Finishing up my internship and graduation

Hello all!  I am happy to say that I have completed my 400 hour internship!  It was a long and challenging process, but I did learn a lot and got to see what it would be like working in a restaurant.  I really enjoyed having the freedom to create a variety of desserts, and I was able to practice and improve many pastry staples that I can use in the future.

Here are more of the desserts that I created!

Almond Joy: Chocolate cake and coconut mousse wrapped in a white chocolate band (painted blue), salted almond brittle and a coconut macaroon

Cherry Cheesecake Trifle: homemade graham crackers, mascarpone and goat cheese cheesecake bites, cherry and red wine sauce, sweet cream

Fruit tacos and granita (one of my favorites!!):  Watermelon and vodka granita (like shaved ice), almond cookie taco shells, cake croutons, berry sauce and kiwi sauce, assorted fruit, coconut (looks like cheese) and sweet cream for dipping (looks like sour cream)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Trio: (L to R) buckeye (yes I made this in Michigan and got a little bit of heat for it!!), chocolate macaron with PB buttercream, chocolate cookie with PB ganache, toasted peanuts and dark chocolate sauce

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Sundae: roasted rhubarb, lime cardamom frozen yogurt, strawberry sauce, chopped almond brittle, toasted swiss meringue and pie cookie sticks

These next three desserts are extra special because my mom was in town and got to try them along with some of my future in-laws!  I made sure to include strawberries because that is her favorite.

Chocolate Pot de creme (a baked custard similar to creme brulee), fresh raspberries and edible cookie spoon

Strawberry shortcake: orange-scented biscuit, poppyseed ice cream, fresh strawberries, sweet cream and sweetened balsamic reduction drizzle

Pecan Whiskey Tart, caramelized bananas, dark chocolate sauce

Carrot Cake with cream cheese mousse, caramelized pineapple and honey butterscotch sauce

Chocolate Raspberry Hazelnut Mousse, raspberry sauce, toasted hazelnuts and nutella

Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding, whiskey vanilla custard sauce, sauteed apples and cinnamon sugar cream

Mocha Chip Gelato Sandwich with hot fudge sauce for dipping

Another big accomplishment from the spring quarter was walking for graduation.  Although I have classes this summer, Baker College only does one ceremony a year, so I was able to participate.  My mom came from Columbus as a surprise and she got to see my accept the Muskegon Chronicle Award and give a speech in front of a lot of people!!

First, there was a smaller ceremony just for the culinary school where we were all recognized and received a metal.  Here I am in front of the school.

 Then came the ceremony for all Baker graduates.  Here I am giving my speech-I'm on the big screen.  Whoa!!

Here I am with my mom and awards!  It was a great day and I felt so honored to represent the baking and pastry department. 

The last few weeks I have been busy with personal things... like getting married and getting ready for our offspring!  I have been feeling pretty good, just trying to stay cool and avoid swollen ankles if possible.  My last lab is going well; I am really enjoying making small desserts and cookies.  I can't wait to share pictures from my last lab soon!  I guess I will need to rename my blog in a few weeks (tear!!).  Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Spring Quarter so far

Well, it's almost been 3 months since my last post... kind of embarrassed!!  I AM still in school (almost done, 1 1/2 quarters left) and have already had an exciting quarter so far.  Let me fill you in briefly...

First, we had a regional conference in Detroit for the American Culinary Federation.  Not only did I attend many informative educational segments and eat a lot of delicious foods, I also competed on the Knowledge Bowl team.  For those of you who didn't know, I have been studying since last summer in preparation for this competition.  Me, along with four other students practiced 2-3 days per week as well as studied on our own for many many hours.  The competition was Jeopardy-style and questions could come from any of the 5 approved books.  It was a very exciting day and we placed third out of ten teams!  It was the best the team has done so far, so it was a very proud moment for our team and school.  Plus, since the conference was so close to Muskegon, many of the instructors were there to cheer us on.

Here we are with our shiny medals!

I also just completed a lab class called Cafe and Restaurant Production, where we learned about mass-production for a bakery setting.  We also learned more about plated desserts that would be used in a restaurant setting.  This class was a lot of fun!  We got to be creative with our flavors and designs, which helped me grow as a pastry student.  Here are some pictures from my final exam...

These are Mocha Bars: layer of chocolate almond cake, chocolate and coffee ganache and espresso mousse.  I topped them with shaved chocolate and swiss meringue that I lightly torched

These are my Key Lime and Vanilla Mousse Cakes: sponge cake soaked in key lime simple syrup, key lime curd gelee (just means set with a little gelatin so it stays in place) and vanilla bean mousse.  I wrapped them with a white chocolate cage with some green color and topped with glazed kumquats.  They were tangy and delicious!

We also got a "mystery basket" and had to come up with a plated dessert (just like Chopped!!).  My 2 required ingredients were: lemon and cream.  I was excited because I love desserts that are tangy!  Here is what I created...

From left to right: Meyer lemon and thyme granita (like shaved ice) served in a hallowed out half lemon with a cookie spoon, lemon panna cotta on a cookie with a syrup soaked lemon supreme and a 3 layer cake: sponge cake, lemon curd, lemon mousse with hard lemon caramel candy drizzle garnish

So, in addition to this class, I am also the intern!  This means I will be working for the quarter at the school for 400 hours.  My main tasks are coming up with 3 plated desserts each week for our student-run restaurant Courses (check out the concept and menu...) and working with Chef Luis to do special projects for the public (like: wedding cakes or pastries for an event).  So, I am half way done right now and so far it has been a great experience!

 Here is my space in the restaurant.  I don't have free reign, but it is a nice roomy space!

Here is just below the pick-up window for the servers.  I have a sketch and ingredients needed to plate each dessert.

Coming up with 3 new ideas each week is definitely a challenge!  Here are some of my plates so far, hopefully you can see the improvement as time goes on!

Coconut ice cream with vanilla panna cotta topped with fruit salsa and mango sauce

Lemon cake roll, raspberry sorbet and raspberry sauce

Chocolate pistachio mousse dome glazed in chocolate on a cookie base, chocolate sauce, pistachio dust

Chocolate cinnamon mousse wrapped in chocolate belt (there was a pattern that transferred to the belt), chocolate cinnamon sauce and fresh strawberries

Chocolate beet cake, orange and goat cheese bavarian cream, orange kumquat sauce, pistachio florentine crumble and white chocolate decor

Mini warm apple tarts, caramel ice cream, caramelized pecans and sea salt

 Pistachio cake topped with green tea mousse, apricot glaze and sauce, pistachio and meringue stick garnishes

Key lime cake with lime curd and topped with lime mousse, mango salsa and baked meringue rosette

From left to right: orange mocha bar with blood orange sauce and cookie loop, profiteroles (like cream puffs) stuffed with white chocolate passion fruit ice cream and chocolate drizzle and almonds, and curry-spiced cake stuffed into lemon honey bavarian cream and fig and pear frozen yogurt in an edible pistachio cup

Flourless chocolate cake layered with ganache, lemon curd sauce, port wine reduction drizzle, cookie and almond crumbs and strawberry sorbet

 Butterscotch creme brulee with sweet cream and fresh berries

That's what I have been doing the last 5 weeks!  I will have more pictures to share as I complete my time as an intern.  I have many exciting personal things going on as well, so I am very busy, but it is all worth it.  I hope everyone is enjoying spring!!

Chocolate and Sugar showpieces

So, for the last 5 weeks I have been learning all about showpieces!  This was by far my most difficult class, partly because taste doesn't matter at all!!  No one eats a showpiece, it is purely for a dramatic statement.  Pastry chefs will spend their careers perfecting showpiece skills for the many worldwide competitions that take place.  You have to understand about chocolate and sugar, be artistic with creating a piece and make sure it doesn't fall over!  I basically completed one piece each week, so here are the pictures...

Here are some decoration pieces that are going on my first piece.  They look like they are filled chocolates, but are hollow shells glued together.

Here is the base with a large white chocolate ball in the middle.  Can anyone tell what it might be??

We did a lot of spraying in this class.  It really changes a look of a piece.  So I added some beams and painted my "ball" yellow and orange.  Now, it's the sun!

Then, I added my hollow balls, which represent planets, and a rocket ship on top.  This is the solar system.  

Week 2 I chose an underwater theme.  I have a balloon that I will dip in chocolate and make a fish.

 Here is my base-chocolate that looks like coral!  I thought this technique was really cool.  Then, I sprayed it with green and blue cocoa butter.

I have my two fish on the right that have been dipped and sprayed.  In the background, another type of corral that I painted pink.

My finished piece.  My balloon fish didn't work, so I made a jellyfish out of chocolate instead.

Week 3 I started this more abstract piece.  This base curve did break into three piece at one point, but now you can't even tell!

Second curved piece added.  No falling-yay!!

 This is a piece of thick plastic that I painted with green and yellow cocoa butter.  I then poured chocolate on top in a thin layer and cut squares...

Then, I glued the squares to by cube base.

Another big part of showpieces are flowers.  There are many techniques to make them.  Here is one of mine...  I still need to paint this and put it on my piece.  We have a big even in a few weeks and my instructor wants this one out for display, so I need to make sure it looks perfect!!

Week 4 we took a break from chocolate to make a sugar showpiece.  Sugar is a little more dangerous since it is over 300 degrees when you work with it!  We learned some really cool techniques, including my favorite: blown sugar!  Here is the tool you use to blow sugar into various shapes.  It reminds me of glass blowing...

To make a perfect sphere is not easy... this is probably my best one.  I definitely had some explosions before getting it right!

 Here is a flower my partner and I made by pulling hot sugar into petal shapes and gluing them on the center.  Notice we have at least 2 layers of gloves on!!

Here's how the piece turned out.  We added our flower, a couple of blown sugar balls and some pulled sugar ribbons.

Now, for final exam week.  We picked a variety of themes and then had to draw from a pile.  My theme: African safari.  I narrowed down many ideas and this is how it turned out!

Here are some components of my piece.  On the left the tubes are going to be elephant tusks.  On the right I have some base pieces.

Here are some petals for a flower and the large gray piece is my elephant trunk.

This is how it turned out.  This picture makes it look pretty good, but overall, I didn't really like it.  The main critique from my instructor was it was too flat.  This is also something I am going to work on before our big event, so hopefully I will have some new and improved pictures soon!

After the class was over I took a little vacation to visit my sister and nephew.  We had a great weekend visiting family and hanging out.  He is 5 months old now-I can't believe it!!

I will have more pictures in a few weeks of the Cheers and Chocolate event.  I am excited because I have some family coming to visit and attend!!  I am done with classes for the quarter, so plan on spending some time studying for Knowledge Bowl (of course!!) and getting organized for my next classes.  Stay warm out there!!