cute little dollops are chocolate-dipped Carioca. Carioca is a delicious, buttery chocolate ganache.

Below is a basic recipe for the truffles. People always say this, but it is definitely true - the quality of the chocolate you use for truffles is going to determine the deliciousness of your final result. Personally, I like the Pound Plus bars from Trader Joes; use whatever you like.

You don't necessarily have to know how to temper chocolate to make these, if you are planning to roll them in cocoa powder or nuts. If you want to dip them (as mine are) then you do need to learn how to temper chocolate AND you'll need a pretty accurate thermometer. Also, if you don't have a scale, take note of the ratios of chocolate to cream to butter and should still be able to make these just fine.

Chocolate Truffles

• 7 oz heavy cream
• 16 oz Dark chocolate, chopped
• 2 oz Unsalted butter
• Extract (vanilla or whatever you'd like!), To Taste
• Salt, To Taste
• Cocoa Powder, for coating (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat cream to a simmer over low heat.

2. Pour cream over chocolate and stir until chocolate is completely melted.

3. Stir in butter until melted.

4. Stir in extract and salt.

5. Let mixture stand in bowl until it starts to thicken a little.

6. At that point, you can transfer to a piping bag or keep it in the bowl while working with it. You shouldn't need to chill in the fridge unless your kitchen is pretty warm.

7. If you decide to pipe out your ganache, pipe small (2 tsp-ish) mounds onto a sheet of parchment or onto a sheet pan. If you want to scoop from the bowl, use a small spoon and do the same.

8. Once ganache sets pretty firm (doesn't stick to your hands and you can pick it up off your sheet tray, basically), roll each one into a smooth ball between your palms. Wearing plastic gloves is expecially helpful if you have warm hands like I do!

9. Once they are rounded to your satisfaction, coat with cocoa powder by dropping into a bowl of cocoa powder and shaking off excess. Or you can roll them in chopped nuts or whatever you'd like. They keep fine at room temperature, but you can refrigerate them, as well.

Gingerbread House and Recipe

Our first assignment in our Confections class was to make a gingerbread house. Here's mine above. What do you think? I had decorated a small house over Christmas break and it was pretty much completely covered in candy and frosting. I decided to go a little more upscale with this one since I had a whole week to work on it.

It's hard to determine scale in this picture but this is a pretty big house - about two feet tall! The roof shingles are made from Frosted Mini-Wheats. The windows are melted Jolly Ranchers. The chimney is covered in VERY thick royal icing (I could roll a bit up in my hand and stick it on like putty) so that the candy rocks stick on and don't just plop off. You could make the stones from brown jelly beans instead.

The house itself is glued together with Isomalt, which is a more stable form of sugar. You could use caramel but remember it is SUPER hot!!! I got a few blisters during construction. The benefit of the sugar over royal icing is that you don't have to wait so long for it to dry. If you do use royal icing then make sure to make it pretty thick and prop your walls against cans or other items while they dry (unless you have a couple hours to kill)


Here's a shot of the inside. I wanted to make it look like a dollhouse, where you can see all the furniture and everything. The couch is sculpted from rice krispie treats and covered in blue fondant.

Here's a shot of the Christmas tree (an ice cream cone covered in green royal icing) with all of the presents underneath (starburst). The rug is made of fondant that I stamped with a little design.

Here's a photo my house, all lit up, with the yard covered in "snow" (polyfill...or Stuffy Stuff, as I like to call it)

Below is the recipe we used in class and some tips. I'll see if I can find out where the recipe is from so I can give proper credit. For my house, I made a triple batch of the recipe below, but it should be plenty for your average-size house or cookies. Note that this gingerbread has a nice amount of heat/spiciness to it - which I enjoy. If you want something a little more kid-friendly, dial back on the ginger and clove and maybe omit the pepper.

Gingerbread Recipe:

• 2 Sticks unsalted butter (8 oz)
• 1 cup (packed) brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup molasses
• 6 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 4 tsp ground ginger
• 4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp ground clove
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1. Cream together butter and sugar, in stand mixer or by hand.
2. Add eggs, one at a time.
3. Add in molasses.
4. Sift all dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture.
5. Roll out to no less than 1/4 inch thick for gingerbread house or cut out cookies. For drop cookies, make 1-2 inch balls and squish down with fork or bottom of cup.
6. Bake at 350F until firm and darker brown.

Royal Icing Recipe

• 3 oz egg whites (basically 3 egg whites)
• 1 lb powdered sugar

1. Combine in stand mixer (or you can use a hand mixer for this one) and whip on high for about 3-5 minutes. Whipping it gives it a nice, fluffy texture so really go for it.
2. Add more or less powdered sugar, depending on what you are using it for (pretty thick for gluing things together, medium for piping icicles, thick for coating things).
3. When not using, cover royal icing with plastic touching the surface or a damp cloth over the bowl. Otherwise, royal icing dries out pretty fast and will form a crust (ick).
Some Tips:
For Houses:

• It helps to roll out the dough to the desired thickness and then freeze it for 15 minutes or so to make it nice and firm. This helps create clean edges when you cut it.
• Bake the gingerbread until pretty dark to make sure it is sturdy enough for building. You basically want to get a lot of the moisture out.
• If you have a microplane grater, they are awesome for "sanding" the edges of your house to get nice clean lines.
• For candy windows, bake the gingerbread pieces with the window holes cut out. After they are almost fully baked (maybe a little lighter than you ultimately want them), place the pieces on a sheet tray covered in either a Silpat mat or foil sprayed with Pam. Place crushed pieces of hard candy (Jolly Ranchers and Lifesavers work well) in the window holes and bake just until the candy is completed melted. Remove from oven and let cool completely before handling.

For Cookies:

• To smoosh mine, I used a glass with a design carved into the bottom and the cookies kept the shape of the design while baking.
• Orange pairs really well with ginger! I made a glaze for my cookies by combining water, orange zest, vanilla, and powdered sugar. I dipped the tops of the cooled cookies in the glaze and let them dry. The orange flavor intensified even more over the next day or so.
• It's tricky to figure out when these are fully baked. I guessed, to tell you the truth. I think it depends on soft you want them to be. Mine were crunchy on the outside and softer in the middle. I cooked them for about 12-15 minutes.

My Wedding Cake

Nope - I haven't gotten married! This is my wedding cake from our Advanced Cake Techniques class. We had to do a mock cake (styrofoam covered in fondant and decorated) of at least three tiers and then an 8 inch tasting cake. I decided to do a winter nature theme. The birds and flowers above were on the top tier. Birds, flowers, and leaves are all made from gumpaste and painted.

Above is a detail that shows the embossing I did (using clear plastic, flexy stamps I got from Michaels) and the brushed embroidery piping I did on the bottom tier.

Here is the "tasting cake" - I did a coconut cake with vanilla bean pastry cream and tangerine curd between the layers. The frosting underneath the fondant is just vanilla buttercream. The sparkle on the edges is a product called edible glitter - it's basically a type of gum or gelatin and has no flavor.

Here's a photo of the whole cake. The silver birch branches are made out of pastillage (basically a play dough type substance made from sugar, cornstarch, gelatin, and sugar) that was formed, dried and then painted with a cocoa butter paint.

It was fun (and nerve-wracking to work on such a big product). The most time-consuming part was making all the flowers and painting them with silver.

Cakes from Class

Sorry I haven't had any recipes or projects lately. This is just another quick post of some of the things I've been doing in my class this term.

Above is a Black Forest Torte - cherry filling, chocolate genoise cake, whipped creme frosting, and a cool chocolate mosaic garnish on the sides.


Above is a vanilla genoise with lemon swiss buttercream frosting, filling is lemon and raspberry. We made this for our first practical exam and had to practice piping a shell border.

The one above is a banana cake with milk chocolate ganache frosting and marzipan decorations.

I bet you know what this one is (the marzipan carrots are a clue) - carrot cake with cream cheese frosting!

This last one is a caramel mocha genoise cake with salted caramel cream cheese frosting as the filling. Yum!

What I've Been Up To Lately

It's been a really really long time since my last post. I've neglected my poor little blog. However, I have some really goods reasons - mainly that I've been moving (across the river to St. Paul), working, and going to school full time.

This dessert featured in the top photo is a fruit bavarian - Mango Raspberry. Here are some pics of other things we made in our last class (excuse some of the pics, they were hastily taken at the end of class):

Tiramisu

Frozen Chocolate Terrine

A slice of Charlotte Royale presented with Raspberry Coulis and Creme Anglaise

Similar to the Charlotte Royale but with hazelnut sponge and chocolate ganache on the outside and chocolate bavarian filling.

Three Chocolate Bavarois

Creme Brulee

Gateau St. Honore - choux pastry shell filled with vanilla and chocolate cream with caramel-dipped cream puffs and spun sugar

Pies and Stuff

This week I made a cherry pie for one of my sister's co-workers. Excuse the weird yellowy pic above; the lighting in my place sucks at night. I'll post the recipe tomorrow, I promise. I'm way too tired tonight.

In other news....

I made the tray of pastries above for my practical exam today. Overall, it went well but I did get some points taken off for my chocolate croissants (see how they are unrolling a little? that means they're probably underproofed).

I also found this rock, below, in the school parking lot. Am I crazy or does it not look a little like a piece of chocolate cream pie (I put another rock under it as as "plate" cuz I'm goofy like that)? Maybe I just have pie on the brain :)

A Little Inspiration to Keep Me Going

*nope, this is not my work - design by Amy Atlas Events and pic by Andrew McCaul

We are working on our products all week for our dessert table presentation on Thursday. It is basically a four day test and could make some people (ahem) obsess a little. Seriously, it's crazy-making but fun to be able to pick what we want to make for a change, put our own spin on it, and present it in a way that shows our style.

When I need inspiration, I head over to Amy Atlas Events' website and blog to get ideas and to remember what I'm shooting for (not that this little ol' beginning pastry student can compare - YET.) Check out the pic above - so cool!

Check it out at www.amyatlas.com and www.amyatlas.blogspot.com

School Project

This Thursday we have our final project for this six week term. We are to present a dessert table that includes products from several different categories. Everyone in my class has been thinking all term about what his/her theme will be. Mine is Garden Party. Above is a rough sketch of my products and garnish/presentation. My idea was to draw all of the desserts individually and then I'll cut them out so that I can play around with different arrangements on paper.

Below are practice meringues I made last week. I never could get the hat shape to work out. I hate to give up but I had to come up with something that would definitely work because the meringues are the first thing I'll have to prepare (since they keep quite well.) So, my new idea is meringue flowers on lollipop sticks. Can you tell from my sketch what their container will be?

A, B(rioche), C(roissant), D(oughnut)

It's been breakfast for the last week - well, in class, anyway. Last Friday we made the doughnuts above. They are part way between a cake doughnut and a raised doughnut. We made them with a sweet dough. The trick is to make sure your oil is the right temp or your doughnuts will be too greasy (too cold) or burnt on the outside and doughy in the middle (too hot). We also made cinnamon rolls, which I forgot to photograph.

We also made brioche - a great bread for french toast or bread pudding. Pictured above is the traditional "tete" shape with the little knob on the tob. Brioche is actually a pretty basic bread to make; I think I could do it at home with no problems.

Next up - danish and croissants! Both are made from the same laminated dough (think layers and layers of butter rolled into the dough), they get their puff from steam as they bake. As you can see, my pinwheels (above) were a little thin so the points started to get a little too dark. They are filled with cream cheese filling and maple pecan filling. Also, my croissant-shaping (below) could use some work (they still taste delicious, though!)

This last pic is a little tin of monkey bread (also called pull-apart bread). We're encouraged to use our scraps for monkey bread whenever possible; it's a shame (and expensive) to waste all that butter.

The Latest and Greatest

Here are some pics of what I've been up to lately. Above is the result of a temporary lapse in willpower - a whole bunch of new spice blends from Penzeys! Hopefully this will jazz up those winter veggies and hold me over until real spring arrives!

And now for some flatbreads.....


More focaccia! We made one with olives in it (ick, but I know people either love them or hate them) and one with fresh herbs incorporated in the dough. Very, very sticky dough!

Above are the tortillas I made in class last week. Let's just say that I won't be making homemade tortillas; they're a pain to make considering that you can buy good tortillas pretty cheap at the grocery store. Each tortilla takes quite a while, between rolling them out very thin and then cooking them in a dry pan.

The most exciting flatbread, and my personal favorite, is pizza! We didn't throw our dough up in the air all crazy, but we did get to use the pizza peel (wooden paddle dealio shown in the pic at the bottom) to throw our pizzas right on the deck oven. Delicious! I think I just might need to get a pizza stone for the home kitchen.

Below is an action shot of one of my classmates, Jon, preparing his pizza for the oven!

Breads Class and a Sweet Failure

Well, week one of Breads class flew by! I have to say that breadmaking continues to be a mystery to me. Oh, I understand about feeding the yeast and allowing gluten strands to develop and such. BUT - I still don't have a feel for when the dough is kneaded sufficiently, when the loaf is ready to come out of the proof box, or even when I should pull the bread from the oven. It doesn't help that the chef for the class is a man of few words. He seems to enjoy a quiet environment (makes sense, since bread bakers typically work early in the morning, when everyone else is sleeping) and singing, humming, and whistling are forbidden. Hmmph.

Above is a pic of the polenta bread we made this week. It is made with a sponge that contains cooked corn mush and rosemary. It's a very soft bread with a crunchy outer crust. The pic below shows Jewish Rye (without carraway seeds because they are gross), fougasse with sun-dried tomato and black olives, and a couple loaves of ciabatta. The fougasse and the ciabatta are very sticky doughs to work with.

Finally, below is a pic of my macaroon failure from earlier today. I don't know exactly why the same recipe worked when made in class and failed miserably at home. I have some theories though - either the oven temp was wrong, the almond meal was different, or making the cookies bigger messes them up. Anyway, I flavored these with orange extract (and tried to color them orange but you can hardly tell) and sandwiched nutella between them. They were delicious, even if the tops are cracked instead of smooth, there is no "foot", and they were a little dry in texture instead of chewy.

A Milestone (now with New Baguette Taste!)

Well, I made it through the first six week term at Le Cordon Bleu. This week we made baguettes to get a taste of breadmaking. I have to say, it's physically a little more demanding than I expected. It makes me wish that I had taken my physical therapy (for my left wrist) a little more seriously last year :)

The past six weeks have been a whirlwind. I'm glad that I only have my P&B class next term and no general education requirements. Hopefully that means more time to do baking and art projects outside of class!

Next week starts six weeks of breadmaking. I'm feeling some trepidation, but it will probably be fine. I'll definitely learn a lot since I'm starting with pretty close to no knowledge.

Playing with Fire (aka Creme Brulee)!

We made creme brulee the other day - which means I got to play with the blowtorch! Yay! It definitely takes some practice in order to torch it just enough and not burn the sugar.