School Update

Whew. Four weeks into the new semester of school, and I’m finally getting into the habit of bringing a camera regularly… My goal was to post weekly updates from my classes, so I’ll have to start with a bit of catch-up.

I’ve got two lab classes this semester; Baking I and Cake Decorating. I think I’ve always known that cake decorating, despite being my job, is not my calling. I lack the patience, steady hand, and artistic skill it requires… and honestly, I’m not terribly interested in it. However, I’m pretty excited that we’ll be moving into things I’ve not yet tried soon. Perhaps I’ll find something I like.

Butter cake recipe by Rose Levy Beranbaum, homework for Cake Decorating.

The first take-home cake project fell on the first anniversary of our wedding. The second falls on my mom’s birthday. Handy little class I’ve stumbled into.

Double-Chocolate and Coconut Brownies.

Raisin-Chip Oatmeal Cookies.

Both of the above, plated.

Fort Brownie. (Hey, we get bored.)

“That Chocolate Cake” and Swiss Butter Cream.

So, this pie… essentially, it’s an orange curd folded into meringue. The resulting color was a pale yellow, not terribly different than a key lime pie. It didn’t look too bad, in my opinion, but the instructing chef wanted it dyed orange. These pictures don’t really convey the sheer atrociousness. I think a classmate was pretty spot-on in describing it as Cheez-Whiz… which effectively killed any desire I had to try it. (It contained gelatin, so I had no real intention of eating it to begin with.)

A few things made by other classmates that I may or may not get to try my hand at in the future; soft rolls, hard rolls with freshly made butter, challah, buttermilk biscuits, rosemary focaccia, blueberry muffins, dill poppyseed bread, pecan pie, and raisin scones. All of the breads have been amazing, and I’m really looking forward to starting that section myself.