I think chocolate and humans don't make good partners, as they can both be so annoyingly temperemental.
Anyways, we made Opera Gateau for the first time (and probably the last time before the exam). This is a French cake made up of alternating layers of Joconde sponge soaked in coffee syrup, coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache, and usually decorated on top with the word "Opera" and some gold leaves. Gold leaves are expensive, perhaps too expensive for our very-expensive-school to provide us with, so we had to be content with decorating the cake with chocolate writing.
Anyways, we made Opera Gateau for the first time (and probably the last time before the exam). This is a French cake made up of alternating layers of Joconde sponge soaked in coffee syrup, coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache, and usually decorated on top with the word "Opera" and some gold leaves. Gold leaves are expensive, perhaps too expensive for our very-expensive-school to provide us with, so we had to be content with decorating the cake with chocolate writing.
There are a few important points to remember about the Opera. First, the Joconde sponge should be well-soaked with coffee syrup. This can only happen if you bake the sponge until it is just cooked. If you take the baking a little longer, the sponge kinda forms a skin and the syrup doesn't soak through. You could dock the sponge but, you know, why create uneccessary work for yourself? So, just get the sponge right. Secondly, all the layers of sponge, buttercream and ganache should be of equal height, with the total height of the cake not exceeding 4cm. Thirdly, the glaze has to be shiny and smooth. This can only be achieved if you don't agitate the ganache. How do I know that? Well, I agitated mine, that's why. Lesson learnt.
We also made a Tiramisu gateau which wasn't really the best I've tasted...I think the recipe doesn't have enough liquor inside. The interesting part of making the Tiramisu was that we actually made the Savoiardi biscuits from scratch, commonly known as lady finger biscuits. I always buy them from the supermarket. Savoiardi comes from the word "Savoy", which is a region shared between Italy and France. Tiramisu means "pick me up" in Italian, and the gateau is named so because of its high coffee content which wakes the mind up.
On Saturday, I was a little on the high side with all the chocolate, sugar and coffee, so I had lots of energy to make one of my favourite desserts back home for my friends. Tau suan with you tiao!
We also made a Tiramisu gateau which wasn't really the best I've tasted...I think the recipe doesn't have enough liquor inside. The interesting part of making the Tiramisu was that we actually made the Savoiardi biscuits from scratch, commonly known as lady finger biscuits. I always buy them from the supermarket. Savoiardi comes from the word "Savoy", which is a region shared between Italy and France. Tiramisu means "pick me up" in Italian, and the gateau is named so because of its high coffee content which wakes the mind up.
On Saturday, I was a little on the high side with all the chocolate, sugar and coffee, so I had lots of energy to make one of my favourite desserts back home for my friends. Tau suan with you tiao!
The chefs probably secretly agreed with me that sugar levels were a little on the high side, so they played down the sugar a little too with a menu of apple strudel and quiche. I never thought much of strudel pastry..it isn't something that I would crave for. We have a few specialty strudel shops in Singapore..there's one called the Ritz Apple Strudel I believe, and I always thought, how on earth would one make money by just selling strudel! Well, let me tell you the secret. The dough costs peanuts as it only has bakers flour, vegetable oil, water and salt. And you only require a fistful of dough, a sprinkle of magic, and poof, you get a whole strudel worth 60cm in length. That's Chef stretching out the dough until it's paper-thin and you can see through it. Interesting to make but...I still don't like the taste of it.
Now we had Chef Michael in our kitchen today, which made me happy because he always goes around the benches and takes a personal interest in what each of us is trying to make and he likes to know more about us as persons also. We were supposed to make quiche lorraine (ham, bacon and onion) and quiche florentine (spinach and onion). But I really didn't like the spinach quiche that I tasted during the demonstration. Spinach itself is way too mild in taste and after you cook it with onions, and eat it with the pate brisee (savoury short pastry), it just seems to lose its "identity"..kind of. Somebody really needs to create something yummier for vegetarians who love quiche. Anyways, I asked Chef Michael if I could create my own quiche, and he said yes. So, I made Quiche "Florraine" (so said Chef, and he said it could be called Lorrentine too) - I mixed the bacon, spinach and onion together, so that the salty, firmer texture bacon would balance with the mild, soft spinach. I also added an extra egg to the recipe because the original was way too runny. And I tried doing five different quiche pie borders instead of just the plain one that Chef showed us. Below is a plain one and a jagged edge one which I made by putting angled cuts on the edges and then pulling them a little to overlap each other. I made a 5cm tall quiche but the pastry didn't stand in the oven haha. Next time I will probably have to put a foil around it all the way to the top. That was a little disappointing because I really love high quiches. They just have that "you have to eat me" kind of look.
Now, maybe if Bruce Feirstein tried my Le Cordon Bleu quiche, he might reconsider that real men do eat quiche. Haha.
Quiche rocks. Ok time to study for final theory exam!
Quiche rocks. Ok time to study for final theory exam!