Month: March 2014

Examination

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So, this was my opera gateau for pastry exam. Both exams (cuisine and patisserie) went really really well and I was really happy to hear the good feedbacks from the chefs. I really enjoyed this semester, I’ve learned a lot. Next term is my last one, Superior level, 3 more months to go and I’m done! Superior is going to be amazing and exciting. I can’t wait! Thank you to all the amazing chefs in Le Cordon Bleu Wellington. I’m flying off back to my hometown and I’m gonna be back in Wellington in April. More food posts !

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Fraisier Torte / Frasier Torte

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Fraisier torte is a french strawberry torte. A torte is a multilayered cake that is filled with various types of cream or fruits.

The fraisier torte that I made was layered with genoise sponge (imbibed with punch syrup) ,sliced strawberries and mousseline cream. Mousseline cream is a pastry cream that is combined with butter until it is light and fluffy (increase in volume). We could also add flavour to the mousseline by adding a little bit of kirsch or cointreau.

I garnished the top of the cake using a marzipan and chocolate writing. Marzipan is made of sugar, honey and almond meal. It is really fun to work with marzipan as you can turn it into any shape that you want. In this lesson, I shaped the marzipan into flowers and leaves. I also use a marzipan for the base of the flowers and I coloured it pink. Unfortunately, my chocolate writing on the cake wasn’t good enough and it kind of ruined the cake. I was really sad because otherwise everything else was perfect. However, I finished making the cake and the taste was absolutely delicious.

Le Saint-James

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We made this cake for the assessment before the exam. It’s really delicious and personally, I think this cake is more difficult to make than a classic opera cake. This cake is made of Almond Joconde (imbibed with rum syrup) with nuts ,layered with Rum Praliné Mousseline A l’anglaise and Apricot Compote. Garnished with caramelized dry apricot, pistachios and hazelnuts.

The way we assemble this cake is similar to the way we assemble an opera cake. It’s the same technique, different products.

Almond joconde in this recipe is made of brown sugar, icing sugar, plain flour, ground almond combined with a plain meringue.

Rum Praliné Mousseline A l’anglaise is made of creme anglaise mixed with butter, praliné and rum, combined with a plain meringue.

Entremet

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Entremet – Praliné bavarois layered with succes biscuit and lemon curd. Honestly, this is the most delicious cake I’ve ever eaten. Praline bavarois has a sweet creamy nutty taste and the lemon curd in the cake balances the flavour. It is best served cold and this cake is very refreshing.

I decorate the cake with Praliné Glaze on the top, some nuts and tempered white chocolate. YUM !

Camelia Tart

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Camelia tart is basically a simple peach flan tart, topped with Orange Chiboust cream.

Orange Chiboust Cream is made of egg whites, egg yolks, cornflour, gelatine, sugar and reduced orange juice. Chiboust cream is the combination of Pastry Cream and Meringue. In this case, instead of milk, I use reduced orange juice for the flavour. I decorate the flan with some sugar work, caramelized peaches and I caramelized the top using the blow torch.

High Tea

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High tea at Le Cordon Bleu, Wellington from 24th february to 1st march. High tea service has been such a wonderful experience for patisserie students. We learned how to work in a ‘real’ kitchen, how to do the service for the high tea and the most important – how to work as a team.

The production of the pastries was from 9am to 2pm and customers started coming from 2.30pm to 4pm. We made many kinds of pastries:

-Coffee and chocolate eclairs
-Two types of mini sandwiches (ham, gruyere cheese and grape chutney) and (smoked salmon and horseradish cream)
-Zucchini and apple quiches
-Florentines
-Madeleines
-Fruit scones
-Lemon tart in a glass with apple crumble and topped with meringue
-Gateau opera