Adv Pastry: Week 6

 Almond Macaroons with Cocoa Nibs, Chocolate Ganache with Earl Grey

 Petit Four with Chocolate Glaze and Gold Leaf

Mini Dobos Torte, Toasted Almonds, Chocolate Buttercream, Isomalt (sugar) with Cocoa Nibs

Adv Pastry: Week 6

Chocolate

Did I mention I just LOVE chocolate with a capital L. It is as close to painting as I have found. And you will notice I have taken to this new medium with gusto.

Adv Pastry: Week 5

This Toffee covered in semi sweet chocolate and toasted almonds was probably the best I ever tasted.

The Almond Brittle with cinnamon was so good, I'll have to  remember that one.

The Semi Sweet leaf shaped Bon Bon has a warm gold Luster Dust on it that is just so subtle and beautiful. It is also filled with Blackcurrant filling.

The Milk Chocolate Art Deco Bon Bon has an Orange Truffle filling made with orange zest and Grand Marnier.

Chocolate Week was amazing! We learned how to temper chocolate over and over again. I thought I had the hang of it and then I lost it and started ruining chocolate left and right. So I had to use my temperature gauge and then buy a new one once my chewy caramel came out too soft. My temperature gauge was off my 2 or 3 degrees, but it makes a difference when trying to make sugar melt just right. 

Adv Pastry: Week 4

 

This is a poached pear in red wine and spices that gives it that yummy hue. A phyllo crisp made with honey and cinnamon, whipped heavy cream with vanilla bean and a plum from the reduced red wine sauce. It tasted amazing!

Unfortunately, this is what I consider a failed plated dessert. The scale is too similar and the caramel should arc around to the the front of the plate. I wish the red wine sauce from the macerated plum didn't run towards the pear but pooled around the plum as I had originally meant. Earlier we did a lot of group plating which I found frustrating. But I learned a lot. And sometimes in the rush to present, everything can't be worked out in class.

Adv Pastry: Week 3

This is pretty straight out of the camera.

  

This is with Scott's magic in photoshop

 If you can imagine this, we filled little water balloons with air and dipped them into tempered chocolate. Then refrigerated for about 10 minutes and tried not to pop the balloon when releasing the air. It made these lovely little molded cups. I placed a flourless chocolate cake, cut out with a circle cookie cutter, a dollop of chocolate cappuccino mousse, whipped cream and a shard of chocolate. The sauce on the plate is Balsamic Vinegar Blackberry Gastrique. I actually burned mine, but Chef gave me some from his demo.

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.