For my Cooking for Healthy Lifestyles class, we had to do a group practical final. We had to produce a healthy three course meal.
We decided on a Mediterranean style meal, with a pan-Middle Eastern style.I think it worked well. We did a good job working together as a team to produce both the menu and the final project.
For our appetizer, we made hummus, and served it with a variety of crudites.
This hummus was flavored with cilantro and a little jalapeno to give it a kick.
To be healthier, instead of using pita bread, we served it with celery, carrots, and yellow bell pepper. This also gave a lot of color to the plate.
For our main dish, we had a bed of couscous with peas and raisins. On top of that was Lebanese Orange Chicken.
To accompany the meal is a Greek salad with marinated onions and cucumbers, kalamata olives, tomatoes, and julienned carrots.
Also with the dish are spicy Moroccan style vegetables with sweet potato, leek, onion, and zucchini.
For our dessert, we made a coconut milk panna cotta with fresh strawberries.
To make it more vegan friendly, it was made with agar agar instead of gelatin. It is garnished with a little toasted coconut.
We can't complain. We got an a on the final, and with that and 100% on my written final, I secured a solid A for that class.
For my cake decorating class, our final project was to make a dummy wedding cake. The core of the cake was Styrofoam, as the object of this exam was testing decorating skill, not cake baking.
My partner and I chose to make an Indian inspired cake. We used the peacock, lotus blossoms, and henna patterns in the design of the cake.
The cake is covered in a light ivory fondant. We wanted a blank canvas for the elaborate decorations we had planned.
The body of the peacock is made of colored fondant.
The tail is piped royal frosting.
The lotus blossoms are made from wafer paper. They were cut out, air brushed, then assembled.
on the other side are some fondant ropes framing piped henna patterns in purple and gold.
I'm really proud of this cake. I think it came out quite nice. We scored a 9.4 out of ten on it.
I managed an A+ in this class, which was a better grade than I thought I would get. I was expecting a B or at best a B+.
This was a relatively unstressful semester, though I did occasionally get stressed out over my lack of piping skills.
Next up for summer: Sugar work, and fruit carving.
So, it was the turn of the younger brother of the child we did the baseball party for to have his birthday party. He decided he wanted to have a dragon theme for his birthday. Now, the spouse and I are both life long fantasy fans, so we were totally cool with the theme. As always, the spouse had fun putting together goodie bags for the kids.
When we asked the young man what he wanted in a cake, some of it was pretty straight forward. A chocolate and vanilla marbled cake, which was easy, as I could use the same recipes as I did at the princess party. He wanted a cherry filling, so we used a commercial cherry pie filling. So far so good. Now comes the challenging part. For decoration, he wanted a water dragon, under the water. Now, I thought that was a pretty cool and unusual vision from a child his age.
The cake is mostly the spouse's creation.What we I baked the cake, and contributed some ideas on how it might be done, but all the creativity in the actual cake is hers. What we ended up creating wasn't exactly what he described, but given the time and technology limitations, I think it was pretty much within the intent. For the base, we made a half sheet sized chocolate marble cake with cherry filling. We used crisp rice and marshmallow treats to build up the terrain, and create a basin. The cake was then frosted green for grassy hills. A layer of blue frosting was put on the bottom of the basin to act as a moisture barrier, and to add to the apparent depth of the basin. The spouse had found a really nice figurine of a water dragon. We placed that in the basin, and added a mixture of blue raspberry gelatin and blue gel frosting to make the water. Chocolate rocks were used to create then shoreline.
I think this was a really cool cake. It was definitely non-standard, which made it a challenge. However, from all reports the child was delighted, and his face lit up when he saw the cake.
A friend of ours was celebrating her birthday, and the spouse and I wanted to make her a cake. The spouse had found a recipe for a mango carrot cake in the April 2013 issue of Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. We followed the cake recipe, but I came up with my own filling and icing recipes. We coated the outside with toasted walnuts.
For the filling, the spouse and I collaborated on a mango ginger pastry cream. It came out very nice. It had a nice light mango and ginger flavor, and wasn't too sweet.
For the icing, I pulverized some candied ginger in my spice grinder, and added that to a cream cheese frosting. It was tangy, with a little ginger bite.
The original recipe had ribbons of plain old carrot piled on the cake by way of decoration. That seemed both lacking in flavor and messy to me. I candied ribbons of carrot in a simple syrup that had candied ginger and orange zest in it. While still warm, I rolled them up. I think it added color to finish the cake, and gave the cake a more professional appearance. And, they were tasty too.
The cake came out a little dense and gummy for my taste. Although, the person we made it for liked the texture. I think it is a fine idea, and some combination of more leavening, less liquid, or more cooking time should result in a better cake. Also considering moving from all purpose to cake flour.
Recipes
Mango Carrot Cake
2 cups all purpose flour
3 cups shredded carrots
3/4 cups mango nectar
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Pre-heat oven to 350F.
Grease and flour two eight inch cake pans.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, beating until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well each time.
Alternate flour mixture and mango, mix on low after each addition, just until mixed.
Stir in carrots. Divide evenly between pans. Bake 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
(Update: Note that the recipe above should work fine. The original recipe said 1 1/4 cup juice in the ingredients list, but buried in the text said to add 3/4 cup to the cake. The spouse added the full 1 1/4 cup to the cake.)
Mango Ginger Pastry Cream
2 cups milk
2 2/3 oz. by wt. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tbsp. crystallized ginger
1/4 cup mango nectar
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup cornstarch
pinch kosher salt
In a saucepan over medium low heat, combine milk, sugar, vanilla, ginger, salt, and juice. Bring just to a boil. Remove from heat. Slowly add 1/2 cup of hot milk mixture to the egg mixture while whisking continuously. Add mixture back to pot, return to heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.
Strain mixture, cover directly with plastic wrap, to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until cool.
Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting
12 oz. by wt. cream cheese
3 oz. by wt. room temperature butter
6 oz. by wt. powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. crystallized ginger
1 tsp. vanilla
Pulverize ginger in a spice grinder. Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer. Cream with a paddle until smooth.
Candied Carrot Curls
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 large carrot, peeled
zest of 1 orange
2 Tbsp. crystallized ginger
Use a vegetable peeler to make long carrot strips. Set aside.
Place sugar, water, zest, and ginger in a small pan over medium low heat. When syrup comes to a simmer, add carrot strips. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes, until carrots are translucent. Remove from heat. Spread carrot strips out on wax paper. Let cool just enough to be handled. Roll up strips to make a cylinder. Place on end on wax paper to cool.
To Assemble Cake:
Put one cake on a cake round. Place a 1/2 inch layer of pastry on top. Add the second cake. Using a spatula, place a thin layer of frosting on sides and top of cakes. Refrigerate twenty minutes to set coat. Add a top coat of frosting. Coat outside of cake with ground toasted walnuts. Pipe a ring of rosettes of frosting, add an inner ring of candied carrot curls.
I had an awful lot of buttermilk and egg whites left over from the Baseball and Princess parties we did recently. I wanted to find a way to use them up. I found this recipe, and adapted it a little to my understanding of the foaming method.
Looking in the store for inspiration, I saw that key limes were inexpensive. I love key limes, so I decided a key lime curd would be awesome as filling in the cake. I adapted this recipe for my curd.
The frosting is a vanilla lime Swiss butter cream. It is flavored with a little key lime zest, and some vanilla extract.
To garnish the cake, I candied some key lime slices in a simple syrup.
I really like this cake. This recipe is a keeper. The cake is not as fluffy as the chiffon cake I learned to make in school. It still has a very tender crumb, and there is definitely a bit of buttermilk tang to the flavor. It is a sturdier cake, and would hold up to more manipulation, if one was inclined to do something interesting with the construction.
The key lime curd is bright and acidic, and very intensely flavored. I added just a touch of green food coloring, to help with the visual cue that this is not lemon.,
I am very pleased with this cake. It is firm, but still moist and tender. I like the intensity of the curd. I think it's acidity helps cut the sweetness, and that plus the buttermilk helps give depths and complexities of flavor. The lightly flavored butter cream frosting complements, without overshadowing, the cake.
Recipes
Buttermilk Chiffon Cake
3 cups cake flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt 1 cup shortening 1 1/2 + 1/2 cups sugar 1 cup buttermilk 1/2 tsp. almond extract 6 oz. by wt. egg whites 1 tsp. cream of tartar
Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
Grease and flour two nine inch round cake pans. Line bottoms with wax or parchment paper.
Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture in stages, alternating with buttermilk. Beat to combine thoroughly between each addition.
Beat egg whites until foamy. Add almond extract and cream of tartar. Whip to soft peaks, then slowly add 1/2 cup sugar. Whip to medium stiff peaks.
Fold 1/4 of egg whites into batter to lighten. Gently fold in remaining whites, until whites and batter are well combined, with no visible streaks of whites remaining.
Divide batter between cake pans.
Bake 25 - 30 minutes, or until cake is firm. Remove to rack to cool.
Key Lime Curd
1 cup sugar 4 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup fresh squeezed key lime juice 2 Tbsp. key lime zest pinch kosher salt
Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until curd thickens, about ten minutes.
Strain curd. cover surface with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in freezer for 20 minutes, then transfer to refrigerator to finish cooling.
Vanilla Lime Swiss Butter Cream Frosting
6 oz by wt. sugar 4 1/2 oz by wt. egg whites 1 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. water 1 lb. butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes 1 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of one key lime 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
Heat sugar, egg whites, and water in a double boiler to 160 F, whisking continuously. Whip in a stand mixer five minutes, or until mixture decreases to room temperature. Add butter one chunk at a time, until all the butter is Incorporated. Add salt, vanilla, and lime zest. Whip until smooth and glossy.
A friend of ours oldest son wanted a baseball themed birthday party. He much enjoyed the opportunity to be able to articulate his desires, and have adults listen and take notes. I think it's something that doesn't happen enough for most kids.
We sat down with him and his parents. We asked leading questions, but sincerely listened to the answers. He wanted a cake with a baseball diamond and someone hitting a home run. He wanted vanilla cake with creamy cherry filling. He wanted ball park food; hot dogs, cracker jacks, peanuts. Carrots and grapes OK, but no vegetables.
He and the spouse also worked out what kind of games and activities he wanted to do.
The hot dogs were easy. We have a propane powered slow cooker. It worked perfectly to steam the hot dogs in the park.
I made my version of Cracker Jacks. I modified the recipe I used for bacon flavored caramel corn. I used dark corn syrup instead of the bacon flavored syrup. I oven roasted some raw, unsalted Spanish peanuts, then tossed them with the popcorn and caramel. The spouse packaged up the snack with it's own prize, a set of temporary tattoos.
I like caramel in just about any form. Cracker Jack was certainly a favorite as a kid. The prizes have gotten lame, however.
The cake was a collaborative affair. It was a half sheet cake. I baked the cake, scaling it up from the yellow cake recipe I used for the chocolate marble cake at the Princess tea we did recently.
I really like this cake recipe. It finds a nice balance between robust enough to work with, yet with a moist and tender crumb.
The filling was a cooperative effort between the spouse and myself. It consists of whipped topping, cherry pie filling, and a little salt. We whipped together the topping and the pie filling. We used whipped topping instead of whipped cream, because we knew it would be unrefrigerated at the park for some time.
I think cherry was a great choice. The bit of tang of the sour cherry helped counter the sweetness a bit.
The decoration is all the spouse's work. She used a special tip to make the grass, and the base path is covered in graham cracker crumbs.
I think she did a great job on the decorations. She's immensely creative and imaginative. By all accounts, the birthday boy was thrilled with the cake.
Recipes
Homemade Cracker Jacks
1/2 lb. raw, unsalted Spanish peanuts
8 quarts popcorn
1 cup butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp.
salt
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 tsp. baking soda
Spread peanuts on a baking sheet. Bake in a 300 F oven for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Pre-heat oven
to 200 degrees
Place popcorn and peanuts in a large roasting pan.
In a three quart
sauce pan over medium heat, combine butter, sugar, salt, and syrup. Bring to a
boil, turn down to a simmer. Let boil for five minutes. Remove from heat, add
baking soda. Caramel will foam up. Pour caramel over popcorn. Stir thoroughly.
Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread out on wax paper to cool.
Store in air tight container. If caramel corn softens, re-heat in 200 degree
oven for 20 minutes.
Yellow Cake
2 cupsbutter
Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
Grease and flour a 1/2 sheet size rectangular cake pan. line bottom with wax paper.
The spouse and I are seriously contemplating starting a business doing party planning and catering. As kind of a dry run, we did a princess tea party for a friend's daughters' birthdays. The spouse did a great job with all the party stuff. She made custom handmade invitations, extravagant goodie bags, table settings, and came up with interesting, fun games. I focused on the food.
I made a modified afternoon tea. There were tea sandwiches, scones, and cupcakes. There was a mock Devonshire cream to go with the scones.
The tea sandwiches were fairly boring. They were what the girls wanted, however. There was peanut butter with strawberry preserves, American cheese, and turkey. The kids seemed happy, however. I had sandwiches for fourteen, and the eight kids ate all of them. They were cut in cute shapes, so that may have helped.
The kids had asked for three kinds of scones; plain, chocolate chip, and caramel apple pie. I think I have implied that the scone recipe I got from Chef James Foran is a good basis to riff on. So, I want to explicitly state that his cream scone recipe is the best I've ever tried. I will be including the plain recipe here, so that you can play with it yourselves. The chocolate chip scones are the same, with six ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips added just before the wet ingredients. Any dry garnishes, like dried fruit, candy, chips, or nuts can be added without changes. Moist or wet ingredients may require adjusting the liquid to maintain the same texture.
The plain scones were dusted with pink sanding sugar, in keeping with the pink and purple color scheme of the party. For the chocolate chip scones, I garnished the top with mini chocolate chips. I cut them round to evoke a chocolate chip cookie vibe. The caramel apple pie scones are the same ones I served at the Black Hat Tea, with the exception that I used two granny smith apples instead of one gala.
The cupcakes were chocolate marbled. I used different recipes for the yellow and the chocolate
batters. The yellow cake recipe is based on this one. I like this recipe. It is quite moist, and lighter than most yellow cakes. I attribute that to the use of cake flour over all purpose flour.
The chocolate batter was based on this recipe. I essentially used the ingredients, but re-arranged the process to bring it more in line with my understanding of the creaming method. It makes a much more fluid batter than does the yellow cake recipe.
To make the marbled cupcakes, I alternated batters in the cupcake liners for four layers (yellow/chocolate/yellow/chocolate) then used a fork to give one or two big swirls through the batter.
I can't take any credit for the decoration, that was all the spouse. She is much better at that sort of thing than I am.
We also made a couple of little cakes, so each birthday girl had one to blow the candles out on. One was chocolate marbled, the other plain yellow cake. Again, the spouse gets complete credit for the decoration.
I used to think that the whole cake/pastry/all purpose/bread flour thing was a scam. My experience in the pastry class has convinced me otherwise. All purpose does live up to its name. It does an adequate job for either pastries or breads. However, if you want the best pastries, a lower gluten flour will make a lighter, moister product. Conversely, for bread, a higher gluten flour will rise better, and provide for a chewier mouth feel. Cake and bread flour are both more expensive than all purpose. So when baking, you have to decide if the improvement in quality is sufficient to justify the added expense.
Recipes
Basic Scone Recipe
1 lb. 3 oz. all purpose flour 2 Tbsp. +
1 tsp. baking powder 3 1/2 oz. by wt. sugar 3/4 tsp. kosher salt 6 oz. by
wt. chilled butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes 16 oz. by vol. cream
Sift together flour, baking powder,
salt and sugar. Cut in butter until it resembles course meal.
Add cream. Stir until dough just comes together. Turn out
onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out to one inch thick. Cut into desired serving size and shape, and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Brush with
cream, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a 375 F oven for 12 - 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
For chocolate chip scones: Add 6 oz. by wt. semi-sweet chocolate chips just before adding cream. Brush tops with cream, sprinkle with miniature chocolate chips.
Yellow Cake Batter
1 cupbutter
2 cups cake flour 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar 1/2 cup butter 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 tsp. vanilla extract 1 cup milk 1/2 cup hot water2 tsp. instant espresso powder 4 large eggs
Dissolve espresso powder in hot water. Set aside, let cool to room temperature.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder, set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter, oil, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, allowing each to incorporate before adding the next. Mix in vanilla.
Combine espresso and milk.
In three or four stages, add dry ingredients, alternating with milk mixture, letting each addition fully incorporate before adding the next. Start and end with dry ingredients.
To Make Marble Cupcakes:
Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Alternate layers of yellow and chocolate batters until liners are 2/3 full. Use a fork to give batters one or two good swirls.
Bake in a 350 F oven for 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
The most challenging thing for me that we have made so far in my pastry class was the chiffon cake. My icing and piping skills still need work. I thought it would be a good idea to practice making one by myself. The cake itself is unchanged from the recipe in the previous post.
I did want to play with the flavors a bit, however. Since I did not have any of the commercial raspberry filling we used in class, I needed to do something different. I had some strawberries left over from Valentine's Day. I mashed those, and made a quick strawberry jam. Instead of the lemon syrup, I made a mandarin orange syrup to soak the cake with. I also added the zest of a mandarin orange to the Swiss butter cream frosting.
To decorate the cake, I dipped blanched almonds in dark chocolate melted in a double boiler.
Recipes
Quick Strawberry Jam
1 cup mashed strawberries
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
pinch kosher salt
In a sauce pan over medium heat, combine all ingredients. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Cook until mix reaches 220 F. Transfer to a metal bowl in an ice bath.
Mandarin Orange Syrup
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
juice of one mandarin orange
In a sauce pan over medium heat, combine all ingredients. Bring just to a simmer, making sure all the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, and allow to cool. Strain.
We are now getting down to some serious business in my pastry class. We made a chiffon cake with lemon syrup, raspberry and whipped cream filling, and Swiss buttercream frosting. The chiffon cake was much more involved than the other things we have made.
The cake was used to illustrate the Foaming method. In this method, eggs are whipped to incorporate air, then added to the batter. The air bubbles in the egg foam provide leavening, resulting in a light and airy product.
There are several parts to this cake. There is the cake itself, the lemon syrup, the fillings, the frosting, and the decorations.
The cake is a vanilla chiffon cake. It begins with the Mix Method, where the dry ingredients are sifted together, the wet ingredients whisked together, then added to the dry. The change begins when egg whites are whipped with powdered sugar to a meringue, and added to the batter. This is a French meringue, where the eggs are uncooked in any way. Not an issue, as the cake will be baked at a sufficient temperature to kill any unwanted micro-organisms.
The syrup is a simple syrup of water, sugar, and lemon juice.
For the raspberry filling, we used a commercial filling. I suspect a raspberry jelly or jam would work just fine. We used a sweetened whipped cream as well for the filling.
The frosting is a Swiss buttercream. It involves making a Swiss meringue. In a Swiss meringue the egg whites are cooked with sugar and water over a double boiler until they reach a temperature of 160 degrees F. This ensures that micro-organisms are killed, so Swiss meringues can be used as decoration or other applications that do not require cooking.
Once the cake is baked and completely cooled, and everything else is made, the cake can be assembled. The cake is split horizontally into three equal layers. This is a very delicate cake, so when cutting, spreading, or frosting, care must be taken not to tear the cake. Once cut, a thin layer of raspberry filling is spread on the first layer. An approximately one quarter inch thick layer of whipped cream is placed on top of that. The second layer of cake is added next, and the same procedure is done, ending with placing the top layer on.
Next, a thin layer of frosting is applied to the the top and sides of the cake. This is called the crumb coat. It will lock in stray crumbs, and keep them out of the frosting. Refrigerate the cake for ten minutes. This will set the crumb coat hard. Apply an even coat of frosting.
For the outside of the cake, we coated it with toasted chopped almonds. We piped a shell on each piece, and added alternating a chocolate straw, and a triangle of chocolate with a cool transfer design. We didn't make either of the chocolate decorations, I think they were left over from Chef James chocolate class. They do add a particularly professional flare, though.
As always for the pastry class, all recipes are provided by Chef James Foran.
Recipes
Vanilla Chiffon Cake
dry ingredients
9 oz by wt. cake flour
7 oz by wt. sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
wet ingredients
6 egg yolks
2/3 cup water
4 oz by vol. oil
1 Tbsp. vanilla paste
meringue
8 egg whites
3.5 oz by wt. sugar
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
Sift together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Add wet ingredients to dry all at once. Mix just until everything is Incorporated.
In a stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whip egg whites on high speed until frothy. Turn down to medium speed, and slowly add sugar and cream of tartar. Turn back to high, whip to medium, stiff peaks.
Fold one quarter of the meringue into the batter until just combined. Fold remaining meringue in gently, until no streaks of batter or meringue are visible.
Divide batter evenly between two ungreased nine inch cake pans lined with parchment paper. Bake in a 325 F oven for 30 minutes, or until cakes are golden and springy to the touch. Remove from oven, and cool on a rack.
Lemon Syrup
4 oz by vol. water
4 oz by wt. sugar
4 Tbsp. lemon juice
Bring water and sugar to a boil. Remove from heat, add lemon juice. Allow to cool.
Vanilla Chantilly
12 oz by vol. cream
.7 oz by wt. powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch salt
Whip all ingredients together to medium stiff peaks.
Swiss Buttercream
6 oz by wt. sugar
4 1/2 oz by wt. egg whites
1 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. water
1 lb. butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
Heat sugar, egg whites, and water in a double boiler to 160 F, whisking continuously. Whip in a stand mixer five minutes, or until mixture decreases to room temperature. Add butter one chunk at a time, until all the butter is Incorporated. Add salt and vanilla. Whip until smooth and glossy.
In my pastry class, we are starting to get into technique. Most of the class is focused on labs, rather than lecture. We've picked groups, and I ended up with a good one, I think. Three of the other guys have industry experience. I've done large scale cooking in the SCA, at science fiction conventions, and catered some LARPs. Everyone takes initiative, and just get things done. We communicate well. Just by random draw, I ended up being sous chef for our group for this lab. We seem to be fast and efficient, so may find ourselves doing Chef's mise en place, as well as our own. Sometimes there is a price to pay for being teacher's pets.
Our first recipe was a banana cake with cream cheese frosting. This was a very moist cake, and I loved the tanginess of the frosting. We were focused on professional methods, so much of the ingredients are measured in weight, not volume. The way we cut the cake, there was a row for each person in the group, so we each got to decorate our own. I just followed Chef's scheme. Others in my group came up with their own designs. My row is the second from the left.
The point of this exercise was to illustrate the Mix Method. This is the simplest of methods for combining ingredients. Dry ingredients are sifted together, wet ingredients are mixed together, then wet are added to dry and combined quickly. A lot of cakes and quick breads are done this way.
The other recipe we did was chocolate chunk cookies. Like chocolate chip cookies, but bigger pieces of chocolate. This recipe produces a moist, chewy cookie. We used a bittersweet chocolate, with 58% cocoa liqueur. That was fine with me, as I prefer darker chocolates. This recipe was to illustrate the Cream Method. In the cream method, the fats and sugars are beaten together to add air and provide leavening.
Both these recipes are provided by my instructor, Chef James Foran. As these are professional recipes, much of the measurements are by weight rather than volume.
Recipes
Banana Cake
Wet Ingredients
9 fl oz vegetable oil
6 oz by wt eggs
12 oz by wt peeled bananas
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 fl oz cream
5 oz by wt brown sugar
Dry Ingredients
10 oz by wt sugar
10 oz by wt cake flour
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Prepare a half sheet pan, oiled and lined with parchment or wax paper.
Preheat oven, 325 degrees for a convection oven, 350 degrees for a conventional oven
Using an immersion blender, blend together wet ingredients. Sift together dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients all at once to dry ingredients. Whisk together until just combined. Pour batter into half sheet pan, and smooth. Bake 12 - 15 minutes, or until cake is browned and springy.
When cake is completely cooled, invert onto cutting board, and frost.
Cream Cheese Frosting
12 oz by wt cream cheese
3 oz by wt room temperature butter
6 1/2 oz by wt powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer. Cream with a paddle until smooth.
Chocolate Chunk Cookies
fats/sugars ingredients
5 oz by wt butter
4 oz by wt sugar
5 oz by wt brown sugar
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
wet ingredients
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
dry ingredients
8 1/2 oz by wt all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
garnish ingredients
9 oz by wt semi-sweet chocolate chunks
Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Preheat oven, 325 degrees for a convection oven, 350 degrees for a conventional oven
Using a paddle in a stand mixer, cream together fats and sugars for at least five minutes, until smooth.
Add egg and vanilla, cream until smooth.
Add dry ingredients in two stages, remembering to scrape down the bowl periodically.
Stir in chocolate.
Scoop out dough in approximately 2 tbsp. balls onto sheet pan. Top each cookie with a few grains of sea salt.
Bake about 5 minutes, or until flattened and brown.
