My dear readers,
As you know, I have started my first ever baking classes this month.
Last Sunday I have my first 2 sessions in which we’ve learned the basics of sweet and savoury dough. We’ve made Quiche Lorraine and Chicken Pie for the savoury and apple pie with streusel and almond frangipane pear tart with the sweet doughs.
The second session was all about cookies and I ended up going home with at least 60-70 cookies. My colleagues in the office were very happy 😆
You may check my below post if you want to see my creations from my first ever baking class.
Now, this Sunday I had another 2 sessions.
First session was all about cakes foaming and separation methods.
We’ve done vanilla sponge cake, carrot cake, ladyfingers, pandan chiffon cake and hazelnut sponge cake.
Now, I believe everyone who likes to bake, for sure tried to make the vanilla sponge cake. I did it several times and I must admit every time it was different.
The thing is that even with something considered so simple, if you don’t follow properly the procedure, you can end up with different results, edible or less edible 😂.
My tendency with the sponge cake is that is too dense…and my result from the class? Guess what? A sponge cake a little bit too dense.
Now, the wonderful thing from this classes is that is a real in person class, where you can practice and get tips to make the perfect dish or sponge cake in this case.
Seems that the problem with my sponge cakes is that I don’t whisk the eggs long enough and I tend to have a batter a little bit too liquid.
When this happens, we need to bake the cake a little bit longer and the batter will become denser.
Lesson learned:
Don’t be afraid to whisk the eggs a little bit longer until light and fluffy but make sure you don’t overmix them as extended mixing will allow for more reaction of leavening agents, reducing the expansion of air pockets, leading to a “shorter” cake.
The carrot cake was super moist and delicious.
The ladyfingers or also known by their Italian name savoiardi, are the sponge biscuits used mostly to make tiramisu. Was the first time I made them and are so easy to make and they are so more tastier than the bought ones.
Pandan Chiffon Cake is a light green coloured fluffy and super light sponge cake very popular in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and China.
The light green colour and flavour is given by the pandan leaves. When you see a very green Pandan Chiffon Cake you’ll know is made with artificial colours.
Of course we did it all natural and the taste and smell was amazing.
The hazelnut sponge cake is a flourless cake, basically made only with finely ground hazelnuts, eggs and sugar.
We have used this hazelnut sponge cake as the base for our milk chocolate parfait with salted caramel in the second session, which are these colourful and shiny mirror glaze little mousse doms with a heart of salted caramel.
Oh my if was funny to make these little doms, of course I also flipped one but I had the hands too busy to make a photo 😂 and the chef showed me how to still save it and you cannot see the difference 😉
The results of these 2 sessions?
And after so much work, we needed some pick-me-up so we made and enjoyed a coffee granita which requires a lot of time in the freezer but was all worth it. And the good thing is that you can make it in advance and keep it in the freezer for a few days.
Never miss a post:
Next Sunday we’ll learn the basics of blending in quick bread making, the creaming methods, mousse and meringue.
Oh my, I have tried to make one time meringue and was a disaster.
This will be exciting 😉
Wish you all a wonderful week ahead!
Baking classes done at Palate Sensations Culinary School Singapore.
