Thursday, May 20, 2010

A Piece of Cake: Baking & Pastry Arts Semester One Recap

Almond Cake

Poppy Seed Bundt Cake with Cardamom Streusel

At long last, my first semester as a culinary student is over. For our practical final (there was also a written one)  we had to make a pate sucree, lemon curd, and French meringue. In other words, a lemon meringue tart.
While mine came out just fine (I got a 99%!) there's no photo. To be honest, over time I grew increasingly apathetic about taking photos of my school projects. Sometimes that's because they were a bit worse for wear by the time I got them home. Take my cream puffs with chocolate ganache. I was really excited to have a chance to use the jasmine chef extract I won from Deana at Lost Past Remembered.  The ganache was ever-so-subtly scented with it, and it was well received by my instructor. But, by the time these little puffs had traveled for over an hour in my warm-ish car, they looked all melty, like they had contracted some sort of pastry wasting disease. So ... no photo.

On occasion, there were pastry failures that I immediately consigned to the trash, like the collapsed and curdled angel food cake, or the shriveled, dessicated macarons.

Other times, I was just so tired of working with sweets that I would either let my (awesome) partner take home the lion's share of the classroom booty or I'd deposit the whole lot on my neighbor's doorstep before I even got inside my house. So, there's no record of the pear frangipane tart,  the candy apple pie, the lemon tea bread, Vermont cocoa cake, or the crepes.

That said, before I tuckered out, I did record some things for posterity. We made a boatload of Danishes and a jalousie, which I dutifully carted home:
I thought my madeleines were quite photogenic, and the peanut butter cookies were very popular with Poppa Trix:

And though I am not a huge fan of biscotti, I will admit that these weren't so bad when you dipped them in coffee:

Of all the sweets we made, however, my far-and-away favorite is the almond cake at the top of this post. You know, this one:
I love that it was simple and not too sweet. It had just a hint of almond and vanilla, and it was a perfect accompaniment for coffee. This cake  was also incredibly moist - that may have something to do with the seven  eggs in the recipe.

You may have noticed by now that I do not have the biggest sweet tooth in the world. For me, a little goes a long way. My favorite parts of the class (aside from talking smack with some particularly hilarious classmates and working with my extremely competent partner) were the too-few times that we made savory doughs.  

So I've decided that next semester I'm going to take the Intro to Culinary class.  I don't love the fact that I'll be making meat stocks and working with animal products, but I want to learn. My brain travels in savory circles, and I've got to go with it. I'm sure I'll be sharing my inevitable ethical dilemmas with you in the fall ... please don't judge me too harshly!

In the meantime, drop me a line if you want the recipe for any of these baked goods -  I strongly recommend the almond cake.

Edit: So many people have emailed me for the almond cake recipe (*blush*) that I thought I'd just go ahead and post it. So ... enjoy!

Seven Egg Almond Cake:

1 1/4 c sugar
8 oz almond paste (I believe we used European paste, which has a milder flavor than American)
1 c (2 sticks) soft butter
2 t vanilla
7 eggs
1 cup AP flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Grease one 8 inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
In a mixer, combine almond paste and sugar on low speed until well combined. scrape down sides of bowl as needed.
Add the soft butter and cream the mixture.
Add vanilla and eggs, 2 at a time (actually I find it's best to mix all the eggs together in a bowl, and then add roughly 2 eggs' worth at a time.) Combine well.
Combine the dry ingredients and add them to the mixture. Mix on low until just combined.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40 - 50 minutes. The cake will bake fairly dark on the surface, and if you need to late in the baking process cover with aluminum to keep it from getting too dark. (This cake was wet and mushy for a looong time before it firmed up, so don't panic! I think it took longer than the recipe says as well.)
Cool for 20 minutes and turn out onto a cooling rack. When cool, dust with powdered sugar.







33 comments:

  1. Is the almond cake a Pain de Gênes? that cake has almond paste in it and is incredibly moist.
    I am glad you made it through and are moving on to the "real" school making stock and stuff; you will become a well-rounded chef!

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  2. I wish *I* were your neighbor. I would love the recipe for the almond cake!

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  3. Ridiculously envious! I am toying with the notion of attending culinary school.

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  4. Congrats!! Wow, I'd love to be your guinea pig.

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  5. I will take all of them, I am closer than your last trip when can you bring these to me.....wow gorgeous!

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  6. What a prolific semester you have had. Congratulations on you 99%! Those madeleines are absolutely perfect.

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  7. It doesnt cease to surprise me how surprise how similar we are! I too never really had a sweet tooth as you can probably tell from the amount of desserts on my blog! Think I have two, three tops! Now, cheeses is a different story altogether! But I really am tempted by that Almond cake, just seems to have the right balance of flavours and looks delicious and fluffy! Can I have the recope please! So excited for you too! What a gread idea to do the new course in the next semestre. I know it may feel weird to deal with meat initially but I also know you will love every second and make the most of it!!! Really can't wait for the posts!!

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  8. This post beautifully highlights the not so hidden dangers of attending culinary school. How did you ever part with these desserts making a huge dent yourself? The almond cake looks and sounds amazing, it's so lofty!

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  9. Congrats that you've completed your first semester! But why 99%? The instructor should just be more generous to give another 1% to make it 100%....haha. I guess that's what teachers are like, including me sometimes, to keep pupils humble :P You have done extremely well. Everything looks amazingly delicious! I love them all :D

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  10. The almond cake ooks and sounds like I want a bite now :) Congratulations on the school....If this is any representation of what they teach you to do..I take back my reservations about culinary school. Sure sure looks worth enrollng!! keep em coming trix :)

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  11. I love your almond cake. It looks fantastic. Good luck with your culinary studies.

    Cheers!

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  12. The almond cake looks very tempting. It's so great what you're planning to do. I hope you teach us everything you learn.

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  13. Warmest congratulations on a successful first semester! Love your photos - especially the madeleins, such a gorgeous contrast of color on that pastel plate. ~ Cleo

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  14. Congrats on finishing! Each of your desserts look beautiful and for those that aren't pictured I don't blame you for not taking pictures of them. I would love the recipe for the biscotti, that looks amazing...and I love coffee so they are a perfect pair! :)

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  15. kudos to the classmate, to the teacher and class .. I mean, what a great opportunity you had, to learn such great things and to know of your greatness in being able to do just that - I hope you will share all your knowlege with us underlings ... I would like the recipe for the almond cake, and the lemon tea bread sounds interesting too, oh, just tease us with one every now and then....

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  16. congrats on your first semester! all your desserts look amazing!

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  17. makes me want to go to pastry school as well. just for basic knowledge. you are such a good baker! And congras on first semester.

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  18. Almond cake is amazing and it looks great. But no record of the pear frangipane tart???? My heart aches!

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  19. Congrats on completing the pastry arts semester! Those are some wonderful baked goodies you made and the almond cake sure looks very tempting!

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  20. Kudos to completing the first semester. I know first hand about having an abundance of food that you made but just could not take home. I fed more than one homeless person with my lessons.

    Having a great partner is key. I had a great partner at the French Culinary Institute till she dropped out. Going solo was not fun with Chef Nic yelling "All dishes have to be done in 5 minutes!"

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  21. This course of yours makes me really envious! Wonderful array!

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  22. Trixie Girl! OMG--, first of all, I laughed very hard at some of this, not to make you feel bad, but the whole cream puff story, leaving food with neighbors. LOL! I am sooo in awe of you and have deep sweet-tooth gratification from just reading this post! Wow, wow, wow! Okay, as you noted, "Drop me a line if interested in recipes." Yes! I am interested in any of them you feel might translate nicely to vegan--I'd give it my best, I promise! I will also share that learning the basics of all savory will do nothing but make you a better cook--though I am with you on the "handling of carcass" and whatnot--I don't think I could do it. But we all know where your heart is though.

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  23. What a beautiful selection of sweets, they don't seem overly sweet with all the icing and all that stuff. Great job, you can open your bakery now!

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  24. I would love the recipe for the almond cake! It looks fabulous.

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  25. I want the recipe for almond cake too!

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  26. I'd love the recipe for the Almond Cake and also the Poppy Seed Bundt Cake - do I see some kind of filling in there?

    Congrats on making it throught first semester :)

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  27. 99?!?!! Holy crap, that's impressive, well done to you! If I had some streamers I'd be throwing them in the air!

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  28. Congrats on that gorgeous almond cake on Foodgawker very nice picture indeed~ got ot try that one~

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  29. Yes, it is wonderful to be Trix's neighbor when she's got poppyseed cake or pear tart to unload! We are very lucky indeed and try to reciprocate when we can. I'm really looking forward to your savory adventures too--feel free to pass on any carcasses or meaty treats too!

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  30. pardon if I come off too dumb but what is AP flour?? I am going to try the Almond cake one day...it looks wonderful...

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  31. Bravo Trix on semester one. You treats look fantastic. I have fond memories of making curd. My water broke the laborious process of making lime curd... I managed to finish it before we drove to the hospital, so I could eat it when I got home!

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  32. What an absolutely delicious looking slice of cake. I've saved this to my favs! I'm quite envious of your pastry school experience. All those beautiful pastries you made! I look forward to hearing more about it and culinary school! =)

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  33. Wow that Almond Cake does look awesome. When I was young I wanted to be a pastry chef but my road went in different direction but you never know you have inspired me I may take the plunge. I know you will be ok in the new semester in the new class.

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