IP Lesson 27 : Tiramisu Gateau, Sacher Torte

One of my most favourite dessert is Tiramisu...I made it several times but different from the school one. Since the school version is the Gateau, they add the gelatin to make it set. It looks really nice for presentation but I still prefer the one serve in the glass with no gelatin.

Tiramisu is one of the most popular Italian desserts. It is made of savoiardi (lady fingers) dipped in coffee and mascarpone cream. The name Tiramisu is Italian and means "pull-me-up" (Tirami su), a reference to the effects of the sugar and espresso, but can be translated figuratively as "cheer me up".

I got chance to make the sponge fingers myself, normaly I just use savoiardi (lady fingers). Unlike the normal sponge we have made, we separate egg whites and yolks to make it lighter. And bake it in a very hot temperature, short time to keep it moist.

Chef Andre put 2.5 sheets of gelatin leaf instead of 1 sheet in the recipe. He said the amount of gelatin you add depends on how you want it to be. Like if you serve in the glass (like I said), you don't even need to add. But due to the time we had in our demo, he added more gelatin to make it set better.


So pretty....by Chef Andre.

As you can see, it is nicely cut. The inside is the mascarpone filling and some sponge soaked with coffee punch.

One more cake, Sacher Torte : The trademark for the "Original Sachertorte" was registered by the Hotel Sacher, Vienna, Austria. The cake consists of two layers of dense, not overly sweet chocolate cake (traditionally a sponge cake) with a thin layer of apricot jam in the middle and cover with dark chocolat icing with shreds of chocolate on the top and sides.

The chocolate sponge we made consists of lots of chocolate...It is look like brownie actaully...taste nice.

Sacher torte by chef Andre..again very sweet.

I reduced sugar in the recipe...It taste better for me.

After I tasted chef's Tiramisu, I found out that it was too gelatiny and too sweet. So I put just 2 sheets of gelatin and reduce sugar from 180 g. to 120 g. Truly, it is still sweet enough !

Because this gateau we made is 10 cm in height, when I put in the box, I have to ruin the top part. T_T

My tiramisu and sacher torte.

And our class with Chef Andre...my most favourite Chef....So sad that next semester we won't have him in our class...

IP Lesson 26 : Raspberry Mousse Cake

I mentioned before that normally I am not a big fan of kinda mousse, jelly-thing desserts. But today I like the raspberry mousse ^ ^ ( maybe now I like it already?)

Raspberry mousse gateau. We decolated the mousse with a joconde layered with tulip paste, then we bake them together on a patterned mat. I have seen this kind of style using sponge instead... both look good anyway. That strip is used to line the tin and we filled the inside with raspberry mousse and topped with a raspbery glace.


Chef Karen's

My gateau...you can see a bit messy on top, it happened when I tried to take the mousse out of the tin. T_T

At home, after took the acetate out...so pretty, eh? hehe

Aiya and P'Boy really like it...I also like the glaze..nice one!

Ummm....

IP Lesson 25 : Le Fraisier

Le Fraisier is a French name for a strawberry cake that, traditionally has a green layer of marzipan, and has Creme Mousseline sandwiched between 2 layers of Genoise sponge. I still remember first time I had this cake from Bakerzin in Bangkok. It was extremely delicious ! But when I had this in our school...mm..I might try to find some new recipe for this. Taste just like eating sponge with pastry cream (but it was a LOT more butter than pastry cream).

Chef Michael piped the chocolate for Su hee 's birthday. I like his piping..so nice. Oh ! and about pink mazipan, because our class request him to make it pink..lol.

My first rose mazipan...so funny...Hope I can do better in Superior.

I was thinking how come my Le Fraisier looks so plain..then I realized that I forgot chocolate piping...><>

Last day with chef Michael...You will miss me ..hehe

Cut and take photo at home..hehe..P'Boy and Aiya (my new Japanese housemate) like it though.

Exam !

Sooooooooo happy that finally we passed our assessment day...I was quite worried about it because it took us long time in the practical class to make opera last time...Anyway, it is over !

Since last time we did the opera gateau. Most of us made the ganach too thin by putting too much sugar syrup...I was afraid of that so I didn't put sugar syrup at all today. It turned out that the ganach was not shiny as it should be...and I found out that most of us did the same...

My jaconde was ok, the butter cream was ok but the ganache and the decoration...*sigh*

My ugly plated Opera...

We were waiting for the result.

Then after that Seok and I went to have dinner at Red Chilli Sichuan where I went before with Ping and Sam. Seok said he was very stressed in the kitchen today and when he was stressed, he want to eat something very spicy.

Steamed rice $3 per person. I think their rice was too hard for my liking.

Mapo Tofu $13.80 Hot and spicy silky tofu with minced pork. A few first spoons it was normal for me...but the more I ate, the more delicious it was ^ ^


Seok like it also.

Laziji : Deep fried chicken with dried chilli $16.80 I wanna try this dish since I went to Dainty Sichuan Food in Melbourne. I think here was ok..but not so special...Seok loves it ^ ^

Then Sam came for 5 mins to pick Stella and Heidi's Opera Cake...

Happy happy sichuan food.

We finished it all...Thank you Seok for being my dinner friend !

IP Lesson 24 : Brasilia Gateau

Actually the Lesson 24 suppose to be Iced Suffle but the school cancel that and let us make the Brasilia Gateau which is in Superior ...

This gateau consists of a joconde sponge, caramel buttercream and nougatine. So caramel and nougatine is made almost the same, from sugar and water, cooked till brown. (which is extremely hot !). It is similar as Opera Gateau but this one is much sweeter because of caramel butter cream...I personally don't like this cake at all.



Chef Karen made the Brasilia in her own style..quite cool !

Small pieces..

My Nougatine was too pale, can be more golden in colour...

Oh..and in the morning before I went to school, I felt want some good coffee so I draged myself to King St. to Mecca, one of the best cafe in Sydney.

Busy busy cafe.

Skimed mocha..only $3.00

IP Lesson 28 : Macarons, Biscotti, Piped shortbread

I love Biscotti...especially when dip in a cup of good coffee. I made it about 3-4 times and it turned out quite nice. All the recipe I have used got butter while the one in LCB have no fat at all...hehe...low fat biscuit today ^ ^

Biscotti mean twice-baked. It defined biscuits baked twice in the oven, so they could be stored for long periods of time, which was particularly useful during journeys and wars. Through Middle French, the word was imported into the English language as "biscuit''

Macaron macaron is a traditional French pastry made of egg whites, almond powder, icing sugar and sugar. This sweet pastry came out of the French courts' baker's oven as round meringue-like domes with a flat base. Lucky I tried to made at home before..so today I wasn't so excited.



Almond biscotti, chocolate macaron and piped shortbread. Chef Michael made the macaron in the kinda ''Kisses'' style which is very cute !

But I tried to make it in the style I like :)

Only piped shortbread that I think it can be better cuz the dough was quite soft before bake...so the pattern was not as sharp as chef's

IP Lesson 22 - 23 : Ice cream and Sorbet

This week for Monday and Tuesday, we made ice cream...ummm...

We made Vanilla ice cream, Chocolate ice cream and meringue for first day and made Raspberry sorbet and finished decoration on the second day.

Ice cream is a frozen dessert made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, combined with flavorings and sweeteners, such as sugar, and possible other ingredients. This mixture is stirred slowly while cooling to prevent large ice crystals from forming; the result is a smoothly textured ice cream.

A Sorbet is a soft textured water ice made from sugar syrup and flavouring, usually fruit. Sometimes alcohol is added. Unlike a Sherbet, it contains no dairy products but may contain emulsifiers to enhance flavour and consistency.

Bombes Alaska (also known as Baked Alaska, Norwegian omelette) is a dessert made of ice cream placed in a pie dish lined with slices of sponge cake and topped with meringue. The entire dessert is then placed in an extremely hot oven for just long enough to firm the meringue. The meringue is an effective insulator, and the short cooking time prevents the heat from getting through to the ice cream

Vacherin : A dessert consisting of several crisp Meringue rings stacked on top of each other and placed on a meringue. Alternatively, the rings may be made with almond paste. This "container" may be filled with ice cream or crème chantilly and/or various fruits.

Chef Gert (came to replace chef Karin) showed us now to make Bombes in his style.

His Vacherin covered by cream chantilly.

Chef Gert's Vacherin...Actaully his style won't be like this but because we prepared the meringue since Monday, we couldn't change anything.

In our kitchen, I had no idea what happended to all freezers that day. Someone change the temperature? Our ice cream almost melted. Then I saw one freezer, the temperature was 7 degree Celcuis !!!!!!!!!!!!

I tried my best to scoop my melted ice cream...Oh..chef Gert like my chocolate piping :)

Then I took the Bombes out from freezer and used blowtorch to burn meringue...Just before I left school, Hong told me that I took his Bombes but it was ok cuz he gave my Bombes to the Library already...What a shame ! I felt really sorry to Hong and myself...

So...I don't have the picture of my Bombes at all!!

Hong's Bombes (cut by me ..hehe)

IP Lesson 29 : Vanilla Horns, Jam Cookies, Basler Leckerli

Chef just changed to teach us the lesson 29 first this week...so we made some biscuits...Yeah ! I like biscuits.

Vanilla Horns is the shortbread made with almond meal that Ping (my housemate) make many times at home and everyone who tastes it loves it...so I am really excited to make it myself...Oh ! and today I am chef Andre assistant \-o-/

from left, left photo : Vanilla horns, Mailanderli, Jam cookies and Basler Leckerli

The Jam cookies look very cute.

My biscuits...hehe...I know it looks so much different from chef's one...but not too bad ...(chef said my Vanilla horns are a good shape ^ ^)

Soo jin made this cute cookies with my cutter.

Yum !!!

IP Lesson 21 : Opera Gateau

Opera Gateau will be in our assestment next week...so many things to prepare...It is assembled from different components : Joconde, chocolate ganache, coffee butter cream and chocolate glaze. A Joconde is a very thin layer of sponge cake. It needs to be baked quickly so it does not dry out and can absorb the coffee syrup.


I am happy that chef Andre will be assest us in the practical exam...He is so good.

His opera...20*20 cm.

The layers are joconde soaked with coffee syrup, coffee buttercream, joconde, ganache, joconde, coffee buttercream and chocolate glaze.


Tasting....normally I don't really like buttercream..but this one is so yummy.

Chef also showed us how to plate the opera...It is about 5*9 cm.

My Opera Gateau...the glaze was too thin cuz I put too much syrup....hiah...

Anyway, it is exactly 4 cm height which it should be...and all my friends who eat it loves it \^o^/