Today was all about cakes! We didn't work in our respective kitchens, we all worked together making cakes. We learned that there are basically two types of cakes: butter cakes and sponge cakes. Almost every other cake is a variation of these two cakes.
Did you know the very first pound cake was named "pound" cake because it contained a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of eggs and a pound of flour? I didn't know that!
We also learned of sponge cakes, there are two kinds: Genoise and Biscuit or Bisquit, pronounced bis-kwee. Not to be confused with biscuits as in biscuits and gravy! Genoise are what we use when layering cakes-birthday cakes, wedding cakes, etc. The Biscuit batter is used to make ladyfingers as it is pipeable. Both are light, durable and dry-so they can easily soak up liquids used to further flavor the cakes (simple syrups, alcohol, coffee).
Once our lecture was done, we paired up and made Genoise, which were then baked. Not sure what is going to happen to them as we did not use them today. We then broke into groups of three to make Bisquit. We are using them to make tiramisu for Thursday's dessert. Fortunately or unfortunately, MY group, (Cassie and Kim and I) was the only group whose batter set up correctly and were able to make the ladyfingers. Not sure what happened with everyone else's batter! All three of us felt very proud of ourselves, lol.
After this, we learned how to make buttercream using Swiss meringue. So much better than the buttercream they use at many bakeries, which contains shortening instead of butter!
After that demo, we were each given a cake (Genoise) and told we could flavor our cake however we wanted (with the stipulation that it had to be flavors we would actually EAT, not something like, "I wonder what sardines would taste like as a layer in this cake......"). We had to cut the cake into three layers (Chef Lexie says you need the correct frosting to cake ratio for a really good tasting cake-which is about a 1/4 inch each.), then paint them with flavored simple syrup, a very thin layer of jam, a layer of buttercream, then repeat, ending with the third layer, which is only soaked with the simple syrup. The entire cake is then given a "crumb coat"-which is a thin layer of buttercream used to seal in the cake and prevent "crumbs" from getting in the actual frosting. I kinda like sweet and savory together, so used Leopold Brothers Triple Pins, which kind of smells like Christmas, to flavor my simple syrup. It is more dabbed on than brushed on, otherwise you would end up scraping up a lot of crumb off the cake. Then I put a really thin layer of raspberry jam over the cake. I put melted white chocolate into my buttercream, so a thin layer of white chocolate buttercream went on next. Then another layer of cake, dab on the simple syrup, a layer of white chocolate buttercream, the last layer of cake, dab on more simple syrup. Then frosted with entire cake with a thin layer of white chocolate buttercream and the fussed and fussed to get it all even and flat. You make sure when you start and all during the "assembly" that your layers are even and flat-trimming off cake that is not even. Once the "crumb coat" is on, the cakes were placed into the walk-in to "firm up". We will finish them tomorrow. I've never been much of a layer cake person, always seemed like a lot of work! I was told today and we are now ALL cake people, lol.
Chef Pete made lunch today. We learned how to poach eggs this morning before we started with cake. Kinda cool! And other than putting the service for and setting the table for lunch, he did everything! We had roasted red peppers flavored with capers and white anchovies and a few herbs served with bread. Then spinach soup flavored with brodo (Italian for broth) and Parmesan cheese. For an entree, we had Fonduta, which in our case was a toasted round of polenta topped with serano ham, a poached egg and covered with bechamel made with Fontina cheese. Mmmmm, very tasty and light! Dessert was a cheese platter made up of five different Italian cheeses from "The Truffle Shop" (that name came up during our Wine class when we had wine and cheese pairing). Our wine was a muscato d'asti and a vin santo. Good choice with the food.
After getting home, I made Chocolate Gems (cookies) with chocolate that had ancho chiles in it. Carl loved them, lol, hope the guests do too. Can't go wrong with chocolate!
Otherwise, it has turned into a rainy evening so a quiet evening at home is in order. I am getting more comfortable on my scooter. Everyone at school thinks it's so cute! I have to say, it beats taking the bus, and is cheaper than driving and parking every day.
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