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A couple of cake variations that we learned tonight in pastry techniques class: the Bisquit Roulade and the zebra cake. I will post all the details soon, but I’ll leave you with a couple of quick photos:

I’ve told you before that I’m an almond skeptic. It’s true that I was won over by the little frangipane tart. But when it comes to marzipan, I’m worse than Sam I Am: I do not like it. Not in a train, on a plane, or anywhere.  But while I may not eat marzipan, making roses with it for cake decorations is really fun. Here’s how the best of them looked in pastry class last night: Yeah, it l

If, when you read that headline, you envisioned towering walls of silky buttercream, just waiting to tumble delightfully down on you, you are forgiven. Because if you fantasized lovingly about that for even one second, then you’re just like me. And that’s why I got seriously distracted when Chef Claude told us in pastry techniques class this week that we were going to build a buttercream dam. It didn̵

I promised I would show you how to shape those Danish pastries we made in class the other night, and I am here to keep my promise. First let’s do a quick bit on making the Danish dough, because, well, you can’t shape them if you haven’t made the dough, can you? I’ll keep it brief though (even though the process is anything but brief), so we can get right to the shaping.

I’m crying as I write this, late at night, with a pan full of warm Danish next to me. Tonight was the last night of the 8-week unit on batters & doughs in our pastry techniques class at L’Academie de Cuisine. I know I should be excited about the next 12 weeks of mousses, Bavarians, cakes, chocolate, ice cream, and small plated desserts. And I am. But I love dough. To paraphrase Woody Allen, I don̵

Puff pastry is so delicately lovely, and so miraculous, that it’s easy to forget how it can shorten your life. True, it’s made almost exclusively of stuff that will spike your blood sugar and your bad cholesterol. But some things in life are worth setting yourself back for. And in my humble view, this is one of them.

By any reasonable standard, I should have been pulled over and ticketed. Hand-held cell phones and texting are a menace? Sheesh, whoever made those rules never, ever had to brave a late-night drive home from pastry class with a pan full of warm, fresh croissants and pain au chocolat in the seat next to them. I dare any reasonable mortal to make it home under those conditions without swerving seriously at least once w

There is so much to tell from pastry class last night that I am going to take a new blogging approach: I’m going to write about it piece by piece. Otherwise you will be reading this one long blog post until mid-summer. And you won’t make it. I want you with me at the end! And since much of the evening has already escaped me, I’m going to save our puff pastry adventure for another evening (and a much

As usual, the ride home from pastry techniques class was heavenly. These little guys were riding in the passenger seat: and…

It was another whirlwind adventure in doughs tonight at pastry class. The quickest way to sum up is to tell you that I struggled to stay in my lane on the freeway ride home because I was swooning from the smells of warm brioche, quiche and a lemon meringue tart, which were perched on my chef’s apron on the seat next to me.