So, this term I'm taking an Advanced Cake Decorating class. A class that I surprisingly enjoy a lot. A significant part of my school career my strongest suit has been bread baking and my weakest has been cake decorating (also the one I fear the most for some reason.). This class really helped me gain my own confidence in the intricacies of cake decorating. It's creative, it's artistic, it's whimsical... all the things that I believe I am.
Anyways, the final in this class was to create 4 Petit Fours with a partner and in 2 1/2 hours turn out 8 of each item. The stipulations? 1. There had to be a Pate a Choux item 2. There had to be a crust item 3. There had to be an almond glace with filigree item and 4. Student choice!
After coming back from France for my sisters wedding and ranting and raving about the cocktail hour and the delicious food that was presented, it definitely got my wheels turning. Also, I brought a few sweet items back with me, like violet sugar, violet essence, and some cooking magazines. I know I definitely wanted to incorporate some kind of floral essence in this project. So with my fresh outlook on this assignment and my partners open, smart, creative, mind we came up with an amazing set for our final!
1. Pate a choux with a lemon pastry cream
2. Lavender Honey Macaroons
3. Rose scented frangipan with rose buttercream covered in a pretty pink glace
4. Creme Brulee spoons with strawberry jam
So, we had 2 1/2 hours to make and assemble all 4 of these items. We were given 2 in house items, meaning already made, one of them was the frangipan and the other we got to choose, so we chose buttercream. The game plan was that I make the creme brulee, and the lemon pastry cream, and flavor the buttercream, my partner was to make the pate a choux, macaroons, and the strawberry jam. Once those components were made we would wing it on whatever else needed to be done.
Things were off to a great start! I made the creme brulee first because it had to sit for at least an hour before serving (i found this amazing no-bake recipe!), while I was making that my partner made the strawberry jam. Bam! That was done with flying colors! I moved onto the pastry cream and my partner moved onto the macaroons. Here is where I ran into a slight... well.. harsh bump!
I make pastry cream all the time at home.... all the time... all the time that I should be able to do it with my eyes closed! Something happened, I don't know what it was, probably the stress that this was a final and my nerves were shaken up! But I fucked up the recipe! It was too liquidy, so then I started to freak out and hard core question myself and my ability!
How could I screw up fucking pastry cream!?! Was my final going to go down the drain and my confidence in baking follow with it?!?! What the fuck was going on with me!? I thought I was clearly going insane! Was it really 2 WHOLE eggs or just 2 egg yolks? I could've sworn I wrote the ingredients out right! It was almost the same method and ingredients as the creme brulee, I thought I had this in the bag! I asked a classmate if it was egg yolks or the whole eggs, and she said yolks..... then my other classmate verified it for me. So, down the drain my liquidy pastry cream went! It was a nightmare. I thank the people who endured my insanity and helped me out <3
Anyways, the last half hour.. the last 15min was insane crunch time! We still had assembling to do and things to put together... man was it stressful! But of course, at the end of most suspenseful action packed scenes, a beautiful masterpiece ending follows! This my dear friends, is the end result of the insanity!
Maybe I'll post up the recipes in a later post! I definitely want to make those creme brulee spoons again, they were a HIT! Anyways, we were supposed to get a 98, but since we turned out our finished project a few min late we got a 94. Chef loved the flavors, nothing too overpowering or not scented enough. Although, I thought I might've over rosed the frangipan petit fours but apparently it was just at the cusp of being subtle and too much, so I guess it was just right!
My partner and I were so happy with the outcome and so proud of ourselves and the obstacles we overcame during this whole experience! We fuckin rocked it!
<3
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