Christmas and Cake!

Season's Greetings! I feel like I must begin this post by saying that. It's the most wonderful time of the year, but when you live where it actually snows and go to PASTRY school, it really is the most wonderful time of the year. Add a weekend in NYC, known for its Christmas spectacular-ness, and you have the perfect recipe (get it?) for Christmas spirit. (I have not been able to decorate for Christmas personally, go out and see Christmas lights, and I am not in Georgia yet, with my family. Therefore, it doesn't completely feel like the holidays for me yet, but that will all come soon enough.)

Snowy Roth (I woke up to this one morning.)

Monday, December 6 (Day 1)
*Piping Gel for Homework
*Grease Cream (Butter Cream minus butter and sugar plus shortening and powdered sugar)
Each day for homework, we must pipe either "Happy Birthday," "Happy Anniversary," or "Congratulations" (certain days for each) and do a border on a 10 inch cake circle; pipe pearls, rosettes, shells, and reverse shells with grease cream; and make a marzipan rose. See below for examples.





Tuesday, December 7 (Day 2)
*Temper chocolate, with the Seeding method and Tabling method

Wednesday, December 8 (Day 3)
*Vanilla Sponge
*Frangipane
*Simple Syrup
*Hazelnut Cake (just the cake, no assembly)

Thursday, December 9 (Day 4)
*Practical Cake (one vanilla sponge, butter cream, vanilla simple syrup, raspberry jam, tempered chocolate coins)

Friday, December 10 (Day 5)
*Cheesecake (New York style, duh!)
*Carrot Cake (just the cake, no assembly)
*Chocolate Sponge (more practice for our practical exam)

My friend, Katy (remember her... I mention her all the time... she lives in Boston... blah, blah, blah :)), took the earliest bus from Boston to spend the day with me in the big City. Our day included, but was not limited to, the tree at Rockefeller Plaza (twice), shopping on Fifth Avenue (There is something I found at Tiffany's if you still need a gift idea for me... :)), eating Pizza, walking through and around Macy's, Caramel Brulee and Gingerbread lattes at Starbucks (and catching up with our other bff, Katie), Columbus Circle and the star lights display, Bouchon Bakery, Radio City Music Hall, Times Square, etc. It was the perfect day with the perfect company, and the weather was not too cold either. Thanks, Katy, for sharing in another first, Christmas in the City.

Katy and I in front of THE Tree in Rockefeller Center (on our second trip of the day to see it in its sparkly glory).

Monday, December 13 (Day 6)
*Hazelnut Cake (hazelnut cake, Frangelico simple syrup, praline mousseline, chocolate butter cream)
*Mocha Cake (chocolate sponge, coffee simple syrup, coffee butter cream, lace piping, chocolate cigarettes)

Mocha Cake (intense coffee flavor, hints the name)

Hazelnut Cake (Chocolate Butter Cream is HARD to work with; it melts and creates drama for Haley. My Florentines could be more centered too on top of the cake.)

Tuesday, December 14 (Day 7)
*Jaconde
*Ladyfingers
*Hazelnut Florentines (for garnish for Hazelnut Cake made on Day 6)

Wednesday, December 15 (Day 8)
HAPPY NATIONAL CUPCAKE DAY. (Really, I was in Cake Class on National Cupcake Day?)
*Puff Pastry
*Vanilla Sauce
*Charlotte Russe Cake (ladyfingers, chocolate sponge, simple syrup, Bavarian cream, chocolate shavings)
*Opera Cake (Jaconde, pate a glace, ganache, coffee butter cream, trablit simple syrup)

Charlotte Russe Cake (It is already cut into ten pieces, which is why there are lines between the ladyfingers.)

Thursday, December 16 (Day 9)
*Pithivier (puff pastry, frangipane, puff pastry)
*Vanilla Sponge

Pithivier (I did not have the opportunity to take a picture before it was sliced but there was a beautiful sunflower pattern on the top.)

Friday, December 17 (Day 10)
*Black Forest Cake
*Carrot Cake

Black Forest Cake (lots of Brandy and Kirsch in this cake= alcohol flavor... just what we "Germans" like)

I loved making this Carrot Cake. It was very fun, and I think it is my best cake to date, in this class and maybe ever?!

Monday, December 20 (Day 11) IN THE FUTURE :)
*Ganache for Opera Torte (finish Opera)
*Practice for Practical (students' choice)
*Final Exam
This is technically the LAST day for Basic and Classical Cakes. The last two days of the block are devoted to our Practical Exam.

Tuesday, December 21
Practical Exam Day 1

Wednesday, December 22
Practical Exam Day 2
Evaluation

I have bored you enough with my day-by-day synopsis and many pictures. I shall call it a night, a Friday night, that is. I will be sure to update everyone on my practical exam days and results. And, Georgia, I will see you in six-ish days.

COOKIES FOR SANTA? OR CAKE FOR SANTA? OR CARROT CAKE FOR BOTH SANTA AND THE REINDEER? OH THE DECISIONS A PASTRY CHEF MUST MAKE THIS TIME OF YEAR.

Cheerful Hay Reh

*Happy Belated Birthday, Catherine Nikkel. See you soon, 24 year old. Wowsers. :)

"Food is Life. Create and SAVOR Yours."

I know that I am super cool (and corny)... two blogs in a row with a play on words for the title. (You would consider that a play on words, right?) Get it? Savor like savory?

Thursday, December 2 (Day 13)
*Savory Prep Day
*Apple Strip (practice for our 2nd Term Practical, which is happening in THREE weeks. Insert freaking out and heavy breathing here.)
Basically, I grated cheese, rolled out puff pastry, rolled the cheese on the puff, cut the puff into strips, and twisted them. With the apple strip, there are strict guidelines that must be followed to pass this portion of the practical. (For example, the strip must be 20 inches x 5 inches or points are deducted.) I only have 6 hours collectively for my practical, and this stupid strip takes forever. I was glad to practice though, even if it does prove to be tedious and stressful.

Friday, December 3 (Day 14)
*Baked Savory Items (Cheese Straws. See below.)
*Final exam (I think I did well!!)
(FYI, I also found out on Friday that I scored a 95 on both of my tarts, my lemon meringue and alsation apple. Go me.)
Because putting sheet trays in the oven, setting the timer, and taking the straws out of the oven when finished baking does not take much time, Chef Temme asked me and Christie to make 7x the recipe for Devil's Food Icing (or Frosting). 7x!!!!!! (He apparently needed it for a Continuing Education class on Saturday.) It proved to be an adventure. When Chef saw what was in the mixer when we finished, he did not think it was enough and asked us to make the 7x recipe AGAIN. Needless to say, our whites were not white by the end of the day. We had cocoa all over our faces and icing was EVERYWHERE in the kitchen by the end of it. Oops. (See Christie below at the end of the second batch. I will miss you, partner.)
Robert recently graduated from the AOS Baking Program and will began the Bachelor's this week. Throughout our block, he was coming in and out of our bakeshop to make a gingerbread display for downstairs of Roth, on the main floor. With a wedding at Farq on Saturday, he was asked to move it for the weekend. Here is the finished display below. Isn't it fantastic? I just had to take a picture. (If you look to the right, you can see a cord. This plugs into a power source, and the stain glass sugar lights up.)
Another angle.
In our free time before finishing Cookies class on Friday and forever, I drew a "flow chart" (aka diagram) of where I will be and my travel plans over the next several months. You may not understand it, but it is blog worthy, I promise. It is a masterpiece in disguise. I will be BUSY.
The plan for Saturday was for me to go visit my friend, Derek, from Pennsylvania. We met over three years ago when we did Summer Staff at Saranac Village, a Young Life camp in Saranac Lake, NY. We were going to hang out and watch football (a mutual passion of ours). I was going to be able to check PA off my list of states that I have visited (see below). Well, I can check PA off, but I did not make it to visiting Derek. It started snowing, and I got scared. I did not want to get stuck on I84 by myself in the snow in the NORTH, and I did not want to have to drive back through snow or worse get stuck in PA when I have to be in class on Monday. Therefore, I turned around. So, this is all I got... a picture from the car (it wasn't snowing yet obvi) of the PA state sign. (I did get to spend a few hours at the fabulous outlets at Woodbury Commons before heading back to the CIA, however. A SMALL cancellation to seeing an old friend that I have not seen in over two years! :()
Tomorrow, I start Basic and Classical Cakes, an 11 day class. The 12th and 13th days are devoted to our 2nd Term Practical, as I mentioned above. Yes, I must pass my practical on the last two days before Christmas vacation. Thank you, CIA, for awesome timing.

Speaking of awesome timing, I found out this morning at 12 that I was getting a new roommate between 1 and 4. (Nikki moved out for her externship in New Orleans. I will miss you, Nikki!) It is fine, but I also thought this was worth mentioning on the blog. Only six weeks, and I will be moving out. Craziness.

PIECE OF CAKE? COMING RIGHT UP.

Hay Reh

*Congratulations to my dear friend, Dan Duncan, and the lovely Allison on their engagement. MoCiddle (and Wyldlife in general, Allison) for LIFE. Love you, guys!

*SEC representing in the National Championship. Congrats, Kristy and Swann Family, specifically.

PRACTICALly Scrumptious.

Can you believe it? A blog... in the middle of the week... only three days after my last post.

This is my last week of Cookies, Tarts, and Mignardises. On Monday, we continued with tarts. Tuesday and Wednesday (today) were devoted to our testing practicals, cookies and then tarts. Tomorrow and Friday, we will focus on bite-sized savory items. Also, on Friday, Chef Temme will administer our final. Can you believe I am almost done with another block... two more blocks to go before my first year (out of two) at the CIA is over and I am off to extern.

Monday, November 29 (Day 10)
*Key Lime Tart
Chef Temme assigned Teams 1 and 2 this tart. I need to work on my meringue piping, which should make the tart look more appealing than above.

I have now made it in the baking and pastry world. I CAN PIPE WORDS!!!
Tuesday, November 30 (Day 11)
Cookie Practical Day
*Chocolate Macaroons
*Chocolate Shortbread
For our practical, every one in the class randomly chose two cookies that we made over this block. There were ten different possible combinations to randomly draw from the pile. I was okay with my pick, except that macaroons are very temperamental (and annoying). I scored a 93 and 94 on my cookies, respectively. Happy Dance, Haley!

Wednesday, December 1 (Day 12) Can you believe it is already DECEMBER?
Tart Practical
*Lemon Meringue Tart
*Alsation Apple Tart
Every one, all nineteen of us, made the same two tarts; we had no choice. The Lemon Meringue was easy. (I was a little unhappy with my meringue, but it is serveable and better than my key lime tart above, right?!) The Alsation Apple is a pain in the rear, however. You have to peel, core, and slice the apples, and then you have to spend a good amount of time making it look as pretty as it does above. :) I will not even mention the fact that the dough is puff pastry and all that that entails to make, which we made on Monday. I guess the only reward for the Apple is that it tastes scrumptious and looks great!

SNOW IN THE FORECAST? WOOF!

Hay Reh