Week of Cakes!

Last week we worked on various kinds of cakes, each of them using a different techniques. 

The Dehaies:

This cake, was lots of fun to make with all the different layers!

The first (very thin) layer is a chocolate genoise cake. The chocolate genoise cake is known for its lightness. (which is perfect for the Dehaies, because every other layer is heavy and rich.) Which we then soaked with a coffee sauce. 

Next layer is a crunchy peanut and coconut layer, it is extremely heavy, crunchy, and tasty! 

The following layer is a Vanilla Bavaroise Cream. It had somewhat of a mousse like texture.

It was extremely yummy tasting when it was a cream, but after being refrigerated it turned into a mousse, which the texture I'm not too crazy about. 

Then another layer of the chocolate genoise, and another layer of the vanilla mousse.

All these layers and wrapped with a Coffee Glaze.

It is a spectacular looking cake, but it wasn't my favorite cake.

St Honoré

(Our Chef's Version)

This cake consists of cream, cream, cream and more cream!

Its base layer is puff pastry dough, baked with a layer of  "pâtes à choux" (think of the dough for éclairs!)
When finished being baked, an apricot marmalade is spread on it. 

The two little balls on each side of the cake, are also made of pâtes à choux, then sprinkled with slivered almonds and baked, then dipped in a caramel sauce that turns hard. (I burnt myself with the caramel, and got a blister just moments after, ouch!)  Pâtes à choux, when baked, is hollow, so we cut them open and filled it with a Sweet Vanilla Cream (not the same cream as in the Dehaies cake.)
We then lined the whole cake with that same cream, then we braided a Chantilly cream on top. (Chantilly is a fancy name for whipped cream made with icing sugar.)
Decorated with Julienned Candied Orange Peel.
(Basically, orange peel cut into extremely thin slivers boiled with sugar over and over again until they are sweet.) 

Overall a yummy cake, but one piece is very sufficient. (Thank God!)


Orange Grapefruit Tart

The tart's shell is made up of sugary dough, baked and then filled with almond cream, then baked again!

The grapefruits and oranges get chopped into pretty looking slivers. (A very painful thing to do when you have cuts on your fingers!) 

The tart bottom gets glazed with a "napage," a nice fancy word for apricot glaze.

The fruits are placed on the tart in a nice design, add a little coriander, for a contrasting colour, glaze again with napage, and Voila! 

The coating of napage over the fruits, act as a preservative, allowing the tart to stay better, longer. 

This tart was my favorite dessert we made all week, oddly enough, because I don't like grapefruit!

It just all seemed to work well together and it turned out scrumptious!

All three of these desserts we took home on Friday, and sadly enough, we were leaving that evening for Barcelona. I took a quick bite of each cake, then gave them to a house of guys that are not doing the pastry course, so they never receive any desserts.

They were happy!

(I kept half of the orange and grapefruit tart because it was my favorite!)

Galette des Rois!

The Galette des Rois in the oven!

Yes, finally, they are baked! Actually, we baked them and took them home on Monday. I've just been too busy eating it to post about it.

Above, is Chef Florent's galette. It is nice and tall, this is because the puff pastry was well made, as well because the top layer was sealed very well to the bottom layer.

This is my galette! The issue that I had with it, was that I did not seal the top layer of puff pastry well enough to the bottom layer, so some of the frangipane filling came out, resulting in a less voluminous cake. 

Though, it is not the most esthetically pleasing dessert. It is scrumptious! And I'm sure, with practice I can make a way to get it to be a pretty cake, with out taking away the traditional aspects.

 Yummy!

It's supposed to be paired with a nice big glass of alcoholic apple cider (yes, even for the children!) But I enjoy a nice glass of cold milk with it!

Oh look! The Roi! Yay!

Until next time! 

XO

Agde

Cap d'Agde is somewhat of a suburb of Agde. Although there are no skyscrapers, the average age there is far younger than Cap d'Agde, (think Florida in the winter.) Yes, there are that many older people here, enough that they even have lawn bowling tournaments practically every afternoon!

So, as you can probably imagine, it is nice to escape to downtown Agde.

Here are some things I love about Agde:

I love the cute little bridge, and the people spending their lazy Saturday afternoon, feeding the ducks.

I love the beautiful river and the street that runs right along it.

But I especially love the floating restaurants lined up one behind another.

(Hidden a tad by the trees.)

Also, I find that the HUGE red flower pots give the park in the distance a funky vibe.

I guess you can say that the Agde region is growing on me.

The cute main town, and the relaxed beach town have a wonderful little quaintness about them!

À demain!

(... J'espère!)

Buttery Bliss

You may or may not have noticed that I'm somewhat behind on my blog.
I'd like to blame it all on the beautiful buttery croissants that we got to take home on Friday afternoon.
Desiree and I have/attempting to take on a healthy routine of jogging along the beach side. (We might as well take advantage of it, right?)
And due to all this jogging there's not time for blogging!
No, but honestly we've been getting to know our class mates and turned into party animals!
We went out both Friday and Saturday night, therefore both Saturday and Sunday were both extremely lazy days.
Anyways. Here I am again, so you will hear no more excuses for my lack of blogging.

You would never believe how long it actually takes to make croissants. All last week, we were working on doughs that need "tours". "Tours" are when you roll out the dough and envelope dry butter in it, just to roll it out again. After doing this numerous times, we get a dough with what seems like endless (extremely thin) layers of the dough and the butter. Puff pastry dough and croissant dough are extremely similar, as well as extremely time consuming. However when they come out of the oven as good looking as this, all the hard work is well worth is.

We were drooling just looking at them!

My breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

With nutella or in a sandwich, either way they were fabulous.

Tuesday: One croissant remaining. What will I eat when its done?

Oh yeah! The cake we brought home today! Hooray!

Thank God for the nice beaches to motivate us to jog!

A tout a l'heure!

And the Food Starts!

During weekday mornings I have French class from nine to twelve. Kind of a yawn, but I am still learning. 

My afternoons are a tad more exciting because its pastry class!

My uniform, yes we get to wear a chef hat!

All week in pastry we've been working on (and trying hard to master!) feuilletage. 

Feuilletage is puff pastry, used in mille feuilles, baklava, and all sorts of other yummy things! It is a lot of hard work and long hours to get it right, and has to rest in the fridge often, but the end result is going to be worth it!

With the feuilletage that we made,we are making a traditional cake in France, called the Galette des Rois. This cake is supposed to be eaten only around New Years, but because it is so good, the cake is often eaten throughout all of January, and then can no longer be found in stores. But now that I know how to make it, I can enjoy it at any time I want!

The Galette des Rois consists of the feuilletage, and frangipane cream (a mix of both almond and pastry cream), and a little hidden "roi". Whoever gets this "roi" is the king!

The "roi" that went into my cake is the red one! 

He's kneeling with a chest of gold.

Closing up my group's Galette des Roi!

After this, we put some designs and then in the fridge...

...to be baked Monday!

(this meaning, for pictures, you'll have to wait until then!)

Last night, with our very sparsely supplied kitchen, my roommate, Desiree, and I managed to make something quite delicious, which I thought I would share with you!
It is sliced chicken breast with onion and red pepper slices, sauteed in salsa, on a bed of rice with some tortilla chips.
(I just had to have some seeing as the salsa sauce was used. I thought I'd follow through with the Mexican theme!)

Somewhat bland looking due to the lack of colours, but I'd say it was a great dish seeing as how little we have in our pantry!

Have a great weekend!

Montpellier by Day and Night

Cap d'Agde, though it is a lovely little town, it does not have the European feel that I was expecting. My dad and I both agree that Cap d'Agde resembles a Cuban resort or the Fort Lauderdale area.

It is a bright and beautiful little town, but I was somewhat disappointed because it isn't the Europe that I know. 

Thank God for Montpellier.

Just one shot train ride away and I'm in a magnificently aged Montpellier.

My father and I went on Sunday, to try and figure out his train ticket back to Paris. After doing so, we walked around.

I love the idea of having street trams rights through the middle of the city, especially when they are as colourful as these ones!

We bought baguette sandwiches from these (very friendly) French men.

I also love the intricate and sophisticated architecture of the buildings.

We should still take the time (and money) today to turn buildings into pieces of art.

Montpellier had this wonderful Christmas tree in the center of the town square.

By Day:

By Night:

(We just had to take another trip to Montpellier in the night to see all the beautiful lights lit.)

There was a wonderful carousel that has been in the town square for twenty-one years.

(My dad and I think it is older than that, though)

By Day:

By Night:

A main pedestrian walk just off of the town square, filled with gorgeous shops, (many of them designer!)

To conclude, it is easy for me to say that Montpellier, though beautiful both day and night, it the dark it has a certain je ne sais quoi about it. 

Two Hundred and Twenty Three Days

Hello!
(If anyone is even out there)
I am Briana. I am nineteen (twenty in two months and twelve days), and I have just embarked on the journey of a lifetime, (or so I am being told continuously.)

So, if my best friend Chelsea's calculations are correct(and if they're not I'm not changing my blog name! I like the ring to it :) ), I am in France for two hundred and twenty three days.
Alone.
Well, not really alone. Without my family and friends.
Hopefully, I will make friends that turn into my family soon enough.

You may ask, if you did not know already. What is Briana doing in France for so long?! Doesn't she have school  or a job to attend?
For everyone that knows me, knows that I had a pretty nice set up. Nice family, nice boyfriend, nice job, good grades etc. But as many people my age feel, school was getting old. The same old routine was getting old. So I have stopped (or put on hold) everything that  I ever knew. Everything that was familiar to me. I jumped on a plane to France to pursue a passion.
I am in France to hopefully turn my huge passion for baking into something more productive. So I am studying at Gastronomicom (www.gastronomicom.fr) the French language along side pastry.
This blog is basically going to be used to keep everyone I know (that is interested in knowing about me!) updated on how I am surviving over here, what I am doing, what I am making (lots of pictures to come hopefully!), as well as where I am going.

Here's a little sneak peak of the area that I am staying in!

This is Cap d'Adge, near Montpellier, France. (*** South of France! )

These pictures were taken today on a two hour walk with my roommate exploring our little town. 

XO