Finding my feet in the kitchen.

Lesson Two: Swiss rolls and Italian meringue.

I am finding my feet a little more in class now and don't feel as lost as my first day which is always good. We made the same sponge recipe as last week but instead of placing them in Sponge tins we used a tray and made swiss rolls. One traditional swiss roll and the other black forest.

To make the swiss roll follow the recipe of the sponge cake recipe but bake it at 220 degrees celsius for 10-12 min. You have to be very careful not to overcook the sponge and let it go dry otherwise it wont roll nicely and it will crumble and fall apart as soon as you start rolling it.

There is enough mixture for a swiss roll pan and one (or two, depending on how aerated your batter is) sponge tins.

Once the swiss roll cake was cooled we placed the cake on a tea towel, smothered one side with jam, Chantilly cream and dotted it with cherries. We started rolling it tucking it tightly in the tea towel and then placing it in the fridge to firm up. Once it is firmed up you remove it from the fridge, trim the ends and cut it in half. Chefs treat :)  ... the ends not the whole other half!

Tradition swiss roll with cherries.

We dusted the traditional swiss roll with icing sugar and served it as it is.

With the black forest swiss roll we covered the top with a chocolate glaze (from a tub... the pastry chef at work wasn't too happy that we didn't make our own) which we had to heat up and pour over the cake evenly and decorated it with chocolate curls. I had beginners luck with the chocolate curls. They turned out very well as you can see (if I say so myself), then I showed the pastry chef at work and he asked me to do them at work and 2nd time round they were a flop. Practice makes perfect though.

Black Forest swiss roll.

With our left over mixture which we baked in a sponge cake tin we made Italian meringue to ice it. If you have never had italian meringue go and make it now. Thats an order. It is delicious!!!

Italian Meringue
200g egg whites
400g caster sugar
120g water
(The pastry chef at work says it doesn't matter how much water you add because you boil it away anyway. The more water you add the longer time it will take to get to your desired temperature. When I make italian meringue at work I don't measure the water but I think this is a good guide anyway.)

1. Heat the water and sugar over the stove.
2. At the same time as you are heating the water and sugar, start whisking your egg whites to stiff peaks and fluffy in a standing mixer.
3. Once the sugar mixture reaches 120 degrees celsius- this is called soft ball stage or Boule. (It is called soft ball stage because if you drop a spoonful of it in cold water you can make it into a ball with your finger tips.), pour it slowly down the side of the bowl into the fluffy egg whites while still whisking in the mixer.
4. Keep whisking until the mixture is cool.

5. Place into a piping bag and pipe onto your cake or use a cranked spatular and ice your cake as desired.

We then blow torched the top to give it a different look. A must try at home!

Delicious!

And I brought my $5 to take my cakes home and an extra $2 for two boxes.


Thanks for reading and keep watching for more delicious treats next week!

Pastry School: New Kid on the block.

Lesson 1: Sponge cakes (or as our French Pastry teacher says it... spooonge cakes)

This was my first day at a new campus, with new people and a class that is already established that is 3 times the size of my previous one. I hate being the new kid but feel I am getting better at it. I have also started a new job doing just patisserie, (hence the wind changing post) and am also the new kid on the block there too. Having avoided moving schools (except the transition to high school) I avoided this title for 13 years and getting it 4 times in one year I now understand what its like being a newbie and apologise to all newbies for not being more welcoming on your first day!

We kicked off the semester with cakes. First lesson we went with traditional and classic. The sponge cake and chocolate pound cake.

For the sponge cake we whisked by hand at the start in a bowl that fitted a mini-hobart (a hobart is a huge kitchen aid that is so big it sits on the floor, the ones at school are in between a hobart and a kitchen aid) 225g eggs, 160g sugar and vanilla over a bain-marie until it is approx 50-60 degrees celsius and changes colour slightly. We then attach the whisk attachment to the mini-hobart and whisk the mixture in the machine until it doubles in size, turns pale and fluffy and is no longer warm.

You then fold in the 80g bakers flour and 75g cornflour gently, divide into your lined tins and bake at 180 degrees celsius for 15-20 min. When they are done they should spring back when you touch the centre. You must remove the cakes from the tins immediately to stop any moisture forming. Then cool on a wire wrack until the fun begins.

Plain sponge and chocolate pound cakes. Straight from the oven!

The chocolate pound cake. Yes it is as delicious as it sounds!

A pound cake traditionally has a pound of each ingredient, hence the name; pound cake. 

Firstly we creamed 250g butter by hand until there was no lumps, added the 250g sugar and whisked until it was pale and fluffy looking. Next we incorporated the 250g eggs one at a time then finally the 170g bakers flour, 50g cornflour and 35g cocoa ditching our whisk and using a spatular. Divide into two lined tins and bake at 170 degrees celsius for 25-30min. Turn out of tin and cool on wire wrack.

Next we got to decorate them and make them more taste then they already were. 

With the sponge cakes we made a sandwich of raspberry jam and Chantilly cream (Chantilly cream is whipped cream with 10% icing sugar added) slicing the top layer so that when you cut it to serve you don't squash all the filling out. 

Sponge cake with jam and cream.

With our chocolate pound cakes we covered them in chocolate ganache making them even more delicious and chocolatey!

Chocolate pound cakes covered in chocolate ganache.

Unlike Commercial Cookery we get to take what we make home for a $5 fee, cash only ($1 extra if you need a cake box). I however didn't know this on my first day and had no cash on me so either someone else got to buy my cakes or the lovely ladies who do our washing up ended up with them.

Thanks for reading and keep watching for more delicious goodies!

News, Poo's & Choux's.

Exciting News.

I have pictures from college of things coming together from class. We cooked OssoBucco, couscous and Profiteroles filled with Chantilly cream and topped with a delicious sticky chocolate sauce. Unfortunately no pictures of finished products because I was way too hungry by the time we finally got to scoff down our food to even think about photo's... yes I know, thinking with my stomach again.

Also more news... you might have noticed the '(to be)' is missing from the title of my blog. This is because I am officially an apprentice chef and no longer looking for work. Not sure if i'll get in trouble saying where but lets just say that I have to walk across a beach to get to work. Yes sand and salt water. My first week the tide was so high I had to take my shoes and socks off to wade across the water in bare feet. I was not a happy chappy and wanted to give up then and there with my jeans rolled up to my knees calf deep in water. 

Am going to admit that being an apprentice chef is not very fun. Prawns will never be the same to me after cleaning kilos of them and removing hundreds of poop shoots. Seriously no joke, we must order the greediest prawns in at work because I have never seen so much prawn poop in my life. Blurrkkk! But back to the fun stuff... College!

The Ossobucco is a simple Italian stew which tastes rich, robust and full of flavour (wanted to say delicious then but will save that for later on). The couscous had peppers throughout it which made it sweet and buttery. Now for what I thought was the Queen dish for the day and maybe so far; Profiteroles. DEEELICIOUSS!

I've never made profiteroles before and was super excited being the nerd I am and it also helped with my sugar fix for the day. Since working at the restaurant I have had such a sweet tooth and can only ever think about desserts, chocolate and everything else the dentist would disapprove of. My theory is that I am craving everything I am not working closely with and unfortunately that is sweet, divine goodies. Thinking I chose the wrong apprenticeship here.... or would it be the same if I work with chocolate and sugar all day???

Anyway back to what I was saying; to make profiteroles you need to make a choux paste (pronounced shoe- like the shoes you wear on your feet), Chantilly cream and chocolate sauce topping. To make the choux paste you combine butter, water, strong plain flour, eggs and a lot of muscle power. The Chantilly cream is a fancy way of saying sweetened cream- be sure not to make butter which I have done many a times-  most memorable occasion was high school when I cried and a friend had to steal more cream for me from another classroom. And finally the chocolate sauce... is your mouth watering yet or what?!

Choux Paste

100g butter

250mL water

190g strong plain flour

6 eggs (total 350g)

pinch salt
Arm muscle power

1-   Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celcius. 

2-   Sift flour and salt together.

3-   Melt the butter and water over the stove until it starts to boil.

4-   Add the sifted flour & salt mixture to the butter, take off the heat and mix with a wooden spoon until it forms a ball.

5-   Make sure the butter & flour mixture has cooled down and then add your eggs one at a time. Apply your muscle power here. After each egg the mixture will look like it has separated but with some force and beating it all comes together.

  Tip:   If you lift your spoon the dough should fold over.

6-   Transfer your mixture to a piping bag and pipe walnut sized balls on a baking tray. If you get little tails on your balls, dip your finger in some water and tap them. This will remove the point and give you the walnut shape.

7-   Bake in the oven until golden.

Once you've let your golden balls cool you can fill them with the Chantilly cream which is 250mL cream, 25g (sifted) icing sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla essence whipped to piping consistency- Not butter. To fill your balls stick the nosel of the piping bag full of cream in the base and squeeze until the ball is full.

Top filled rolls either by dipping or drizzling this chocolate sauce over them or using melted chocolate.

Chocolate fudge sauce.

300g caster sugar

250mL water

60g cocoa

1-   Combine sugar and sifted cocoa and add water.

2-   Bring to the boil and reduce until thick. Be careful not to take this too far but make sure it won't run off the back of a metal spoon.

3-   Cover profiteroles in sauce and devour.

I thoroughly enjoyed stuffing my face before my exam with these delicious parcels of goodness and hope you do too. 

Thanks for reading! Keep watching and wish me luck for the (predicted) disastrous poaching lesson next week.