Mousse cakes

Last Monday, we started working on mousse cakes. With a snow day and me getting sick for the rest of the week, we weren't able to finish them up until this Thursday. I was only around to make the sponge bases, and to decorate them. My amazing partner did the rest (aka the tough part)- she seriously rocks!

We decorated them on Thursday. We made the ganache topping for the chocolate mousse- I think it looks pretty awesome! I have also grown to love making those chocolate filigrees. I filled up an entire huge tray with them! Without much further ado, here are the pictures of the mousse that my partner and I decorated!

Mango mousse

I only posted this so you could see all my filigrees in the background!

Chocolate mousse with ganache

All together now!

You might be wondering about what is wound around the mousse. It's a plasticky material (for the life of me I can't remember what it's called!), and it keeps the mousse from both drying out and from spilling all over the place when it is set.

Since I wasn't around for most of the creating, I don't have too much to say.

Hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday! I'm going to a bakery with a classmate for homework- not even lying!

Yarn, oh yarn!

I was feeling a bit low yesterday, so I decided to go to Mary Maxim for some quick yarn shopping!! It closed at 9pm, and I left my house at 8. I was home within the hour!

I was in and out in less than 20 minutes- if I stay longer, I either start to rethink my purchases or I decide to buy way more than I can afford! However, I've justified it by saying that people spend their "fun" money on different things: for me, it's crafting supplies! They make me happy.

I made a beeline RIGHT for all the bright colours- I almost got some teal and yellow yarn, but decided against it. For now. Oh, I'll be back.

There's more pink...it's just hiding!

I'm really excited- this is the one of the first times that I've bought yarn with a project in mind. Usually, I just buy one or two skeins of a pretty and insane yarn that catches my eye.

I was definitely grinning like a fool on the subway ride home, and I couldn't wait to display all my yarns on my couch!

What's been inspiring you lately?

Special Occasion cakes

This past week, we worked on Special Occasion cakes! We used a three layer sponge cake, with German buttercream for the filling. And, the best part? Italian buttercream on top! (I love me some buttercream.) One of the cakes was cut into an 8x8 square, and the other cake was cut into a heart! We piped shells along the borders and combed the sides of the square cake.

It was exciting to get the opportunity to decorate the cake however we wanted! I think everyone just ended up doing Valentine's Day themed cakes. We used coloured marzipan for the decorations- it's really hard to make a rose out of marzipan, as opposed to fondant. I made the mistake of leaving it exposed to just a bit of air- as soon as that happens, the marzipan cracks and doesn't look as pretty. Marzipan also gets quite sticky when you work with it too much. I think everything turned out just fine, though! I wanted my cakes to look a bit plain, as I can go overboard with decorating anything.

The first cake!

Marzipan roses on the second cake!

In class, most people know me as the person that will save anything from being tossed. This usually means a packed to the rafters freezer. A few extra cakes were made yesterday, so I took one home! Today, I had some buttercream and chocolate decorations left over, so I took those home too.

This is what happened instead of homework! I had to use a rubber scraper instead of an offset spatula, so I had to spend a lot of time smoothing down the buttercream. I'm still trying to think of something to write on the top of the cake. I'm pretty excited about it- I haven't decided if I should bring it to a family dinner, or if I should eat it all myself!

Homework cake!

On another note: I think it's time I splurge on a cake plate. And a cake lifter, for that matter.

What's your favorite type of cake? And icing, for that matter?

Gateâu St. Honoré

Today was a much better day!

I got to school in the early morning, with the intention of going to another class. However, it had been cancelled, so I found myself with a lot of down time. I took the time to do some homework and take an online test. I was in my uniform and into the baking classroom half an hour early today. And boy, I was determined to not let today kick me in the butt!


Today we made Gateâu St. Honoré. It's quite the cake! My baking theory teacher loves talking about this cake! No joke. It was made to honor the patron saint of bakers, St. Honoré. Either that, or it was named after the bakery where it originated. No one knows for sure.

This cake is made up of a pie dough (or puff pastry) bottom, with caramel covered cream puffs and pastry cream. Choux paste (which makes up the cream puffs) is such an interesting paste. You have to boil shortening and add some flour to make the paste, and it's leavened completely by steam. It's really neat how much it puffs up while in the oven. We learned how to make caramel today and spent a lot of time playing with sugar. So much fun! We made caramel, and then once it had cooled a bit, we used an open ended whisk to whip the sugar and create little nests! We also learned how to make corkscrews out of the caramel.

Can you see my little corkscrew?

I forgot my camera at home, so my lovely baking partner took some pictures! She keeps saying that she'll upload them all at the end of the year...so I'll put them up when I get them. Meanwhile, the pictures here of the extras that we made- I made a few extra pie shells and cream puffs. I'm very excited, because I also got to take home a bit of pastry cream, so I'm definitely filling these bad boys sometime in the near future!

Close up of sugar nest

I would have taken more pictures of the extra cakes, but I promptly ate them as soon as I was done taking that picture. I was excited, what can I say?

I'm back!! I'm excited about school again, which is just grand. Happy and cheery posts to follow!

Unsellable cakes

Today, a dear friend called me to let me know he was in town. I rushed off to meet him for a quick supper, cake in tow.

After a quick catch-up, I told him all about my anxieties about baking school, and thoughts of what I want to do with my life. I showed him the cake I brought for him to take home. He leaned over to our table mates, and said, "My friend made this cake! Isn't it amazing?"
They all agreed, that it was pretty awesome. They asked me if I was going to school for baking, and what grade I got on the cake.

That made me feel pretty great. I think I needed to hear something like that after several classes in a row, looking over at my classmates' cakes and seeing how much better theirs looked than mine. After countless classes where I just seem to run out of time and my classmates have to help me finish all my duties. After worrying if my partner is sick of working with me because I just can't get it.

I'd show you a picture of this cake, but I was too embarrassed about it to take a picture. The icing had split due to the temperature in the classroom, and we just didn't have enough time to fix the icing and make it right. It was "unsellable", which was something I hadn't heard since the first few weeks of school.

That being said, my friend really knows how to cheer me up!
To leave this post, here's a happier photo of something I've made. And I'm proud of it!

Gone crochetin'

I've had quite the week, so I've been crocheting instead!

I learned how to do this on Friday, and I haven't been able to think of much else! Friday morning, I found this tutorial, and I said to myself "self, you would WAY rather be doing this than homework!" and promptly spent the next 6 hours working on some granny squares. It was totally worth the weird nerve/wrist pain!

 And voila...

Pardon the blur...

After running out of my rad purple yarn, I had to get myself to the internets and buy a few more skeins! I talk uncontrollably about my recent yarn purchases to anyone who will give me a glazed eyes and a nod. I'm pretty excited!

Crochet has always been my crafting nemesis: I can do pretty much anything craft wise that I set my mind to. You should have seen me in Girl Scouts! Crochet was the one thing that always fell out of my head, however.  My grandmother said that I held my crochet hook like a knitting needle, so I would revert back to knitting. I've learned how to crochet at least three or four times in my life. This time (fingers crossed) it stuck!!

I haven't been too inspired by any yarn-y crafts lately because I hate my entire stash of yarn! So I'm getting rid of it. That being said, anyone interested in some vintage-y yarns? Let me know :)

There's more where that came from!

I've totally needed some inspiration in my life. Now I wait (rather impatiently) for my yarn to arrive! It's going to be in all sorts of bright colours!

What's been inspiring you lately?

Black forest and strawberry short!

Today was one of those crazy days!

I'm still trying to calm down from class. We decorated two whole cakes in the span of four hours! I know that amount is absolutely nothing compared to what we're going to be doing in the industry, but this was my first time decorating a cake! I like to get things perfect, which often means I spend most of my time re-doing something over and over again. I also get a bit tripped up because we are given a demo example, which I feel like I have to replicate exactly. Then I beat myself up because I made my rosettes a bit too big so there won't be enough room for the chocolate shavings. Then I spend some time thinking about what I should do. I'm working on not doing that anymore, though!

The bane of my existence today was the masking of the cake! The hardest part was trying to keep the icing covering the cake. I kept smoothing things down, and then the cake would peep through! So I'd have to do that spot all over again. And don't even get me started on the crumbs that would find their way back into the whipped topping!

Strawberry Shortcake

We also had to do all of our decorations/extras today- marzipan title flags, little chocolate garnishes, chocolate covered strawberries, whipped topping, and kirsch and triple sec syrup. I was in charge of whipping the 35% cream (we used a mix of whipped topping and whipped cream) and I looked away for one second and it was over-whipped! Luckily, we were able to save it- if I had left it on a second longer, it would have indeed turned to butter! That seems like an interesting experiment unto itself.

I am very thoroughly excited for tonight, as I am having my first slice of a Black Forest cake that I've made!  I'm even more excited because the cherries we used for the inside are very fancy cherries. Very fancy cherries from France, soaked in brandy. I can't wait! I also got to take home an extra sponge cake. Does anyone have any suggestions with what I could do with it?

I had no time to take pictures during class (as I was running around trying to clean things and get everything organized) but I was able to take some pictures before I walked these two lovelies home!

Black Forest Cake

It's days like this where I have to remind myself that I need to be confident in what I do. Questioning what I've done and re-doing things is what slows me down. It's in my nature to do things perfectly, but I really need to get that combination of quality and quantity that is needed in the baking industry. I know that this comes with time and patience and hard work and I know I'll get there!