Pastry Update #4

Five more lessons have flown by since we left off in “Intermediate Pastry Begins!”, and we have learned so much!  Here’s a quick overview of the newest pastries to add themselves to my growing portfolio and knowledge base.

Leçon 6

If you recall from “Intermediate Pastry Begins,” Lesson 5 was the infamous Chocolate Box, so it is only fitting that Lesson 6 taught us a plethora of chocolates with which to fill our boxes!  In the Demo, Chef Eric showed us quite a few different chocolates: Muscadines (cylindrical dark chocolate shell filled with dark chocolate Grand Marnier ganache and coated in icing sugar), Praliné (hazelnut praline with milk chocolates), Boules de Neige (literally “snowballs,” white chocolates with a hint of raspberry and a really creamy filling), Rum Truffles, Honey Truffles, Almond Paste Squares, and Rocher (a crispy praline center coated in dark chocolate with almonds).  It was a busy demo, and all of the chocolates were exceptionally delicious (except the Rum Truffles, which I didn’t really care for). 

Left cake board, bottom to top: Snowballs, Praline, Rum Truffles,
and Almond Paste Squares.  Right cake board, bottom to top:
Rocher, Honey Truffles, Muscadines

For the Practical, we were assigned to turn out 36 chocolates.  One dozen each of the Rocher, Muscadines, and Honey Truffles.  The practical was hectic, and most of us finished right down to the wire.  I left with a beautiful chocolate box full of candies, and Chad couldn’t have been more pleased when I got home.  I was even able to send some chocolates to my parents for a pleasant surprise.

My chocolate box -- filled to max capacity!

Clockwise from top: Rocher, Honey Truffles, Muscadines

Someone was pretty excited to have so much
chocolate around!

Leçon 7

Lesson 7 introduced us to yet another category of Petits Fours: Petits Fours Glacés.  They look like really tiny pies and consist of sweet dough, almond cream, and toppings (like buttercream or jam) coated in fondant.  We had Chef Jocelyn for the Demo, and he showed us a few different kinds: Souris (vanilla buttercream mouse dipped in white fondant), Barquette (chocolate buttercream dipped in chocolate), Moka Dome (coffee buttercream dipped in coffee fondant), Raspberry Jam Triangle (raspberry jam dipped in pink fondant), Pink Buttercream Frog (dipped in green fondant), and Ganache Rectangle (not dipped in anything).  The frogs were especially hilarious – when you bite them, it’s like you can see their guts!

Funny little frog is pink inside

From left to right: Frogs (bottom), Mice, Raspberry Triangles,
Barquettes, Ganache Rectangles

Chef Jocelyn's Mice

Chef's Barquettes and Ganache Rectangles 

For the practical, we were told to present eight of each of the Souris, Barquette, and Ganache Rectangle.  This was evidently a mistake, because Chef Eric was kind of upset in the Demo, claiming that we never make Barquette and were instead supposed to present Moka Domes.  All was well, though, and we dipped our Barquettes in chocolate fondant instead of tempered chocolate to get the experience Chef Eric wanted us to have.  I loved eating the mice, and will definitely make them again at home.

LOVED eating these little guys...so tasty!

Left to right: Mice, Barquettes (with fondant rather than chocolate),
Ganache rectangles

Some of my mice were a little drippy, but I got the hang of it
after doing a few

Leçon 8

There was only one cake for this lesson: the Millefeuille Praliné.  It’s a rectangular layered dessert made of puff pastry dough (which is discouraged from rising too much while in the oven, making it kind of crispy), a crunchy chocolate layer, and praline cream.  I love the taste of this one, but it is hard to eat without making a huge mess on the plate (certainly not a very elegant dessert).  The Chef demoed the large version and plated version of this cake, along with how to decoratively coat hazelnuts for a garnish.

Chef's little plated Millefeuille

The crispy layers are kind of like a really fancy, flaky graham cracker

The hazelnuts are so tall!

The Practical was another busy one, but I was prepared.  Making puff pastry from scratch was great fun, even though my body was still sore from the half marathon I ran two days before.  I finished with a little time to spare.

My Millefeuille -- not bad!

My hazelnuts weren't spectacular

Leçon 9

I had been excitedly anticipating Lesson 9; it was our first time plating desserts!  Up until this lesson, the Chef had showed us how to plate various cakes, but we often didn’t have time in the Practical to try it ourselves.  For this lesson, the only objective for us would be to plate two different desserts: one “Dacquoise aux Pistaches, Granité aux Griottes, Jus de Fraises de bois” (little pistachio cakes that are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, served with a sour cherry shaved sorbet and raspberry sauce) and one “Chaud-Froid au Chocolat, Crème Glacée au Caramel” (warm chocolate lava cake with caramel ice cream).  Chef Eric demonstrated all of the elements necessary for these desserts, including some pate à cigarettes for garnish, and the ice cream and normal (not shaved) sour cherry sorbet.  In the Practical, some ice cream (leftover from the Demo) would be provided to us, along with some fresh fruits and chocolate for garnish.

Chef's Pistachio Dacquoise (the flower on the side
and the circle on the bottom) plated dessert

Chef's Shooter-version of the Dacquoise

Caramel icing with Dacquoise and fresh fruits

Caramel Ice Cream and Sour Cherry Sorbet

He didn't plate a warm chocolate lava cake because he wanted
us to be able to taste them while they were still hot

I was so excited to get started.  We were given free reign for design, so I did a little brain-storming and knew I wanted to present something minimalist and graphic.  There wasn’t much time to spare in the practical itself, so I came in organized and pushed through.  I finished right on time, and was SO pleased with my work.  The Dacquoise dish was just as I imagined it, and I was really glad that I could get the Cigarette Paste to do exactly as I wanted it to.  Going into the practical, I was afraid that using a flame design for my Chaud-Froid would be tacky, but I think it worked out well, and I’m glad I went for it.

My plated desserts -- pretty good for my first try!

Warm Chocolate Lava Cake with Caramel
Ice Cream and Red Berry Coulis.  The flame
is made of Cigarette Paste,  (which doesn't
taste like cigarettes -- promise!) and it was shaped by
a mold that I made by hand

Pistachio Dacquoise with Sour Cherry Sorbet,
Fresh Fruits, and Red Berry Coulis.  The tall
circle on the left is also made out of Cigarette
Paste, and I shaped it by hand.  

Leçon 10

In our most recent lesson, we learned the cake that is known throughout the student lounge as “That really hard Intermediate cake.”  It’s the “Mousse au Chocolat Blanc et aux Oranges Sanguines,” a layered cake with lady fingers, white chocolate mousse, flourless chocolate cake, and blood orange mousse, all encased in a beautifully striped sponge cake.  It got its reputation from the recipe, which takes up three full pages of ingredients in our binder.  The demo was done by Chef Hervé (the Superior Pastry chef), who taught us the importance of organization with this cake.  If we made one mistake in the practical, it was very likely that we wouldn’t finish.  He even said that if we didn’t come to class with tips already in pastry bags, we would lose enough time to not finish.  Scary, right?

Plated version of the Blood Orange Mousse Cake

The Chef made three of these cake in three hours to prove
that we could finish one in the same amount of time, no
problem.  The key: Organization.

That fun design on the side is done by hand, and we would
have free reign to do it as we pleased.

Sponge cake on the outside.  Layers from bottom to top: Lady
Fingers, White Chocolate Mousse, Flourless Chocolate Cake,
Blood Orange Mousse.  One of the best tasting cakes so far!

Although the thought of the practical was intimidating, the practical itself was exhilarating.  I moved quickly from recipe to recipe, and tried to do things just as Chef Hervé did them.  I finished with about two minutes to spare, and the cake turned out nicely.  At the end of class, Chef Eric sorted our cakes into ones that were done well and ones that had some problems (mostly to do with time).  We listened to his group critique, and he used my cake as an example of one that was very well executed.  I felt great.  I only hope that my performance continues to be as high as it has been for the last few classes!

My Blood Orange Mousse Cake!  The class before us used
all of the fruits, so we just had chocolate decorations on top,
which is fine.

My decorations...I was going for an orange
slice on the left to indicate the flavor.  Not
sure if that really worked out.

Side decoration -- Done by using pure magic.

Individual Critique

Yesterday, we were all required to meet with Chef Eric for a quick mid-term evaluation.  During mine, we discussed the importance of stress and pressure in the kitchen (something I mentioned that I was still experiencing) and the fact that confidence will come with more experience.  He said that at 22 years old, it is normal for me to still ask lots of questions and not be completely confident in my work.  He also said, though, that in our exceptionally talented class, I am one of the top students in attitude, technique, and aesthetic.  He said that he foresees no major complications in me completing the program in good standing.  I left feeling assured and relieved with the approval of my Chef, but I will continue to study like crazy and practice at home.