Opera Tort

This week we had our second practical, it was on the Opera Tort! I have to admit that this is probably one of my favorite things that we have made so far! But I think I say that about almost everything we make in kitchens! I was a little bit nervous about this practical, because I had a problem with making the Mocha Buttercream!

This story that I am about to tell you happened all in one day. My first attempt: When making buttercream, you have to dissolve the sugar in the water. But you have to bring the sugar and water to 241F but no higher than 244F. Well with this, if you do not put lemon just around the sides of the pot with a pastry brush the sugar with crystalize. So I forgot to do that, and when I remembered it was to late!

My second attempt: This time around I remembered the lemon juice. everything was going great. UNTIL, the dissolved sugar and water was taking forever to reach the temperature. The numbers on the digital thermometer were getting higher, but my product in the pot was get dark. It was at 212, and my product at this point was dark black like the color of freshly brewed coffee. Let me say all this happened in a matter of seconds from here on. All of a sudden steam, and smoke covered the entire room. It was so bad that my Chef thought it was going to set off the fire alarms. It was so bad that another student was telling me that the smoke was coming into their kitchen across the hall.

The reasoning for this happening, was because the digital thermometer was set on Celcius, so if it was in Fahrenheit the sugar would be reading over 500F.

So everyone Check your Thermometers to make sure that it is correct!!


So when it came to remaking the Buttercream, I was a tad bit nervous!

But the third time making the buttercream was a success! It was perfect, and sooooooo good!

Do you know what a tort is? It is a German word for a multi layered cake with rich fillings. It may also indicate cutting a cake into multiple (more than two) layers.

With this practical this was a three layered tort. There was 2 layers of buttercream, and one ganache! And then the top was buttercream with melted chocolate. We then had to Pipe Opera on the top!

I was really surprised I got a 95% on the practical!!!

Here are pictures of the Opera Tort!!!




Here is a side view of the tort! It's not very thick! But it's so rich you can't eat a lot of it!



This is the top of my tort! I'm please with it! I can't wait to EAT it!!!!!


I hope you liked my Opera tort and my story!

Keep posted there's a blog this Sunday coming up!

Pie, Pie Me Oh My!!

This past week I started my 4th mod at Le Cordon Bleu. I am currently studying Pies and Cakes! This class is straight up my alley! I love making pies, I don't know why but there is so much you can do with them. Plus pie is great anytime of the day! I love learning different pie! This week we started with Cheesecake which I absolutely love, I love it especially with fruit like strawberries on top!

But as I said this week we started with Cheesecake. Over the course of the week I brought home 4 Pies not including the Cheesecake!

Items I brought home
Cheesecake
Blueberry Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Chocolate Chiffon Pie
Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pie

And there is tons of left overs even thought I've given a lot of Pie away!





Here is my pie server my mom got me for Christmas. It's a high heel server. You will be able to see what I mean with the next picture.



The side view of the pie server. The pink heel is magnetic so you can remove it.



My ornament that my mom got me. This is a tradition in my family. Ever since we were kids, at every Christmas we would go out and pick out an ornament, so when we move out or get married we would have ornaments to put on our tree. My mom said these reminded her of my little cakes that I make!



My New York Style Cheesecake!

The Recipe!
New York Style Cheesecake....I had a previous blog earlier...this is different than my cheesecake I normally make.

1.5 pounds of Cream Cheese
5 oz Gran. Sugar
2.5 oz Sour Cream
1 oz Cornstarch
1 T. Lemon Juice
1oz Vanilla Extract
3 each Eggs
2 oz Heavy Cream

Bake at 350 F
about 30 to 35 minutes..there should be a slight giggle to the cheesecake, and lightly brown.

When making a cheesecake, you final result batter should be smooth and shiny. NOT LUMPY....'lumpiness,' can ruin the batter.

Before you would add all of your ingredients, make sure your cream cheese is a room temperature. then cream it in a kitchen aid using the paddle attachment. It should be creamy not lumpy...I can't stress that anymore.

Always work from thickest to thinnest at a low speed it helps with lumping.

Always...always add your ingredients slowly.

You want to scrap your bowl frequently

OVERCOOKING will cause your cheesecake to crack down the center!



Side view of cheesecake!



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My Pumpkin Pie with Maple leaves around the edges of the crust... unfortunately it burnt a little...but it was still really good!!!



Chocolate Chiffon Pie, I liked it, but many people at my school didn't care for the pie. It had a mousse texture, the chocolate had meringue whipped into it! It was a little different but nonetheless good! :)



This was my Chocolate Peanut butter pie! This tasted just like a Reeses!!!! I loved this one as well!


I hope everyone liked the stuff I made this week! There is definitely more to come for next Sunday!!

Keep Posted!!! :)

Bob's Homemade Pizza

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope everyone had a fun and exciting night.

Alright so tonight's blog is a little different, I could not make anymore sweets this weekend, because I believe we are still all on a sugar high from Christmas and everything in between.

Tonights blog is about my boyfriend John, his dads (Bob) homemade pizza. I absolutely love love love pizza, I can eat it everyday of my life and I can guarantee you that I would never get tired of it. So when his dad makes the pizza and John is home from school I am the happiest one sitting at the dinner table.


Unfortunately, I was not around to help because John and I were out shopping and picking up some needed items. But when we walked into Johns house there was this amazing garlic smell flowing out of the kitchen! Just amazing smelling!



Here is a picture of white pizza uncooked. My ultimate favorite pizza to make/eat is a white pizza with green peppers....minus the sauce ;)! But I did not get a picture of this one cooked, because it was not done in time for dinner, but it did not stop me from waiting for it!!! Sooooo goood!



Here is a regular sauce pizza! It was sooo good!!! Even though there was sauce on it, but it wasn't drenched in it!!! :)



The other pizza!



Here is the salad, and I did make it!!!! ;)!!! The salad was soooo good, definitely hit the spot as well! Especially when I put walnuts and dried cranberries in it!!! With Wishbone Italian Dressing!


Today was my last day of Christmas break! It absolutely flew, I wish I had a little more time off, but I need to finish out my degree.Which really excites me!!

Tomorrow, I will be entering my 4th mod at LCB, and returning back to work as well.

Thoughts
Tomorrow and for the next 6 weeks I will be learning about Cakes and Pies..yumm!
In 7 months I will be going somewhere along the east coast for my externship for 3 months. This year is going to change everything.
In 11 months I will be a pastry chef...hmmm absolutely excited...but nervous
In 2 years I will be going to France! I've decided that!!

A Merry Update!

I hope everyone had a safe and Merry Christmas! I got a new camera so I will be able to take pictures of the products I make in class and on the side instead of using my Blackberry. I will later have a post up about the type of camera I use.

Unfortunately, I am sick with a really bad cold. I felt great yesterday morning until I was driving over Johns house, and my nose and throat started feeling funky.
Being under the weather, it isn't very sanitary to bake anything especially if you intend on feeding others your products. SO, NO MORE SUGARY TREATS for a few days of course! Plus, it would send my step-father into diabetic shock!!!


There's always New Years!!! ;)


There will be cute photos of stuff up in a few days!

Any ideas for New Years Eve treats??????

Tarallucci Cookies!!!

This blog posting is a little late than my normal posts!!! It's currently 12:36 am and I am ready to pass out, today was a very long day. John was over tonight, we made Tarallucci tonight. They are an Italian cookie, that has Anise in them, but is topped with icing and sprinkles for fun!


It's tradition in my family to make them for major holidays such as Christmas and Easter(along with many other cookies)! The colors may vary, but nonetheless it doesn't take away from their taste!


Here they are plain, before you coat them in icing and decorate them with sprinkles!
I like them plain like this, but many other people prefer them with the icing!



Here they are all 'fancied' up!!!






Here they are on the tray, well...only some of them! I believe when John counted them there were around 85ish!


The Recipe

6 Eggs
5 Cup Flour-All Purpose
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Oil
tsp. Salt
2 Tablespoon Vanilla
2 Tablespoon Baking Powder
Anise to taste(What you want it to taste like...no set amount)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix all of you wet ingredients in my mixer(creaming method)
Then add all of your dry ingredients- a little at a time

To make the Tarallucci shape, grab a piece of dough. Roll out with you hands to about an inch to an inch and a half. It should look like a little rope, not to thin. Then take and wrap around your pointer finger(the top part), it should look like a spiral.

Then Place on a grease cookie sheet about an half in to an inch apart. They will rise in the oven.

The bottoms of the cookie should be a golden brown...not brown! Then take them out of the oven and let cool.

For the icing

about a 1/2 cup of Powdered Sugar
Water- add a table spoon in the Powdered sugar at a time
Food Coloring- Wilton Gel, or the normal liquid dye

Mix all together. The icing should be thick, but not too thick. You don't want it runny.

Once icing is on add your sprinkles, or any kind of edible decoration you want.

Or you could just leave them plain!!! That is totally up to you!!!


Have fun with them, they are great because they are so versatile! They go with any kind of holiday!!!


A little update!

I got straight A's in my classes this mod, so I am still currently on the Deans List!

On Friday, I would have considered it a easy/ fun day. We made breakfast, doughnuts, and make sugar cookies! It was definitely more relaxed out of all the other days!

here are some pictures!!!



French Doughnuts..they kind you can get at Dunkin Donuts!!! I like sweets, but I have to admit the biggest weakness are doughnuts!!! They are just so fantastic!!! I can eat them all the time!!!



Tree Sugar Cookies!!!



Snowflake sugar cookies!!!


They were a lot of fun to make!


As of right now there are 5 days until Christmas!
I have a lot to do!

Make my gingerbread houses
hopefully make my gingerbread cookies....anyone know any good recipes????
Make Bakerella Cake Pops for a party on Tuesday
Also make struff...I've never made it before! If you like fried things and honey...they you would like this!!

So this means that there will be a few extra posts this week!!!!

Furthermore, I think John and I are going to make a Julia Child Dinner one night!!!

Keep Posted for my future posts!!!!!

A little bit of Everything!!!!

I hope everyone enjoyed my Presents and a la carte post! Those presents were a lot of fun to make!! I will be making something like that in a few days for a Christmas Party on Tuesday night!

Tomorrow is my last day in Breakfast Pastries, and the last day of the mod! And I am on Christmas vacation for 2 WEEKS!!! I'm so thrilled I can finish my Christmas Shopping, and do some more baking!!

This mod went 'soooo' fast, but I am ready to move onto other things that interest me.Next mod my classes are Wine and Beverages...and Specialty Cakes and Pies. I heard my next Chef is really awesome, so I am really excited!!!


As for tomorrow my last day of class is we are making breakfast, with the English Muffins we prepared today, homemade doughnuts with this amazing Pastry Cream filling for some of them, and we are making more cookies for Christmas, so I am ready for tomorrows class. Doughnuts are my weakness....i love love love them!!! :D


Here are some things that I have been making this week in Breakfast Pastries!!!
Enjoy!!


Here is my cutting board with the apples and my Chefs Knife (it's amazing), this was for my Apple Pie we made this week!!!



Apple Pie Crust!



Finished Apple Pie! I have not tried it but I heard it's good!!!



Part one of the Pecan Pie!!!



Add the filling!



Once you add the filling, move your finger around the center of the pie so that when the pie bakes the Pecans will rise to the top!



Finished product of the Pecan Pie! I tried a piece of it, because I have never had it before...and I have to say you would need a huge glass of milk to go along with it! It's still currently sitting on my table!


Crust to breakfast Quiche!!!



My Quiche was filled with bacon, sausage, yellow peppers, onions, cheese...and I think that's it!



Fully baked! I have never been a fan of Quiche, but this one was really good. It's currently still sitting my fridge.





Chocolate and Vanilla Ice box cookies




And these are my moms Cherry Chocolate Kisses! She's currently making them as we speak!!!


I hope you enjoyed all of these baked goods I made!!! There are a lot more to come this coming week!

Stay Posted!!!!

Presents and a la carte!!!

This Saturday was Mikes (mom's husband) Christmas party for this motorcycling club that he belongs to. I did my own kind of cake pops, minus the popsickle sticks.

I made my own, and called them Christmas Presents. Some of the shapes were ovals, squares, and hearts. I used the left over make n'mold chocolate pieces from previous projects. I used the colors Orange and Pink molds, because they were the most colors I had left.

Did you know that if you want to color your chocolate buy Wilton gel coloring. It is not the same as using the liquid color drop you use for cookies. I had light pink colored chocolates, so I added the Rose colored gel made by Wilton to make it more of a hot pink color!!! I love pink, and I thought it was just perfect!!!

I have to make them in about two weeks, because I have another Christmas party to go to, but this time I think I am going to do some piping on them. I wanted to do some piping on them yesterday, but I did not have enough time.

On Friday I bought Andes Candies I figured I would crush them up and put them on top of some of the presents I made. Some different. There was sprinkles of all kinds, and I put green and red m&m's on top of some of the presents. They turned out super cute!

One of the guys that at the club said when he get extra money he would pay me to make him a whole bunch. But I make them anyway. They are a lot of fun, the best part is you can be creative and come up with your own. When I have time I would love to come up with a shooting start cake pop. It would be a challenge!!! :D


The Presents as a tower!!!! Look at all that pink!!










Doesn't that look cute?!?!






Cake in the pans, before they went in the oven. Those are 9" cake pans!



The crumbled cake and cream cheese icing before I combined them together.







Andes Candies, before I crumbled them all up!! They are soo good!!! yummy!



Andes Candies now in pieces!!!


Sprinkles and other cute little things!!!!


When it comes to dipping the presents, I chilled the presents in the fridge before I started dipping them for about a half hour. You can put them in the freezer to make them colder..faster. But you do not want them frozen!!! I put parchment paper down on the cookie sheet. Then I dipped the bottom of the presents, then put them in the fridge for about 12 minutes to the chocolate hardens. Then I dipped the top of the presents, then put the sprinkles, m&m's or anything you deserve on top before the chocolate hardens. Then when all of them are done place back in the fridge. I would take them out as soon as you are ready to serve them.

I hope you like my little presents...if you have any questions about the process please feel free to comment and ask I would be happy to answer!!!!


As for the A La Carte end of my post I have a fruit tart to show that I made on Friday, I didn't have any, but I heard it was really good. And a cute little picture!



My fruit tart!! It was a lot of fun to make!!




I went grocery shopping with my mom today, and we walked past the bakery end of the grocery store, they had this adorable stand up. I just had to take a picture of it on my phone to share, because it was just so perfect for my blog tonight!!!


As for this week, I have to send Bakerella my interview questions!!
5 days until Christmas break!

I hope you enjoyed my blog!

Have a fun and safe week!!!