Petit Four Factory

Petit Fours can also be called friandises and mignardises. They are small enough to be eaten in one or two bites. Most are very time consuming and elaborate in decorations. Typically petit four plates include pate de fruit, macaroons, financiers, nougat, madeleines, tarts, and truffles. In class we made some simple ones.

My Marjolaine

Out of all the cakes we've made during this section this cake is my favorite. Created by the great Chef Fernand Point and named after a special lady. This cake is time consuming to make because of its many different layers and complicated techniques. Perhaps Chef Fernand fell in love with a girl who was complicated (aren't we all?) and drove him crazy, so crazy that he invented this insane cake to remember her forever. The layers consist of: (from bottom to top) Chocolate Genoise, Chocolate Ganache, Dacquoise (crunchy nut meringue), Creme D'Or (chocolate mousse), Dacquoise , Praline Buttercream, Dacquoise, Whipped Cream, Dacquoise, and then finally the whole cake is covered with Chocolate Glaze. How can this cake not be good? It has everything delicious in it. Marjolaine, I don't know who you are, but I love you.

Meringues

There are three different types of meringues. Each is used differently in pastry making.


French Meringue
Raw sugar is beaten into egg whites creating a meringue that is high in volume and low in stability. Because it is made with raw eggs it needs to be baked. This type of meringue is usually folded into a cake batter such as a chiffon cake. It can be mixed with a nut flour, piped, and put into the oven to dry out producing a crunchy layer that can be added to a cake. This is essentially a dacquoise and I used it in the dacquiose cake with coffee buttercream and marjolaine cake.

Italian Meringue
Water and sugar is boiled until 235 degrees Fahrenheit (soft ball stage) and then beaten into egg whites. The egg whites cook in the hot syrup. This method produced a meringue that has medium volume and medium stability. Since it doesn't need to be baked it is used in mousses and buttercreams. This method was used in my Raspberry Mousse Miroir cake.

Swiss Meringue
Egg whites and sugar are heated over a bain marie until it reaches 130 degrees Fahrenheit and then beaten. This meringue has the least volume out of the three methods yet it is the most stable. Since the eggs have already been cooked it does not need to be baked. This meringue is used in the lemon tart showed above.

The Gateaux Gallery

Dacquoise with Coffee Buttercream and Candied Almonds


Pear Bavarian Cake


Chocolate Ganache Cake with Candied Rose Petals


Raspberry Mousse Miroir


White and Dark Chocolate Mousse Cake


Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting














Dobos Torte














Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream and Chocolate Meringue Sticks














Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream and Chocolate Meringue Sticks














I don't remember what this cake is. But it sure looks interesting!

Living in the Gateaux

I'm sad to be leaving bread making but I'm super excited about cakes! This is the reason why I signed up for pastry school. I want to make fabulous cakes! Today was our first time making genoise sponge cake. Genoise is a cake that is not leavened by a chemical agent. Eggs are heated and beaten to give it its light spongy texture. The chefs decided to have us make cakes the old school method, like back in the days when they didn't have electricity and had to power their ovens by cranking a handle. (yea right!) We had to whisk eggs over a pot of simmering water until it tripled in volume. This took about 10 minutes of constantly whisking. If you stopped whisking the eggs would turn into scrambled eggs. I could not beat the eggs fast enough to get the volume needed! My arms were exhausted! I think culinary school is going to put some muscles on this skinny little girl! My cake turned out flat, dense, and disgusting. Good thing they let us use the hobart mixer the second time! My cake came out much better. We also made buttercream which I'm not a fan of. I'm more partial to fresh whipped cream then just sweetened whipped butter. So here it is! The first cake I made in school! It consists of three genoise layers, raspberry jam, and vanilla buttercream. Isn't she pretty?