Strawberry and Rhubarb Frankenpie
by Cora and Tyler
I used this great website to figure out how to make the lattice top. I highly recommend it. The pictures and instructions are very helpful and clear.
Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb
(it’s a theater thing. right? someone please tell me I’m not making that up)
Last week I baked in my old apartment for the last time. Well, maybe not the last time, that kitchen is just upstairs and maybe I’ll have a crazy baking project where I need 2 ovens and my old roommate will be okay with it, but that’s beside the point. It was the last time that I baked there while it was the kitchen to the apartment that I lived in.
Tyler and I made another collaborative pie with rhubarb from his parents garden.
He worked on the filling and I made the crust. I didn’t have my simple pie dough recipe, because I put all my baking books in a box and the book with the recipe was at the bottom so I googled a simple pie dough and kind of improvised from there.
I couldn’t fully remember what I was supposed to do… making the dough by hand, what it was supposed to feel like, etc. (only having experience making 2 or 3 pies before) It was really warm in the kitchen, too, so that also played a factor in what I was calling our FRANKENPIE!
But that’s okay, because nobody sees that once the filling is in. I also wanted to try to make a lattice top (a first for me), and the dough was a little finicky for that too.
However, the pie made it into the oven fine, and despite it’s messiness, it came out tasting great!
Pictures from the final week of Advanced Techniques in Baking: Sauces and Review (yes, I’m finally finished with the pictures from the class which ended more than a couple of weeks ago)
As a group, we made Saint-Honores (pictured bottom right), which I can’t even remember how to pronounce. I happily volunteered to work on the Pate a Choux, which I loved making in my very first baking class and piped out a whole army of little guys (top left picture).
The Saint-Honores we made involved Pate Sable (or Quick Puff Pastry), Pate a Choux, Mousseline Pastry Cream and Caramel. I loooovvved watching the caramel change colors, I think it’s so beautiful. While pretty interesting looking, I found the Saint-Honores difficult to eat when put together, but enjoyed lots of tasting throughout the process.
Oo oo oo! I forgot to say what kind of cake I made in my class last weekend. It was a margarita cake! When class starts, we usually get a small packet of recipes and then the instructor/chef sometimes does a demo and talks about some techniques we might use during that class. And following my baking class last weekend, I was going to a bridal shower and bachelorette party for my dear friend Laura. Her and Will (another great pal… I take credit for introducing them) are getting married on Cinco de Mayo, and a margarita cake could not have been more perfect.
Pictured: (top) I brought the cakes to the bridal shower and they were a hit! (below) As part of the evening festivities, we went to The Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant in Boston and dipped yummy bites in fancy chocolates. The bride to be is sporting a fantastic sombrero.
Advanced Techniques in Baking, Week 3: Cakes II
Back in December, in the first series of baking classes I took, I made my very first cake. It was a layer cake, and I thought that was pretty tough by itself, trying to make it look nice and not chopping it up and such.. but I really liked making it. I then started looking at cakes in stores and wondered how the heck they get the edges so darn smooth.. well, last weekend, at the CSCA, I learned how…
They use cake rings! I have wondered what those rings were for, seeing them hanging up in kitchens, before, and now I know It’s quite a process (bake the cakes, slice the cakes, fill a different ring with the frosting, put down a layer of cake, soak it, frosting, cake, soak, frosting… etc.) But it lends to a mighty pretty cake. (I also put together a second messy cake really quickly without building it in a ring because I had a lot of extra frosting and cake but class was finishing)
Advanced Techniques in Baking, Week 2: Meringues
Above you see an inside-out Almond Joy ice cream sandwich. A coconut cookie with a chocolate almond ice cream, with pieces of almond, chocolate dust and feuilletine crumbs on the outside. I MADE ICE CREAM, for the very first time! it was super cool!
I didn’t even know what a meringue was before this class. Like, I had no idea what we would be making, or what it would look like in the end. I’m still not entirely sure what it is, but I do know that it has to do with a combination of egg whites and sugar and it takes many forms and there’s a lot you can do with it.
HAPPY PIE DAY!
Okay… So these pictures are also from over a week ago, but the sentiment is still there. A post about pie for pi day. I’d be much cooler if I made pie for today, but my schedule generally doesn’t work out like that.
These pies were super special because it was a team effort between Tyler and I. I made the crust and he made the filling. He forages mushrooms and had a bunch of dried trumpets from the beginning of the fall and made up his own recipes for savory and sweet pies. I got super nervous while making the crust because I’ve only made it twice before now, and it’s been quite a few months, and I couldn’t remember if I was doing it right, but I think if I totally messed up, I would know.. but I think they turned out just great!
Oh my goodness oh my goodness! How have I not shared this yet?! (maybe because the picture is blurry because I was moving because I was SOOOOO EXCITED).
That’s me. Yes me! IN A CHEF COAT. The boys (head chefs at Whisk) gave us (the
“interns”) chef coats last weekend and I ALMOST CRIED. They said we’ve earned it. Actually, I probably would have cried but I cried the week before and they don’t need to see that more than once a month. I HAVE A CHEF COAT, it’s huge, but I love it.
Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chip cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
These (very delayed) birthday cupcakes were made for co-workers last week. Originally, I wanted to make cupcakes for, or close to people’s actual birthdays, but timing and life often doesn’t work out like that. I asked for preferences and both of the teachers said they like almost everything I’ve made, but are partial to cream cheese frosting. I didn’t want to have to go food shopping so I decided to work with what I had in my cabinet. While pumpkin season has passed, I thought I’d use the can now, instead of waiting again for the fall to come. I had toasted pecans from these pies and some chocolate chips hanging around so I thought they’d be great to mix in the pumpkin batter (a Martha Stewart recipe) topped with a creamy cream cheese frosting (also, Martha). I didn’t turn my Kitchen Aid on at all and mixed everything but the frosting, with a whisk and my muscles.
I was not happy with the fact that I under-filled the cupcake liners, but nobody complained. Whenever I think I know how much to fill, I have a different recipe and it has a different weight and consistency, etc. That’s what’s happening right? I’m not too too worried about it. However, under-filling did give me the opportunity to make some babycakes, which gave me the ability to taste the cakes and share with more friends.
My first (paid) baking gig!
Almost a year ago was my first time baking for people I might not know, when I made Black and White cookies for an art opening. Usually when I bake I bring it to school, improv shows, or friends houses because I love sharing sweets. A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine asked if I had recommendations where to buy a birthday cake for her roommate’s party and of course I offered to do it. Since she was willing to buy a cake from a real bakery, she wanted to pay me for my services and thus became my first “real” baking gig. Now I’ve only made a cake once before, which was during my baking class, so I still didn’t really know what I was doing. I was in the kitchen all day yesterday and had a couple of hiccups.
My task was to make a small cake for Vanessa (the birthday girl) and 2 dozen cupcakes. The only stipulation is Vanessa didn’t want chocolate on her cake, she was also in charge of buying the cupcake liners.
I made a mini yellow/funfetti layer cake, and I overfilled the pans so the middle took a really long time to bake and the outside over-baked and the top made a huge dome and I had a lot of cutting to do to make the cake usable. But at least I had a lot left make my roommate test with frosting (my nose is stuffy so my taste buds are off).
Also, I was a little stressed because I lost a lot of the cake, and I didn’t have a cake stand and was having a “what do I think I’m doing? I can’t possibly do this” moment, so the layers didn’t come out as beautifully as planned.
The wonderful thing about making a cake, is that frosting fixes a lot of it. You cover it, and make it pretty, and it all tastes the same. I made a simple buttercream frosting, that reminded me a lot of the kind you buy from a grocery store. It was harder than what I usually make for cupcakes, but was excellent for decorating. I couldn’t make purple, or pink or red because I didn’t have any red food coloring, so I decided to go with turquoise. Viola!
It was my first time doing lettering, and I really liked the line quality. I have some work to do on other decorations.
