Le Cordon Bleu intermediate patisserie week 10 - its toothache time

With the pressure of exams well and truly a thing of the past, and following the most foodie of foodie weekends in London, the last challenge I had to face was the decoration of my Easter cake. Having decorated more cakes than I can recall, really, this wasn't going to be the most challenging of challenges for me so rather than feeling nerves I was full of excitement and anticipation. I was about to be let loose on someone else's cake decoration tools and that alone was getting me all of a fluster. I love to learn new skills and although I already knew how to make the odd flower or two, I was very much looking forward to discovering new ways of icing cakes and new ways to make wired decorations. 

Way back in week 3 or 4, along side a piping skills test, I made a fruit celebration cake. When the cake came out of the oven I spotted the chef damn near drown the poor thing in brandy and then rum so this was going to be a cake which packed a punch. Myself, I'm not a huge fan of a fruit cake. I do believe that its an acquired taste and one that we eventually grow into... if my Nan catches so much as a whiff of a fruit cake she goes giddy and she believes the more alcohol content in the cake the better. Which is great as I left half of the cake with her to dish out amongst friends, family and of course to enjoy herself. 

The first task was to level and cover the cake with marzipan. As soon as I'd come around from the intense smell of 'brum' (brandy and rum of course), I whipped out my ridiculously sharp and most dangerous of all the knives, my bread knife and with a steady hand, carved the head straight off the cake. The cake was then covered using the box edge method which involves covering the entire cake with apricot nappage (or jam), then the sides are covered with a long strip of marzipan and finally the top with a disc of the sweet and sticky paste. The cake is then turned upside down and using a smoothing paddle, the join is smoothed and stuck together together. This leaves you with a cake with crisp, sharp edges as apposed to bevelled edges which until now, was the only covering method I'd ever tried. Very much preferring the box edge method, once dried the cake was covered in fondant icing and attentions were turned to the decorating. 

As mentioned, creating flowers using florist paste isn't new to me, but making flowers on the wire is. Opting for a Easter inspired mini bouquet to sit on top of the cake, I began by mixing up my colours; pink, peach, orange and of course, a lovely easter yellow. I next made teal ribbon loops, a technique learnt at the Savoy when I spent a day with Mich Turner a year or two ago. Adding ribbons to sugar flowers really does bring the arrangement to life. The loops and textures create movement and add interest, and of course, another complimentary colour. After watching the chef create wired flowers with interest, I discovered that doing so is far less complicated than I'd anticipated and so I spent my time making a bunch of flowers, ensuring they looked as realistic as possible. I used veining tools, a balling tool, cutters and heaps of florist tape to bring the bouquet together. I was really happy with the results and scoring well, it seems the chefs were too! 

Having a little less time than anticipated, I opted for a simple pearl royal icing effect and naturally an Easter rabbit to finish off the cake. A little ribbon and washi tape later and my Easter creation was ready for marking. 

What do you think? 

You won't be surprised to hear that I didn't want this class to end, but the desire for cake decoration not to come to an end wasn't only fuelled by my love for cake. The end of this class signified the end of my intermediate studies, the last time I'd be in the kitchen with my group and it also meant that exam results were imminent. Before leaving our beloved pastry kitchen we took the opportunity to have a huge class picture. I shall miss these girls and guys dearly, and of course Chef Ian! 

With my cake only just boxed it was exam results time. Up I went, nervously, to discover my fate and sat before me was Chef Graham. I couldn't think of anyone I'd prefer to hear the news from - fair, down to earth and straight talking, Chef Graham took me through the good and bad feedback associated with my practical exam performance. By my own admission my Gateau Opera was not perfect. I knew I'd over worked my joconde, I knew my gateau was shorter than the hight specified and I knew my creme au beurre cafe was a little less 'cafe' than then chefs would have liked but being on the verge of splitting I aired on the side of caution. 

On the whole, my feedback was very positive. My presentation scored highly as did the taste! I was delighted to hear I'd passed and therefore felt hugely excited about graduating the following week. Without knowing my written exam or class results I could rest assured that I'd passed my intermediate module and could now call myself a Le Cordon Bleu trained patissiere - to level 2! Hurrah! 

With a spring in my step to match my Easter cake, I returned home for a quick nap before heading over to Meringue Girl HQ where I was to spend the evening assisting the fabulous Fondant Fox with her collaborative cakey masterclass. Having followed her on Instagram for some time now, I was overcome with excitement to discover exactly how she makes her gorgeously tantalising drippy cream cakes! Upon arrival the lovely Carla popped a vintage inspired pinny on me and put me task, setting out places and making tea for the students. As she talked through the evenings project and revealed what the students would achieve in only a matter of hours, I listened with keen interest. 

The first task was to create meringue kisses, something that I'm rather familiar with doing having made many back in basic patisserie and many time since. As we piped perfect kisses I told the group how I'd tried teaching my parents the very same technique with little luck. Granted piping does take some practise but there were no kisses in the kitchen at Parents HQ, only witches hats and funny looking meringue slugs. Still, at least I know who to turn to when I need Halloween meringues ;o) 

With the left over meringue mixture, meringue slabs were created by spreading out the mixture thinly and sprinkling on goodies such as freeze dried raspberries and rose petals. Both were baked for 40 minutes during which time the pre made cakes were cut and levelled, filled with jam and butter cream, covered in a crumb coat, refrigerated and covered with a second, more perfected layer of delicious pastel pink buttercream. 

Once out of the oven, the meringues were left to cool whilst chocolate was melted and cooled to body temperature. The cakes were chilled in preparation for the chocolate topping and when ready, the chocolate was poured and drips created, resulting in a wonderfully oozy, drippy effect. The cake was then dressed with meringue kisses, shards, berries, neon buttercream stars, pearl and gold sprays and of course, fresh flowers! A cake so beautiful I was devastated to see it cut into! 

I had such a wonderful evening with Fondant Fox and the students and hope to help out again soon. Fondant Fox runs her master classes ever couple of weeks, be sure to follow her on Instagram for more details. And if you love the look of these ultra modern, fantastically fun cakes, I suggest that you take a look at the work of the Meringue Girls, Katherine Sabbath and Charlie Bucket for further inspiration. There style and fun way of dressing cakes is certainly rubbing off on me. 

No sooner than I'd had the chance to catch my breath after an incredibly cakey couple of days, I was up super early, whisking myself over to Shoreditch to assist on a very uncakey photoshoot for Old El Paso. Sadly I can't say very much about my experience as the material created was highly confidential but it was great to be on set once again and to learn more about the art of food styling. 

In between cutting tomatoes and dicing avocado I began to think about the intensive couple of weeks ahead of me. With my intermediate studies complete I'd opted to specialise in cake design and decoration for my final module rather than continue to superior. This was a tricky decision but one that was right for me. Not wanting to complete my studies in order to become a pastry chef, but rather wanting to complete my studies, return to work and continue to make wedding and celebration cakes in my own time, I felt I'd learn far more relevant skills by specialising.

The course, which I'll cover in far more detail next week, would see me create a second celebration cake using a brush embroidery decoration technique, create a chocolate cake covered in strips of chocolate deliciousness, make cupcakes in a rather unusual way and finally create a wedding cake to a rather unique brief. 

In between calling 'its a wrap' on set at the Old El Paso photoshoot and having a very rushed dinner in preperation for my 5:30am wake up the next day, I managed to fit in a cup of tea and 5 minutes to myself to enjoy this. A chocolate covered cupcake made for me by my Nan. I may be a Le Cordon Bleu student and I may know how to make all sorts of fancy pants cakes and pastry treats but really, theres nothing quite like tucking into a cake, make for you with love by your Nan. Nan's know best and it was just want I needed after a long weeks caking. 

So next week on my path to patisserie...brush embroidery, chocolate cake, cupcakes and my wedding cake plans. I shall also be covering the history of the celebration cake and looking back at traditions and how they came about. But before I sign off this Sunday, I'd like to thank you all again for coming back and reading my cakey chatter each week. I feel completely blow away by the stats - over 8,000 unique hits in 7 months. Who knew there were so many of us who love to read and learn about the history of cake and so many of you who are interested in my path to becoming a patissiere. Although my posts are still a little behind I'm slowly catching up - theres plenty more coming so please do keep on reading! To celebrate I decorated a chocolate ganache covered, chocolate fudge cake...fairly badly, in a hurry but that's not important. What's important is that it's covered in chocolate, with a little bit more chocolate and its recipient will love it. A lot. 

*Please note that the views I express are mine alone and do not reflect the views of my place of study*

I've never felt like this before - I want to go back to school!

Today is Wednesday 7th January (happy new year one and all!) and EVERYONE has gone back to work following the holidays. I'd like nothing more than to go back to school immediately but sadly classes don't begin for another week. I really must love what I'm doing as I've never felt such a strong desire to get back into the classroom before!

Sadly my New Year didn't begin quite as planned. Whilst on my walk to work, in broad day light, whilst on the phone joyfully reliving tales of how I'd seen in the New Year, I was mugged. My iPhone was stolen from the palm of my hand far too quickly for me to even really grasp what was happening - let alone grasp hold of the phone. Welcome to London! Now on my 7th day of essentially being cut off from the digital world (yes, I am being dramatic), rather than feeling angry (although the admin has been a huge pain in the backside) I strangely feel grateful. They say that everything happens for a reason and perhaps this was the universe's way of telling me to put my iPhone down and pick up my camera, which is exactly what I've done. As well as using my camera, I've read a book cover to cover which I've not done in a long while and strangely whilst outside I've 'seen' more. Yes, I was looking previously, but I was looking through the screen of my iPhone rather than actually stopping to look at, take in and enjoying what was in front of me with my eyes.  

Muggings aside, the Christmas holidays were, as usual, filled with gifts, food and copious amounts of baking. Coming from a family of baking enthusiasts my Mum, Nan and I took to the kitchen to whip up some festive treats together - it was like the generation game with me at the helm of Team Downs. Under my instruction my Mum weighted the ingredients whilst my Nan grated lemon zest and assisted me with melting the butter in order to create the beurre noisette. When the mix was ready I pulled out the madeleine tin and instantly a look of confusion crossed my Nan's face. "Oh" she said, "I've never seen a madeleine made in a tin like that before." Rudely assuming my Nan was having a 'senior moment' I explained the history behind the French madeleine and continued to prepare the tin for baking. If you missed my original madeleine post from last term you can read all about the origins of this treasured French treat here: Le Cordon Bleu week 6 - cake!

I could see that she wasn't satisfied with my explanation and after a few minutes spent thinking she began to recall something she'd seen many years ago. Nan told me how she used to walk past a bakery in Maidenhead when she was a little girl and how her eye was always caught by one cake in particular. She said this was the type of shop that you didn't go into, she wouldn't have been able to afford what was for sale, but how she'd always stop to stare and image what they'd taste like. The cakes she described were delicate, light sponge cakes dipped in jam, rolled in coconut and topped with a cherry. She was convinced they were called madeleines. Still doubtful, I took to Google and there it was - the English madeleine, just how Nan had described it. Never will I doubt her again! 

Saddened by her tale of having never tried the cake that so regularly caught her eye, I've made it my mission to find the perfect recipe to surprise her with and I think, after two failed attempts and one successful, I've found the one! More than anything I'm glad to have discovered a truly 'vintage' petit four - I cannot believe that I've never seen or heard of these little beauties.

Before I could begin to attempt making the English madeleine, I need to purchase some dariole moulds. Again, something I'd never heard of! I'm going to have to find another use for them as the shape is rather lovely. 

The recipe which worked best for me is very simple, essentially the English madeline is a cupcake rolled in jam and covered in coconut - some recipes even suggested using a muffin tin to bake the cakes within but I didn't feel the shape was quite as elegant. 

Once the batter was prepared, as mentioned, a very simple all in one mix (100g butter, 100g caster sugar, 100g self raising flour, 2 eggs, 1 tsp baking powder and vanilla extract to taste), I divided it into my gleaming dariole moulds. 

The cakes were then baked at 180 degrees for 20 minutes and once cool, painted with warm, seedless raspberry jam, then rolled about in a bowl of desiccated coconut and topped with a cherry. I opted for real cherries vs. glace for no reason in particular, I simply prefer the taste and quite frankly, to me they look far more inviting. And so here it is, my take on the English madeleine! I cannot wait to surprise Nan with them and this time, she can eat as many as she likes! 

"Hey Glace, you're so 1980"

It's been quite the week for madeleines and I. Very kindly, I was given the opportunity to sell my baking wares at the Southbank Christmas market on the Good & Proper tea stand, and I'm happy to say that they sold like hot cakes! It was agreed by all that they were the perfect accompaniment to a warming cup of tea, even the French customers who stopped by to taste them said how delicious they were and they are a tough crowd to please when it comes to baking! So I'm a very happy baker indeed. 

My path to patissiere will continue as usual, with regular Sunday posts and updates next week. As we don't receive our intermediate course folders until Monday I haven't a clue what's in store for me but what ever it may be, I'm looking forward to the challenge. 

*Please note that the views I express are mine alone and do not reflect the views of my place of study*

Le Cordon Bleu week 8 - a rather vanilla nod to the Patron Saint

Having moved from the wonderful city of Bristol to London only two months ago, leaving a well paid job behind to become a student again, I still feel very much like the newbie in town and my purse feels much lighter than it used to. I was therefore very happy to begin my eighth week by doing some paid work. Invited to work a few shifts down at the South Bank Christmas market, serving Good and Proper tea, I jumped at the chance of earning some pocket money whilst meeting new people and gaining experience in the catering industry. I absolutely loved it and now have several more shifts in the diary. If you're ever in the area, do drop by and say hello! The Good and Proper tea chalet is just under the Hungerford Bridge and the teas served are simply delicious. goodandpropertea.com

Looking ahead at my diary, I was elated to see that I had not one, not two but three scheduled visits from friends and lots of baking practise to do around them! This post is therefore as much dedicated to these wonderful friends as it is my baking, each friend mentioned has inspired me in one way or another over the years due to their incredible talents. Friends visiting is great as it means new people to explore the city with and there’s nothing more comforting than seeing old and familiar faces when you've been away from home for a long time. My first visit was from Lil, a very close friend whom I've shared countless, amazingly happy times with. In London only for the night, we made the most of the time we had catching up over a glass or two of wine. In the morning I sent her off to her meeting with a huge slice of Black Forest Gateau. The review of which was rather positive! 

Next up was Thom. Thom and I met whilst studying at the University of Plymouth, after which we stayed in touch. When I moved to Bristol, Thom moved further down south to Cornwall where he filmed a couple of TV series in association with River Cottage, both series relating to fishing, foraging, hunting and food before setting up his own business, 7th Rise which focuses upon much the same: wild living and learning the skills required. I've spent many happy weekends down at his cottage in the woods. I find it to be a very inspiring place so highly recommend those needing time out and wanting an adventure to take a look at his website: www.7thrise.co.uk

That's Thom and I skinning a roe deer last summer, the meat of which was used to make a delicious stew, slow cooked in a pot under the ground, amongst other things. It was deerlicious ;o) 

Thom was in London for several very important meetings (mine being one of them of course) so I met him on the go for a good old chin wag and a walk. Little did he know that due to my 'no underground unless its a special occasion' policy, that we had quite a long walk ahead of us to get him to where he needed to be. I made up for the 4 mile hike along London's very busy Oxford Street to Hoxton, by bringing refreshments in the form of Crosstown chocolate truffle doughnuts and none other than some elusive Belle Epoch coffee éclairs. Thom inhaled the chocolate filled and covered doughnut whilst making sounds of contentment and pleasure. Having not come across the brand, I Googled them wanting to find out more and it seems that Crosstown are leading quite the sugar-coated renaissance. 

Tired of the humble doughnut being held responsible for the condition of the US Police Forces' hearts, and being made from cheap, nasty, fatty ingredients, Crosstown have made it their mission to inject a little gourmet and glamor into this simple baked treat. There ethos is simple - they make their doughnuts by hand, daily, they use high quality ingredients which are sourced locally where possible, they finish each one by hand and ensure no trans fats pass our lips. Now selling their products in Selfridges, as well as many of London's hottest markets, Crosstown are expanding quickly and its clear to see why. Yes, their products aren't cheap but quality patisserie isn't and neither should it be. Low costing baked goods, to me, indicate corners cut and these corners usually come in the form of the quality of the ingredients. I say, if you're going to indulge, do it properly and purchase a product made with you, the end consumer, in mind and not the pockets and bank balance of a major corporation. 

Just look at it. How could you possibly resist? If you're in London and you like doughnuts, be sure to treat yourself. But be warned - no other doughnut will ever live up to a Crosstown doughnut which may lead to a depletion in your overall doughnut consumption. Sorry. www.crosstowndoughnuts.com

Whilst Thom performed some sort of culinary magic trick, making his doughnut disappear in well under 30 seconds, I indulged in a long anticipated Belle Epoch coffee éclair. If you've read my previous posts you may remember me trying to hunt one down a couple of weeks ago from their Stoke Newington patisserie without much luck, but whilst in Selfridges, I managed to track down a flock of them! With only a week and a half left until my basic patisserie exams I thought it best to taste London's best coffee éclair so I knew what I was up against and I was happy to discover that the éclairs we'd slaved over at school didn't taste too dissimilar. I think a little more fondant and piping practice and I'll be there - taste wise, I think I've nailed it! 

After a couple of days spent with friends, indulging in patisserie it was time to return to school and to once again face the piping technique which has been keeping me awake at night. St Honore. Named after the Patron Saint of baking, week 8 would not only see us practice the piping technique named after him, but also make the gateau created in his honour - the Gateau St Honore. Made using short crust pastry (pate brisee) AND choux pastry (pate a choux), the gateau, to me, resembles an up turned Australian cork hat, filled with creme diplomat and whipped cream and topped off with profiteroles! Not only is it a strange looking 'cake', but considering it was named after the Patron Saint, I found it to be a little 'vanilla' in terms of taste and therefore felt rather underwhelmed by it. If I were the Patron Saint of baking, I'd like to think my disciples would have put a little more effort in, perhaps adding a little more colour and some fun ingredients. Gold wouldn't have gone amiss either. But then I reminded myself that this is my basic patisserie term and before I can experiment with flavours and appearance, I must learn the classics. 

Made in honour of St Honore, the patron saint of baking, this gateau has an interesting background. Described as a show stopping bake, the St. Honore cake was developed at the legendary Chiboust pastry shop on Paris' Saint Honore Street, which, alas, no longer exists. It started out as a ring-shapes brioche filled with pastry cream, which Chiboust lightened with an airy Italian meringue to create a new king of filling. That fussy filling became known as Creme Chiboust which is still used by French bakers. 

According to the book, Desserts, by Parisian pastry chef Pierre Herme, it was one of the Chiboust bakers, August Jullien who came up with his own version and homage to St Honore, replacing the ring of dough with a ring of cream puffs. By the late 19th centre, the St. Honore cake had taken its present form, incorporating a pastry disk filled with Chiboust cream, topped with a crown of cream puffs dressed further with a crunchy cap of caramelised sugar and draped with lashings of whipped cream... Which makes it all sound rather fancy and I'm sure in the patisseries it in. However, I still felt less than blown away by it.  

Regardless of both the uninspiring look and taste of the dish, I felt confident following chefs demonstration that I could re create the this famous gateau but at the same time understood the importance of getting this one right. Involving both pate brisee and pate a choux, this was exam practice in disguise. Pate brisee of course used as the base for our tarte au citron, and pate a choux used to create our coffee éclairs. Into the kitchen I went, a little distracted by my post practical plans but I was able to push these distractions to one side and focus. The results both chef and myself were happy with. All that's required is a little more practice of the St Honore piping and perfection won't be far behind.

Following practical I jumped in a taxi to meet my third visitor of the week, a friend who I met whilst at Thom's cottage in Cornwall (7th Rise), Suzie. Suzie was accompanying me to see a band play and of course to have a good catch up. The band, and this is in keeping with my culinary related blog, are called The Milk. Having met The Milk in Bristol after one of their shows, I stayed in touch with lead singer Rick, and have followed the bands progress with interest. 

Now mid way through writing and recording their second album under a new record label and new management the band have really come into their own and judging by the Guardian reviews (below), they are destine for big things in 2015. Their performance was incredible - soulful, heartfelt, funk injected and original. Originality being something that many bands these days omit in favour of appealing to the masses. This band have moved away from their first albums mainstream sound and are now focusing upon making real music, music influenced by artists that they love and enjoy and this really showed in their performance. If you're looking for some new music to indulge in, I highly recommend you find them on Spotify and or Soundcloud. Your ears really will thank you. Take a look at their website as well, they are giving away free downloads of their latest single, Deliver Me: www.thisisthemilk.com/ 

"Amy Winehouse, as a dude, fronting a soul band" The Guardian UK

"A frisky cocktail of subversive soul-pop" The Guardian UK

Music is incredibly important to me, which is why I've given it a mention this week. It really has taken me some adjusting to, not being able to bake and listen to music whilst in the kitchens at Le Cordon Bleu, as I'm so very used to doing at home. Of course it would be almost impossible to as we have to vocalise our movements and stay alert so as not to cause any accidents or injury to those around us, but still, theres nothing quite like listening to some good beats to keep you motivated. I can almost guarantee that my hand whipped genoise sponge cakes would rise that little bit higher if I could listen to Beyonce whilst whisking. 

Following the excitement of a wonderful evening spent listening to some incredibly talented artists with friends, it was back to school I went to learn all about the delights of petit fours. Also known as mignardises, petit fours are small indulgent confectionary treats, often no more than two bites in size, that take their name from the French translation "small oven". We started the class learning the difference between the various types of petit fours, from dry petit fours (sec) such as biscuits and macarons, to salted (sale) which includes savour appetisers and glazed (glace) such as mini eclairs and tarts. 

We were to begin our introduction to petit fours with sec, dry biscuits, each of which had a very fancy title. First up was sables hollandais. I immediately thought of hollandaise sauce but thankfully the biscuit were entirely unrelated. The name refers first to the technique used to make the biscuit - sables meaning to rub together to make the mixture sand like. Using very cold butter, so as not to burn it, it is rubbed into the flour until a sand like texture is achieved. Eggs are then added and used as a binding agent along with sugar, salt and vanilla for flavour. Unfortunately, after much digging around, I found very little information regarding their history and appearance on the petit four menu. Known best for their chequer board finish, these biscuits not only required cold hands to make them, but a great deal of concentration to get them right! 

Next was the baton de marechal, which translates to 'field marshall baton'. Now this was a biscuit with some history. The baton de marechal was not only named after, but also made to resemble the famous baton presented to the marshall of the French army during the first French empire. The marshal would be presented with a blue cylinder, covered in stars, formally fleurs-de-lis which was inscribed with the following in Latin: terror belli, decus pacis which means "terror in war, ornament in peace" 

These biscuits, made with a stable French meringue base, gently folded with ground almond, icing sugar and flour, with a painted chocolate bottom are a firm favourite - often served at high tea in both the UK and France. I had a wonderfully relaxing Saturday morning in the kitchen at school making these. Sadly, I should imagine due to the lack of music, my baton de marechal didn't rise quite as much as I had hoped but none the less both my sable hollandais and batons were complimented by chef. When I make them next I need to ensure that my chequer board cookies are a little more square around the edges, and a few seconds more whisking would have resulted in slightly fluffier batons. Still, don't they look enticing on my favourite party mouse saucer?? 

Next week on my path to patissiere we continue learning all there is to know about dry petit fours and I can hardly contain my excitement as WE ARE MAKING MACARONS!!! Macarons are my absolute favourite...really I don't need to taste any in order to know what the best of the best taste like. I have a pile of empty Laduree macaron boxes on my desk, evidence of research past, but still, I think I might require a little indulgent reminder. Just one...or two perhaps :o) 

*Please note that the views I express are mine alone and do not reflect the views of my place of study*

Le Cordon Bleu Week 4 - a pufffffect week

Inspired by the sudden change in the weather, and feeling a little bored due to being stuck in the house because of the gale force winds and exceptionally heavy rain outside, I started my week with some piping practise and a little experimental home baking. Having only one stick of butter in the fridge and just enough of the baking bare essentials (sugar and flour) in my cupboard, I thought I'd make some tasty vanilla and orange blossom cookies, and they turned out pretty well! 

Not wanting to say goodbye to the summer sun just yet, but giving a respectful nod to the season we've fought so hard to avoid the arrival of, I drew myself a Wellington boot onto cardboard and made myself a template. In my mind I had a vision of pink and gold and once baked and iced, I brought my vision to life with a few edible water colour paints and some edible gold glitter! What do you think? Not bad for a home made, hand drawn cutter. 

After practising my St Honore piping about ten times, I almost feel as though I've gotten to grips with it, and after writing out the recipe for my first exam dish, tarte au citron, a good 112 times, I'm confident that it's been saved to memory. Wow, I'd completely forgotten what revising was like. It really does make your brain ache...a lot...and I'm only on recipe one of three! I shall be making my tarte au citron, as much as possible from memory, again next week for my biggest and best critic - my Nan! Let's hope she's a little more forgiving than Chef Rosette. 

Before my first technical class of the week, I popped into Maison Bertaux, a patisserie famous in London for two things. Firstly it is the oldest established patisserie in London, dating back to 1871, and claims also to be the best and secondly, the patisserie chef in residence and team made Lilly Allen's wedding cake, I'm sure, amongst many other celebrity cakes and sweet treats! It's a hidden gem, tucked neatly behind London's theatre district and stepping into the tea room felt like stepping back in time. The music playing was beautifully old and romantic, it reminded me of the old classics my granddad used to play. 

Upon entering, I was greeted by Michelle, a waitress who's been working at Masion Bertaux since she was 14 years old. Without knowing her exact age, I can safely say that she's been working at the patisserie for well over 30 years, if not 40 (maybe 50) and she is most certainly part of the furniture. She lives and breathes the brand and I was lucky that she's wasn't too busy as she took time to tell me all about Masion Bertaux. The patisserie was set up by a baker who fled France along with his family in 1870, run out of his country by the Prussians. He eventually arrived in London where he set up Masion Bertaux on Greek Street. This wasn't only to be his place of work but also his home. She told me that he and his family shared the small upstairs of the cafe with a tailor and a lady of the night - as you'd expect. The kitchens were down stairs in the basement with the shop and cafe sandwiched in between.  Quickly the patisserie began churning out pastries quite unfamiliar to the Brits at the time. London loved the arrival of these delightfully refined baked goods and just as quickly Maison Bertaux became a favourite with those wealthy enough to purchase the exciting French pastries. The tea room survived both World Wars and has an incredibly beautiful, derelict yet homely feel to it. It oozes British and French charm, it's eclectic and entirely unpretentious, yet serving a very high standard of patisserie. It's as though time has forgotten Masion Bertaux, especially when it comes to the decor, tables and chairs...or perhaps they've chosen to forget time. 

When Michelle asked me what I'd like to order, I asked her to choose her favourite for me. I explained that I'm studying patisserie, which she thought was absolutely wonderful and happily she brought me over a chantilly cream filled eclair topped with summer fruits and drizzled with chocolate, along with a large pot of tea. It was utterly delicious and just what I needed after my 4 mile walk in to the city. There I sat for an hour listening to the beautiful music and reading ahead of my lecture titled Sugar and Flour. 

And I'm so glad that I did! If last weeks cheese lecture was my favourite and most interesting of all time, my sugar and flour lecture was the least interesting. The reason being, that the chef taking the lecture spent two hours talking in low monotone, and sadly he couldn't have made the topic, which is actually quite interesting, sound any less if he'd tried! On a positive note, we were given bread to sample...yes, a slice of bread was the highlight of the lecture.  

Before my first demo and practical of week 4, as I've done in previous weeks, I decided to dedicated some time to researching the patisserie treats ahead of me. And this week it was all about puff pastry or pate feuilletee. I almost wish I hadn't bothered. Starting with a couple of books lent to me by a friend, I flicked though to the pate feuilletee recipes and was greeted by comments such as "pate feuilletee is quite hard to make but you should try it at least once!" and "it's very hard to achieve perfection with this recipe, but keep practising". 

In my mind, these comments were all book code for "save yourself the time and effort. Pop down to your local supermarket and buy a pack of the frozen stuff!" But home made puff pastry MUST be far superior to shop brought once the technique has been cracked?! I was soon to find out.

Digging deeper into the origins of pate feuilletee I discovered that it came about, almost by accident, whilst a pastry chef was trying to find and almost design a dish that his sick father could eat. The chef in question was Claudius Gele who first discovered the recipe for pate feuilletee in 1645. His father had been prescribed a diet of butter, water and flour by his doctor - so wanting to get as much fat as possible into his fathers diet, Chef Claudius found himself packing more and more butter into his dough. Another chef overseeing this process, advised him against baking the dough as he anticipated the butter seeping out and spoiling the oven but Chef Claudius went with his gut instinct and in the oven it went. When the dough was cooked, both he and his colleague were shocked and amazed with the successful results and in particular at the size it had attained!

He finalised work on his invention in Paris where he worked at the Rosabau Patisserie, before moving to Florance. The patisserie world was taken by storm when they heard of his unusual pastry but Chef Claudius kept his recipe a closely guarded secret - so much so that he'd only ever prepare his special pastry behind closed doors. Alone. When Chef Claudius died in 1682, thankfully he left his recipe behind and since his death has always been thought of a highly regarded culinary artist. An artist who I tried so desperately to channel during my practical sessions...

And it seems that my channelling paid off! Even though the chef overseeing both practicals was Mr Monotone himself from the bread lecture, I learnt a lot from him and made puff pastry like a pro. We did this over the course of two days, our first demo and practical covering how to make this very special, laminated dough, which was then left to rest over night and in the second session we put our dough to good use. The overnight suspense was nail biting!

Using the dough we'd created, and an industry brought dough so as we could compare the two, we created a pear and almond creme jalouise with a lattice top, or a jalouise aux poires et creme d'amandes and a mixed seasonal fruit puff pastry slice filled with pastry creme, or a bande feuilletee aux fruits de saison ! 

But before I tell you more about how these dishes were created, I've got to tell you more about pate feuilletee because it really is fascinating stuff and the process of making it isn't by any means simple but it is achievable and so satisfying. Its a wonder that Chef Claudius ever discovered it due to the number of steps required for success but aren't we all glad that he did! As explained, pate feuilletee is a laminated dough, full of butter which is sandwiched in between floury layers of dough. In order to create the layers, the dough goes through a process of resting, turning and rolling. This process is repeated 6 times with the butter being included during the first turn. In total, once the dough has been through this process it will create 973 crisp layers of pastry. 

If you are familiar with the popular patisserie classic, the mille-feuille, you may know that its name translates to 1,000 leaves. Realistically, as this dessert is made using pate feuilletee the French have bent the truth a little in naming it as such, as it still only contains 973 layers (which doesn't roll off the tongue quite as well so we'll let them off the hook for being creative) and this is mathematically how...

Turn 1 - the inclusion 
Turn 2 - 5 x 3 = 15 - 2
Turn 3 - 13 x 3 = 39 - 2
Turn 4 - 37 x 3 = 111 - 2
Turn 5 - 109 x 3 = 327 - 2
Turn 6 - 325 x 3 = 975 - 2

TOTAL - 973!

Once in the oven, the butter trapped between the layers of dough melts and as it starts to cook it creates steam creating air pockets and an upwards movement which as such causes the pastry to puff up as it does and create the neat layers formed by the process of resting, turning and rolling. 

I drew a lot of pictures during the first demo as Chef Ian explained this process to us and to add complication, each stages and collection of ingredients have different French names! For instance, the ingredients used to create the dough are referred to as the detrempe, the butter used to form the layers is called the tourage, the inclusion of the butter is called the enveloppe and the rolling out is referred to as the abaisser! 

For those of you who don't know much about me or my French past, I didn't take French GCSE. Having lived in Germany for several years I opted for German instead as my brain just didn't seem to be able to retain French. Being Dyslexic, it's hard enough to grasp English and spell everything correctly - but now the French language has returned to my life, its bringing back my learning and retention fear...I think the title of my lowest scoring test still goes to French. I believe I came away with 9% (it could have been lower), and if I recall correctly, I scored the most points for correctly naming the paper. Yes, I scored points for writing my name and not much else so needless to say, I'm going to have to put a lot of effort into storing these French terms to memory for my written exam in December!  

So with all of this information in mind, I went into my first practical feeling pretty fearful and sure I was going to mess something up. The first task was to prepare my mise en place for the next day, in other words, make my pate feuilletee as well as make my jalouise aux poires et creme d'amandes. So I started with my tourage, the butter to be included within the dough - this was done by making a paper envelop, just a touch smaller than A4 using baking paper, sandwiching the 85% dry butter within the sheets and then battering it with a rolling pin to within an inch its life to soften it. Once softened, the butter was rolled out, corner to corner so that it was as flat and thin as a pancake! With my tourage prepared and chilling in the fridge, next came the preperate of the detrempe which was very straight forward. Into a large bowl went the flour, the salt, the water and some melted butter. The ingredients were loosely combined to form a dough and without kneeding or any fuss at all, this was wrapped and left to chill in the fridge alongside the tourage. Simple. 

It's worth noting that if you want to make your own puff pastry at home, trying to do so with shop brought flour won't get you very far as it's simply not the right strength and won't have the correct ash content. I've learnt, since my arrival at school that there are many different flour grades and only a few available on the high street. The best, none industry flour suppliers creating the closest flour grades to those used in the catering world are Shipton Mill (http://www.shipton-mill.com/flour-direct/french-white-flour-type-55-102.htm) and Wessex Mill (http://www.wessexmill.co.uk/). For those of you close to Bristol, I'd recommend taking a trip to Shipton Mill. It's dead cute and the miller will show you around if you ask nicely. It's wonderful to see the flours being made using traditional methods and traditional equipment. Shipton Mill still use French Burr millstone which was first used during medieval times. Not only that, it's recorded in the Domesday book that a mill stood on the Shipton site, so it's safe to say that they know what they are doing when it comes to flour!      

Back to the practical, it was then time to prepare my jalouise which required some pretty careful rolling of our shop brought dough and cutting it carefully to create two sheets, one larger than the other. The large section was used as the base of the jalouise onto which I piped my creme d'amandes. A delicious combination of ground almonds, egg, creamed butter, sugar, soft flour, vanilla, lemon zest and rum! 

Next came the poaching of the pears, these were poached in a festive combination of water, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and lemon making the kitchen smell all Christmassy again! We steam poached the pears using a deep pan and a baking paper cartouche, French for a paper circle. Once soft enough, these were fan cut and placed over the creme d'amendes. Then for the fun bit - the lattice top. Taking our smaller piece of dough and a piece of equipment that looked as though it was on loan from the London Dungeons, the lattice pattern was cut into the dough and then stretched over the base, covering the pear and almond creme. 

In between the making of the jalouise, of course came the inclusion of the tourage to the detrempe and the turing and rolling of the dough! 6 turns, including the inclusion of the butter. This basically meant rolling out the dough to form a rectangle, and working in thirds, placing half of the flattened butter in the centre, folding down the top third to cover this, then placing second half of the butter on top, then covering this with the bottom third of the dough to create a doughy, buttery stack! thinking of the stack as a book, with the spine to my left and opening to my right, the dough was then rolled out again into a rectangle, and again working in thirds, the dough was folded up, then rested in the fridge to ensure the butter stayed nice and cool. We did this 6 times. 

It was such a drama free session! I was incredibly and pleasantly surprised. 

After baking my jalouise, the ends were trimmed and off to the front of the class room I went to be marked by Mr Monotone. He was lovely, very complimentary and my only feedback was to go easy on my use of the egg wash and to ensure better angles next time. Off I went home, with a huge parcel of baked goods, happy that my mise en place was ready for the next day. 

Being fairly new to London I've been incredibly taken aback by the number of homeless people sleeping rough on the streets, far more than I ever came across in Bristol. Trotting home every night, passing people sleeping outside in the cold, laden with treats just hasn't sat very well with me. So, I've made the decision to go halves. At the end of every practical session I've been wrapped half in tin foil and the other half goes in my tupperware box, home to be shared with friends and my housemates. I've been giving my tin foil parcel to a group of three men who have made Old Street tube station their home. I don't know if they are grateful or not as every time I pass them they are fast asleep but I keep leaving them treats at the end of their bed - a bit like a patisserie version of Santa. I hope they like it as I'm not planning on stopping any time soon! 

Friday was a very busy and long day. A demo in the morning, taking us through the creation of our bande feuilletee aux fruits de saison, using our home made puff pastry, followed by a wine lecture which was interesting but still nothing on my cheese lecture and then an evening practical session spent making our puff pastry delights! 

As mentioned, the suspense was very intense! Would our doughs rise? Would the butter stay in place and do as intended? would we have 973 layers? Would chef make us count them?...It was time to find out. 

First we created our bands by trimming the puff pastry to create two walls and a centre panel. The centre panel was docked to prevent it from rising too high and using the handle end of a spoon a pretty pattern was cut into the base. This was then egg washed, lightly (following the previous evenings feedback) and popped into the oven. As you'd expect, and as we'd hoped the puff pastry began to puff. We stood watching the ovens as though watching a TV, glued and fixated! After 15 minutes we took our creations out and using a rolling pin, flattened the centre as this was to be filled with creme patissiere and fruit! Back in the oven it went whilst I made my creme pat for the second time this term. A process I think I've got down to a fine art now and then I chopped my fruit, ready to decoratively place it within my puff pastry walls. 

Once complete, I was ready for my grading and thankfully Chef was really happy with the results, as was I! My puff pastry puffed, my layers were correctly formed, I wasn't made to count them, my butter did as it needed to, my creme pat was lovely and my fruit was well chopped and positioned. His only comment was that I should have added mango to create more drama and my strawberries should have been positioned a little different so as not to take up as much space. All well justified and fair comments which I'm happy to take on board! Here is it, my bande feuilletee aux fruits de saison! And that's Izzy who had the pleasure of working next to me :o) 

I finished my week with a trip to the BBC Good Food bakes and cake show in Islington where I found Queen Mary Berry, Frances Quinn and the Meringue Girls! All my favourite baking ladies under one roof. I watched Mary make muffins and a delicious looking chocolate and Baileys roulade and Frances who made some very simple looking orange blossom cupcakes look incredible as only she can with her delightful finishing touches. Having met Frances a few months ago, we had a good natter about school and her forth coming book which I cannot wait to get my hands on! 

With Halloween just around the corner, tonight my baking fun continues as I'm making a Devils Food Cake from one of my favourite books: World's Best Cakes by Rodger Pizey, a pastry chef working for Macro Pierre White who I had the pleasure of meeting earlier this year. Rodger's book is crammed full of wonderful cake recipes from all four corners of the world but the Devils Food Cake seemed the most appropriate for my first Shoreditch Clandestine Cake Club meeting! The theme is of course Halloween and I cannot wait to meet some new like minded baking friends. I shall of course be sharing pictures. 

Next week on my path to patisserie...it's all about the Choux and time to learn the second of our three exam dishes, coffee eclairs! Let's hope next week is as good if not better than this week! 

Ooooh la la ;o) 

*Please note that the views I express are mine alone and do not reflect the views of my place of study*

Le Cordon Bleu Week 1 - Plop!

Plop! That is the sound of me being thrown in at the deep end (or the sound of me falling into the canal on my walk to school under the weight of my new course books - either one!)

What a roller coster of a week its been, beginning with the suspense and anticipation of my first technical class, followed by the excitement of receiving my class literature. This excitement was soon replaced with dread when I felt the weight of the collective group of books and saw how thick they are / how many pages there are to read! 

Our first technical class went over the basics such as the names of the Patisserie Chefs who'd be teaching us over the course of our time at Le Cordon Bleu, their backgrounds, what we will be learning over next 3 months (which in true GBBO style, I'm not going to be telling you until the week before - to build suspense obviously), how to read and navigate our student course manuals and basic kitchen rules. 

Our chefs, Chef Ian and Chef Mathew were a hoot - and there was me thinking that I'd left an office of 'lads' full to the brim with banter for a refined establishment. Simple kitchen rules such as making it known vocally if you are moving from your work station to the sink with sharp knifes or hot pans by calling out as such, were quickly altered to shouting out "hot pants" and various other whitty adaptions. 

The weeks excitement then continued into my first demo class on Thursday morning with the very entertaining duo Chef Ian and Chef Mathew. Lesson 1 - the humble fruit salad. 

"Fruit salad?!" I hear you scoff, but yes you read correctly. When learning the basics of French cooking, you really must 'master' the basics. This wasn't just any fruit salad, this was a fruit salad worthy of a place at a royals dining table. I watched Chef Mathew's every move intently, noting down both his actions and words. At the end of the demo session I had my 50 step plan to creating the worlds most delightful and delicious fruit salad. 50 STEPS!!! A week ago my fruit salad consisted of three simple steps: 

Step 1: collect or purchase fruit 
Step 2: wash fruit 
Step 3: cut up fruit 

Oh and then the all important step 4 - eat the fruit! 

Worried about the extensive nature of my notes (those who know me well won't be surprised to hear that my notes were extensive), I spent the three hour break before our first practical class buying hair nets and cutting back my 50 step plan to a more digestible 10. And then it was time to enter the kitchen - or in this case, the boulangerie. This was our first chance to shine at Le Cordon Bleu, to prove our capabilities to the chefs and to put all that we'd learnt during the day to practice, and I was pretty happy with my results! 

Chef Nicholas oversaw the practical, helping us to navigate the kitchen and our new knife set which in demo had been likened to Harry Potters wand due to its power for both good and bad. We were then asked to recreate the fruit salad we'd seen come to life before our eyes in demo, and prepare a tray showing the 5 stages of sugar cooking: 

Stage 1 - thread (105 degrees - 110)
Stage 2 - soft ball (116 degrees - 122)
Stage 3 - hard ball (126 degrees - 130)
Stage 4 - crack  (144 degrees - 150)
Stage 5 - caramel (150 degrees - 190)

It was requested that in order to demonstrate and present the results of these stages, that we boil our sugar and hold an ice cube at the same time. Then, when we thought the sugar was at the correct temperature and consistency, put our fingers into the hot pan (and when I say hot, boiling sugar can reach up to 190 degrees, water boils at 100), pinch the sugar and return it swiftly to the ice water to form a tread, hard or soft ball, cracked sugar or caramel. Don't even think about trying this at home. Luckily no burns for me.

Following this rather exciting and daredevil task, it was back to prepping the fruit salad and accompanying spiced sugar syrup. Working in pairs, we decided upon winter classic for our spice combination - cinnamon, cloves and vanilla. We could have added cardamon and star anise also as all 5 were available to us but we thought best to keep it simple and instead opted for adding orange and lemon peel. The room soon smelt like Christmas. 

An hour or so later and it was time to 'plate up'. Chef Mathew had done so in his own style during demo but had encouraged us to find our own creative style. Music to my ears!

I spent minutes polishing my bowl with white wine vinegar, ensuring not a finger or thumb print could be found. Then using my solid silver spoon, I carefully placed some of the fruit into the bowl, topping it with boiled and infused orange and lemon peel which I'd delicately sliced and curled, a fan of orange segments and a 1/4 vanilla pod, which was there to both add a polar opposite colour to the stark white bowl and show the decadence of the dish. Vanilla is up there amongst the most expensive of kitchen commodities so best to show the 'customer' it's been used so that they can associate the value of the dish with the ingredients used to create it. 

One by one, we were then asked to present our dish to Chef Nicholas. I went first as I was stationed at the front of the class. I'm a geek and I don't care who knows it. Chef turned my bowl this way, and then that making remarks such as "fantastic attention to detail", "wonderful fruit uniformity", "great cutting and lines", "excellent taste", and the remark most important to me as a wanna be food stylist..."fantastic presentation"! Yay! First practical and top marks for me. 

Thursday saw a repeat of Wednesdays schedule, a demo in the morning and practical in the evening. Demo 2 - meringues. Italian, French and Swiss OH MY! And more types of creme patisserie than I even knew existed! 

The demo was confusing to say the least. Chef talked us through each of the steps for the three different types of meringue and the cremes:

Creme patissiere (a starch thicken vanilla custard)
Creme Diplomat (a creme patissiere base with the addition of an orange liqueur)
Creme Mousseline (a creme patissiere base with the addition of butter. And lots of it)
Creme Chibouste (a creme patissiere base with the addition of Italian meringue)
Creme Chantilly (a creme patissiere base with the addition of whipped creme)

Yup - bet you didn't know you could have your creme 5 ways! My group spent a couple of hours following the demo re writing our jumbled methods and then came the practical. This session was very very different to the first. Firstly the Chef took an instant dislike to me. I'm not sure why - I was wearing my uniform correctly, I was on time, I had my knife set, I had my equipment out and ready to go...perhaps it was because I was being annoyingly keen, who knows, all I know is that every question I asked seemed to be wrong and every attempt I made to stand out for the right reasons ended in disaster. 

The pace of this demo was different also. More frantic and chaotic. I could see that this was the main source of Chefs frustration so Natalie and I did our best to stay ahead of our work plan in order to create our practical plate on time. The plate needed to consist of mini meringues piped 4 ways (a shell and rosette being compulsory), Chantilly cream piped two ways (shell and rosette) and a bowl of Creme Diplomat. This is where, in Chefs eyes, I made my biggest error. When it came to plating up for presentation, which if you imagine, is just like the bit on GBBO where each baker has to take their bakes to be judged by Paul and Mary at the front of the tent. It's just like that except Chef was much taller than Mary, French and angry. 

Unlike Chef Nicholas, this Chef, who's name escapes me, took one look at my plate and asked (yelled in a Gordon Ramsey style) "what have you done to the creme!???" Now, I don't have a picture of my Creme Diplomat, but what I'd done was to polish a serving bowl and pipe the creme neatly in waved lines, it basically looked like the top of a fancy fish or cottage pie. Not wanting to sound rude, I asked Chef if there was problem. He yelled that I'd wasted precious time piping when all he asked was that the creme was served in a bowl. BUT the saving grace here was that my Creme Diplomat was bloody perfect. He couldn't fault it, not even a little bit. It was the right consistency, it held its shape and it tasted fantastic. Top marks for the Diplomat, not top marks for my meringue piping. This he referred to as hideous and inconsistent. So I have piping homework to do over the course of the next few days so as not to disappoint when our paths next cross. 

My first week at school ended with a 6 hour lecture starting at 8am on Saturday morning, followed by an exam. The exam was to assess my knowledge of health and hygiene in the kitchen in order to be issued with a health and hygiene certificate. The exam lasted about 15 minutes and was quite possibly the most common sense filled exam I've ever sat. I won't get my results back for 2 weeks but I'll be very surprised if I've failed. 

Finally, my homework has been an adventure in itself. An adventure deep into the history of the subject that is so close to my heart and it would seem that we have an Italian lady to thank for the patisserie we know and love today. 

When Catherine De Medici of Italy married Henri II of France in 1533, she brought with her her cooks, patissiers and ice cream makers... not to mention forks and high heels! And there was me thinking that it was the French we had to thank for such things. Catherine De Medici, not willing to leave her sweet treats behind her in Italy, introduced her staff and cane sugar (which wasn't cultivated in France at the time) to the French court and as a result, the food in France fell under the influence of the Italians. 

This Italian / French patisserie battle is still present on the streets of Paris today. Now half way through Patisseries of Paris by Jamie Cahill, a book gifted to me a few weeks ago by a friend, I've read extensively of the glace vs. gelato battles and the delicacies on sale in the French capital heavily influenced by the Italians. My advise to both nations is battle on - this is a war that can only end in sweet success and culinary delights for all! 

Next week on my Path to Patissiere: baked and stirred custards 1 (there can't possibly be any more cremes in my life) and what's that??? Baked and stirred custards lesson 2. I really must introduce them to Bird's ;o)

*Please note that the views I express are mine alone and do not reflect the views of my place of study*