Inside my cake.

Battenberg. Almond sponge and buttercream.

A princess cake

For Holly. Happy birthday.x

Level 3 certificate arrived

Feeling mighty proud of myself! Distinctions for each category.

Right back to the beginning

Feeling nostalgic for my patisserie course. Gone back to basics and have made seeded white bread rolls. We are going to have these for tea tonight with spiced lentil soup.

Pistachio surprise

Made these this afternoon. Pistachio and raspberry buttercream. Only Rory knows the secret as to why they are a surprise and hopefully he won't tell!!

Plums

Thanks to Rory for the plums. I have got a cake in the oven, an upside down plum and almond cake. Smells nice at the moment, waiting to see what it will look like. Plums halved and laid in lined tin with a drizzle of golden syrup. Then
175g of butter and sugar (creamed), 3 eggs, almond extract, squeeze of lemon, 150g s/r flour and 40g ground almonds. 170°c -fan for 45 mins .Not the prettiest cake in the world tho!!

Birthday cake

Happy Birthday Cathy. Chocolate Almond cake. See you later. X

Battenberg cake

I have been experiencing a baking slump since the end of my course but today I made my first ever battenberg cake. D enjoyed eating all of the trimmings! Used a mix of s/r flour and ground almonds, quite delicious but would try and get the marzipan a tad thinner next time.

A quick little apricot lattice

Had a little piece of puff pastry left over from making my pithivier yesterday. Wasnt sure what to do with it so I opened a little tin of apricots and some custard and hey presto a cheats quick treat. Glazed with apricot jam .

Cherry and Almond pithivier

Fancied a treat for dessert today. I have made this pithivier and used a cherry jam and an almond cream ( with amaretto) . Home made puff has performed well. Looking forward to scoffing it down later.

Chelsea buns

Made these for the weekend. Went down a treat. Amaretto soaked fruit with chopped marzipan

Focaccia bread

Made this sundried tomato and red onion focaccia bread last night. I used rosemary thyme and basil herbs from the garden, it smells delicious. Havent tried it yet as Ive popped it in the freezer for Saturday when we have people over. I will warm it slightly and serve with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.Yummy.

Time for baking bread

Now I have less cakes to think of I thought I would bake a loaf for the weekend. This is wheat and rye bread. Smells nice...

Gold fishy

Last one. Distinction.Exhausted. But happy.

Last night at college

Mixed feelings as I go off to college for the last time. I have achieved so much and am so pleased with myself but I am so sad it's all over. The hard work has definately been worth it. Assessment night tonight so finger crossed... Update later.xx

Millefeuille

Lemon and raspberry millefeuille made with homemade puff pastry and lemon creme pat.

Bubble and Squeek

Mmmm.....makes me remember my dad.

New books

Wow.. Look what I treated myself to.

Reminded me of the yellow roses on my wedding cake

Made pastillage tonight. Sugar that sets hard after being molded. I made a yellow rose. I have lots left so think I might get the kids to help me with some other shapes. Also practiced making a sugar piece, a fish. Will have to practice this weekend as mine looked a bit like those scary fish at the deepest parts of the ocean!!!

modelling chocolate

spent the evening watching a chocolate demo before having a go at my own creation. Not sure that it is very good, but quite enjoyed myself and maybe with more practice..

From Disaster to Distinction!!

Disaster struck when following the theory test on pastes we went to the kitchen only to discover that the puff pastry I made last week to use tonight had not been taken out of the freezer!! Everyone elses pastry was out and sitting waiting for them to use and mine was a solid frozen block still residing in the freezer. Panic set in for a while but sense returned and off I went to start making my puff from scratch again!! Frangipane was made and after quite some delay a pithivier was made. Even the chef in the main kitchen thought it was great when I went to use his grill to add the final glaze! Final result was a distinction so all ended very happily in the end. The only bad bit is that the end of my course is in sight with only a few weeks and one assessment to go.

pithivier

last night had a fantastic evening making streudel and a pithivier. We used fabulous lescure butter for the puff pastry and I put some cherry jam in the pithivier along with the almond pastry creme. A quick dusting with icing sugar and a flash under the grill gave it a beautiful glaze. The streudal was great fun to make. And we had no holes as we stretched it over the table!! One of my best nights at college so far.

great fun with streudel

Tuesday nights muillefeuille

Lemon millefeuille with a lemon creme pat, lemon curd and raspberries.

rhubarb delice with crystallised ginger shortbread and a deconstructed rhubarb crumble!

the jaconde sponge let me down. But overall great taste and amazing shortbread

Tonights parfait

Rhubarb parfait with a brandy snap basket. Third time lucky with the basket. Really happy finished early and got a distinction for this one.

D and I make croissants at home

half tern so no college tonight. D and I have rolled out some fresh croissant dough. see the before and after pictures.

Chocolate Souffle

Last night at college we all seemed a little tired. Maybe end of term exhaustion. But we made chocolate souffle which I found too soft and eggy, although my tutor thought they tasted good. I just think soufle is not my thing. We also made more jaconde sponge for use with a parfait. I was very kindly given some rhubarb from a friends allotment so I took it to college and purreed it and made it into a parfait. We made it with italian meringue and a sabayon and whipped cream.... Delicious.  I had hoped to also make a rhubarb mousse to make into a delice but at 9pm I was so tired I went home a bit early. We get another go at practicing this after half term.

Delice

Delice with orange mousse. I used the jaconde sponge to line a small round mold and then filled it with an orange flavour mousse although I think it could have had more orange zest. So thinking of flavours for when we do the assessment....maybe lemon or chocolate orange says D. I will give it a think this week.

Opera cake

Hardest night at college yet. Very busy. Exhausted this morning. Opera cake with a jaconde sponge and daquoise and also small little orange mouse delices. We spent lots of time watching demos so I felt quite rushed. This meant the final product lacks a little finesse but overall I am happy. It tastes good and I know what I need to do to improve-basically to have more time layering it up!!

Danish pastry assessment night

Distinction!!! 4 x 4 different danish pastries. All went well. Mum looked after the kids and has taken a small box home with her.
The kids were still up when I got home so we all shared some before bedtime and more still for breakfast!!

croissants

breakfast yesterday

Pear and Almond Danish

Made lots more Danish this evening but my triumph was the Pear and Almond ones shaped like a pear. Quick piccie for you now.

Lattice cutter

Used my newly purchased lattice cutter on Tuesday. The result was rather fabulous. An apple and creme patisserie Danish. My favourite Danish out of the ones made. Next week going to try out some different fillings

Fruit Cookies - A Chip off the old block!!

D had Food tech today and made these delicious fruit cookies. I have given them a distinction and eaten 2 already.

Best night ever

Ive had so much fun. Danish pastries that look like the real thing!!! Tired tonight so will post a piccie and blog more tomorrow.

Half term

Having a lovely half term week with lots of walking and nice food. So far this week Ive made a Bakewell tart, home made paste (tagliatelle) which we had with a rabbit ragu and today home made burger buns and burgers. Yumm...

Assessment Night

Macaroon and truffle assessment night. Off to a bad start as my eggs whites were not stiff enough so the macaroon mix was too slack and was pouring out of the piping bag! but still had time to make a second batch (much better) used the template to pipe them small 3cm across and made 96 shells!! managed to get 24 perfect ones, I've put the rest in the freezer. Lemon macaroons with a lemon buttercream,lemon curd and fresh raspberry centre. Truffles were amaretto coated with amaretti crumbs and a milk chocolate Viennese truffle rolled in cinnamon sugar. Great night. 2 Distinctions. see piccie of truffles.

Rhubarb and Custard macaroons

Wanted to have another practice with the macaroons this weekend as I have my assessment on Tuesday. Decided to try another flavour combination and I have gone for rhubarb macaroons with a custard buttercream filling. The macaroons piped well and of the 48 I made ( I need 24 perfect ones to make 12 perfect macaroons) I definately had enough good ones to display a set of 12. The flavour of the macaroons could have been slightly stronger as the rhubarb was quite subtle. Kids love them. Hubbie says, "nice, but it's not a sausage roll is it!!" however he thought the smaller size was an improvement- as he hasn't got a sweet tooth- a slight problem when you are married to a cake baker!!! overall I'm pleased. Took a piccie.....

Viennese truffle piccie

Truffles wrapped as a pressie for the girls at work!

Viennese truffles

On Tuesday I had a go at Viennese truffles, I have always had a liking for Thorntons ones and hoped to try and recreate them at college. Quite pleased with the results. I used a milk chocolate courveture and poured steaming cream over and stired in some soft butter. Allow it to set then remove some and melt over a bainmarie whilst you whisk up the remainder. Pour the melted ganache over the whipped and continue to whip, it looks like buttercream. Pipe into truffle sizes and when set cover roll into balls and cover with melted milk chocolate and roll in cinammon sugar. delicious.

macaroons

Third attempt went well. Lemon macaroon with a lemon buttercream and lemon zest filling. The only difference I would make is that more yellow food colour next time and cook on silicone paper instead of the bakeoglide mat. Taste great . Happy tonight. Now need to experiment with more flavours and colours.

longue du chat

Really pleased with these. Had to use a pair of very fine gloves to help me curl these around the handle of my wooden spoon. (Don't worry I washed them first). These got me a distinction.

Sponge and Cake

Theory assessment last week on sponge and cake. This week practical on Blackforest Gateaux and Longue du chat biscuits. I am attempting to curl my biscuits around the handle of a wooden spoon. Ive practiced today and it is tricky to get them all consistent but Ive set myself a challenge. Have a look at the practice piccies......