Eat dessert first.

After two trimesters of sleeping in and staying up late, I set my alarm clock for 5:45 am and decided to take morning labs for my last trimester of the school year.  As of last Monday, my classes begin each morning at 7:00 am which means that if I'm not in bed by 10:30, I'm a walking zombie which can be dangerous since I deal with knives on a daily basis. 

Another change: I'm officially a sophomore.  Expectations are a little greater and the courses touch on more advanced techniques.  For example, my current class is Advanced Patisserie and Plated Desserts.  Whereas, we focused on basic quickbreads, laminated doughs, and cookies in my first baking class, this course encourages us to visualize the plated dessert from the beginning and plan out each element of the plate. For each dessert we are required to have a main element, sauce, crunch element and a garnish if appropriate.  And while all of us produce the same main element, each group individually decides on the flavoring elements, infusions, and liquors which are used to add interest.  Everything we make is delicious and it doesn't look too bad on the plate either.  Another plus: we get to snack on chocolate, cookies, custards and fresh fruit all morning.  I'm certainly not complaining!

We steer clear of yeasted doughs in this class and instead focus on dairy-based creams, decorative cookie garnishes and a la minute desserts.  Thus far we've covered mousse, Bavarian cream, pastry cream, almond lace cookies, tuile cookies, poached fruits, and baked custards (i.e. cheesecakes, flan, and creme brulee).  The desserts we plate are served in the dining rooms, so it is essential that we put some time into conceptualizing our plate designs before we begin.  The elements are very simple, but when they are put together, the plates look really nice.  Here's a sampling of the plates we've put together thus far, and the class is only half over!

My group's Chocolate Mousse lightened with Meringue

served in an almond lace cup

with creme Anglaise, blackberry cherry coulis, and raspberry coulis

Another group's red wine poached pear in a tuile cup

served with a spiced red wine reduction and a chocolate garnish

My group's red wine poached pear

served with a spiced honey red wine reduction,

gingerbread cake with cinnamon chantilly cream

and a raspberry tuile cookie

Another group's cinnamon baked apple served in

an almond lace cup with a tuile cookie leaf,

chantilly cream, and caramelized sugar

My friend Amanda working on our cinnamon vanilla Bavarian cream

complete with chocolate curls, fresh raspberries,

a chocolate dipped tuile spoon, chocolate garnish, chocolate drizzle

and raspberry sauce

Our finished plate

Another group's Orange flavored bavarian cream

served on a shredded filo nest with candied orange rind,

a sweetened mango puree, raspberry coulis and a chocolate garnish

My group's plate from today:

fresh fruit tart in a short dough cookie crust with vanilla pastry cream

served with mango chantilly cream, blackberry raspberry sauce,

and a chocolate drizzle