Pastry Pro I: Week 9: Cakes

Pound cake

We had a surprise drill when we came into class. Make a 2 egg omelet--no utensils of course.
I was not afraid because I had practiced several times at home and I had actually watched Julia Child's original TV recording of the omelet show. She demonstrates over and over how to make an omelet with nothing but the pan and the movement you create. I mixed my 2 eggs with a little kosher salt and water, added clarified butter to the pan and heated it. It looked hot enough so I poured in the eggs and they immediately stuck to the pan! Chef Sively took the spatula and lifted the edges for me (thanks!) and then I recovered and made the omelet without anything but the pan and my arm. It turned out pretty good but I need to practice. AND make sure the pan is hot enough! We were given some advance warning that the first week of CP3 we'll be expected to make a perfect omelet, French onion soup, roux, risotto, eggs benedict, and demonstrate our knife skills. Time to start practicing!
Cake class was interesting. We learned the difference between foam cakes and high ratio cakes.
Foam cakes rely on whipped eggs for leavening whereas high ratio cakes rely on creamed fat.
Butter cakes are also known as creaming-method cakes. These are our typical birthday cakes and are supposed to be tender, yet sturdy enough to hold fillings and frosting. For a cake that needs to be rolled or sliced into very thin layers, the foam cake works much better. These cakes, called genoise, spongecakes, angel food cakes, and chiffon cakes, can be used as the building blocks to create multi-layered torts. As with all cakes, both butter and foam, can fail miserably due to any number of problems including undermixing, overmixing, undercooking, overcooking, not right temperature, etc. This is probably why cake mixes are so popular. But, a really well made butter cake is a wonderful thing I learned.
I have made many cakes in my life and some have been outstanding. I make a wonderful Italian cream cake, great carrot cake, outstanding German chocolate cake, and many others, but I never had a recipe for a good versatile basic butter cake, nor did I ever think of having a good basic cake to use to create other things. That's the reason culinary school is so great--it opens your eyes to new ways of thinking about things you already know.
For class we were given the following assignment:
Magnificent Moist Golden Cake--creaming method
Magnificent Moist Golden Cake-two-stage method
Magnificent Moist Golden Cake--dissolved sugar method
Classic Genoise
Orange Chiffon Cake
Angel Food Cake
Chocolate Sponge Layer
Joconde Sponge Cake
American Poundcake
Each table made all 3 golden cakes and then we chose just one other type of cake. I chose pound cake.
I worked on the dissolved sugar method cake and it turned out really well. It is so moist and tasty--but the two-stage method cake, made by Matt, was the best. It really was melt-in-the-mouth moist.
Recipe
2 large eggs (3.5 oz) at room temperature
3 large egg yolks (1.95 oz) at room temperature
1/3 cup buttermilk, divided
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups (7.1 oz) spooned and leveled cake flour (you have to use cake flour or it won't work)
1 1/2 cups (10 oz) sugar
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 T unsalted butter, cut into 1 T pieces and slightly softened
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup heavy cream
Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9 inch round cake pan with nonstick spray with flour and line with parchment circle.
Stir eggs, yolks, 3 T of the buttermilk and vanilla together in a medium bowl.
Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixer with the whisk attachment on low speed for 30 seconds. Add the butter and oil and remaining 2 T buttermilk. Mix on low speed to moisten, then increase to medium and beat 1 1/2 min. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl. Add 1/3 of the egg mixture and beat for 20 seconds. Repeat, adding thirds until all egg mixture is incorporated. Scrape down sides after each addition.
In a cold bowl with cold beaters, whip the cream until soft peaks form and then beat a little beyond this soft peak stage. Stir about 1/4 of the whipped cream into the batter to lighten it, then fold the rest of the whipped cream into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Drop the pan onto the counter from a height of 4 inches to knock out bubbles. Place cake in oven and bake until toothpick comes out clean but moist, about 40 minutes. Cool on rack 10 min, then invert cake on rack that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Peel off parchment. Cool completely before slicing into layers. Enjoy!
We also discussed our upcoming projects for the 3 weeks we will be making the "finished products". We will take things we've learned from previous weeks and using components we have stored in the freezer, such as sauces and fillings, doughs, etc. and fresh sauces and garnishes, we will make at least 6 finished products. We had to discuss and decide on our finished products in class so Chef Kurima can determine if they are reasonable and then make sure the ingredients we need are available the days of class. We have to make the following categories:
Stirred custard
Baked custard
Cake
Pie
Laminated Dough
For stirred custard I'm make a lime-mango curd, for baked custard, chocolate pots de creme, for cake, a coconut, lime-mango poundcake with Italian meringue, and pie a banana cream pie, and for laminated dough, blitz puff pastry with which I will made chocolate croissants. I will also make a free form apple peach and frangipane tart with peach coulis and some berry turnovers.
Wow, that sounds like a lot of work, but it is over 3 classes so it's not so bad. I will start testing some recipes at home.

Angel food cake was underdone and fell out of the pan. Oops!

Magnificent butter cake cooling. It was really good!

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Pastry Pro I: Week 8: Fillings and Sauces

I really enjoyed this class. Chef Loy lectured briefly about fillings, going over the differences between high and low pectic fruits, encouraging us to use a minimum amount of sugar so the fruit can be tasted. Fruit fillings need to have some starch so the rule is to use 1 1/2 tsp of starch per cup of fruit. Nutmeg goes with berries, cinnamon for apples, and cloves for peaches and apricots. Ginger goes with anything (but don't use too much). One thing he mentioned that I never really thought about was mixing 2 fruits to keep from being boring/ordinary. Mix 1 apple into a peach pie, or use 3 types of berries instead of 1.
My cooking partner Kristin and I had the following assignments:
Kristin:
tart glaze
caramel sauce
lime chiffon
baked fruit filling
I had:
dark chocolate syrup
frangipane
fruit coulis
blueberry pie filling (cooked juice filling)
champagne sabayon
For once all my dishes turned out well! Probably because this was an easy class, but what the heck, after last week it was nice to have success. It probably didn't hurt that I was really trying hard to improve my performance from last week. I read the instructions first this time and focused on producing a quality dish every time. I think the frangipane is really delightful. Nutty, fluffy, sweet and it will be great in a tart or bear claw. I used blueberries, raspberries and strawberries for the pie filling and it was tasty--a little lime juice and zest brightened it up.
I was very pleased with the peach ginger lime coulis. I pureed frozen peaches (thawed first) with crystallized ginger, strained them and added sugar and lemon juice. This was very fresh and wonderful. I like the fresh coulis better than the type where the fruit is cooked, then strained.
Fruit Coulis
16 oz fruit puree, strained
2 1/2 ounces sugar
1 ounce corn syrup
1/2 ounce lemon juice
Make fruit puree by taking 1 lb of fresh or frozen fruit, 2 T sugar and 2 T fresh lemon juice and processing in blender or food processor until smooth. Pour into a fine sieve set over a bowl and use a rubber spatula to press the puree through the sieve; discard solids.
My sabayon turned out very nicely and although I don't think I'll be making it for myself (it takes 8 egg yolks!) at least I know what it looks like and next time the Chopped or Top Chef contestants talk about their sabayon I won't be wondering how it's made.
My chocolate syrup was great--and I will find a way to use it when we make finished products.
The past few weeks we have been making components that we will be able to put together over 3 classes. We've made pie crusts, croissant dough, puff pastry, custards, etc. and put them in the freezer. Theoretically we should be able to pull out these components a couple weeks from now and make finished products. Trouble is who can remember what we made? My mind is clogged up with planning a national social work conference to be held in 3 weeks and I haven't even written my speeches yet! So when I can't sleep at night I'm alternately trying to remember what's in the freezer at culinary school and what the Bureau of Prisons social workers should hear about at the conference. The other problem is with my so call components. I know I can't use my puff pastry because it was not good. We froze the "lock-in" one week and rolled it out the next week and this was not successful. We are allowed to make another batch of puff pastry at home and bring it in but that is the only thing we can bring in. Some of my other components were not very good and I didn't save them. I threw out my pastry cream and creme anglaise so I'll have to re-make them as well. We will have to make 1 pie, 1 cake, 2 laminated items, a stirred custard, and a baked custard over the 3 classes. That really doesn't sound too bad, but then nothing does until you're standing in the kitchen at school and time is flying by!
I have been practicing though. I have made pie crust at home at least 4 times and my family is sick of coconut cream pie. I made blitz pastry puff twice now and palmiers are also on the "don't make that again" list. My pastry cream is light, smooth and delicious and everyone loves it.
For the 4th of July I am making a tart pastry filled with berries and mascarpone cheese with a blueberry coulis. I hope by the time we have the final exam I'll be able to make the required items with ease. As strange as it sounds I'm really enjoying the pastry class and find myself studying the notes from class and thinking about making things all the time. I have purchased several books and read them at night when I'm bleary eyed and tired. When my husband is watching TV I'm reading:
Bakewise by Shirley O'Corriher
Cookwise by Shirley O'Corriher
The Essentials of Baking, Williams and Sonoma
Baking Boot Camp
Chocolates and Confections (CIA) by Peter Greweling
Ratio by Michael Ruhlman
I have made lists of new recipes to try, tried new techniques for making puff pastry and pie crust and my counter is cluttered with stacks of my notes, recipes, books, equipment.
If someone were to come into my house and look at the books in my kitchen and then the ones in my bedroom they might be surprised to find that I'm also reading:
The End of Overeating by David Kessler
Move a Little, Lose a Lot by James Levine
Although I'm in pastry class now I am also interested in living a long time so another side of me is very aware of downside of gourmet eating and cooking!
At the 2009 Southwest Foodservice Expo earlier this week I was reminded of my interest in nutrition and health when I attended a demo by an instructor from Remington College. He spoke of 21st century nutrition and how important it is to be nutrition-saavy today. After all, the baby boomers like me are now in our late 40's through 60's and we are now focused on living a quality life well into our 90's. We are not passive and content with listening to mainstream authorities when there is a better way. The chef demonstrated using ancient grains to make things such as a quinoa tortilla, a crepe with amaranth, and a wild rice and black rice waffle. For moisture he used what he called "tri solution", a mixture of silken tofu, soy milk, yogurt, and rice milk. He spoke of reducing salt, fat, and chemicals in our food--all of great interest to me.
I tasted the things he made and found them to be very unusual and good. Compared to the very highly seasoned, fatty, sugary, and salty things I had been sampling earlier his things were rather bland but I know that if I'm not eating the aforementioned common foods the natural dishes taste much better.
The culinary trend of today seems to be more of a focus on healthy, sustainable, organic, and local. At the Texas Chef's Association meeting this week Chef Michael Moribito started the round table by asking all the attendees to consider growing their own gardens. All present spoke of their home gardens if they had one. I laughed to myself because I am now on my 3rd year of growing vegetables seriously. For many, many years my mother always had a huge yard of vegetables and fruits which she always wanted to show me. I yawned through most of her tours and photos of her perfect vegetables and fruits. She was particularly proud of her persimmon tree and fig tree. When she moved in with me in 2000 she wanted a small vegetable garden so we made her one every year which she faithfully watered, weeded, and cared for from the ages of 76 to 81. I enjoyed the vegetables she grew but was way to "busy" to get very involved. We moved in late 2005 to our current house and created a space outside her bedroom door for a small vegetable garden, but she died in the spring of 2006 before we could plant it. While she was in the hospital in late March she told me to be sure to buy the Japanese eggplants at Russell Feed Store in Benbrook, the only place she could ever find Ichiban eggplants. So I trekked over there and bought several plants. She never saw the end result but she would have been pleased.
The next year I had a man come out and create a raised bed that is 20 feet by 12 feet. I have since had both an herb garden outside her bedroom door (which is near my kitchen) and I always plant shiso (perilla) for her and a garden full of Japanese eggplant, Japanese cucumber, tomatoes, edamame, various peppers, green beans. I have a raspberry bush and strawberry plants. When I'm out in the garden I think about my mother and know she would have been so thrilled to see all the perfect vegetables and know how much I enjoy cooking them, eating them, and sharing them with others. I wish I had taken the time to learn all her gardening tips when she was alive but I was so "busy" then. The least I can do is have a garden in honor of her memory and perhaps pass on her love of gardening to my four children and grandchildren. One of my children, my son Glenn, loves the garden and the biggest enthusiast is my granddaughter Kyndal. At 5 she comes over every week and the first thing she wants to do is pick berries or tomatoes and always insists to have a lot to take home with her. She also wants to be a chef!

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