Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY (Strawberry scratch cake for my daughter's 1st birthday)

I know, I know, it's been a while.  See, I've mainly been using this site for coursework, uploading pictures of food items that I prepare in class.  I remember making a few posts about things I've done outside of class (which tends to be much more food items) yet, I didn't continue that.  Well, I've decided to start back on that path as well as anything I produce in class.  Hopefully I can keep up.

So for this post, we have a nice strawberry cake, with a strawberry filling, and strawberry icing.  Yeah, so you've heard of Death by Chocolate...I'd have to call this one Death by Strawberry.  I enjoyed making it.  I searched for a few days for the perfect recipe to use as my daughters first birthday cake.  I came upon a few and I eventually saw one that stuck out, tried it (made 6 cupcakes with the batter) and my wife and I both agreed that it was a keeper.  I did tweak the recipe a little.  I used a little more strawberry puree in the cake batter as well as the icing.  Little butter here and there, little more egg yolk, etc.  Overall, I think the cake came out wonderful.  I was even able to practice my piping skills on this one...which made it even more fun.  I'd have to admit, it's not the most beautiful work in the world, but for my first cake, I believe it turned out pretty darn good.

Here are a few pictures of the process (after baking to finished).

Cake Cooling

Cake top cut for for flat surface.

Strawberry filling applied to bottom cake.

 

Top  cake put in place and circle on top to press cake down.  I then put the cake into the refrigerator so that the filling could set.

Strawberry butter cream frosting applied after filling finished setting.

I made a white/vanilla butter cream frosting to use on the base and top edge piping using a # 224 drop flower tip.

The HAPPY BIRTHDAY NINA applied with a #5 plain tip.

Strawberry filling close-up.



I really can't wait until the next time I make a cake and practice my piping skills.  As I said before, it's not the best, but it's pretty darn good and I'm feeling on top of the world. :-)  Did I mention...the taste was absolutely WONDERFUL!



FYI

Recipe's that I tweaked came from:  Cake, Strawberry Feeling, Frosting:  I can make butter cream on my own :-)

July 7, 2011 - PAELLA

Finally!!!  So this is the first seafood dish that we've been able to make.  Yes, it may not be totally seafood, but it's not chicken, or beef.  Seeing as I love seafood, and really enjoyed making this dish because of it, I'm happy to say that the first time I saw Paella was on the Food Network and it was AWESOME...well, I hope it at least tasted as good as it looked.  The one we made (pictured below) not only looks good, but it also tasted good.

Paella - Long Grain Rice, Onions, Bell Peppers, Tomatoes, Green Peas, Sausage, Scallops, Mussels, Calamari, and Saffron



Moving on, here's the nice little salad that I'm sure would cost around $12-$15 at some high end restaurants...smh.  It's spinach, with a few wedges of tomato, green beans and a bit of bleu cheese and topped with a simple vinaigrette.  Really good salad...and my eyes are opening up to the differences and easiness of salad making and salad dressing making.

Spinach, Green Beans, Tomatoes, Bleu Cheese Salad with Vinaigrete

Overall nice meal.  I would like to add, that scallops (when prepared the correct way...as those in this dish were) are extremely tasty.  As a future chef, I won't put out there the two seafood restaurants that I've tried scallops and they both seemed to cook them to an unfinished state...which in my opinion was gross in texture and taste.  The scallops in this dish was fully cooked, texture was the same throughout.  Until Baking...keep chewing.

June 30 , 2011 - Quantity Food Production 1

Okay, so as you saw, in our previous class, we didn't really have an entree.  In this class, we only had an entree.  Believe me when I say, this was one of the tastiest dishes that we've produced.  I'm still weighing in on that myself, but hey, it may not look too good (it is a peasants dish), but the taste and textures from the vegetables and protein (chicken) were nicely matched.

Coq Au Vin with Duchess Potatoes and Cauliflower with Mornay Sauce.

This dish comprised of different vegetables like garlic, pearl onions, carrots, and a few herbs as well as mushrooms(fresh) and BACON.  If you haven't noticed...I really love bacon.  The chicken braised with all of the yummy goodness that you see in the picture.  The cauliflower was simply boiled (no, not steamed this week) and the potatoes were first cooked (boiled) and added a few ingredients and actually used a pastry bag and star tip to get that nice look.

I reproduced this dish from memory the other day, and as picky of an eater my wife is, she actually enjoyed it...or maybe it's just because I made it (she did go back for seconds).  I suppose I'll never know. ;-)

Until next time, keep smelling, tasting and chewing.  

June 23, 2011 - Quantity Food Production I

Going into this class, I just knew that it would be a drag.  Little did I know that Salads and Soups would almost be one of the best classes to date.  During this class, we got to showcase some of our cutting skills from dicing, chopping and mencing various vegetables and even bacon ;-).

Panzanella (Tuscan Bread Salad)

This salad was AWESOME.  The fresh vegetables (Red Onions, Bell Peppers, Tomatoes, etc. with the toasted Bread (cubed) and and tossed in a vinaigrette dressing.


If any of you know me, Clam chowder is without a doubt MY favorite soup (yeah it's a chowder).  I really enjoyed making this one.  I had no idea how easy it is to make and am certain to make this one often when the weather get's lower than 65 degrees ;-)

New England Clam Chowder



Overall I really didn't think a salad and soup would be pleasing to eat without an entree, but, sence we made enough for everyone to sample, all of the different salads and soups were placed where each of us got to taste it.  I'll admit now that the chowder (for obvious reasons) stood out to me as well as the Panzanella.

Back Left: German Potato Salad (Taste was AWESOME)

Front Left: Panzanella

Right Side:  Grilled Vegetable Salad with Aioli

Middle:  Clam Chowder and I believe the Cheddar Lentil Soup

That's all I have for this post.  Stay tuned for more...



June 20 , 2011 - Baking and Pastry I

Okay...so it's COOKIE DAY!!!  We were able to pick between three types of cookies (Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter).  As you may see below, We chose peanut butter to start off.  Making these cookies really took me back to my childhood.  One of my aunts is a baker.  She used to give us (children) of the family coupons for free cakes (personal size) and cookies.  She always forked (made the checkered marks using a fork) her cookies.  At any rate, she made some AWESOME COOKIES...and still does.  These were great but I'd say that her cookies tasted more peanut buttery :).  All in all, I enjoyed making my first batch of scratch peanut butter cookies.  Maybe one day I'll make the actual peanut butter and use that for the cookies. ;-)

Giant (approx. 3-4 inch diameter)Peanut Butter Cookies

The second batch of cookies we made were a little more elegant.  As a kid, we always called them a fancier sugar cookie, but today I found that the actual name is a Spritz Cookie.  Spritz cookies are made from a softer dough.  We actually used a pastry bag and star to put them on the cookie sheet.  I've seen my aunt (the same one mentioned above) use a pastry bag all while growing up, and, I've seen television shows where the Chef  used pastry bags with the greatest of ease.  Little did I know that they obviously practiced a whole lot to get that part down.  Just as with everything else, with practice comes a better product.  So these spritz cookies aren't so round, but they were as tasty, if not tastier than those that I've eaten before.  Maybe eating them just a few minutes from pulling them from the oven made the BIG difference. :)

Spritz Cookie with Raspberry Preserve

All in all, these are just a few more items that I've added to my baking and pastry repertoire.

June 6-16, 2011 - Baking & Pastry I and Quantity Food Production I

I really do apologize for those of you that have been supporting my blog.  I didn't post last weeks class projects and am posting those (Baking and Pastry I and Quantity Food Production I) pictures with descriptions along with this weeks Quantity Food Production I dishes.


First up is an Apple and Blueberry Tart.  Although you may see two different tarts, each are the same, with the top just having a streusel topping.  Both of them tasted extremely well, and I would eat both at any given moment.  I would have to lean toward the one with streusel, mainly due to the added texture that it gives you while enjoying it.

 

 Apple and Blueberry Tarts:  Hand made sweet dough pressed firmly in tart shells and filled with a cooked chopped apple and blueberry with light sugar feeling.  These can be enjoyed fresh out of the oven(of course allowing them to cool enough to eat) as well as cooled completely.  The top two pictures have a simple crumble that was cooked along with the tarts in the oven while the bottom two pictures have no topping.

Second up is the Quantity Food Production Meal from last week which was a stuffed Pork Chop (boneless) with Potato Pancakes and Brocolli Almondine and a small Salad.

Braised Stuffed Pork Chop with Potato Pancakes and Brocolli Almondine

Small Salad with shredded carrot and quartered tomato and a poppy seed vinaigrette.

This meal was full of tasts that would satisfy my ongoing craving for some stuffing.  Although I have to admit, I've eaten my share of Stove Top...but now, I know for certain that I dont think I'll ever need to make that purchase again.  Stuffings in general are extremely easy to make, and can be made within minutes.  The almonds added a different texture to the brocolli that I would've never thought of  putting together.  The braised pork chop was tender and the potato pancakes were crispy on the outside while staying soft on the inside.

The last meal is the one we compelted yesterday (June 16, 2011).  It consisted of a Beef Roulade, Asparagus with Creamy Mustard Sauce and Classic Rice Pilaf topped with Dill.  This was probably the most involved meal thus far. We had to chop each of the vegetables (onions, celery, green beans, zuccchinni, carrots, etc.) into half inch cubes for the soup, pound the beef thin enough to make the roulade and shred a load of parmesan cheese for the roulade and soup. The list of things to do for this creation goes on much further, but, I'll let you get to the pics. :)

Beef Roulade with Asparagus and a Classic Rice Pilaf

 Ministrone Soup topped with shredded Parmesan Cheese

I really enjoy the fact that we get to eat everything we make :)  Although weight gained should be reduced with exercise, the many different dishes and tastes that I've been able to make and discover have increased my palate and overall awareness of things that I wouldn't otherwise use in the kitchen.  I'm still enjoying this process and am continueing to drive forward in learning and creating mouth watering and tasteful foods.  Until next week...keep chewing.

June 2, 2011 - Day 4 of Quantity Food Production I

Very interesting meal.  I can certainly say, I've never seen my mom, any of my aunts, or anyone for that matter put stew in the oven to cook, but hey, I learn something new every single time I attend class.  The meal was really good actually, Stew with Pasta (who would've every known that they went together...never in our household growing up), with slices of cantaloupe and prosciutto.

Cantaloupe and Vinaigrette with thinly sliced Prosciutto.

Beef Bourguingnonne and Basic Pasta (cut into the size of Fettuccine): Garlic, Onions, Carrots, Chopped Parsley, Fresh Thyme (from the herb garden), Dry red wine, Beef Chuck, Vegetable Oil, Flour, Tomato paste, Tomatoes, Brown Stock, Mushrooms, Unsalted butter, Salt and Pepper, Fresh Oregano (from the herb garden).

Again, a really nice and filling meal that you could make with a little bit of prep work.  The pasta is what will take the longest.  We made the dough, then had to cover and chill it in the refrigerator for two hours before stretching and cutting our pasta.