Burn Baby, Burn- Week 9

And now for an alternative pastry- choux! We started off the week by making Eclairs and piping Profiteroles for the following day. This did not pose a problem, until it came to taking out the hot tray of eclairs, when, alas, I was subjected to my first major Tafe burn. I'm not going to lie, it was pretty nasty, and I will post it as a reminder to be careful of hot trays. (If only I had heed my own warning).

 Chocolate and Strawberry Eclairs.

Ouch!

The next day, I took my burn back to Regency Park to make a Gateaux St Honore. This cake is named after the patron saint of Patissieres, so it was with great trepidation that I commenced the challenge. We started by making some more choux pastry and piping it onto a pre-cut puff-pastry base and baking it. Profiteroles were filled with creme patissiere and then dipped in hot toffee. Key word there- hot. 160C in fact. So one would assume that it would burn skin upon contact. Here I was, for the second day in a row, with another burn on my finger, this time from dipping a profiterole in toffee. I digress- when the profiteroles had been toffee dipped and stuck to the border of the base, creme pat was piped between the choux borders, and the cake was decorated. 

 The result.

An alternative flattering angle.

Wednesday brought on cakes. Not an unfamiliar concept to most of the students in a Patisserie course, but none-the-less, we started off with some basics- a Madeira Cake and some Vanilla Cupcakes. Oh, and incase you were wondering, I made it three from three, by burning my hand on a tray whilst taking out the Madeira cakes. Not a good week for my health as it turned out. 

 Madeira Cake x2

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Our last lesson before the Easter long weekend had us making Banana Cakes and Apple Tea Cakes. The banana cakes were finished off with little marzipan bananas that we made from dyed marzipan dipped in chocolate. 

One cake complete with walnuts, the other, nut-free.

Apple cakes.

More cakes are on their way! xx