Girls and their Choux's

Lesson 3: Choux Pastry.

Everybody loves an eclair or choux bun. The crunchy pastry and soft custard inside with sticky icing or toffee on top....mmm yum!

To make choux pastry can seem daunting but its well worth the trip from the stove to bench top to oven.

First you boil 250mL water, 100g butter, a pinch of salt and a pinch of sugar on the stove then add 190g bakers flour. Cook over the heat for about 30sec or until the mixture comes off the sides of the pan. Someone explained this stage to me like when you cook corn and it turns into pop corn. You need to cook the little grains of flour for this to work. Once it come off the sides take the pot off the heat and empty the mixture into a clean bowl and spread it out to let it cool slightly. You can also do this stage in a mixer with the paddle attachment (we use the mixer at work) and beat it until it cools slightly. Once it cooled a bit add your eggs one at a time beating well after each egg. We used about 5-6 eggs but it can depend on how big the eggs are and the humidity of the day so it is best to add a little less to start with and see if it comes to the right consistency. You want a glossy dough that is 'drop' consistency; not runny and not too thick.



Next pipe your choux buns or eclairs onto a buttered baking tray and brush very lightly with an egg wash and run the back of a fork over the tops making small imprints. Bake at 200 degrees celsius for 15-20 min. DO NOT OPEN THE OVEN FOR ANY REASON IN THE FIRST 10min. Let the steam out of your oven towards the end to allow them to dry out slightly.


When they are ready let them cool completely on a wire rack.

For the filling we made vanila creme patissier , a chocolate creme patissier and chantilly cream.

To make the chocolate creme patissier we added melted dark chocolate to the vanilla creme patissier.


Chantilly cream which is  whipped cream with 10% icing sugar added to it.


For the toppings we used fondant from a bucket which we heated to 37 degrees to get the right consistency and shine when it dries and toffee (my favourite!). 

Thanks for reading and keep watching for more delicious morsels :)

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 :)

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. 

Stinky.

Greasy, oily, soggy...thats right this week was Deep frying. A subtle and delicate technique... NOT!

I'm going to admit it now, I didn't enjoy this week of college. Feeling a little delicate from trivia the previous night and to start with deep frying was not the greatest. Deep frying is meant to be a quick form of cookery where the food is submerged into hot fat for a short amount of time but it took FOREVER. There is only 2 deep fryers in the kitchen and about 12 of us to use them. It took (excuse my french) fucking for ever. 

We sinned and it wasn't my colourful language above. We deep fried fillets of pork. I was ashamed and felt we had betrayed the poor pigs by cooking such a good piece of meat in a terrible way. We also deep fried fish... that tasted horrible, calamari which was ok and banana which I'm going to confess was delicious. Normally when I'm delicate from having one too many the night before all I can think about is a greasy burger and chips smothered in tomato sauce and chicken salt. Not today, I wanted ice water and to be far far away from a deep fryer and anything that goes in a deep fryer as possible.

Although this lesson sounds hideous and I spent most of it feeling sorry for my self I did learn something. The batter for the banana had fresh yeast in it which I had never used before as it is so difficult to find- if anyone knows where to get it please let me know! The trick to getting it to rise when its not a hot summer day is place the bowl with the batter in another bowl of warm water and keep changing the water to make sure its always warm.

The deep fried bananas were yum and I think its because they were still hot when I ate them not like the rest of the food which was cold and had gone soggy by the time we were allowed to eat it. They tasted like a hot cinnamon donut but banana-ree. I love fresh donuts... my weakness!

Theory was terrible. We had a substitute who kept us there until dead on 5pm and the whole bus ride home all I could keep thinking was that I could smell something funny and a little off putting. I was about to blame the guy that was sitting next to me until when I got off the bus the smell stayed with me.... I smelt like a greasy fish and chip shop and had a deep fryer burn to match my smell. I felt sorry for the people around me ... I was the stinky person on the bus.

Banana Fritters

2 bananas

1/2 cup cinnamon sugar

1/2 lemon, juice

1 batch of yeast batter (recipe below)

1. Slice your bananas up into three of four pieces and cover them with lemon juice and a pinch of the cinnamon sugar.

2. Toss them in flour then dip them into the batter (see recipe above).

3. Deep fry bananas until golden then roll them in the cinnamon sugar.

4. Resist for a few min and wait until you wont blister your mouth but eat warm.

To make the yeast batter:

10g fresh yeast

5g sugar

250mL warm water

200g plain flour

2 eggs

pinch salt

1. Add the fresh yeast to the warm water and sugar and leave to prove for about 5 min.

2. In another bowl add all the flour and make a well in the middle. Add your eggs and gradually drag the eggs in the flour a little at a time using a wooden spoon. When it seems you can't mix anymore flour in add a little of the yeast water mixture until all the water is added and you have a lump free batter.

3. Let prove for about an hour by submerging the bowl in a larger bowl which is filled with warm water. Keep changing the water regularly so the yeast can do its job.

4. After the hour, mix the batter with a wooden spoon and your ready to dunk your banana.

Thanks for reading! Keep watching for an Italian favourite Osso Buco & the almighty French profiteroles next time. Hmmm another favourite week maybe?