so tonight was the night we assembled our genoise cake with filling and our butter cream. i was very excited to inspect my cake, because i hadn't really gotten to lay eyes on it monday night. i was happy to see that it came out pretty lovely. it wasn't quite as tall as i had hoped, but then again, i didn't fill my pan quite as full as a few other students, so that could account for the 1/2" difference in height. i do enjoy a tall cake, especially when it's only a 6" round, but all in all, i was please with its turn out. the cake itself was tender, spongy and not at all eggy or tough. that, more than the height, was of utmost importance to me. it was a pretty golden brown color on the outside (which is caused by the caramelization of the sugar in the cake batter) and the inside of the cake was a soft, light yellow). i was able to cut the three layers into my cake and did so in a surprisingly level and even manner. and the inside of the cake was filled with a delightful, spongey texture, that was just waiting to be soaked in a simple syrup (tonight's short project).
we then added vanilla paste to our butter cream - which, if you don't already know, is one of my top 5 favorite things ever! vanilla beans! LOVE! we softened our butter cream and used the paddle to bring it back to a soft consistency - think mayonnaise!
and it has a silky, sweet, luxurious and buttery lightness that only this type of butter cream can deliver.
i watched the skillful Chef Cynthia drench her cake layers in the rum-infused, simple syrup. this is done because of the nature of the genoise cake. it's a sponge cake meant to be flavored with something else. eaten alone, it would be slightly on the dry side, and while mildly sweet, still rather bland. the simple syrup could be flavored in a variety of ways, but tonight's flavor was rum. yum! (common, you KNOW i had to say that...)
Chef then filled her cake with great ease with raspberry marmalade - i learn how best to effectively fill a cake and make it efficient and pretty. i used apricot, as opposed to raspberry. and then it was time to crumb coat.
i'll say that no matter how many times i've done crumb coating, it's always, up until this point, been a self-taught skill that i've always known needed refining. and tonight, i learned SO much about the how, why and what-for, when it comes to crumb coating! and i have to say also, that i'm pretty proud of how excellently (for me!! not PERFECT by any means, just excellent for me) my cake was crumb coated! it was so flat, and smooth! i was proud of myself. is that sad? to be so proud of something that most chefs would scoff at, in a "puh-lease, as if that's exciting?! it's just a crumb coat" sort of way... but even still, i'm quite proud of it:
once that was hardened in the (gorgeous, huge, shiny) stainless steel refrigerator... we were able to finish icing it and add little butter cream rosettes. oh how i love the simplicity of the rosettes. and again, while my chef idols would most definitely laugh at my over-enthusiasm for my flat, smooth icing job, i don't care. it's exciting to me! :o) we garnished the cake with a candied hazelnut croquant. just deliciously, crunchy, sweet, hazelnutty treat for one of my most favorite flavors IN. THE. WORLD.
by the way, can i say how happy i am that my little cake made it home *virtually* unscathed? okay, it had a few (few) messy spots on the sides when the cab lurched and sped this way and that to get to penn station causing it to touch the side of my cake caddy (or as i like to refer to it: the plasti-dome)...but it stayed together and looked almost *almost* perfect by the time i got it home! i left it on the shelf above me on the train and it survived!! yay!
finally, my adoring husband, who actually wakes up in the middle of the night, even though he has to get up at 5am, came to pick me up at the train station. i mean, seriously...he's the best. and i love him to pieces.
now i know he'd pick me up, whether i had cake or not...i do! but i know he seemed to have a little spring in his sleepy step tonight, knowing that when we got home, he was a mere 5 seconds away from getting to taste my very first project. it was noted that he seemed a little extra excited to see me tonight! *wink* but he's such a good husband... good friend... he deserves a piece of cake or two. (or three...or four...)
so he had two. hey! they were tiny! (and delicious!)
...well, if it weren't so late, i'd continue to ramble about my tiny, 6" genoise cake... but i'm getting quite sleepy. i've been up for almost (almost) 20 hours...
BUT before i got to sleep... can i tell you about my cake hero?
yes, yes, we ALL know how much i love Chef Ron (or as i sometimes refer to him: RBI)
well i came up from our dinner break (where i had to go back down to the locker room to get my plasti-dome) and OH. EM. GEE! Chef Ron was in our class room, popping by for a little visit. "just to spy on us" as he said. can you believe my life? that's just... cool! and now, i'm going to seem like a gigantic dork when i say this but... he TALKED to me! (you're laughing now aren't you?)... but he did!! he asked ME (mandy) if i saw the photos we were in on his website. because i was photographed beaming rather largely (ear to ear remember?) at RBI while he visited us on our very first night of class. i said "YES! and i was gleaming! i was so excited to meet you!" and he said "you are a star now!" and we all laughed. it was just really really cool. (how lame, that with all the things i think, and write... the best i can do... "cool")... *i hang my writer's head in mild shame and sheepishly make a note-to-self... to buy a thesaurus*
now i'll be honest here. i do not, for the LIFE of me, remember much of anything he said on that FIRST night. but that's not because i wasn't paying attention. but rather because i was quite honestly *star struck!* seriously. so all he said is in my head somewhere, but hidden by the giggly nervousness that comes from standing less than 3 feet from one's most favorite cake designer EVER. however, tonight... i remember approximately 80% of what he said! can you say "progress??"
anyway, we shared (by 'we' i mean our class and RBI) a few laughs before he took his leave and went back to his life, while we went back to our class. but i'll say it again... coolest class ever! i'm such a lucky girl, i can't stand it! (but i will. stand it, that is!) most definitely!
besides, i have a new goal to add to my list: get a photograph of me and RBI - desperately want one of those! :o)
more to come!
xo
m
ps...i leave you with my favorite photo:
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