The Astors and a Hail Mary,,,,

What a great day.  I learned two more mousse fillings for cakes and decorating techniques that will help me make beautifully symmetrical cakes.  We started with the Astor cake which involves two chocolate chiffon cake layers that are sandwiching two layers of mousse fillings.  One is dark chocolate and the other is white chocolate hazelnut.  Both were extremely delicious and these layers are all enrobed in a layer of milk chocolate buttercream.  The cakes are setting up overnight and so I will have to take photos tomorrow, but they promise to be divine.  The processes I am learning to create light fillings that will hold their shape when cut, is going to be an incredible asset at the bakery.  There are many different types of chocolate cakes, and this is one of them, and will likely be a favorite of mine.  Look forward to photos tomorrow.  I also spent some time working with cakes on a turntable to get them divided evenly and frosted with square sides and tops...not always an easy task.

Just when I thought I had seen all of the tricks for the day, Marda suggested that we make a Basque cake which is originally from that region of Spain, but has become a type of cake with the following structure.  Almond tart dough is used to line the bottom, then a butter cake batter is piped on the bottom and up the sides of the pan.  The cake batter is then lined with pastry cream that has been flavored with rum and then topped with fruit filling (flavor of your choice)  The fruit filling is then covered with the remainder of the cake batter and pearl sugar and baked.  We made this cake in almost no time, and it was like my teacher threw a Hail Mary pass right at the end of class.  This cake came out of the oven right as I left and will be cooling overnight.  It promises to be a spectacular cake and the smell of the baking was heavenly.  There is so much left to learn and experience, but every day I am gaining more understanding of baking and pastry arts.  I am eager to pour in as much experience as I can.....(I went to La Magie bakery last night and worked with their baker for extra experience.)   Well, on to sleep and maybe another trip to the bakery in the middle of the night soon.  Here are some photos of what I am now calling the Hail Mary Cake.

 

Yum Yum Yum!