A Great Oppurtunity with Great Friends

The school offers continuing education courses and we were given a the opportunity to take one for free! So obviously I did not pass up this opportunity! I am so glad that some of my friends chose to do it as well!!

This is Chef Joel Reno! I have had him in the pastry program and had him for the past month in the cake program! Through both of these programs he has taught me so much! One of his biggest pet peeves is when people do not have confidence in themselves and what they are doing. Well that has always been a weakness of mine. I have always been hard on myself and always find something wrong with what I have made. He has helped me have more confidence and realize that you are not going to master something on the first try. A while back in my blog I talked about Chef Jonathan, and how each chef has a quote on the school's website. Chef Joel's is "Pastry is a beautiful craft and I love getting people excited about it. When students of pastry get equally as excited about learning the process and science behind making the recipes as the final product itself, magic can happen." I have always been excited about learning new things, but having him as a teacher has gotten me even more excited. He is definitely someone whom I look up and I am very glad that I was able to study under him im both programs!! Chef Joel has taught me to think more creatively and to try everything (I never was a picky eater, but now I have to try everything haha!)! He is always coming up with new flavor combinations and new recipes (well new for me haha), and they ALWAYS sound delicious! This past week he came up with this pecan cake with a caramel filling, pecan pralinettes, and milk chocolate glaze and we got to taste it! I cannot even begin to tell you how delicious it was!!



If you want to read his bio this is the link: Chef Joel Reno

Wandering the city with great friends!!

 As soon as it became warm out we took a drive around the city and somehow ended up at the Lincoln Park Zoo! Such a fun day and so glad I became friends with her! Do not know what I will do when we graduate and she moves to Texas.

 Random selfie!

 St. Patrick's Day Weekend!!

Finally got to see the Chicago River dyed GREEN!! 

Sugar Showpiece (Round 2)

In the pastry program, I hated pulling sugar.  I do not know why I didn't like it, but there was just something that I just didn't like. When I heard I had to pull sugar in the cake program I was like here we go again, but honestly I really liked pulling sugar this time.

I am much happier with this showpiece than I was with my showpiece in the pastry program! 

Pastry Program Rose vs. Cake Program RosePractice only makes you better!!!

Pastillage Showpiece

Pastillage is a medium made for showpieces. It is made out of powdered sugar, gelatin, and vinegar. Unfortunately, while I was adding a piece to the showpiece the whole thing fell apart. luckily my partner and I had extra pieces so that I could hurry up and put together a new flower. So this is what it looked like after all of that happened! As much as I liked my other flower and other pieces from the first one, I am very happy with the outcome of this showpiece.

Taste and Profile

I know I haven't updated my blog in a couple weeks, but now you can catch up on everything that I have been making!

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

Bottom to Top: Chocolate cake, hazelnut ganache, caramelized hazelnuts, chocolate cake, chocolate mousse and cocoa nib florentine, chocolate cake, chocolate mousse and chocolate ganache

Orange Coffee Crunch Cake

Bottom to Top: Orange cake,Caramelized hazelnuts, coffee mousseline, coffee streusel, hazelnut cake, orange marmalade hazelnut cake, coffee buttercream and covered in fondant!

Strawberries 'n Cream Cake

 

Almond cake(soaked in strawberry syrup), buttercream made with creme anglaise(love this!), fresh strawberries and caramelized

Peaches 'n Lemon Cream Cake

Bottom to Top: Almond lemon cake, buttercream made with anglaise, peaches and pralinettes, coconut cake, lemon cream, coconut cake, and covered with Italian buttercream and fondant

Mango- Passion Fruit- Yuzu 

Macarons

Aqua and Coral Wedding

 Three Tiered Wedding Cake!

This was my first time doing this much on one cake and I am very proud of it. I always strive for the best, and no matter how hard I work I always seem to be hard on myself.  I know there is always room for improvement and I am glad that I have my chefs behind me showing me the little things that I need to work on!

Valentine's Day Cake and Cookies

This week we covered a dummy cake in royal icing to practice piping. This is a way to display how you do buttercream cakes without having to through them away after something like a bridal show.

The piping we did on this cake is Traditional English style of piping.

Gumpaste rose and rosebud.