raspberry pâte à choux and eight days

my god, it has been a busy week! but now that i finally have a day off and some time to blog, things are starting to slow down (for now) and i have a chance to breathe (whew!). so let me just update you guys on the whole work situation: my job is awesome! i've managed from just being a regular prep cook to being a pastry prep cook, and even working the pastry line! it's great and i'm definitely learning a lot nowadays. the only thing i can't say i like TOO much is the hours. let me explain: yesterday was my eighth day straight working. yep. it was actually supposed to be my day off, but i guess they just love me so much that they want me there all the time! yayy overtime!! 8/

but no joke, i really like my job. i'm happy that i got into that restaurant instead of giving up and settling for some summer retail job because (MOST of) the people there are great and i get to make some pretty delicious desserts.

anyway, onto this week's delectable confection! Pâte à choux dough used to make mini eclairs, profiteroles, and Paris-Brests all filled with a raspberry chantilly creme and fresh raspberries :p

all three of them in their golden-brown glory...

close-up of the Paris-Brest. traditionally, the doughnut shape is meant to resemble a bicycle wheel, celebrating the bicycle race from Paris to Brest and back. because if i'm gonna bike 1200 km, the first thing i'm reaching for isn't water, it's this beauty ;)

and a close-up of the mini eclair. *drool* part of me wished i dipped the top half in some chocolate glaze, but the other part of me doesn't really care at this point cuz it tasted pretty bomb anyway haha.

the chantilly creme had just the right amount of subtle sweetness, along with the fresh raspberries' sweet and sour notes, and the crunchy but eggy flavor of the choux. all i know is, there better be at least ONE left tomorrow morning for me for breakfast. otherwise, someone in this family is losing a finger.

almond irish coffee bites and job training

this past week i've been training for work, and it's just been busy busy busy lately. it's hard to imagine how busy and rushed we'll all be once the restaurant actually opens! there are quite a few things i learned from training, though. for one thing, a lot of times prep cook = slave. okay, maybe that was a slight over exaggeration. but you know how slaves do the same menial tasks over and over again? that's kinda what i was hinting at. okay, maybe it's not really AS BAD as slavery, because we get two days off a week, we don't get physically harmed or anything, and at some point we'll start getting paid for doing this! so i take that last statement back, because i like money! and i also enjoy not wasting away at home all day hahaha.

so let's move on. another thing i learned from training: always, ALWAYS wash the vegetables! ESPECIALLY if it's organic! no joke, dude. because some of the things i saw in there are just NOT pretty.

one more thing i learned: quality over quantity (or at least while it's still training time)! i learned this after making tray after tray of shitty-looking ravioli. i don't know why the HELL i thought i had to rush, it's not like they told me to make a certain amount or anything. once i finally slowed down and put more care into each ravioli, they actually started to look pretty decent :)

anyway, onto this week's dessert! it was actually a result of two ruined sheet pans of biscuit jaconde (siiighhh). basically they just decided that they did not want to separate from the paper, so after scraping piece after piece of the cake off and deciding i didn't want to waste any of it, i crumbled it all and combined it with some irish coffee buttercream that i whipped up, compressed them into a large square, and cut them into cubes. it's basically the same principal behind cake balls, but i just got tired of making them round.

i know i know, they look like rice krispy squares. well they're not, so cut it out!!

my original plan was to dip them in white chocolate ganache so that you couldn't see the sides and then just decorate the top. well, as you can see here, that didn't work, as my ganache turned out to be too runny. well, EFF YOU, white chocolate. why do you always have to eff things up for me?!! pfft. what i ended up doing was just brushing the tops with some thick, glossy dark chocolate sauce that i had left over, which was also thick enough to pipe a little design on top too. see that, white chocolate? dark chocolate will ALWAYS be better than you. don't even think you're better, you supremacist jerk!


things i learned from this experiment:
1. i officially HATE white chocolate. YOU'RE NOT EVEN REAL CHOCOLATE! what percentage of cacao do you have? that's right, zero! get out of here, FAKER!!
2. apparently coffee and chocolate are a winning combination for my dad, who seemed to enjoy these more than some of my other experiments...
3. i found an egg with 2 yolks in it! okay, maybe i didn't learn anything from that, but it's still cool in my book! they're like twins!!! :D

drunken peach cake

another summer day, another day of sweltering in the heat. so what to do when stuck in a hot home with barely functioning internet, nothing on TV, and clearly irritable family members? make a cake, of course!

drunken peach cake. i could tell that even the peaches were suffocating in this heatwave, and i just HAD to take them out of their misery. i had half a sheet of genoise mousseline left over from the mango charlottes, so i decided this would be the best way to go. it has layers of genoise mousseline soaked in brandy syrup, a layer of peach puree gelee, peach and honey mousse, and torched meringue on top.

standing tall and proud :) i'm surprised (and happy) that it didn't totally fall apart once i took it out of the fridge. the brandy syrup kept it very moist, and the whole thing had a nice subtle sweetness. the only thing i would change about it if i decide to make it again is to use a little more brandy for a more pronounced flavor.

some things i learned from making this cake:

1. torching things is fun when your torch actually works! i can recall a totally burnt and not bruleed creme brulee from the past due to a dysfunctional torch, which still haunts me to this day...

2. if you don't have an aluminum square to mold the cake/mousse/gelee in, a square cake tin plus foil and wax paper makes a (somewhat) suitable replacement. innovation in the face of obstacles!

3. make sure the area is cleared of clutter or weird things in the background before taking pictures. if you couldn't tell before, the first picture includes my sister's legs, and the last picture includes her purple shorts and butt -__- she decided it would be fun to take a hot (and sweaty) nap on the couch :/

mango charlotte royale and the HOTTEST DAY EVARRR

today was a fun (although HOT) summer day and night; the friends and i had a picnic at the Fullerton Arboretum (free!), we went around Brea mall where i bought some white tshirts for work and some black sandals which i was in DIRE need of because my last pair broke, then we explored and took pictures around IKEA, and ended the day by playing in the park in the dark and cooling off in the grass. all in all, one of the funnest days i've had this summer :) it was a good end to my so-called "break" because next monday i start job training! WOOT!! i'm excited and nervous and just anxious all over about this. hopefully it won't be too bad!

lately the weather has not been kind, staying among the 100's (my car said it was 108 degrees today -___-) and i heard that tomorrow won't be any cooler. and AND lately there has been flash flood warnings around the LA county area...? so i really don't know wtf is UP with alla that nonsense. SOO, because it was so hot, i decided it would be nice to have a fruity chilled dessert to have on hand. i present to you: the Mango Charlotte Royale. yes yes yes, i know the last post i promised a layered jaconde cake, but that dream was swiftly taken away when i realized that i was ONE OUNCE short of the amount of almonds i needed :/

it's mango bavarois lined with genoise mousseline, garnished with mango slices, strawberries, and chocolate. originally i was going to make a little chocolate fence around it just to cover up the sides, but apparently it was so hot that after the chocolate set up in the fridge, it would immediately melt once i took it out. siighhh. anyway, it was the perfect little pick-me-up for this afternoon: cool, smooth, creamy, and deliciously fruity, with just the right amount of subtle sweetness :p

soooo... things that i learned from making this dessert:

1. i need aluminum cake rings! i didn't have any on hand, and so instead i used ramekins lined with saran wrap (which explains all the ridges along the top). "well why didn't you just cut up some cans and use those instead like Alton Brown did?" you ask. well i already tried that, and to tell you the truth, i'm just scared of cutting my hand. so i mean, which would you rather have, a ridged-y sided dessert, or no dessert at all because it was covered in blood? i rest my case.

2. sometimes it's just too hot for chocolate :( unless you want it super melty-like. then it's alright.

3. according to my baking book, the name "Charlotte Russe" is actually the name of a dessert! who knew? it's just another version of the charlotte, just like the Charlotte Royale. it makes me feel slightly better knowing this, so that i won't always have to associate it with just a cheap clothing store :)

4. fruit Bavarian Cream (or Bavarois) is RIDICULOUSLY easy to make :)

strawberry and white chocolate cake and a breezy summer week

i've decided to take full advantage of summer and this week was basically all about sleeping in, hanging out with friends, and pretty much doing whatever i want :) i also came up with what kind of design i wanted for this cake that's been sitting in my freezer (although that didn't really turn out the way i planned... still pretty, though!)

vanilla cake filled with strawberry whipped cream, topped with strawberry slices and surrounded by white chocolate shards. this was basically my attempt to utilize whatever i had in the pantry and the fridge (i just saw an episode of Chopped last night, and i was thinking i should be a little more inspired by what i already have on hand!)

things i learned from decorating this cake: white chocolate doesn't melt the same way regular chocolate does... actually, i already knew this, but THIS time it was being a total bitch. WHATEVER, white chocolate. i OWN you. nomnomnom.

also, making the chocolate shards requires a lot of measuring with a ruler, so make sure when you measure that you can actually SEE the marks you made! sighh. grey pencil mark + grey sheet pan = invisible marks! who knew?

since i'm getting a little bored with circle cakes, next time i plan on making a layered jaconde. wish me luck! :)

4th of july feats and flops!

happy (late) Independence Day! my independence night was spent at a party at my uncle's house, and i had my first go at making american bbq beef (feat!) and i attempted to make mini chocolate pound cakes (flop). the beef was SOOOO goood and i actually got to cut a good amount of hours cooking it by just using the pressure cooker instead of the slow cooker or oven. the chocolate pound cake on the other hand, well, just keep reading.

looks pretty, right? yeah NO. i thought they looked good when they came out of the oven too.

a cross section... it turned out to be really dense, but REALLY dry. also, the recipe i used was SO deceiving! the picture they provided made it look like it was really dark and moist and chocolatey, but i KNEW that it could never get that way without any actual chocolate!! (the recipe only uses cocoa powder).

another problem i came along while i was mixing it: I RAN OUT OF SUGAR. WTF. so not only was it dry, it was barely sweet. siighh. i thought i could make up for the lack of granulated sugar in the batter by just mixing in some powdered sugar and then topping it with powdered sugar later, but that just made it only somewhat bearable. oh well. i brought it to the party anyway, and the kids seemed to like it! so at least i didn't have to bring a full pan of that back home :)

so, just to recap: no sugar in the house. this means, no baking until i go grocery shopping on wednesday :( hopefully the next thing i bake won't make me so miserable!

kiwi gelato and an update on the job hunt

remember my last post i mentioned a job fair in Newport? well, i MIGHT get the job! or i MIGHT NOT! i know, this whole thing makes me kinda nervous, too. basically, whether i get the job or not (a part time prep cook position) depends on my fall schedule for school, which i won't know until July 7th. sooo, at this point i'm hoping and PRAYING that they'll still want me by then! i was one of the VERY FEW people who actually bothered to dress well (i swear, over half the people just came in tshirts and jeans and flip flops -__-), so i'm hoping that worked well to my advantage.

anyway, onto the gelato!

probably one of the easiest frozen desserts i've ever made, as it has no eggs, and no cooking process whatsoever! :)

kiwis were on sale at my local mexican market for 8 for $1, so of course, i had to take advantage of that...

creamy, soft and tart :p it even managed to stay soft after a day in the freezer, whereas most of the ice creams i've made in the past have just hardened. the only thing i would really change about this recipe is to use powdered sugar instead of granulated white since it's not cooked, and the granulated sugar doesn't really dissolve. other than that, it's a good 8 out of 10 :)