I was definitely off my game today. I was also sort of off my game
yesterday too. I hope this doesn't last the whole week... Apologies in
advance because there are absolutely no pictures in this post. We just
didn't entirely complete anything and the stages that our desserts were
in by the end of the day didn't really warrant photographic evidence.
We started with finishing off the last of the recipe instructions in our
giant booklet. Once we got to the kitchen, Jean-Luc assigned us the New
York Style Cheesecake. But, instead of the large one with the graham
cracker crust, we were going to make little ones in a silicone pan (sort
of shallow donut shapes) and the "crust" was just going to be a bit of
white chocolate. That way, this dessert would be gluten-free. I thought
that the cheesecake would be easy as pie (or, cheesecake...) because I'm
so used to making it. But then I started to doubt myself and my
abilities and I sort of psyched myself out. It was fairly
straightforward, except that this recipe called for a few things that I
don't use in my cheesecakes (e.g. sour cream). After mixing everything
in, we scooped it into the pan, right to the top. After they had baked
for about 20 minutes, we let them come down to room temperature and then
put them in the blast freezer for a while. Once they had hardened, we
took them out and used our fingers to spread a thin layer of white
chocolate on the tops (that would become the bottom) and then we popped
them out of the pan and set them on a baking tray. After they were all
done, we covered them and put them in the fridge. I think we are
probably going to be topping them with fruit of some sort, but probably
not til later in the week.
After this, we worked on our pumpkin cake from yesterday. I really love
the cake part of this, because it's super moist and really delicious. I
didn't think I would like a pumpkin cake, but it just takes like fall
and it's really yummy. I may have taken the extra cake home and eaten it
with whipped cream on top of it for "lunch"... We had to cut the cake
into three pieces (we were only using two layers, hence the extra), and
trim it to slightly smaller than a large cake ring. Then, we made the
filling, which was essentially a milk chocolate ganache that we added
whipped cream to once it was cooled down. EXCEPT, I didn't let the
ganache cool in the blast freezer long enough, because once we added the
whipped cream to it, the mixture (which was supposed to be a
buttercream consistency) was just really, really runny. Before Jean-Luc
could even say anything when I took it out of the fridge I just prefaced
showing it to him with, "I think I did something wrong." That's when he
told me that it must be because I didn't let the ganache mixture cool
down enough. We poured it onto the cake anyway; it would just take a
much longer time to set. After a half-hour chill in the blast freezer,
we put it in the regular freezer. I also made a milk chocolate miroir,
which is just a fancy name for a glaze, I think. This was also like
making a ganache. After this was done, it went in the fridge too. We're
going to finish up the cake (glaze and decorations) later in the week.
But we're essentially making the same cake that Jean-Luc demonstrated
for us before Thanksgiving. The decorations include chocolate swirls and
circles and other crazy things, which is great because there's nothing I
love more than chocolate work...
Our last task of the day was when things really started going awry. It
was all because of the egg whites. When you use eggs and you are
whipping them, Jean-Luc keeps telling us that they are supposed to be at
room temperature, because they whip better. But, every time I tried to
heat up the egg whites, they just started to cook. They were cold and
were taking forever to warm up and then suddenly they were cooked. I
sort of lost it on my second time and then my partner took over the egg
white part. While this was happening, we were also heating up a sugar
mixture and a gelatin/vanilla/Arabic gum mixture. We were supposed to
start whipping the egg whites when the sugar was at a strong boil. But,
even though we did this, while I was watching the sugar, Jean-Luc told
my partner that she had already over-mixed the egg whites. (They sort of
looked like what you think clouds would feel like.) So, we had to do
the egg whites for the FOURTH time. This time, Jean-Luc said to just put
them in the bowl and not bother with heating them up. While the whites
were mixing, we were waiting for the sugar mixture to get to 120 degrees
celsius. Once this was done (actually, we got to about 118), the egg
whites weren't quite ready so Jean-Luc increased the speed on the
KitchenAid and let them whip for a little bit longer. He said that it
was okay for the sugar to wait a bit for the egg whites, but not the
other way around. After it had formed soft peaks, I think, I got the
okay to pour the sugar mixture in slowly. After that was incorporated,
we poured the gelatin in. Then, we let it mix until it formed stiff
peaks. Once the mixture was ready, we placed it on a greased sheet of
parchment paper dusted with corn starch and icing sugar (I initially put
way too much grease on it, so we had to wipe it down and then
re-dust... sigh). The mixture went right in the centre of the parchment
paper, we added some more corn starch/icing sugar on top, placed a
second greased/dusted sheet of parchment paper over it, and then rolled
it out with our rolling pins using the metal rulers. They were about
half an inch thick, if I had to guess. Then, we saran-wrapped it and set
it aside. We're not going to cut it into the shapes that we want -- I'm
not sure what those are yet. I do NOT like making marshmallows. I am
pretty sure I will never voluntarily do this again. Highlight of this
process (surprising that there even was one): when Jean-Luc saw our
discarded KitchenAids filled with egg whites and said, "Hey, Safia, were
you making an egg white omelette here?" And I just replied, "Yes."
Overall, I do like doing the stuff for the fundraiser because it does
seem like a much less intense pace even though we are making so much
stuff. But, today was not ideal. So, hopefully tomorrow will be
better...
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Today's Recipes
New York Style Cheesecake
Pumpkin Milk Chocolate Cake
Marshmallow
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