Art Culinaire, week 3

I've found that I enjoy creating the one or two bite course that is the amuse bouche. Dessert is still my number one favorite dish to create, but the amuse bouche is definitely my second favorite.

Thursday I prepared a Gorgonzola Stuffed Fig with Prosciutto. The recipe called for wrapping the fig with the prosciutto and roasting it, but I chose to create a rose out of it instead. I cut circles out of the prosciutto and made the rose in the same way you make a rose out of gum paste. I secured the bottom of the rose with wooden skewers and deep fried it. The petals fell open a bit as it fried, and I love how it turned out. I placed the rose in the center of the fig, which I cut partially into three segments to be the "leaves." I love the presentation, but wasn't too fond of the flavor. Gorgonzola is just not my favorite cheese. Combine that with the Balsamic Vinegar Reduction and it's just a combination that made my tastebuds go, "Blech!"

Friday, however, I prepared a Chile Chocolate Sorbet. I took an orange and removed all the insides of it, cut a decorative edge, and then simmered the shell in the chiles and simple syrup before I added the cocoa powder to the mixture. I froze the shell, then, so the container would keep the sorbet nice and chilled. We didn't have Chile Chocolate, so we added some cayenne to the mixture to give it that kick. I also chose to add cinnamon and ground cloves to mine which gave it an added depth of flavor. I had no idea a sorbet, which doesn't include a single drop of cream or butter, could come out so incredibly rich and decadent.

As a garnich, I made my "famous" sugar cookies in several shapes so I could choose what I liked the best and decided to go with the leaves. I LOVE how this presentation came out!!

Advanced Pastry- Hamburger Cake

This week we assembled our hamburger cakes. My plan was to take a kids lunch tray and make a “school lunch” with the hamburger being the main item. I wanted to do more than just a cake and I knew that this would be different than everyone else’s.

Last week I made many of the base items for assembly. I colored all my fondant, made my tots out of rice crispy treats, made the base of my milk container and hamburger patty out of rice crispy treats, made and orange gelee and poured it into a half sphere shape to set up with two plastic play food orange slices on top to give it the real orange look, and shaped my hamburger buns.

Before I came to class this week, I made a list of everything I needed to get done and the order I wanted to do it in. I began by placing the completed items on the tray. I had made small chocolate chip cookies to use as the “dessert” portion of the tray and my tots were also complete. From there I cut and covered my “milk carton” with a single layer of white fondant to give it a smoother look. I put it in the fridge to set up a bit and moved on to covering my hamburger buns. I covered them both with a tan fondant and then brushed a little brown dust on them to give them some shading. I love how it turned out. I think it looked just like a whole wheat bun! I even gave it some little grooves in the top like buns usually have. Then I created my “toppings” for the hamburger- American cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. I shaped and painted these and smeared some “mayo” on the top bun and it was ready!



I quickly made some “ketchup” from corn syrup, powdered sugar, and red food coloring. I would like to experiment with that a little more because it needed to be a little thicker and as it sat, it started to get some little bubbles on the top.

I then moved back to working on my milk carton. Next time I would shape the carton to have a peak in it instead of just square because the top sunk a little and wasn’t as rigid as I would have liked. This class is all about learning, though, right? Once I had it satisfactorily covered, I painted on it with a mixture of shimmer dust and food coloring. I was able to do this fairly quickly and neatly due to my many years of pottery painting experience.



The milk carton was definitely the hardest part. Once it was done, all I had left to do was cover my “orange” with a peel. I put a little icing on the orange and covered it in orange fondant. I then used a tool to make little divets in the orange skin to make it look more realistic, and painted a white line into the middle of the gelee for the core of the orange. By that evening, the fondant had begun to fall off the orange, so I would probably need to let the gelee come to room temperature and THEN cover it so the condensation wouldn’t turn the fondant to goo.



My friend thought I looked like I was at school eating my lunch while I was sitting and painting so we just had to take a picture when it was finished of me pretending to do just that.



Overall, I was EXTREMELY happy with how it turned out. This class is so much fun!! I love not only creating cakes, but seeing all the other creative ideas my classmates have. It’s amazing to have so much creativity in one room. I think it’s the quietest lab I have ever worked in because we all get pretty involved in our own work.