A Sweet Voyage

5th gingerbread house (the last one I’ve documented- we made 7) :)

This is the best among the ones I’ve posted. I love the new door, it looks really clean,well-piped and sophisticated for a door. Instead of small swag(stringworks), I decided to make 2 big and longer ones ,and I intersected them.

I can’t believe I did this one. This is more than what I’d expected for, and I’m so happy all of the houses I and my partner made got sold(even the first one! :)). I hope those who’ve bought our gingerbread house is happy :)

(Source: thepastrychefdevotee)

I’ve only posted upto day 13(week 3) of our lab days, but actually we’ve just recently closed our week 8… which means I’m totally behind day updates. 

We’d already made preparations for christmas productions. I think posting them after christmas would be irrelevant so I decided to skip and proceed to our week 7 & 8. After posting them, that is when I’ll get back on the usual track again.

First up! GINGERBREAD HOUSES! :)

Brief meaning of gingerbread:

Gingerbread is a sweet food-product flavored with ginger and typically using honey or molasses (treacle) rather than just sugar. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a soft, moist loaf cake to something close to a ginger biscuit. The different types likely share a common origin. (source-wikipedia)

We’d been given the chance to work by partners. I’ll post some of the houses that we’ve made.

:)

Opera cake. 

My favorite so far out of all the cake that we’ve made. A cake of deep and rich flavor, Opera cake is a layer of opera sponge(joconde) moistened with coffee syrup, coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache.Perfect for people who love to be awake for the the rest of the day. You don’t need a spoonful to taste how creamy and flavorful this cake is. 

I’d probably make this for the New Year! :)

Dobos Torte.

Created by an Austrian Pastry Chef, Josef Dobos, after whom it was named, Dobos torte is an extremely rich cake. A repetitive layer of moisten dobos sponge, butter cream/ praline buttercream with caramel coated dobos topping to give contrast and signature, Dobos Torte is surely a unique cake of its flavor and appearance.

Sacher Torte.

Taken from the name of Vienna’s famous Sacher hotel, this cake came from the prominence during the Austro-Hungarian Empire when an emperor requested for a pastry that can be easily ship to his embassies. That is why the sacher torte has its hard glaze so that it’ll be sturdy and has long shelf life. 

Austrian law strictly specifies that this cake must be made with butter(not margarine or oil),fresh eggs, apricot jam, and chocolate (not cocoa powder)

Day 13.

• Opera Cake
• Dobos Torte
• Sacher Torte
• Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse cake

Zuger Kirsch Torte.

A layer of japonaise base, Italian buttercream, vanilla sponge moisten with kirsch syrup, buttercream and japonaise disk again. It is then covered with Italian buttercream, coated with roasted flaked almonds and garnished with angelica and red cherries on top.

:)

Japonaise Torte.

Japonaise… to put it simply in the global world of pastry is a ‘nut meringue’.

:)

One thing that fascinates me big that day is when I saw a marzipan in-person. I read a lot about marzipan and its uses, scrolling pictures in the net, and getting to touch and work with it is such a joy. Not that I’m saying that marzipan is something big in the world of pastry arts, maybe because of the idea of having some of your imaginations drawn from those written texts be true to life is such a good feeling. A carrot-shaped marzipan is made as part of the carrot torte we made for that day. I hope that we’ll get to work on lots of foreign things in school. It gives new knowledge and memorable experience.

(Marzipan is a confection with a distinct strong but pleasing almond flavor and aroma, consisting primarily of sugar or honeyand almond meal, sometimes augmented with almond oil or extract. It is often made into sweets. )

Carrot Torte.

Day 12.

• Carrot Torte
• Jamaican Banana Cream Cake
• Japonaise Torte
• Zuger Kirsch Torte
• French Bread with Pate Fermentee

Swiss Muesli Cake.

“Muesli ( /ˈmjuːzli/ or /ˈmuːzli/; Swiss German: Müesli [ˈmyəz̥li], Standard German: Müsli) is a popular breakfast meal based on uncooked rolled oats, fruit and nuts. It was developed around 1900 by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital. It is available in a packaged dry form, ready made, or it can be made fresh.”

source- Wikipedia

:)