Imagine 7 of us in the kitchen with various stages of boiling sugar, furiously trying to get the sugar to the right temperature without having it crystallize! Then, luckily, I scored some pectin at the beginning of class so I would have time to make the bonus pate de fruit. I've been feeling good about being able to do a bonus each week during the second semester.
Salted Caramels, Not-Quite Set Nougat, and Passion Fruit Pate de Fruit
The next week, we were the fortunate recipients of two classes on chocolate from the Chocolate Master, Alice Medrich. She we made her Tiger Cake, Flourless Chocolate Torte, White Chocolate Souffle, Medaliers, Jasmine infused Truffles and more. For more information on Alice Medrich's cookbooks, click here.
Then it was back to work to temper chocolate ourselves, which is a lot harder than it looks! To temper chocolate, we used Callebaut callets (tempered chocolate bits), brought several ounces to 122 degrees, then started added the seed callaits, bit by bit until the temp dropped to 84. Then we tested for temper. If it was tempered (which mine was not, well it was and then it wasn't), it's snap-worthy and shiny and hardens in 3-5 minutes. Then you bring the chocolate back up to 89 degrees and start playing.
Truly I loved doing filigree work and making beautiful designs. I also enjoyed making medaliers. We also made modeling chocolate from melted chocolate and glucose, and made chocolate roses, which was fun too! Here are some photos.
Chocolate Creations
Chocolate Rose made from Modeling Chocolate
After showing these items to my family and friends, it's clear to me that doing little things with chocolate REALLY impresses people, so I plan to do more of it, and I'll even get my temper right!
1 comment:
Wow, after a 2 month break, that's a lot of posting in 2 days. Everything looks great! Lily wants to know if you'll make her first birthday cake. :)
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