Update! New Pics! So Much Fun!!

It's been nagging at me to post something for a while, but you know how it goes. There was always great intentions, but I got swept up in school, the holiday season at work (which has only recently slowed down), and planning for my wedding in June. Same ol' excuse, right? Truth be told, I've been wanting to write for a while because I've been realizing more and more recently how much I love what I do. For a number of years, my passion for baking and pastry was quenched because of the working environment I was involved in. I thought that pursuing a different branch in studying nutrition would provide that satisfaction I had lost. Alas, after working for Four Seasons for over a year now (!), I have rediscovered that passion that I had lost. I love what I do. I mean, I really love it. So, while I still am in school (drowning in Chemistry and scientific concepts I had no idea even existed), I am pushing my career full-throttle and looking at moving forward in the career I currently have.

At any rate, I thought I would welcome myself (and you!) back with recent pictures of things I have worked on. (Grab a snack and a drink of some sort, because there was a lot of fun that happened over the past few months.)

Banquet Events: I've been more involved with prepping and plating the banquet desserts, which I love (I mentioned this previously). Seriously, there is something about hundreds of elaborate desserts, looking the exact same, and being prepared and picked up on a set schedule that makes me a little giddy. It requires planning, precision, patience and accuracy. Here are some highlights:

Cakes: I've been trusted more with cakes and conveniently enough, the orders have picked up for them, so I am able to get more practice. I have also been experimenting more with texture in decoration - using combing effects in different ways or using piping tips that I normally wouldn't use. It has been pretty interesting and creates a new perspective for the cake. Here are some highlights:

(These last two cakes, I was able to do at home for a friend - I actually did all the piping work with paper cones instead of piping tips to see if I would like it. Turns out that I had easier control and could be more intricate with my work... I will definitely use that method again in the future.)

Restaurant: These pics include the plated desserts, as well as the special requests (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) Of all the places in the shop, the restaurant is my least favorite. I appreciate structure and like having goals in mind for what I want to accomplish for the day, however, working the line for the restaurant can throw an entire evening off with the amount of tickets and the 'special requests' that all-too-often appear. That all being said, it does give me a chance to let my creativity run free. Here are some highlights:

Odds and Ends: The hotel likes to create special amenities for guests, some being more elaborate than others. I'll explain a few of these so they make more sense...

This one was a Bears amenity for guests who were attending one of the last games of the season. I carved the Bears logo out of chocolate and made the trim with colored cocoa butter and white chocolate. 

This one was a giant muffin for an employee at the hotel. It doesn't look that large but it was actually a three tiered muffin that was baked in 9" cake pans. I put a regular size muffin next to it to compare, but the picture still doesn't do it justice. I also tried to replicate the paper cups we usually use and painted the sides with gold luster dust to give it the same look. 

This was an amenity for a young brother and sister who loved dinosaurs, unicorns, and cupcakes. A few toys were delivered and a little landscape was created for these little creatures. 

(And yes, the raptor is biting the cupcake.)

Cotton Candy for a banquet event garnish. There were 6 giant bags (about the size of a large garbage bag) when all was said and done... I was standing at that cotton candy machine for 2 1/2 hours. (They don't teach you this in culinary school, folks.)

I've been working more with chocolate tempering and making garnishes (if you look at the plated desserts, there are some examples of garnishes that I've done). I haven't had much experience with chocolate in my previous jobs, so working with it more lately has been a great (albeit, sometimes frustrating) experience. (Once I become more proficient, I will talk more about tempering chocolate in a later blog.) 

 These buttercream roses were for a Valentines Day amenity and I ended up making about 130 of them. What makes these different (for me, anyway) is that I used Italian buttercream which was lighter and easier to handle/pipe. I also flavored the buttercream with rose water, so all of these little guys actually tasted like roses.

That is it for now - honestly, every week holds a new project or a new experience that makes me love what I do even more. Once I get my head above schoolwork again, I'll update (hopefully before the wedding!). 

Until then!

Wedding Cake: Behind The Scenes

This past week, I had the opportunity to make a wedding cake for a co-worker. (A co-worker, its worth noting, I had never actually met until I was asked to make her cake.) Apparently, word of mouth played to my advantage when a friend/co-worker in the pastry department recommended me. I was happy to be involved. Gratefully, my work was willing to let me stay after my shifts to bake the cakes and do what I needed, so space was abundant and precious time was spared in the preparation of the cakes.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the process of a wedding cake, I'll run through my agenda of the week leading up to the cake. Gabi, the bride, wanted chocolate cake with German Chocolate filling and white buttercream frosting - enough to feed her 120 guests. I tend to stress over any and all details, so setting a schedule was key to avoid any unnecessary stress, so I had the week planned out in preparation for the wedding cake to be set up on Friday. Here were those plans:

SUNDAY:
Finalize Design Plans (Sketch out final ideas, determine items needed, etc.)

Gabi was looking for something simple, yet elegant that incorporated her colors of yellow and grey. She wanted something along these lines:

I felt that I would incorporate this design, add ribbon on the bottom of each tier and then accent the cake with real flowers (which would be provided by the florist). Her cake topper, as you'll see later, was an adorable rubber ducky bride and groom, so having both of the colors on the cake itself would be essential. 

MONDAY:
Make German Chocolate Filling 

An interesting task in itself because I have only made a relatively small batch of german chocolate filling previously... I multiplied the recipe by 10 (!) and hoped for the best. (The result was 8 quarts of filling and I used all but a couple cups of it by the time I was finished)

TUESDAY:
Morning: Costco/Michaels Run - buy ingredients for buttercream, Ribbon and accents for cake
Evening: Make Chocolate Cake Sheets (10 full sheet trays total)

Since this cake was going to be square, having sheets of cake makes the process very easy because you can just cut the sizes you need. I planned on doing 3 tiers, (16", 12" and 8"), and after measuring those sizes and roughly how tall I anticipated each tier to be (about 4 1/2 - 5" tall), I determined that 10 sheets would be more than enough. (I ended up using 8 sheets when all was said and done.)

WEDNESDAY:
Morning: Make Buttercream for cake (at home)
Evening: Build Cake and Crumb Coat

My idea was to take care of the larger messy projects at work where I would be able to utilize the space, then take care of finishing/decorating at home. As planned, I made the buttercream at home in advance, in anticipation for the decorating in the following days. At work I took care of building of the cake, which included cutting out the cake, building each cake (bordering each layer with buttercream and German Chocolate filling), and measuring each tier to make sure they were similar in height. Here is a picture of what the results of those steps were.

*Note: It should be noted that it was close to 1:30 a.m. at this point and I found myself missing my mom even more than I usually do. The coke in the picture was in honor of her - growing up, making wedding cakes and drinking coke go hand in hand and some traditions will never be broken. Not surprisingly, she was still awake when I sent her this picture that night by text and we were able to chat for a bit. Felt like old times making wedding cakes in the kitchen at home growing up...

I also "crumb coated" the cakes that night - which basically means that the cake has an initial layer of buttercream on the cake to hold all of the cake crumbs (or leaks in the filling) in place. This is essential when making a dark cake with a light frosting... Crumbs can be a nightmare.

THURSDAY:
Morning: Clear room in fridge for cakes, clean trunk of car (in preparation for transporting)
Evening: Pack up cake from work and take home
Night: Add buttercream to each layer to build sides

God bless us, everyone. This was my fridge after I unloaded the cakes... I was terrified that the shelves might not hold that center tier, but it all held up just fine. This also gives you an idea of the crumb coat concept... This was before I built up the sides with buttercream.

Getting my building on... And since I was in the moment, I wanted to experiment a little bit with methods of how to make the design work, so I took a little bit of time to experiment to make sure I had a solid plan.

After some hits and misses, I decided that I would use butchers twine to create the marks so that it would add some texture to the lines. I also oiled the silver ribbon at this point, which has become a new, but necessary, practice. The reason to oil the ribbon is because you are putting a piece of ribbon on an item that has fat (buttercream), which can leave the ribbon looking blotchy. If you add the oil the ribbon before hand, it will yield a consistent product and any surprises will be avoided. 

FRIDAY:

Morning: Decorate Cake, Add Supports and Ribbon

Finish by 1:00, pack up essential items, load all tools/back up items and cake in car

Set Up Cake, add final touches, etc.

Evening: Drinky Drink

Close up of the action... All the lines were hand placed with a small piece of twine. This took a bit longer than I expected, but the result was better than any other method. For the supports, I used poly-dowels as opposed to regular wooden ones... This seems to be more common in professional kitchens as opposed to the wooden variety. That being said, I have seen anything from wooden dowels to straws used, so I honestly feel it's just a matter of preference. These are sturdy for the heavy cakes, but very easy to cut so I tend to use them for stacked cakes. 

I brought every single one of these items in a bag... you never know when you are going to need a blow torch, right? Fun fact... I did! And that is why you pack every single item to get you out of a potential jam. (This brought me right back to the cake days with my mom... I even packed a wet hand towel like I always remember her bringing, for cleaning hands and tools.) 

And finally....

I transported each tier separately and stacked it at the venue. This task was a little intimidating since I was setting up in the middle of the room and everyone (florists, caterers, banquet waiters, etc.) were running around trying to accomplish their tasks. People were surprised I was by myself setting it all up... but in all honesty, this is where the skills my mom taught me with her cakes while growing up came into play. Some things they just can't teach you in culinary school... 

The delivery went well, but to add final touches proved to be a little more difficult because I didn't have any hot water to use to smooth rough patches. After several botched attempts to make things nicer, I succumbed to using my blow torch to heat my spatula and smooth edges down. Everyone was giving me the side-eye, but you do what you gotta do. (That's why you pack all the things you could EVER need in your bag, people... Expect the unexpected.) 

After placing the cake topper and flowers on the cake, then adding the votives around the edges, the cake was finished.

(I'm not usually a huge fan of cake toppers... I still can't see a Precious Moments or 'bride-dragging-groom' figurine without wincing, but this was adorable.)

The final product.

(And, as per schedule, I did grab a drink afterward... Once again, a coke (albeit, with some rum added to it to take the edge off...) An evolution in tradition...)