ISCAHM - Bread Baking Day 2

Well nothing really changed except for the fact that we had a bit more hands on (and no we didn't have to recycle it this time).

We were able to make focaccia - one with pesto and olives, the other with tomatoes with veggies topped with gruyere. Grissini, ensaymada, etc. Actually we made a whole bunch and the idiot that I am, well lost my recipe list. What an ass!

All in all, it was ok. I particulary was eying the focaccia since I really love bread (yeah, you've heard it a million times already). But again, I miss the focaccia I would get in San Francisco. The ones we made in class fell short of being too doughy. It just didn't have that chewy yet rough texture that I know of it to be. Also, there is something so simple with the ones I would eat elsewhere. Something about the sea salt and light herbs that made dipping it in olive oil and balsamic that made it oh...so good. Again, it could just be the difference of the fact that the ones we make in school are really for the purposes of a hotel setting.

Well, day 3 of class is coming up and it's supposed to be bread...breads. Yeah, the French and sourdough. Let's hope I don't get disappointed because that is the whole reason for my attending this class.

Private Tutorial - Cakes

My mom, who's visiting here for a few weeks decided to have a sit down dinner with a few of her friends and family. So its a perfect excuse to do all sorts of desserts. And since Allan was here, I decided to learn to make a few sweet dishes apart from learning how to cake decorate.

First up, we decided to try the marshmallow fondant instead of the traditional bland fondant. Actually to tell you the truth, it was easier to make it the marshmallow fondant than the traditional one using glycose or glycerine. The steps involved and the ingredients are lessened.

While easier in terms of ingredients, it was also harder to knead because the marshmallow was really sticky. It took time really to get the consistency we needed to actually roll out the fondant.

As we finished up kneading, we waited for our carrot cake to bake and cool down. We used cream cheese icing on top of the fondant. Even though our cream cheese icing was pretty watered out, the marshmallow fondant was able to cover it. It just so happened that the marshmallow fondant was too thick I think. Again, it was because we were testing the fondant itself.

We then made our carrots and the leaf out of gum paste. It was cute! As for our mini carrot cakes, we just used cream cheese icing and then piped it using the leaf design. We then put them in boxes for our guests to take home.

Apart from our cakes, my mom decided to make her dishes. For starters we had mixed salad with mustard vinaigrette dressing. For some odd reason, those mixed salads don't have enough arugula greens in them. It's my favorite.

Our main course was sirloin peppercorn steak topped with a reduced red wine sauce and wild rice. For dessert, we had home made sansrival and cute polvoron in little cupcake dishes. The guests really appreciated the desserts and even requested the polvoron for take home.

It was one of the best home cooked dinners I had in awhile. It's always good to have my parents around as I really get to eat well.

ISCAHM - Bread Baking Class

As promised, I'm reporting on my bread baking class. But before I do, let me tell you my misadventure getting to class. It was my first LRT ride from D. Jose to Katipunan (normally I'm an MRT rider...nothing beats it than being in traffic). Let me tell ya, I enjoyed the LRT. In terms of cleanliness and looks, it beats San Francisco's subway system Bart. Yeah, can you believe it? I'm giving kudos to the government for it. It's spacious and clean and pretty neat looking. Only issue? Body odor or clothing odor. I don't know what it is. The person I sat next to gave me a headache. Not so much from the smell, but because I had to breathe through my mouth for a good 20 minutes into my trip. God, I'm baaad!

Then like an idiot, I realized I didn't bring the school's address and number with me. Yeah, I know, I know. I went around asking every non student or student if they knew of the school. No one did! Finally after thirty minutes of waiting in the station, I was able to get directions.

When I got there, I was amazed to see about 20 plus students. I couldn't believe it! There were just too many students. They were already started and I completely felt lost. After I got a recipe sheet, I caught up.

So, did I mention there were just too many students? Yeah, well obviously that bothered me. When the chef was demonstrating to make pastries, it was difficult to see anything. It's like playing football with everyone just to get to see him up close. What's worse, when we were able to do hands-on and the ingredients were provided, some student weren't able to get a piece to practice on. At one point, I practiced making a pastry and after I was done, gave it to a girl next to me and told her to practice on it, since I felt bad for her. We were recycling pastry for crying out loud. Whaaah, i need a refund!

Secondly, the chef spoke so softly, I barely understood him. Third, no clear explanation was made regarding the ingredients.

Whhaaah! I need a refund!

Well the trooper in me decided to make the most of it. What to do? The friendly in me decided to make friends, of course. Some were super shy (which is a trait I found with alot of the filipinos, especially with small conversation), some just smiled! Whaaah, i need a refund! No, but as the class rolled on through I was able to meet a few people.

In the end and after some hands on, we were able to take quite a few pastries. We did zopf bread, cinnamon rolls, raisin bread, mango pinwheel, doughnuts and berliner. It was nothing to rave home about. The pastries made definitely tasted and were meant more for the hotel environment. If that's what you like, then you'll definitely like this.

Next week we WILL be making bread.

Right now I won't judge early. I'm going to give it till the end of class to endorse my final recommendation. Whaaah, i need a refund! Just kidding. Photos to come.

NegoSkwela - Master Cake Decorating Day 3

This is our finished work in day 3. Again, each one was able to make their own cake. This time, I opted to buy a real cake to decorate on. No, I did not have time to make it. One of my employees had her last day with us so this was a perfect excuse to decorate a real cake. Unlike the rest in class, I was the only one who designed my cake in boiled icing. Why? I knew my employees wouldn't like the fondant taste. I knew they liked sweet icings.



It was sad to see our class end. I believe three days wasn't enough to really master everything. But that's ok, because I'm asking Allan to give me private tutoring. I'm excited and will post how my apprenticeship with him develops.

NegoSkwela - Master Cake Decorating Day 2

We did character cakes including cutting the cakes into shape. We decided to do Jollibee's beloved character the bee. For those of you who don't live in the Philippines, Jollibee is the competitor to McDonald's.

Well our bee turned out to be pretty cute. Again, we all took turns on how to pipe star designs to create that raised look. It was quite fun and like I always say...seemed pretty easy. As Allan says, it really is all in the pressure of the piped icing. Yeah right! Again, everything he did made it look so easy that when it was my turn, I had some high stars and low stars, no uniformity at all. Yeah, better luck next time.

Next, we moved onto fondant. Again, I was surprisingly surprised at how easy it is to make fondant cakes. Actually, if I had to choose one, I do believe the fondant is the easiest one in terms of cake icings. Why? Because if you mess up, it's quite easy to fix the icing. Unlike boiled icing, once you pipe and you mess up, it'll be harder to fix, if not permanent.

Fondant is used in most wedding cakes for that flawless, clean and elegant look. Apparently, fondant is very typical in Europe, but only has become popular in the US recently. Fondant can even be purchased ready made in a specialty cake store. All you have to do is roll it out and apply it to your cake.

The recipe we used to make fondant (sugar paste) is:

Yield: Enough to make a 10x4 high cake

Ingredients:

1 tbsp (1 sachet) - unflavored gelatin (ferna or other)
1/4 cup - cold water
1/2 cup - glucose (ferna or peotraco)
1 tbsp - glycerin
2 tbsp - solid vegetable shortening
2 lbs - confectioners sugar (in batches of 2)

Procedure:

1. Combine gelatine and cold water
2. Place gelatin mixture in double boiler until dissolved and slightly clear
3. Add glucose and glycerin. Mix it well.
4. Stir in shortening
5. Remove from heat. You can add flavoring and color (if you want your whole cake using this one color) at this point.
6. Place 1 batch of confectioners sugar in a bowl and make a well.
7. Pour the warm gelatin mixure in the the well and mix.
8. Add the rest of the confectioners sugar. Again, just put enough sugar until the stickiness disappears and knead well.

Storage:
You can use the fondant immediately or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. When you are ready to use it again, bring it to room temperature and knead again until soft.

Rolling it out. Have two plastics ready and place the fondant in between. Make sure you dust some confectioners sugar to the top and bottom of the fondant to keep it sticking to the plastic. Roll out with fondant roller or use a regular wooden roller with dusted sugar on it. Roll it out to about 1/8 cm thick, just like you would pizza or pastry dough. Then place it on top of your cake that is already layered with some boiled icing or type of jam. This is to adhere the fondant to the cake. Tapper the sides and use cornflour to smooth out the fondant. Decorate as necessary.

NegoSkwela - Master Cake Decorating

The master cake decorating class at NegoSkwela is three days. I was a bit scared to enroll because of the title itself. Just because I took the basic doesn't qualify me as a master. I was intimidated that students who would attend this were already experts in this craft.

To my surprise, other students just decided to take this course because they didn't have time to take the basic one. I actually had the upper hand. Woohoo, nothing better than to pretend I was a pro.

During the day we went over the basics of my previous class to get everyone up to speed. Later, Allan showed off his skills with airbrushing. He made decorating a cake look so easy with just air and coloring. I'm simply amazed.

After his demo, we again had the opportunity to airbrush our very own cake. Now, let me tell you....I soo love airbrushing. I know it takes practice to master and you really need to have that creative eye....but I want an airbrush machine just because. I didn't realize that airbrushing a cake can be pretty easy. Again, let me stress easy, if you practice. But to think that the cakes they sell out in the retail shops can be so expensive, isn't so hard to do.