Tiramasu

This cake is not traditional Tiramisu, but none the less, still quite delicious. Instead of lady fingers which is what is generally used, a coffee flavored biscuit is used instead. To achieve the chocolate barks that surround this cake, a layer of melted chocolate is placed on a acetate sheet and then frozen and then a second layer of white melted chocolate is placed on top of that. The frozen chocolate is then broken into large pieces to be placed around the cake adhered by chocolate ganache.

Carmelized Onion Tarts

These tarts are a little labor intensive because of the carmelizing of the sliced onions. To save time, I made the pie dough the night before. These simple tarts were made with mini-tart pans. This recipe uses light cream, eggs and Gruyere cheese. Good brunch item.

Chocolate Cupcakes

This was another contribution to Thanksgiving spending with my family. The cupcake recipe has coffee added into the batter to enhance the chocolate flavor. Sprinkled chocolate completes this basic dessert that grown ups and kids enjoy eating.

Chicken Pot Pie

For Thanksgiving, I made this tasty chicken pot pie. This was my first attempt making a chicken pot pie from scratch without using pre-made shells for the supermarket. It was really good!! Because of time restraints, I forgot to take a photo of the cut pie. I guess you'll have to take my word for it. LOL

Blackberry Sorbet

Cantelope Sorbet

This refreshing sorbet is made simply with frozen fruit puree and simple sorbet syrup.

Pate a Choux puffs

I love using pate a choux, because of it's so versatile. Here in this photo the puffs are split open and filled with homemade caramel ice cream and drizzled with melted chocolate.

Pineapple sugar work

This sugar sculpture was made by Chef Delphin to be used for a student's cake. "The Mimosa"

Bombe (Parfaits)

A medley of parfaits made with fresh fruit, egg yolks, sorbet syrup and heavy cream.

Mimosa Italian cake

This pretty cake, is made with a light citrus cream, stabilized with gelatin, lemon and ginger biscuits and finished with small crouton-shaped cake to give a pineapple effect. I garnished this cake with fresh pineapple, blueberries and strawberries. The leaves of the fresh pineapple also act as an additional garnish.

Success Cake

The Success cake is wrapped in a mold using a "Jaconde" recipe and made with pastry cream, dark chocolate and buttercream.

Charlotte Helena

This beautiful cake was made by Jay, a student in my class. This decadent cake is made with lady fingers, and filled with ridiculous amounts of chocolate mouse and finished with shaved chocolate curls and finished with a pear rose design to complete.

Triomphe Cake

The Triomphe cake is made with a number of elements to build it such as buttercream, Italian meringue, and mousse. The cake is finished with a caramel glaze, walnuts and toasted crepes.

Caramel Sauce

This is the caramel sauce made for the Brazilian cake

Testing a recipe

Here are two very heavy cakes that I made. LOL. Chef Sharon wanted us to write a cake recipe using the "Baker's Percentage" method. My recipe was more like a pound cake, which was not the effect that I wanted. Oh well, practice, practice, practice.

Brown Butter

Here is the finishing result of me making brown butter. When Chef Sharon showed me how to make it, it is quite simple. Butter is simply left to cook until all the milk solids have cooked out. The end result is a toasty, nutty flavor that can be used in baking as well as savory dishes, vegetables, etc. Everybody should learn this technique....You won't be dissapointed!

Marzipan

To get marzipan to the right consistency, I placed the cooked dough onto a marbled surface, sprinkled with confectioners sugar. Using a wide spatula, the paste is worked back and forth until it becomes smooth. I found out as I worked with it, that it was too dry as noted by Chef Delphin. To fix, he suggested using simply syrup to bring it to the right moisture level, before using in a recipe. Marzipan is made with almond flour, egg whites, almond extract, sugar and water.

Making Marzipan

Making marzipan from scratch and perfecting it will definitely take practice for me. This was my first time making it starting at the stove and babysitting it until it reached the proper temperature, making sure the sugar crystalized.

Cake designed with Stencil

This molded French cake was designed with a simple stencil pattern,placed over the cake using powdered cocoa.

Cigarette Cookie Design

As shown in a previous post, this is the Cigarette cookie before it is placed in the oven. The cookie dough batter is poured onto the sheet pan and then a chocolate swirl is circled in. To get the effect, a toothpick is pulled from the center to create the design.

Sabayon

This dessert parfait is also referred as "Zabaglione" which is originally an Italian dessert sauce flavored with dry Marsala wine. It can be made with different liqueurs and flavors.

Brazillian Cake

This is a very tasty cake. (The main picture for this blog.) It's a French cake made with a coffee Bavarian cream and coffee extract with layers of Walnut Dacquoise cake. One of my favorites.

Flambe Crepes

This is the week of us learning how to make crepes. Here chef Sharon is demonstrating on how to flambe fruits with the crepes.

Savory Sausage Quiche with Spinach & Basil

Yes, there is nothing like savory pies like this delicious quiche I made at home on a Sunday morning for breakfast. Believe it or not, this is a healthy recipe out of Canyon Ranch Spa cookbook that I adapted to my own taste. The crust is made with half organic whole wheat pastry flour and A/P Flour. I used a small amount of ground pork to make sausage with flavorings of sage and Bell seasoning. A generous amount of fresh basil is used for additional flavor, along with small amounts of cheddar and parmesean cheese. Instead of cream added to the base, milk is used. Delicious!

Sablees (Linzer Cookies)

Pate De Fruit (Jellies)

These French jellies are a easy to make....They are made simply with fruit juice and sugar that is set in a mold. The molded jelly is then stamped out into various shapes and dusted with granulated sugar.

Meringues

Meringues are great to make ahead of time. They are the used for layers in French mousse cakes. They can be made ahead of time and frozen to keep fresh until ready to use.

Plate of Swans

Here is a medley of swans. Eating swans is like eating a eclair....They need to be served or eaten immedietly as they can become soggy with the piped whipped cream.

Swan(Pate A Choux)

Here is a picture of a completed swan that I put together. It looks like my swan has a slight gangster lean! LOL

Jaconde Design

To achieve this cake design for mouse cakes, a silpat is used. Cake batter is smoothed thinly onto this mat creating the base around the mouse cake. (Thin slices are placed around a cake ring.)

This same procedure was used for the Brazillian cake for the main picture on this blog.

Jaconde cake design

Italian Spumoni Cookies

Christmas is coming and these are festive cookies that are simple to make. A basic Italian cookie dough is used and colored with food colorings for a holiday look. To get the look, logs of the colored dough are stacked on top of each other and then sliced and baked.

Plated Dessert

Here is a another plated dessert that I tried to make attractive. The bottom of this mini cheesecake is filled with a apricot sauce and drizzled with rasberry sauce across the plate.

Mirror Cookies (Sponge)

Chocolate Chip Soufle

Souffle's are not as intimidating to make as they look. Egg whites are heavily used in this particular recipe . They have to be eaten immediately as they start to deflate as soon as they come out of the oven.

Pastry Cream

Chef Jean showing us how our first time on how to properly make pastry cream.....It is a staple commonly used in pastry shops for many desserts. It is very easy to make. I'll have to do some research to find the French cornstarch. I'm thinking of using pastry cream to use in a banana pudding recipe.

Pate Choux dough with Chocolate Fondant

Pate choux dough filled with pastry cream and topped with glossy chocolate fondant.

Chef Delphin demonstrating technique on Petit Fours

Chef Delphin showing fellow classmates how to properly pipe cookie dough for petit fours. I'm Looking forward to upcoming classes in the coming months with Chef Delphin. It will be intense learning as he creates wonderful desserts!

Bringing it Together

Here I am bringing a recipe together. I look tired in this photo. I think it may have been around 10:30 at night when I started this recipe.

Chef Sharon-Puff Pastry Demonstration

Chef Sharon is VERY good at teaching proper technique. Here she is showing how to make traditional puff pastry, which the end result looking like a closed book.

Pistachio Pave

Pistachio Pave is another Petit four cookie made in class with marzipan. Very moist topped with a green pistachio to finish and simply syrup glaze.

Petit Fours

Small cookies of all kinds.....Macaroons, madellines, mirror cookies.

Swan Assembly

Here pate a choux dough is made for swans. The lower part of the sheet pan is the body and the top is the neck and head for the swans.

Macaroons

Italian macaroons made with marizpan....Delicious!

Cigarette French Cookies

To make these will really take practice. This cookie dough is very fragile as it leaves the oven. Basically, you take the end of a wooden spoon and place the hot cookie onto it until it adheres to it creating the cigarette affect. Chef Delphin did these three for demonstration.

Beehive Cake

The name is appropriate for this cake. Layers of meringue cake are layers in between with a lemon flavored mousseline. An Italian meringue is piped in a circular motion to the top of the cake and finished with a blow torch to brown.

Gougere-French Savory

Gougere's are another favorite of mine, made with Pate a Choux dough. These savory treats are flavored with scallions, gruyere cheese, salt and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Additional cheese is added on top for more intense flavor. Great for hors d'oeuvres.

Italian Meringues

Meringues are easy to make.....Basically egg whites and sugar.

Crepe with Pastry Cream-Drizzled with Caramel Sauce

This was the week of us learning how to plate desserts.....I tried to make this look appealing by drizzling the outer edges of the plate with warm, caramel sauce and dots of chocolate syrup. This is a basic crepe covered with chocolate fondant and filled with pastry cream.

Blueberry Tart

This blueberry tart was made by a classmate. Very delicious indeed with the streusal topping.