Adv Pastry: Week 2

Feuille d'Automne: Leaves of Autumn

Week two is a bit of a blur. We made two team plates one with apples another with pineapple. They were okay. I think it's about learning how to make a lot of stuff and plate it in a pleasing way. I did practice some plating at home which gave me the confidence to work with caramel as in my photo above.

We made Dark Chocolate Bavarian and Japonaise Meringue discs and stacked them. Then we tempered some chocolate, cooled it, shaped it and wrapped it around the stack. I made some decorative shapes for the top then sprayed them with warm chocolate for a velvety effect. Not too bad for the first try.

I should mention we taste tested 18 different chocolates from cocoa nibs and mass to Manjari Chocolate from Madagascar to Belgium Milk Chocolate and Italian Hazelnut chocolate. It was an amazing experience!

Adv Pastry: Week 1

Crepes with Pomegranate Mousse, Creme Chantilly, Fresh Strawberries, Tuile Cookie.

Sabayon over mixed berries, lightly torched, powdered sugar.

The first week of Advanced Pastry Techniques was pretty cool. We made ice cream, caramel, Tuile cookies, Isomalt (sugar) blobs, chocolate sauce, macerated berries, mousse, crepes, Creme Chantilly quenelles (egg shape), and discussed plating techniques. Since it's been so visual, it's been my favorite week since starting at Le Cordon Bleu.