A Cupcake Story!

So... it was probably about the end of April of 2010.  I was having a craving for some cupcakes after a full day of work. So I asked Jeff if we could go get some cupcakes at Kara's Cupcakes in Napa after we both got off work. Of course he agreed! :) When I walked into Kara's Cupcakes at Oxbow Market I was like a kid in a candy store. I'm pretty sure I had the hugest grin on my face and my mind was soaring, thinking of so many things.

Which cupcake should I get? 

How cool would it be to work here? 

How cool would it be to just ring up customers here? 

How cool would it be to be back there making those cupcakes? 

How cool would it be to own a place like this? 

How cool would it be to do this for a living? 

I think the girl working there even sensed that I wanted to be a part of their team and told me that they were hiring a baker but they needed to be in Culinary School. 

We chose our "poison" and moved on. Ironically, we chose dessert before dinner. We went to Sonic's on our way home and got a bite to eat. The entire time, I was talking to Jeff about how much I loved that bakery. How everything was perfect in there and how the Cupcakes were to die for. I was even pondering the idea of trying to work there part time. But then I remembered the condition that in order to be a baker that you needed to be in Culinary School. I asked him what he thought of me going to Culinary School and he told me, "go for it!".

Well, I have always told Jeff that I would go to Culinary School at some point in my life. Whether I was old or young it was something I had to do. I was supposed to go to Culinary School after High School. I even toured Le Cordon Bleu in San Francisco. I chickened out in fear of being unsuccessful. 

Going to Kara's Cupcakes sparked something in me. I couldn't stop thinking about the possibility of going to Culinary School. I knew I was only about a year away from graduating Community College (well, soon after I found out I only had one more semester to go).  So, within the next few days I explored the idea even more and called the Art Institute. Took a tour and even applied. I toured Le Cordon Bleu in mid May and enrolled that day. 

Culinary School was a dream come true for me. I had explored the idea of working for Disney. But unfortunately that didn't work out. They were never hiring for the positions I needed to apply for. During my "Summer Break" I started calling everywhere looking for a job or an externship in the Baking Industry. I stumbled upon the idea of working for Kara's. I called the store and was delighted to discover they were looking for a baker! I immediately applied, sent resume, cover letter and portfolio. 

I'm proud to say that I have landed a position as a baker at Kara's Cupcake at Napa's Oxbow Market. I am so thrilled and excited to start this new journey.

My initial experience last April at Kara's Cupcakes jump started my forever internal desire to go to Culinary School. If I had never gone that night to pick up a cupcake who knew if I would be at this stage right now. I am really grateful for this "Full Circle" opportunity and opportunity to work for the best Cupcake Bakery in the Bay Area. I love what the company stands for- Organic, natural, local, sustainable ingredients and materials that are low impact on the environment.  

I couldn't be any happier right now and I hope that everyone is happy for me as well! Thank you for everyone who as always stood by me and believed in me. I truly appreciate it. 

With Love,

Adriana

Getting Comfortable With My Style

So this week was pretty fun. I started thinking outside the box a little bit but I still keep my style simple and to the point. I like to look at a plate and to be able to guess or know what the flavors are. I don't like it to be a secret. I want it to look appetizing. 

In the beginning of the week we plated Baked Alaska's. I wasn't too excited about this because I didn't know how to get creative with it nor did I think it was going to taste good. I was wrong. It was so delicious. We made an Italian Meringue to cover our chocolate cake and homemade Vanilla Ice Cream then lightly torched the the Italian Meringue. Mine looked like little cupcakes; I couldn't resist! 

Here is my first plate. The plate is garnished with dots of Raspberry Caramel Sauce and the Baked Alaska is topped with a tuft of sugar hair. 

Baked Alaska 

Here is my second plate, which Chef liked the best. The plate is garnished with one stroke of Chocolate Sauce and one stroke of Raspberry Caramel Sauce. 

Baked Alaska 

The next plate is our Lemon Bombe. If you've never had one, they are delicious. Light and airy and very   "lemon-y". On the left there is a fanned Strawberry brushed with Simple Syrup followed by a row of crushed Fortune Cookies that leads to the Lemon Bombe that is garnished with Candied Lemon Peel. 

Lemon Bombe 

I wasn't very inspired by the next plates. Phyllo kind of bores me. It doesn't taste that great to me, even though it's loaded with butter and sugar. This first plate is a Phyllo Napoleon that is filled with Vanilla Diplomat Cream and Peach Compote topped with Sugar Hair. The plate is dusted with Cinnamon. 

Peach Compote Napoleon (with Phyllo Dough)

 This was Chef's favorite plate for my phyllo assignment. Here is a trio of phyllo triangles. On the left is an Apple Phyllo Triangle on top of Blueberry Sauce. In the middle is a Peach Compote Phyllo Triangle on top of Cinnamon Streusel. Lastly, on the right is a Pear Phyllo Triangle on top of Cinnamon Pastry Cream. 

Phyllo Triangles

So, we were supposed to do phyllo plates again on Friday but Chef said he was bored of phyllo and had us do deconstructed S'mores instead! Here is what I came up with. A S'more Parfait. Chocolate pudding layered with Crushed Graham Crackers and topped with a toasted marshmallow and served with a shot of Chocolate Milk. Everything was handmade even the Chocolate Sauce for the Chocolate Milk!

S'more Parfait with Chocolate Milk 

With Love, 

Adriana 

Week 2 of Advanced Patisserie Techniques

During this week I started to get better at my plates. My grades were beginning to get better so it was a really great week for me. Here are my plates. 

This is my plated Mascarpone Cheesecake. It's on a Graham Cracker Crust and topped with Blueberry Coulis and a Sugar Sphere. Chef suggested that I should have put two of the Cheesecake mounds together to make a ball of Cheesecake. He also advised me that my ration of crust to cheesecake was a little too much. 

Cheesecake

Panna cotta. O.M.G!!! This plate started off as a disaster. I was very rushed this week because I was taking on a lot of the responsibilities of making the products between my baking buddy and I. With the Panna Cotta I had confirmed how much gelatin to use with the associate Chef and apparently he quoted me the incorrect amount because our original Panna Cotta would NOT hold it's shape. There was not enough gelatin! Luckily, my awesome classmate, Cindy, gave me an extra one of hers. Thank God! This ended up being my first perfect score. This is probably my favorite plate so far. I love the simplicity of it. Limoncello Panna Cotta topped with Blood Orange Compote and garnished with Passion Fruit Caramel Sauce and bits of Nougatine. Chef said that the color scheme was nice (monochromatic) and that all the flavors paired perfectly together. 

Limoncello Panna Cotta

Now, even though I got a good grade on this plate, I am not a big fan of it. Maybe it's the photo that I took. I need to start bringing my digital and stop relying on my iPhone. HA! Well, this is a Napoleon made with a Reversed Puff Pastry. With Reverse Puff Pastry, you encase the dough inside a butter block. Normally, it's the other way around. Butter inside the dough. This napoleon is made is filled with Vanilla Bean Diplomat Cream and Sauteed Pears and the plate is garnished with Caramel Sauce. It was extremely delicious! I ate the entire plate! 

Sauteed Pears Napoleon 

Now, I got more comfortable towards the end of the week and tried incorporating more components with my plates. Here we have Bread Pudding topped with Creme Anglaise, Cinnamon Whipped Cream and Cinnamon/Cayenne Pepper Candied Pecans. The plate is garnished with Caramel Sauce. 

Bread Pudding 

This next plate is exactly the same as the last except the plate is garnished with a Raspberry Caramel Sauce instead. I received a perfect score for these plates. 

Bread Pudding 

With Love, 

Adriana 

Advanced Patisserie Techniques

Hello, my name is Adriana Magallon and I want to be YOUR next Pastry Chef! haha. I finally took a headshot of myself.

This week was the start of our 4th class! Wow! We are almost done! This is our Advanced Patisserie Techniques Class. We are doing plated desserts. If ever you felt like you have no creativity, this is the class where it will really show. It's so difficult for me to come up with a concept to plate a dessert. I am a very simplistic "artist". I like a little sauce, a whipped cream quenelle perhaps, and that's about all. So thinking of some amazing, breath-taking concept is extremely difficult for me. We plated a creme brulee and a creme caramel this week. 

Also, I might note that it has been brought to my attention that someone has been downloading my baking photos. I do take this as a compliment, however, I hope that this person doesn't decide to use my work and claim that it's their own. Therefore, with the help of my amazing boyfriend, he has added a simple watermark to my photos.

First plate: Creme Brulee.

Creme Brulee

My concept for this plate was supposed to be a lot less "juvenile" than it looks. The Blueberry Coulis used to make the flower was too loose and didn't hold the shape that I wanted. I made a mistake by placing my pretty flower, that I so carefully made by piping scorching hot sugar, on top of the whipped cream quenelle. On top of that, why did I put whipped cream on top of my beautifully brulee'ed top?

So, Chef gave me this idea to try. He suggested I make a triangular shaped tuile and have it wrap around my ramekin and end with the peak facing down into the creme brulee and attach a butterfly there. Well, I got what he was saying but didn't exactly know how to execute it properly. So I looked at some of my tuile cookies I made the day before and I came up with this:

Creme Brulee

The product sitting on the ramekin is a tuile cookie made by piping squiggles of vanilla and chocolate tuile on a baking sheet then wrapping it around a wooden spoon to shape it. I put some pieces of sugar work down the middle and added some chocolate sauce garnish on the side. At first, the tuile cookie was sitting on the plate but Chef moved it up to add some height. I think I like it. 

Next plated dessert was our creme caramel. 

Creme Caramel

This is the plate that I presented for my grade. I improved by .5 from my last grade. Hey, I'll take it! 

I presented my concept sketch to chef and he liked my idea. I wanted to do something simple so I am glad that it worked out. On the left is an Orange Compound encased by a sugar cage and the Creme Caramel on the right.  Chef liked the fact that it was monochromatic. I really like this plate. The only complaint I have is that there is WAY too much syrup around the Creme Caramel.

After being graded I realized I forgot to add our candied orange zest to my creme caramel. Here is what it looked like (I didn't get graded for this). 

Creme Caramel

Tomorrow we plate cheesecakes, this should be interesting. 

With Love,

Adriana 

Final week of International Pastries

Here are my cakes from the last week of International Pastry Class. 

Genoise a la Framboise

Brasilia Cake 

These next two were my final productions for my final practical.

Chocolate Mousse Cake 

Opera Cake

It's been a nice week long vacationthat went by way too quick. Back to school tomorrow to start Plated desserts. 

With Love, 

Adriana 

Miscellaneous Cakes

This is just going to be a quick update on my Week #5 productions in International Pastry class.

I just attached the photos with caption as to what they are. Here they go: 

Entremet Cake

Slice of Entremet Cake

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Slice of Chocolate Mousse Cake

Carrot Cake 

Chocolate Flourless Torte

Sacher Torte

With Love,

Adriana