Deliciously evil.... mmm.

Prepare and Produce pastries 102: Creaming method making lemon meringue pies.

We made short pastry again this week but using the creaming method instead of the rubbing method we did the previous week.

To do this we creamed the butter until very soft and added the sugar. We do not want to aerate this mixture. Next you add the eggs and emulsify then your chosen flavour. We used Vanilla extract. Add the flour a little to start with then turn everything onto your bench and combine with your hands. Remember: DO NOT OVER WORK YOUR DOUGH. Place our baby in the fridge to rest for 30min.

All sections of lemon meringue pies were cooked separately and then put together to get this deliciously evil sweet and sour pie.

While our dough was resting we made our lemon filling which consisted of lemon juice, butter, sugar and eggs. We cooked this till above 60 degrees but made sure not to curdle our eggs at the same time.

Our pie shells were blind baked at 180 degrees until golden. Blind baking is cooking the tart shell before adding your filling. This can be done by stabbing the pastry with a fork which is what we did or lining the base of the tart/pie shell with beans, rice or pie weights. We made small tarts so we didn't need to use anything to weigh it down.

Once the shells were cooled we filled them with our lemon filling and placed in the fridge to set.

We then made Italian Meringue which we have made previously at TAFE and piped that on top of the lemon filling.

To top it all off we used a blow torch to give the edges the cooked look.

Overall my favourite thing so far! Love that sweet and sour taste... have to admit also loving the peoples facial expressions when they don't like sour things :) hehe just a little bit evil?

From cakes to pastry.

We changed topics and finished off cakes with a bang. Now onto pastry and starting with the basics.

Prepare and produce pastries 101: Short pastry making Tarte Bourdaloue.

We used the rub in method then all gave up (including chef) and used the mixer with the paddle attachment. I think he realised we would all take too as it was a cold morning and our butter was hard as a rock. We sifted the flour and sugar on our bench and then added our cold butter which was cut into small cubes. Rubbing with the tips of our fingers (you can do this also in a food processor or a mixer with the paddle attachment). Once the mixture resembled fine breadcrumbs and there were no lumps of butter throughout we added some lemon zest for flavour. Next we made a well in the centre and poured in our eggs and vanilla in and combined it all using our hands, kneading lightly into a log shape. You have to be very careful here not to overwork the dough as you don't want it to shrink when it is being cooked. We then glad-wrapped our little pride and joy and placed him in the fridge to rest. He can also be frozen at this stage for up to 2 months.

For our filling we poached some pears in sugar syrup (equal parts sugar and water), lemon zest and vanilla, made almond cream and used some tinned pie filling to see the difference between home made and canned. Home made was so much better!

After our dough had its time in the fridge we rolled it out and lined out tins.

Ready for delicious goodness.

We then filled some with almond cream and topped them with the sliced poached pears and with the others we mixed together almond cream and apple pie filling and filled our tarts. We then topped these with slivered almonds ready for the oven.

My Little boys ready for the oven.

We baked them at 180 degrees celsius until golden and cooked on the bottom. The pear tarts took less time then the apple tarts.

Mmmm warm pear tart straight from the oven anyone?

After they came out we glazed them to give a nice shine for that extra professional look :)

YUMO!!

Just a little bit fancy.

Lesson 4: Gateau Fraisier

Sponge cake again today but this time we got to make it fancy and even more delicious then what we have done previously to a sponge cake.

When the cake was in the oven we made a Creme Patissiere and turned it into a mousseline. YUM!

Creme Patissiere
500mL milk
125g sugar
50g corn flour
3 eggs yolks
1/2 vanilla bean
25g butter

To make a creme pat whisk half the sugar and eggs yolks together, adding the corn flour next and whisking again till all combines. Heat the milk with vanilla and remaining half of the sugar till just boiling and pour over egg mix. Return to the pan and cook on medium heat until you get bubbles coming through the bottom and cook for another 30 seconds. Take off the heat and stir in the butter. Pour into a clingfilm lined tray and cover with more clingfilm to avoid a skin occuring. Once cooled slightly, place in fridge to chill.

To make mousseline
1 batch x creme patissiere
250g soft unsalted butter

If anyone has watched my favourite movie 'Julie and Julia' they would see why I say butter makes everything delicious and this time it is crazy how delicious this turns out. This has been whisked into submission... seriously!

To make Mousseline whip butter till light and fluffy with no lumps. Whip cold creme patissiere until smooth (you can add a splash of alcohol here if you like). Combine butter and creme patissiere and whisky until they are combined.

Putting our Gateau Fraisier together: 

We made the sponge cake in a square tin (20cm x 20cm) and when cooled completely (chef said it is better to do this the next day but as we have only one day at TAFE we did it the same day) we sliced it in half horizontally and brushed off any crumbs. We spread the base with chocolate then placed it in the fridge to set. We did this so the cake has a bit of structure to the bottom and doesn't stick to the cake board (not sure this was a good idea as on the car trip home I drove even more like an old nanna so my cake didn't slide in its box).

marsipan flowers in the making.

Place chocolate side down on a cake board and brush the top with sugar syrup. Spread a layer of mousseline over and line it with cut strawberries having the fat end of the strawberries facing out. Spread another layer of mousseline over the top, covering the strawberries (careful not to put too much on here). Place the other half of the cake on top and press down lightly and evenly. Brush more sugar syrup over the top and spread a final thin layer of mousseline on top. Place in the fridge to firm up.

While it is in the fridge roll out some marsipan and add your desired colour to it or leave it natural. Leaving some extra to start the fun stuff.

Once the cake has firmed up place your rolled out marsipan over the cake, trim the edges with a bread knife and glaze the top.

For the fun stuff we make flowers to go on top of our cake. Chef made them so quick in class it was a whirl wind so a girl in my class showed me. I also asked the pastry chef at work and he showed me a way to do them too. I will have to do a picture step by step to show you how. Words will do this no justice and only confuse both you and me.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the pictures and fancy-ness of this post.

slap me! ...I know I need it.

I need a good slap. I have been terrible at keeping this blog up to date. Think of my morning off today as a HUGE catch up. I will keep you all up to date today and gradually post one (hopefully... fingers crossed) every couple of days :) But this morning task is to write everything I have learnt from TAFE so far. Here goes, I have till 1:10pm until I have to leave for the train and head off to work...its 11:16am now. So here goes!

Lesson 3: Maderia cake and Fruit cake.

A Maderia cake is a great cake for cake decorating as it is a dense sponge like cake which holds its shape very well and is great to travel as it wont end up in a load of crumbs in your picnic basket. The taste was pretty boring to me but good to learn incase I need a dense cake and I am sure you can add different flavouring to it. It was a cake I felt would be delicious toasted and slathered with butter and a cup of tea on the side. Oooo then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, I'm a sucker for cinnamon sugar... mmm hot cinnamon donuts... sorry getting side tracked. Back to cakes.

We softened the butter (175g) with a spatular and then added the sugar (180g) and lemon zest (1 tsp) creaming it together with a spatular, not our whisks like we have done before in the pound cake as we don't want to incorporate air into the cake because we are using chemical aeration. We then added the tempered eggs (200g) one at a time. Tempered means they have had the chill taken off them and are slightly warmer then room temp. Next we added the Vanilla extract (5g) and the batter should be smooth and silky. If the eggs have curdled because they were too cold add a tbs of flour and give it a good mix or warm the mixture up over a bain marie slightly. Usually works for me when this happens. Next add your sifted cake flour (260g) and baking powder (1tsp) and mix to combine.

Place in loaf tins or cupcake cases and bake at 180 degrees celsius until golden and cooked through. Test with a knife to see if it comes out clean.

When the cupcakes were cool we iced them with fondant. To get the fondant to the right consistency you add a tiny splash of water but be careful hour much you add if you are also adding food colouring. This was our big mistake so far. The whole class (except a few experienced cake decorators... me not included here) added WAY to much and ended up with fluro icing rather then a nice shade of baby pink. I added more fondant to mine to dull the over bright colour down and thicken it up. You need to take it to blood temp over hot water so it dried shiney. This I need to practice... too much colour, not hot enough.

They turned out... well... there is a reason there are only two in the photo  :)

We iced the loaf cake while it was still hot with a lemon icing (lemon juice and icing sugar) and then quickly stuck it back in the oven to seal for 10 seconds.

Maderia loaf, fruit cake and cupcakes.

The fruit cake. Now this was no much chopping sticky gooey fruits that in the beginning I don't like. Dried fruit in my opinion is old fruit, why would you eat old fruit?!?

We had old...sorry I mean dried apple, pear, apricots, sultanas, peel, dates, currants, glace cherries, almonds and hazelnuts. After you have chopped your old... sorry dried fruit and nuts and soaked it in some rum you start on making the batter. Do the same method as the maderia cake in regards to creaming the butter and sugar then adding the tempered eggs and finally the flour. Mix this through your old fruit... sorry dried and then add a fresh (wahoo!) grated apple last. Pout into a double lined 20cm x 20cm square tin and bake at 180 until coked, this felt like hours and might have been but silly me didn't write the time down.

We glazed the cake with a flavourless glaze from a tub (looked like really runny jelly) and decorated it with almonds.

If anyone wants the whole and complete recipe for this as even me who hated dried fruit really enjoyed this fruit cake let me know in the comments and I'll email you a copy.

Thanks for reading and keep watching because I promise next post will have more pictures :)