Piece of Cake? Not quite...

I approached this final class with both excitement and apprehension.  My apprehension primarily stemmed from my inexperience with cake decorating.  While a few of my classmates have taken the Wilton Cake Decorating course that's offered by Michaels, my experience is limited to the cakes that I've made in school.   As a result, I feared having to decorate a cake next to them would not only be intimidating but down right embarrassing.  


With each class, I seem to learn more and more about myself.  What I know for sure after spending the last five weeks is that 1.)  I need a large dosage of patience when working on the various components of a celebration cake and 2.) I am way too tough on myself.   I have found myself on several occasions feeling frustrated that my intentions don't match my skill level.  While some of my classmates seem to effortlessly sculpt 3D figurines out of marzipan or pipe borders like a pro, I felt awkward, amateurish and simply frustrated that decorating a cake could be so challenging.  However, as I reflect on how far I have come, I'm glad that I experienced those feelings because they served as a reminder that I still have a lot to learn and need a lot of practice.  Neither of which are bad things to have.    


Although I'm learning a few new things, I am mostly being graded on techniques that I learned in previous classes.  The chef is grading each cake based on the consistency of my piping, levelness of cake, and if all the decorative requirements are met.  On average, we spend about 2-4 days for each of our cakes. In spite of feeling like a fish out of water, I have managed to produce several cakes that make me proud to share.

One of my favorite cakes turned out to be the children's birthday cake.   I was extremely excited to incorporate a technique I learned from an Austrian Pastry Chef [who allowed me to trail him for a week].    To give the island a little more pop of color, I dusted it with a little powder sugar and used a chef's torch to brûlée the sugar.  

Surprisingly, my second favorite cake turned out to be the sculpted pumpkin.  To create this cake I baked the pound cake on a full sheet pan and used 8" cake rings to cut  the layers. Each layer is filled with about 1/8" of Italian Butter cream. For the covering, Chef had us make modeling chocolate instead of using fondant.  For those unfamiliar with modeling chocolate, the texture is very similar to a tootsie roll.  It's very pliable and the best part it's a lot more palpable than fondant.  


The main reason that I adore this cake so much is that I carved, decorated, and cut each of the leaves all by hand.  The only guide or template that I used was a photograph.  I was pretty  content as I  decorated this cake and extremely pleased that my pumpkin looked great in the class "pumpkin patch photo."  However, the best feeling was when I took the cake to a party later that evening and people didn't think it was a cake.  Some people thought that there was a REAL pumpkin on the table and a couple thought it was a decorative ceramic pumpkin!  I have to admit, hearing all the conversation centered around the cake made me grin ear-to-ear.  Not just because people were complimenting me, but because the cake seemed to make people excited & happy.  That moment I reaffirmed that I LOVED seeing people get excited over food.  Not only did I love making that cake; I loved that other people appreciated my passion and hard work that was put into it.  

Be sure to  {click here}  to see more the pictures.  By the way, if you haven't added us to your Facebook Pages, dont forget to click "Like".  In just a couple weeks I'll begin my journey in The Netherlands.  I'd love to connect with Flour Bloom fans and share my European experience!

Positive Mental Attitude

Time has certainly flown by and another class is complete.   Those of you who frequent Flour Bloom probably noticed that there were not as many posts during the advanced patissierie class.  My days were jam packed with preparing to run the 2011 San Francisco Marathon.    I did not have many opportunities to pull together any new blog posts, but hopefully you had a chance to try out roasting a chicken and enjoyed the photos posted on our Flour Bloom Facebook Page. 

Last week I started my centerpieces & celebration cakes class.  During the next several weeks I will be focusing on improving my baking techniques and learning how to work with fondant, gum paste, and pastillage to make flowers & molded decorations.  These decorations will be applied to the baby shower, sweet 16 birthday & wedding cakes that we will be making.  Additionally, I will be making a sculpted pumpkin cake and ending this class with a sculpted purse cake.  Undoubtedly this class will test what I have learned over the past 7 months, as well as my patience and confidence.  

Typically I fret over things I cannot control. It is not out of the norm for me to feel a bit anxious about this class.  I tend to burn a lot of energy  worrying on almost every aspect in life except when it comes to running.  Recently a friend of mine sent me this quote which I found to be inspiring and helps me to overcome being such a worry wort.  

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” –Buddha

As a long time runner, I am a big proponent of positive thinking, which I also refer as PMA (positive mental attitude). All throughout high school I participated in cross country and track.  Nothing was more exciting to me than the challenge of training for a race.  All the hard work definitely prepared my body to endure a hilly and strenuous 5K or a mad 1600M sprint around the track.  However, if my mind was not in balance and filled with PMA it could easily tell my body to quit and give up.  Of all the many pep talks before a race, the one thing that lingers most is this one piece of advice:  

 before any race, imagine it...visually see the hills, the challenges, the excitement of rounding the corner near the end and then successfully crossing that finish line.  If your mind believes that it can accomplish it, your body will easily follow through.   

Interestingly, one of the reasons I chose to run the SF Marathon was because I literally dreamed that I ran the race.  I thought to myself,  if the mental aspect of a race is the hardest part then actually running the 26.2 miles will be a breeze!  I'd be lying if I said the race was easy.  It definitely was difficult, but not once did my mind tell me to quit or allow the pain that my legs felt get in the way of finishing the race.  I had already done it in my mind.  I was determined to get my body to do the same.  I truly believe that my positive thinking led me to run this much more difficult race 30 minutes faster than my previous marathon time.  

Although this blog is about food, its is also about the journey.  When I started school again, I felt like I was at the starting line of a race.  I had those jitters, a moment where I thought I was crazy for doing this and some excitement of doing something I had always wanted to try.  Now that I'm reaching the last stretch of school I'm ready to throw out the remaining negative jitters, apply a little more PMA to this class and cross that "finish line" knowing that I did my best.  I have already started visualizing the cakes that I plan to make and imagining the great sense of accomplishment I will feel during these 6 weeks.  

Positively the Best Granola. Ever.

We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  I truly believe it and one way to start the day with some PMA is to definitely start the day with a cup of coffee & a light breakfast.  One of my go-to breakfast items is homemade granola, greek yogurt & honey.


I haven't shared a recipe in awhile so I've decided to post what I feel is honestly the best granola I have ever had.  I'm definitely a granola snob and seldom come across one that I like.  I found this recipe from my Bon Appetit Cookbook, but have slightly adapted it. 


I tend to mix up the dried fruits depending on what I have in my pantry, but typically utilize dried cherries.  I just found some dried strawberries from Ikeda's Market in Auburn, CA and am looking forward to trying those out in my next batch.   

Dried-Cherry Granola--yields 7.5 cups

2 1/2 cups     Old fashioned oats

1 cup              Unsweetened large-shred coconut (approx. 1/2" wide)  I use Bob Red Mill's Brand

1 cup              Coarsely chopped pecans

1/2 cup          Pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)

3/4 tsp          Saigon cinnamon

1 cup packed  Dark brown sugar

1/4 cup            Water

3 T                    Vegetable or canola oil

2/3 cup          Dried cherries (I always use the brand Mariani Premium Dried Cherries)

1/2 cup          Dried apricots (additional dried fruit is optional)

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Either grease large sheet pan or I prefer to utilize a sheet pan lined with a SilPat.   Combine first five ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir to combine.  


Add brown sugar, water and oil to a medium pot.  Heat until mixture reaches a boil.  Remove from heat and pour over dried ingredients.  Using a fork, stir granola mixture until all ingredients are well combined.  Spread out evenly on a baking sheet.  


Bake for 15 minutes, remove & stir mixture with a spatula.  Return it to the oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes.  Next, add the cranberries and then bake for about 10 minutes longer or until oats are a golden brown.  The more that the mixture is stirred you will have less granola chunks.  I prefer my granola to resemble cereal.


Once cooled, store it in an air tight container.  I usually add about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of granola to 6 oz of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt and drizzle it with either local honey or Savannah Bee Company's Tupelo Honey (one of my favorites).