Flour-less chocolate cake

So if you are wondering why the cake looks like crap......well because it is flourless cake and has the consistency of a custard instead of an actual firm cake. Anyway I am ready for a fun filled weekend! Hy comes home tonight!!

Group plate ups

Had two group plate ups today and a wine lecture. We tried 5 different dessert wines and did pairings with cheese and fruit and the likes. Was great.

We did phyllo and puff pastry plate ups today.

The puff pastry has a mango mousse on the inside and the phyllo has a caramelized pineapple filling.

More later, I dont really feel like blogging......only like sleeping.

Chocolate......didnt you know more was coming?

So today in class plate up we did Lava Cakes, and instead of doing a usual one-I decided that mine would have tempered chocolate coming out of the center. And instead of regular tempered chocolate, I would first lay it out on some acetate. The acetate had the star design and when properly tempered and layed, it transfers. I filled my cake with it and served it right out of the oven, oozing stars and all.

Hyrum...

... is still out of town.

Sad. Sad. Sad.

I miss you lover.

Another group plate up

Chef Erica will give our class about two hours and give us 2 basic desserts that we have to plate up. Usually they are simple.

For the first plate up: we made "tulip" cups out of tempered chocolate and filled them with chocolate mousse flavored with whatever we chose, I chose black cassis liqueur. I also made some Almond Meringue cookies ( the heart) and dripped mango coulis all over it. The thin stick is a Tuille cookie, chocolate on top half and vanilla on the bottom.

The second was much more difficult. We had to wrap and toss and 3 layered dessert of mousse and macaroon with UNTEMPERED MILK CHOCOLATE....( touch it for 2 seconds and it melts into a big old puddle in your hand.) Trying to scrape a strip off of the bake of a sheet tray and unroll it while not really touching, cracking, or melting it; pretty freaking crazy. Then you place a big bunch in the top to cover the rest of the cookie and cover it with cocoa powder. Its pretty strange ( another bizarre French dessert).

HeartBroken- one word

- Mandy died two months ago today.


- Hyrum just found out he is staying out of town for another week and a half.


-Group plate ups in Plated Desserts class is like getting a flu shot for 40 minutes, twice a day.







Coffee flavored Pana Cotta with chocolate covered coffee beans and vanilla tuille cookie garnishes. With a cinnamon Creme Anglais sauce and a chocolate sauce.



Mango and Ginger flavored Creme Caramel with edible flowers, mango coulis covered Tuilles, and chocolate filled Tuille cigars. With my mango coulis sauce, chocolate sauce, and caramel.

Another day another cake practical...

So yesterday was the last day of my 2nd beginners cake class. Starting on Tuesday, I will be in my plated desserts class and will have tons of awesome pictures coming in almost everyday. I am really excited.

On Friday our class had to make a cake of our own choosing, as long as it met the criteria. I decided to go with a "Mimosa" variation flavored cake ( Champagne and grapefruit) with a chocolate grapefruit butter cream and chocolate masking. Torted with Raspberry jam and Raspberry simple syrup liqueur. It is awesome.





Now onto the fore front of Sadness....

Hy is out of town. He left this morning and will be back in a week from today. Lily and I are pretty bummed out about that! This time he went to Salt Lake City.... which makes me very very jealous. He is going to be taking my grandmother out to dinner sometime this week.... even more jealous. I miss him like crazy already.

On a more joyous note, I had thought for a year and a half that we didnt have any video from our wedding. And I found some! It is only 10 seconds long and I am hiking up my dress... but you can hear Etta James singing At Last while we danced our first dance together. I am thrilled.

No time...

I have pretty much no time to blog, hours of home work still to do, but I wanted to show you a picture that my class and I took. We did it secretly while our chef went out of the room, so that we could suprise her with a present ( the picture, a frame, and a card. Scavenger hunt too.) Ill blog about my practical and the hunt tomorrow.

So for now....

Love in a different form...

I have a piano back at my parents house in Utah that I have been dying to bring up to Washington State. But it just hasnt ever worked out.



So instead... my husband found me a piano.



It doesn't look like much... but it is more than that. It is all dinged up and part of it is out of tune.



But this old piano used to be a staple in the cancer wing of Shriners Children's Hospital.



Such history... I wish I knew the cause of every scratch and blemish.

Chocolate ....no more....please

I never thought that I could be sick of chocolate ganache. But its true- it has happened.

We made quite a few cakes that were either torted and filled with ganache, or decorated with ganache. Usually with chocolate glacage frosting. No more please.....

Had a practical today making a chocoalate toasted hazelnut cake with (of course what else) chocolate ganache and masked with toasted pistachios. ( has a slice taken out for judging and grading)

Roses and Lilies

Today in class we made some marzipan roses. I had gotten pretty good at doing Lilies but was ready to try my hand at roses. It is pretty easy once you get the process down. Here is a picture of my very first one, tinted slightly with brazilian cocoa powder.

Lily was very sweet last night and fell asleep on top of a pile of my sweatpants. Such a cute girl.

April 14, 2007 in pictures

Just thinking about the last (almost) year and a half.......we will be married for 18 months on October 14th....sooon!

Engagement: October 13th 2006 (Friday the 13th) , after a car accident and an experience with Purgatory in Hurricane!

Married: 4 p.m. at Devito Estates in Hurricane, Utah over looking the valley.

Married by: Bishop Jody Rich

Walked down the isle to: Jack Johnson- Better Together

First Dance: At Last - Etta James

Flowers: Lilies all over the place

Ring Bear: Neph Jaxten

Hy's Guys: Dave, Randy, and Addison

My Ladies: Sarah-Beth, Jessica, Tami

Who did the giving away: My Daddy

Cake: Champagne and raspberry

Still living out our happily ever after......

Practically Friday

Had another tough practical today. We had to make:

-Buttercream cake (Genoise) whisked by hand ( 20 minutes atleast)

-A sponge cake (Seperated egg sponge, whisked by hand 15 minutes)

-French Butter Cream

-Torte Cake and fill

-Front and decorate

-Make ganache to peanut butter consistency, fill sponge, roll, coat outside, set.

-Make ganache glacage and pour over.

-Slice and pipe with chocolate ganache.

In 3 hours.

Not everyone in my class even finished. Luckily I did. I was fortionate to only miss 3 points off of the entire practical (which crazy enough- means a B- yeah they are that harsh!). Some people were on the brink of failing and others had melt downs! It got pretty physical. Haha.

Didn't take really any pictures, not enough time. Had to finish practical and I was covered in Couveture ( special $$$ chocolate).

Now just remember that French buttercream is the most yellow and unstable of the 5-8. Its because of the egg yolks and also large amounts of ...what else..... BUTTER.

P.S. Its torted with black raspberry simple syrup liqueur and raspberry jam.

Finding a functional place

I am sitting in our dressing room right now and am trying to make sense of the world right now. I feel like lots of things are going to change, well to be honest... Im scared. BUt instead of boring you with political and economical ideals, I will instead show you MOST LITERALLY where I am.

These things are all near or on the wall right above my computer, along with my gilded old world map.

Baby Buddist Monk- 21st birthday present from China Town, with a fan brought back from Japan.

A menu from my favorite Cafe in Ramat-aviv Israel, Cafe Hillel.

A mask that was given to me as a present from my mom after stayed in Japan for a while.

An old favorite; my voodoo doll! Brought back from New Orleans this baby sits primed and ready! Haha.

One of my many masks, this one brought back from Loisiana. Real Peacock plumes.

Another update, another time.