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?

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!