Le Cordon Bleu week 9 - MACARONS

"Women LOVE macarons because they're so tiny and delicate that we can enjoy them without seeming greedy" says lingerie designer Chantal Thomass within Laduree's Fabricant de Douceurs. "Eating a macaron is not like giving into real gluttony, but rather letting yourself be tempted...just a little."

And tempted I was and always have been. I began my eighth week at Le Cordon Bleu with much excitement and trepidation. My time table featured an ice cream lecture followed by a macaron demo, then a macaron practical followed by more sweet desserts. For someone like me, who has a ridiculously sweet tooth, the only way to have improved upon this week would have been to perhaps add a little more chocolate. 

Unlike previous weeks where I'd felt unsure as to exactly what I'd be making and felt it necessary to hunt down the best of the best in London in order to sample the patisserie prior to my class, the macaron and I needed no introduction. I fell in love with them a number of years ago and our romance is still as strong now as the day I first laid eyes upon their pastel shades and gooey middles. That didn't however stop me from swinging by the Laduree Salon in Convent Garden to remind myself just how much I love them. I left, floating on a cloud, with my favourite trio in hand: pistachio, vanilla and salt caramel. 

Some believe that Laduree are to be held responsible for the macarons second wave of popularity in the UK and I think they might be right. My first encounter with the macaron was at the smallest of the their Salons in London which can be found at the end of the Burlington Arcade, a stones throw from Fortnum and Mason. It was here that encountered my first macaron tower and, like a child, I stood, jaw dropped, staring at it as though it were magical. I'm sure I even pressed my nose to the window, trying to take in its every detail. 

Before I continue to gush over my love for the macaron, I must clarify that my love is for the French / Italian macaron, not to be mistaken for the more robust, British coconut macaroon. Although made from much the same ingredients, the results of the British recipe couldn't be further from it's continental cousins if it tried. Baked upon edible rice paper and often dipped in chocolate, the coconut macaroon isn't as pretty, colourful, nor light however it does fulfil its promise of a sweet indulgence. 

For those of you reading who are unfamiliar with the French macaron, its a delicate little thing, made using icing sugar and whipped egg whites, gently folded with ground almonds. The shells are then left to crust over before being baked, giving them their shine. When ready, the shells are married, then sandwiched together using a variety of tantalising emulsions...from pistachio buttercream, to chocolate ganache to salted caramel the flavours are both enticing and endless in terms of possibilities. Looking back through my Instagram account it clear to see just how much I love these little treats...and how regularly I indulge in them! 

When I travel abroad, I always make a point of hunting out the best patisseries and macarons in the city I'm visiting. I like to taste the variety of flavours used, as often they are a little different to those found at home. I enjoy discovering the culture influences the pastry chefs have taken inspiration from and infused into their recipes. 

When I arrived in Sydney, the first thing I did was to take a trip to one of Adriano Zumbo's store. I'd heard him be described as the Willy Wonker of the macaron world, adventurous with his flavours and finishing touches. I can  now look back on this day fondly, although at the time my feet were in absolute agony...and I really only have two people to blame for this. Myself and Google. It was a beautifully sunny day, not too hot but not by any means cold. I was staying at a friends apartment on Manly beach so I did a quick Google search and located the address of the patisserie on Zumbo's website. 

Wow a boat ride and a 15k walk...well, it's a lovely sunny day, I thought to myself and I should imagine I'll see lots of fun things on the way, so off I went on my little journey of macaron discovery. Some 3 hours later (I stopped for sightseeing and refreshment purposes en route) I arrived at the tiny boutique patisserie in suburban Balmain only to be informed by the sales assistant (who I think wondered why I was so out of breath following the mostly up hill walk) that I must have passed at least 4 other Zumbo stores on my way in order to arrive at this one. including one on Manly. Taking pitty on me, she gave me two extra macarons on the house and wrote me out some simple instructions for my return trip. Which was significantly shorter. After my 3 hour hike I felt it perfectly just to devour all 8 of my macarons whilst sailing back to Manly. When the boat pulled in, there was Zumbo's, stood proudly on the edge of the pier. I sighed and chuckled to myself whilst I ate my last macaron for consolation. 

    
Although long and tiring, the walk really was worth it. Zumbo's macarons were every bit as wacky as I'd heard and with over 40 flavour combinations to delight and inspire, it took me the best part of ten minutes to choose which to try. In the absence of Laduree, I found Zumbo's macarons to be very tasty alternatives. He now has several patisseries in Sydney and has recently opened a store in Melbourne. All well worth a visit if you're in the area, if only for the decor! adrianozumbo.com

Luckily, when I was in Barcelona not long after, I didn't fall victim to the same issue. I was told by a friend who lives in the city that the only place to go was Bubo's (and thankfully she provided me with directions). A group of friends and I had flown out for a long weekend to celebrate a friends hen do, but convincing a group of girls to take 5 minutes out of partying to eat patisserie wasn't exactly a challenge. Off we went to the gothic quarter where we were greeted by giant macarons dressed as burgers and an award winning chocolate moose cake. Torn between the cakes and macarons we brought a selection of both and returned to our hotel to indulge with a cup of tea. When you see a sign claiming "Worlds Best Chocolate Cake" you simply must give it a go. To this day, I have never tasted anything like the Bubo's chocolate moose cake. It was the very best composition of tastes and textures to ever come into contact with my taste buds and its clear to see why they've won so many awards, including Worlds Best. If you ever find yourself in Barcelona, I recommend that you make it your sole purpose to find Bubo's and immediately order the chocolate moose cake upon arrival. You won't be disappointed.

Shortly after returning home from our trip to Barcelona the bride to be, Sophie, asked me if I'd be able to make her wedding cake. Her now husband, Ben, suffers from celiac decease meaning that sadly he can't eat anything containing gluten. Luckily for those who are intolerant, macarons contain only three ingredients: egg, almonds and icing sugar, none of which contain gluten, so it seemed the perfect solution to make them a macaron tower. I discussed the style with the bride and groom to be at length and it was decided upon that the tower should be ombre in terms of colour and a wide variety in terms of flavour. I remember driving the macarons to the wedding venue, no faster than 30MPH the entire journey so as not to damage them! Once on site it took me the best part of 3 hours to assemble the tower, one macaron at a time. I only had minutes to spare in order to position my masterpiece in the reception room, get changed and take my seat before the ceremony began, but much to the delight of the bride, groom and guests I did it. Just! 

As you can probably tell, I rather like a macaron so naturally when I arrived at school for my macaron class I wanted to hear everything there is to know about them. I was delighted to discover that it was, once again, down to the wonderful pastry chefs of Catherine De Medici of Italy that macarons came about, although they were rather more basic than they are today. If you're a regular reader of Path to Patissiere you may remember reading about her in one of my first blog posts: pathtopatissiere.co.uk

Like me, Catherine De Medici had a sweet tooth so when the time came for her to move from Italy to France to marry Henry II, she refused to do so without being accompanied by her pastry team. Yes, team. The macaron was created by her team in approximately 1533 along with many other favourites of mine, but it wasn't until 1792 that this beautifully light indulgence began to gain its popularity and fame and funnily enough, this came about thanks to a pair of asylum seeking Carmelite nuns. The nuns, so thankful for the housing and protection offered to them in the town of Nancy during the French revolution, wanted to thank their landlord, so they'd bake and sell macarons in order to raise money. They quickly became known as the "Macaron sisters" or the "Soeurs Macarons" and people would travel from far and wide to taste their famous delicacies. Unlike the recipes we use today, the recipe of the "veritables macarons de Nancy" is still closely guarded by Nicolas Genot of the Maison des Soeurs Macarons! One day I'll visit and see if he'll give me some pointers. 

As per the previous weeks at Le Cordon Bleu, we sat in ore as chef danced around the kitchen, making the task ahead of us look so simple and easy to complete. Before our very eyes, he'd conjured up two batches of macarons, begin the class by making chocolate macarons using a French meringue base, followed by pistachio macarons made using an Italian meringue base. My heart leaped - how did chef know that pistachio was my absolute favourite??! 

Unlike the previous weeks at Le Cordon Bleu we had to wait the best part of an entire day before we had the opportunity to bake them ourselves! We did so with very little drama and both myself and chef were very pleased with the results. Below are both Chef's and my efforts - I wonder if you can tell whose is whose :o) 

  

It seems crazy to even mention the word macaron without giving a nod to Pierre Hermes. Although I favour the macarons from Laduree, Pierre is the undisputed champion of the macaron. Thankfully he now sells his macarons in Selfridges so I have been able to sample them. Prior to this you could only find them at his patisseries in Paris and Tokyo. 

Pierre is a man with an interesting background. In 1976, aged 14, he was the apprentice under the innovative patissier Gaston Lenotre. Gosh, at 31 I have some catching up to do! At that time, macarons come in only four guises: coffee, chocolate, vanilla and raspberry. "I didn't really like macarons, they were too sweet for me" says Herme. "I started to experiment with them in the mid 1980s. I tried creating different flavours such as lemon, pistachio, salted caramel and mandarin." The results caused a sensation in France...a sensation which has thankfully now made its way across the channel. 

Pierre Hermes is best known for his wide variety of flavours, his collection now including delights such as: chocolate, caramel and gingerbread spices, white truffle oil, rose, raspberry and litchi, milk chocolate and passion fruit and Madagascan vanilla. But not only this, he is also notorious for his sensational and unique food photography. It was whilst reading his book 'Macarons', that I first discovered 'food pornography'. His book, as well as informative is a piece of tantalising art. Flicking through the pages you feel sadden to turn to the next, but instantly delighted to see what he has in store for you. 

With macarons successfully added to my repertoire, it was time to put my head down and revise for my forth coming basic patisserie exams. When it comes to revising patisserie it is of course not only the theory that needs to be covered and revisited but the making of the exam dishes also. In order to ensure full focus I left London in favour of the Malvern countryside where I've taken refuge at my parents house. I thought it best to take over their kitchen for the day and to make all three of my exam dishes so that they could share them out amongst their friends, much to their delight! I spent almost 10 hours in the kitchen, making the odd mistake here and there but learning along the way. My mistakes resulted in my Dad having to leave the house incredibly early this morning in order to fetch my 4th dozen of eggs...he commented that it might have been more cost effective for him to have purchased a flotilla of chickens prior to my arrival. I'm sure it's a flock but he wasn't in the mood to be corrected.  

Watching my parents and their friends enjoy each of the dishes I'd made filled me with happiness and if their feedback is anything to go by, all three would have passed! Let's hope the chef marking next week is as happy with my efforts! Below you can see my tarte au citron which I first made during my third week: i-heart-lemon-tart. Next, my eclairs au cafe made during week 5: choux-look-beautiful. And lastly my least favourite dish to make...the genoise a la confiture de framboise which I first whipped up during week 6: cake! 

Next week on my path to patisserie...exams. Dum dum duuuuuuuum. Please think very positive cakey thoughts for me on Wednesday and Thursday. I'll let you know how I get on next week! And before I sign off for the night, thank you to those of you who've taken the time to read my patisserie tales. My blog has now had over 3,000 views which feels both incredible and crazy! If you ever want a recipe or have any questions about baking or my time at Le Cordon Bleu please do leave a comment and I'll come back to you.

For now, please keep your baguettes crossed for me and hopefully, come Thursday I'll be channeling St. Honore and all will go well! x

*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 6 - CAKE!

Finally, after just about making it through custard week 1 and 2, the making and baking of puff pastry, short crust pasty, sweet pastry, fruit salad, tarte au citron, tarte aux pommes, meringues made three ways, lemon meringue pie, coffee eclairs, creme caramel and a burnt creme brulee it was time to move onto CAKES!

Naturally, having come from a very cakey background this filled me with much joy, excitement and anticipation. Surely, this had to be my best week yet! But, not wanting to be over confident I decided to take things in my stride. After all, the past 5 weeks have taught me that everything I thought I knew was wrong and every little trick of the cake baking trade I'd learnt over the years I needed to quickly forget, because at Le Cordon Bleu I'm being classically trained which means whisking...with a whisk. No short cuts. 

Rather than beginning my week as I've done before, by researching the bakes ahead of me immediately due to my excitement, I postponed my research in favour of taking a trip back to the city I like to call home, Bristol. With the key to my old house still in my pocket, I snuck in and whilst my friends were still at work, I cooked up a huge spaghetti bolognese and a chocolate tart for pudding. As you do. After all, home is where the tart is ;o) I like to call this 'baking and entering', however it was a little tricky explaining the concept to the neighbours when I popped over seeking a rolling pin and sieve, without it sounding like I was up to no good. The following day I made a plum and creme patisserie tart with the left over pate sucree. Both were very well received and proved to be great practise for me. Edible homework is the best! 

Upon my return to London it was back to business and excited by the task ahead of me I began flicking through my cookery books to learn more about my bakes. This week, beautiful burnt butter madeleines, gateau au citron and a genioise a le confiture de framboises. Even the names of the dishes sound delicious. 

Having always loved the simple but charming appearance of the palm sizes snack that is the madeleine I was excited to learn more about it. Surrounded by romantic fables, the origins are sadly not set in stone, however it was thought that, given their scallop like shape, that they were first baked in the town of Commercy, in Alsace-Lorraine. Some suggest that a servant of the disposed king of Poland, Stanislaw Leszcynski, began baking these delightful cakes in real scallop shells taken from the coast line, and handing them out to pilgrims travelling through the town on their way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain during the eighteenth century. Over the years the baking tins have changed, resulting in a narrower snack which lends itself very well to dunking. 

In France, dunking is exactly what these cakes are baked for (no rich tea or chocolate digestive will be found in the hands of our frog eating friends) and for many, the dunking of a madeleine is habitual. Enjoyed with tea, coffee, hot chocolate or milk, these cakes are a hit with the old and young alike. Baked with brown butter, or beurre noisette, they are sweet with a hint of nuttiness. Due to the way the tins are lined, they have a slightly crisp, caramelised outer and of course, look like a sea shell on their underside and have a nipple on top. 

Chef couldn't bring himself to say the word 'nipple' in demo - and I don't blame him. Stood in front of a class of 60 odd girls, it's not really something you want to get into! However interestingly, the nipple is formed in the oven due to the pressure of the mix. As the butter within the batter begins to melt and the chemical reaction between the baking powder and other ingredients takes place, the mixture is forced upwards to create these perfect little domes. I was incredibly excited to bake madeleines. As mentioned in my previous post, I've been on the look out for a vintage tin for many years and haven't yet found one so I've never gotten around to making them. Dad has been put on look out duty and is currently scouring every charity shops baking section in the county of Worcestershire. He does love a challenge so I doubt it'll be long before he hunt proves to be fruitful.

Following demo I finally had the chance to bake madelines! 18 to be exact. This was a slightly more complex mix than I'd imagined, and one that needed to be handled with the upmost care. First I prepared my beurre noisette, a simple task which involved essentially burning my butter. It didn't look partially pleasant but it smelt fantastic. Almost like the smell of chestnuts being roasted by the street vendors in London at Christmas time. Once cool, into the flour, baking powder, egg and sugar the burnt better went, along with honey and lemon zest. The mixture was then chilled whilst the tins were buttered, chilled, buttered a second time and then coated with soft flour. 

When sufficiently chilled, preventing the chemical reaction taking place outside of the oven, the mixture was piped into the madeleine tins and immediately baked. The instant they were ready they were turned out of their trays and not one of us in the room could stop ourselves drooling at the sight before us. The smell that filled the room was just to much and when chef wasn't looking, into our mouths they went. Heaven. 

The next task during this practical session was to bake a lemon cake, or a gateau au citron. Often referred to in the UK as a pound cake due to it's equal quantities and overall weight, this cake wasn't a challenge for me. Into a lined tin went the mix, this was then baked for 35 minutes, during which time we prepared candied lemon julienne which was to be used as decoration, as well as a lemon juice glacage which was used to soak the cake making it super moist and truly scrumptious. 

Upon marking, chef gave my lemon cake a good squeeze, "oooh" he said "this is a very well soaked cake! This is going to taste delicious, well done!" He also complimented me on my madeleines and my overall presentation of both dishes before signing my grading sheet and moving onto the next student. I was happy with that, and even more happy at the thought of tucking into a madeleine or three on my walk home. 

As promised, I halved my bakes and the homeless men of Old Street tube station enjoyed hot madeleines and gateau au citron just before bed time. The remaining half I took with me on the train to Lemington Spa to be enjoyed with friends over tea this afternoon! Cakes on a train, not to be mistaken for snakes on a plane. 

The last challenge of the week was the Genoise a la confiture de framboises – a very fancy title, translating to a Genoise sponge layered with raspberry jam. It made me giggle when I told a friend what I was due to make and she responded with “so basically a Vic sponge cake yeah? Easy!” Oh how I wish it were but being our third and final exam dish, I knew that ‘easy’ wasn’t a word to be associated with this cake.

Knowing very little about the Genoise sponge I set about investigating it thoroughly. Sadly I couldn’t find a patisserie in Bristol that sold any Genoise in order for me to sample this light and fluffy sponge prior to my class, but I was able to hunt down some macarons which instantly made everything better. Looking into the origins of the cake, I discovered that its creator was an Italian pastry chef, rumoured to come from the Italian city of the same name. As with many of our patisserie favourites the sponge was created in France, during the French revolution. Other than this vague top line, not much was said about this cake. 

Luckily I did find an article titled ‘how to make whisked sponges’ in a Le Cordon Bleu cookery course magazine dated 1969 which was given to me by a friend. This certainly helped to shed a little more light, although the food photography left much to be desired! The tips and methods covered in the article were of course well over 45 years old, but I came to the conclusion that the classical techniques couldn’t have changed much in this time and might in fact help me if correctly integrated.

“Whisked sponges are the lightest of all cakes”, the article read. “They contain only a small proportion of flour and their texture depends almost entirely on the amount of air beaten in with the egg”.

Great. So the success of my cake essentially depended entirely on my upper arm strength. I felt a sudden wave of nerves wash over me as I dropped to the floor and into the plank position which I held for 3 minutes and followed by several rounds of press ups in the hope that the additional exercise would put me in good stead for my forth coming whiskathon. It didn’t.

Following the demo, the whiskathon began. Into the kitchen we went and into a large bowl we placed the eggs and caster sugar. The bowl was then positioned over a bain marie and the contents, beaten. 2 minutes in and I’d reached the foam stage but my mix hadn’t really grown much in size. My arm began to ache. 4 minutes in, the sugar had successfully dissolved into the egg mix, which had grown significantly, but my wrist was telling me it was time to stop for a break. I ignored the nagging feeling and continued as best I could. 5 minutes in and I agreed with my wrist and stopped, only to be told by Chef not to stop even for a second for fear of loosing time and air.

6 minutes in and my mix had grown further but it was far from the desired ribbon stage. I thought back to the article I’d read only the night before “the cake batter is ready when a little lifted on the whisk falls in a thick ribbon on the mixture in the bowl and holds its shape”. It wasn’t holding so I continued to whisk with as much vigour as I could muster.  

8 minutes in and I’d started to loose all sensation in my hand but sadly I still hadn't achieved the ribbon needed to move onto the inclusion of the flour. 9 minutes… all feeling had now gone from my hand, my wrist was starting to cramp and my shoulder was begging for the torture to end. I powered on. Ten minutes in and I was contemplating crying in the hope that Chef might take pity on me and help, but then I tested my mix and to my delight the magic had happened and my ribbon held its shape!! I almost cried anyway just because I was so happy to see the elusive ribbon and also because I still couldn’t feel my hand.

Trying to ignore the lack of sensation in my fingers, I grabbed my pre sieved flour and begin sieving it for a third time directly into the mix in small inclusion. Chef suggested the flour should be sieved twice during demo to ensure it was sufficiently aerated; the article recommended this be done three times. I saw no harm in giving the flour a third airing so carried on as such. After each flour inclusion I gently and delicately incorporated my flour into the sugared eggs, trying my absolute best not to loose any of the air I’d worked so hard to include but with each turn my mixture became flatter and flatter. “Not to worry”, I thought “the mixture is bound to puff up nicely once in the oven”, so I kept turning my batter, as instructed, making sure that every ounce of flour was mixed in well. I then poured my flat looking cake mix into an 8 inch pan, popped it in the oven, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

Whilst in the oven, I prepped the meringue butter cream which was to be used to mask the cake, made my raspberry jam and prepped the sugar syrup used to soak the delicate sponge. Within a flash the oven timer sounded and it was the moment of truth…bugger, mine hadn’t risen nearly as much as I’d expected or hoped! I looked around the class and luckily I wasn’t alone. I cut my cake in two, soaked the delicate sponges with sugar syrup and tried desperately to think of a plan to salvage my cake. The funny thing is, I knew it wasn't going to rise. I knew I'd over stirred and in my mind there was only one way to rectify my pancake like sponge – a thick buttercream filling. 

On to the base of the cake I piped not one, but two layers of buttercream which the top of my cake floated perfectly above. I then masked the entire sponge with buttercream, as instructed and set about decorating my slightly taller cake as best I could. Around the base I patted on a thin line of toasted almonds, and on top, I piped a design I’d conjured up over my lunch break. This was done using a combination of buttercream and melted piping chocolate.

Luckily for me, on this occasion, the inside of my cake wasn’t being marked. The same cannot be said if this recipe comes up during my practical exam in a few weeks time! Thankfully, Chef complimented my efforts and joked that in future perhaps I needed a stepladder to make the whisking of my eggs a little easier. I suggested an electric whisk would be more useful and perhaps a few of the other tools I have in my baking box at home such as a cake wire and mini pallet knife, all of which we’re forbidden from use.

Thankfully my decorating saved the day. Chef loved my design and recommended that I practise it a few times prior to the exam, just to perfect it, in case this dish should come up. He said it was simple, elegant, made good use of the space available but didn’t overcrowd or dominate. He did however mention that my lines were a little on the thick side. Never again shall I try to shade using chocolate. I breathed a huge sigh of relief – my dish would have passed the exam he said! Hurray!

During our practical de briefing Chef advised us to invest in can or two of Tesco value shaving foam. I strange suggestion I thought to myself, but it had been a long week. Jokes aside, he said that the consistency exactly mimics that of piping meringue and the meringue butter cream we’d just used to cover our cakes! A great insider tip to make practise a little less expensive and wasteful.

Happy with my week’s progress I went home laden with cake. A cake that looked a little like this...

Next week on my path to patisserie we continue with cake, covering a few more of the basic sponges used in classical French baking and we shall also be looking at les cremes bavaroises et mousses...which I'll be honest, I've never heard of but after a quick google, I think it looks very, very pretty so I can't wait to get back in the kitchen! Week 7 - I'm ready for you. 

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