Misc.

A rather washed our picture of my failed souffle cheesecake. As you can see, it's not really at all a souffle.


This is the easiest dessert you could make...well- almost. Being as lazy as I am, I didn't even try to make the puff pastry on my own. I bought the freezer one, I admit it. Inside is rhubarb and strawberry. Now here if where it's possible to screw up: strawberry is easy enough, but the rhubarb. Whew. Cut that stuff thinner than you would think. People always say about an inch to an inch and a half, but honestly I would go for about .5 inch to 3/4 of an inch unless you want the people eating it to be making that sour face.

Secondly: Pâte á Choux

This photo is courtesy of Ko who so kindly took pictures as I had forgotten to! They were filled with chocolate ganache, creme patisserie, or both.

I am lazy.

End of discussion. When it comes down to it, true I was away for 9 weeks, but I still baked, and I still took photos. I just haven't gotten to putting them online (or compelled myself to.)
I just started at a new school, and am finding it an interesting change. Enough of this banter.
First, I present you the Mango Mousse Cake.
The mango mousse quickly went to the top of my favorite sweets list. The only error I made with it that I let it sit for too long in the fridge which resulted in it setting in the bowl rather than while in the pan with the cake. Hence why the mousse doesn't look as smooth as it should.

Long time, no see.

So. It's been a long time since I've posted. I was very busy in the end of April, but since then haven't had a whole lot to do. I tried a few new recipes, none of which turned out spectacularly. By any measure. My failed attempt at individual strawberry mousse cakes were something of a joke (it's always a good laugh when you don't ready the gelatine properly before attempting to incorporate it into the strawberry.) Try two comes on Friday, so the completed results, if acceptable, will be posted probably on Saturday, as that will be the day they will be consumed.
Today my mother bought some incredible salmon at Wegman's. Very possibly the best grocery store in the world. You could tell the quality of the salmon simply by smell, texture, and color. Not even putting into account the buttery taste. However, we decided to cook it. Plan of attack: cedar plank. It was our first time using it, and boy was it great. It took longer than normal. This is because you have to soak the plank before use for between 30-40 minutes, and then cookthe salmon on low in the grill. What resulted was a moist, tender, salmon that was absolutely delicious It flaked perfectly. Oh, before putting it on the grill, we rubbed it with dill, then brushed on an olive oil, lemon zest mixture.
More foods to come! As well as many more pictures. Bonsoir.

One week left of class

Just some pictures of the fantastic sushi my
friends Andrea, Mike and I made!

Home again, home again, dancing a jig

I haven't written in ages. I know. But it tends to happen when the few kitchens I have access to don't really have essential tools to bake (i.e any for of baking sheet, or a mixer of any kind.) I'm now back on my baking legs though, I was home for a few days over Spring Break, and baking in a little time I had. 

This cake is no way particularly unique or of my own idea. It is a simple strawberry mascarpone cream cake that I am embarrassed to say came from Rachael Ray. Shit happens. Anyway, the cake was very good. For the cream it's just mascarpone, sugar, and heavy cream whipped until it forms a thick cream. It's incredible, and is refreshing and a good change to just normal whipped cream. 

Annie the sous chef liked it a lot too! This dog stands by my side for every second that I am baking. It's incredible really I'll just take out the cutting board and next thing I know she's right next to me. My faithful companion (personally I think she's just in it for the food sometimes.) 

All in all, this recipe is simple, and takes hardly any brain power to do, but it's refreshing, and I feel just the right sweetness. I had to work on the original presentation a bit because it 

honestly looked like someone just took the biggest spoon they could find and dumped everything together. I'm not saying my presentation is fantastic, but it's an improvement. I'm sure if I had thought more, there were better ways to present this, and assemble it. I'm working on that. Also, a large portion of this blog isn't writing, but photography. I know. It is the best way for me to show what I've made and not botch it up with words. The photos will be endlessly more telling, and pretty. 

New Years Eve...

is always a lot of fun with my friend CR and I. It usually involves lots of food; this drink mixture of sparkling cider, and Monster energy drink; and some Law and Order. The night simply can't be better. So for this annual tradition we have going on I decided to make something a little more complicated and interesting than the usual chips and cookies. I took a previous Daring Bakers challenge that I've been dying to do. The Strawberry Mirror Cake. I am hesitant to put pictures up because it didn't go exactly according to plan... While making the Bavarian cream I let the gelatin sit for too long before incorporating the whipped cream... Yes, I know. There was a good amount of cursing from the kitchen right around then, let me tell you. So the cream was lumpy, it was kind of like having strawberry jam mixed with the whipped cream rather than having a nice strawberry, lovely pink cream. Oh well. It tasted OK. Also, after I poured the would-be mirror on top, it began to leak from the bottom a bit but I put it directly into the fridge and left it over night. I was so afraid about the out come of this cake...I had dreams about it all night! Some were about other members of my family putting things on top of the cake; and the jello top completely leaking out; or most of all, the mirror tearing when I took the sides off the pan! But at  last, when it came to it, everything went well. The mirror looked great, even if you could see a bit of the cream underneath too much.

Before I got ambitious enough to try this beast of a cake, I made something simple but tasty. An Apple-Custard Tart. 

Now I couldn't find a recipe that I really saw that had the same idea as mine exactly so I kind of just ran with what was in my head

. I first made a simple sweet tart crust, then worked with the apples. I essentially made the inside of an apple pie, but in a pan. Slice the apples thinly, then add cinnamon, sugar, and some other things I can't remember at this moment (ask me and I'll put the recipe up here) then I let it simmer until the apples got to the softness I had in mind. After the crust was done and sufficiently cooled, I arranged the apples in the tart then poured the custard on top. Then arranged some more apples on top, and coated everything with an apricot jam glaze. I'm not sure if the glaze was really necessary, but it wasn't offensive to the taste of the rest of the tart, so it didn't bother me. 

It isn't exactly the prettiest thing to look at but it tasted good enough. 

And tonight I get to ride on a bus for just about 12 hours back up to Montreal! Yay! Here's hoping I sleep the whole way!