Musical Cakes

Ok. These updates are going to be so quick. The last couple weeks of our 3rd term got really hot. The kitchens felt like it was hotter than outside. I really slacked on taking good photos and updating my blog. I was just extremely tired every day that I would come home from school. Better late than never! 

Monday 6.6.11

Today we finished our practical. I was really proud of how quickly I finished. I think that I managed my time really well and that helped me a lot. I thought that making the sugar work was going to set me back but I was patient and tried not to freak out. 

With my Gateaux St. Honore Chef said my puffs could have been baked a little longer which is what I suspected. I was happy that I corrected most of my mistakes from the first time I made this product. I filled in the center with the Diplomat Creme a lot better this time. However, with the sugar work on the tops of the puffs, I did not keep the circles in consistent circles. I am not sure "why" but it's difficult for me to do. I have to find out the secret to getting them to look uniform! 

Gateaux St. Honore

I was really happy with my Tiramisu. I was happy that my lady fingers came out in uniform lengths and that my mousse filled up to the right height so I didn't have to trim my lady fingers. I did forget to dust my lady fingers with powdered sugar, as I mentioned two posts ago, before they baked and of course, Chef was able to tell. That's ok thought. I was very happy with both outcomes. 

Tuesday 6.7.11

Today we made the components for our Opera Cake and assembled it. This included ganache, Joconde Sponge, and French Buttercream. We assembled it and held it over night for completion the next day.

Wednesday 6.8.11

Today we finished our Opera Cake. We glazed the cake with Opera Glaze (dark chocolate melted and mixed with vegetable oil). Them trimmed the edges and wrote "Opera" or "L'opera" on top. 

The layers include (from top to bottom): Opera Glaze, Espresso Butter Cream, Joconde Sponge soaked with coffee, Ganache, Joconde Sponge soaked with coffee, Espresso Butter Cream, Joconde Sponge soaked with coffee and a dark chocolate bottom layer. 

It was as a tribute to the Opera Garnier- an Opera Hose in Paris. 

Opera Cake

We also prepared a Chocolate Butter Sponge and Italian Butter Cream for our Entremet Cake. 

Thursday 6.9.11

Today we prepared a Dobos Sponge for our Dobos Torte that we assembled the next day. We also filled and crumb coated our Entremet Cake. 

Friday 6.10.11

Today we tempered chocolate. It was so difficult to do so in a hot kitchen! Needless to say, I ran out of time and didn't get to take home my Entremet Cake. We also had to put our final coat of Butter Cream on the Entremet Cake. 

We assembled our Dobos Torte. I thought this was a fun cake to make. We used some of our Italian Buttercream and added melted chocolate to it to make Chocolate Butter Cream. The Torte consists of layers of cake and buttercream and topped with a layer of cake that has been coated in melted sugar and sliced for decoration on top. It is a Hungarian Cake and was said to resemble a drum. 

Dobos Torte

With Love, 

Adriana