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After a tense and intensive 6 weeks of baking/pastry class, the final day saw a cohesive group capable of managing time well enough to reward ourselves with a pizza party.
Along with putting finishing touches on 2 cakes, completing assigned cleaning jobs, and taking the final written exam, we came together and made pizza for the sole purpose of having pizza. Loaded with cheese, bacon, sausages, and peppers, this was a good class overall. No memory can be bad once associated with a pizza ending.
There is so much more yet to learn and practice in the art of baking and pastry making. I’m glad that I came away hopeful of future development. There are those who believe the complete segregation of cooking, baking, and pastry into 3 mutually exclusive competencies. But the consoling truth is, it doesn’t have to be that way.
What do you get from a stencil, 3 different cake batters, layers of mousse fillings, ring molds, and a glistening glaze? Joconde Sponge Cakes are not for the box-cake convenience worshipers. This is serious cake making.
Check out how pretty the ribbon of patterned cake looks by itself. For those with an entrepreneurial spirit, there is a huge market for LV or Gucci print stencils. I think a really classic and regal look would be the royal fleur de lis.
This patterned ribbon was made using 2 different batters over several hours. After wrapping around the sides inside a ring mold, sheet cakes are sliced into thin layers that line the horizontal plane of the cake. In this particular creation, 3 types of mousses were used: mango, raspberry, and chocolate. Topping off the already opulent piece is a layer of shiny fruit glaze (blackberry on mine). This cake’s ready to party.
And of course one can continue to impress with practiced piping (as on Chef’s demo shown here).
In this compressed curriculum, icing a cake doesn’t always make it into the lesson plan.
Luckily, we got a chance to spin the cake stand and tried our hands at icing.
After jabbing myself with a serrated knife, my 4-layer slicing job was somewhat satisfactory. It wasn’t even that trickly sandwiching fruit fillings (raspberry) and buttercreams between the layers. The real challenge came when attempting to smooth out the surface top and around the cake.
My plainly iced cake looks extremely homely. Fanciful piping would’ve jazzed it up but I basically ran out of time repeatedly trying to smooth things out. Now look at Chef’s demo — worthy of wedding cake prices.
It seems Tiramisu is one of those favorites that every interested home baker will try at some point. I certainly have. So have many of my friends and acquaintances. Now the big surprise — to me anyway — the classical alcohol of this addictive concoction is marsala wine! How did the vastly different cognac ever get into this picture?
From lady fingers to the 4-component mascarpone cream filling, to the multi-layer assembly, this dessert is doused with love. Even at the humblest of homey establishments, tiramisu deserves the respect of all.
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