The key is in the door

Life is always a journey.  

I never guessed at the tender age of 8, when my much adored Auntie Pat taught me how to bake a butter cake, that it would start me on a love affair with the beautiful chemistry of baking.

I love the romance of turning butter, sugar and eggs into a magical cake that almost always guarantees a smile.  Yes, Eat cake, and be happy! As my baking improved, the art of turning a yummy cake into a work of art appealed even more as each project had its challenges and nutting them out was even better fun.

So, the progression from a hobby, to a home business and now into our own little studio, it has been a dream that has taken a 6 year journey.  Allow me to share with you the next phase of my love affair with sugar!

A small unassuming shop in a small complex, wedged between a catering kitchen and an indoor squash court, was where we found our new home.

Yes, at this stage....it really was a mess, as we took down all the internal partions of what used to be beautician rooms.

No fear....it scrubbed up pretty well!

What I did fear of course....was..... shock horror.....flat pack furniture!!!! 

Luckily, VERY luckily, not everything was flat pack!

We newspapered the windows....and while we're at it, lets give the neighbours something to talk about!

Beautiful custom made granite tables arrived.  Big happy dance by Winnie!!

Every cake decorators' dream - tables all perfectly level. No more rocking tables!!

 

A fancy coffee machine..........

A lucky money toad.

and we're almost ready for the first classes with Margie Carter! Another very happy dance.

 Check it out!  We're finally up and running!  

3D VW Beetles fresh off the coveyer belt, for our very first christening classes.

 and the first cakes to go out the door.

So yes, we've moved in, and everything is just blissful!  Come and visit us soon!

Love,

Transformers and Valentines

For all you lovebirds out there,

Hope you had a wonderful Valentines' Day that was romantic and sweet or if you're like one of my favourite clients...had a bit of an inside joke.

Apparently this adorable couple are known as the "black sheep" amongst their friends...and hence, they have to stick together.   What better gift than to have one you can laugh about!

This is the true love in my life.....my godson Isaac.  He is going to grow up to be an international lawyer/playboy.....we might be a tad biased though!

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Without revealing my age....yes, I am at that age that I have to start lying about it........  I remember Transformers when it was first popular in the 80s.  I endured many a weekend of my brother flying around the house with his transforming cars.  So with a whole new generation of children who are discovering Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, it brings back so many fond memories of my brother at age 5.  (Not to mention the standing ovation he and his friends apparently gave the movie preview when it screened a couple of years ago- boys will be boys)

 

  

Doting Dad Tommy wanted a edible version of Bumblebee for little Nathan's 4th birthday.  Many thanks to darling James for lending me his beloved Bumblebee to be a model. 

 

What do you think?  

 More than meets the eye..............??  

and now I can't get the tune out of my head!!!

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and these photos just in,

The professional shots of Carolyn and Ezra's cake last month.  Much thanks to Evermore Photography for taking such lovely shots of the cake!

Macaroon or Macaron?

Chef Paul Kennedy - World Chocolate Masters Champion, told us when teaching us the fine art of the French Macaron, (yes it needs a capital letter!) that he divides his friends into Macaron friends and non Macaron friends.   You see, after you've had a few attempts at making this incredibly finicky biscuit, you'll understand why you will only offer them to people who know to appreciate them.  To those that think 'its only a biscuit' ....well, then they probably wouldn't really miss it.

Growing up, a macaroon was one of these things,

Recipe here at Elena's pantry

Sweet and moist with lots of coconut, they were consumed and savored on our way home from school in the family car.  I remember them to be large piped confections that we almost the size of my hand that I nibbled whilst wondering why my mother liked them so much....

Then whilst foodblog surfing in 2004, I discovered the French Macaron on a la cuisine (one of the first online recipes for the macaron) and then everyone seemed to be attempting them and singing its praises - well, back then, I couldn't really understand what all the fuss was about. 

The first ever attempt worked fine.... hence the incomprehension of what all the fuss was about.... the second attempt failed, as did the 3rd and 4th.  I even had my sister ferry them back from Laduree in London in order to compare them to my attempts.  Over the years though, I've been quite content to have my fill of them every time I visited Adriano Zumbo's in Sydney - (before he was THAT famous)    Still, making that perfect macaron shell was high on my list of to dos, so last year, the trip to Savour Melbourne took care of that.

This weekend I was delighted to share it with a lovely group of Macaron enthusiasts.

On arriving in the lovely home, I was greeted with a giant bowl of curious looking nuts.  (pardon me for going off track here)

I felt that closer inspection was required......

They are actually raw macadamia nuts.  I would never have known that was what they looked like growing on a tree!  And strangely, they have a texture like fresh coconut,  firm but slightly sweet and crunchy.  I learnt something new that day too!

Back on to the French Macarons.....

Demonstrating the Macaroner

Piping the shells with the help of a template

And finally assembling the biscuits.

We made Green tea, White chocolate & Raspberry and Lemon macarons.

The girls had fun and went away thinking about which friends were going to be Macaron friends.  So I told them, don't get too pretentious about French patisserie..... you probably don't need to go around correcting people of their pronunciation to the correct MAC-A-RON, as long as you know its spelled with one O, you're ok,
you can keep calling them MAC-A-ROONS.

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And some more photos of the dessert table for Carol & Doug at Kings Park a couple weeks ago.

Photos courtesy of Jess who did the beautiful flowers

Petit Fours & Chocolates

Remember those little bite sized marzipan and fondant coated jam and sponge morsels with a curly piped filligree on top and dotted with bright coloured gels?

Well, as delightful as I once found them...... the French have really taken Petit Fours to a whole new level.  Petit Four means small oven in French, and the requirement is simple.  It has to be no bigger than 2 bites.

The petit four course at Savour is a must!  Regardless of whether you are an experienced pastry aficionado or not, this is a wonderful place to start!  The 2 day weekend course saw many students travelling from all parts of the country.  All the petit fours went back to good homes.  Here is a little peek into our weekend.

It started with Paul offereing a sneak peak of the choclates produced in the chocolates classes.  Such pretty, pretty chocolates!

Unmoulding our perfectly formed chocolate cups

Filling our orange chocolate cups with mousse.

Look at how happy Evelyn is!  Working with chocolate does that for you.  Talented Evelyn is actually a dentist by day......patissier by night..... cool, steady hands.....perfect for this chocolate task - making little stands for the chocolate cups.

See....don't they look adorable?

with a perfect dome of blood orange jellies.

Sigh!  Almost too good to eat.

Brentons topped with whipped ganache

Brenton finishing production

Filling the divine raspberry & chocolate tarts

They made me so so very happy.

Chocolate raspberry tart finishing production

So sleek, so sexy, soooo goood!!

Chocolate moons (I called them eyelashes) for our lemon praline tarts

Lemon tart production team

Et viola!  Don't they look stunning!?

Guinea ovals.  Almond friands topped with sesame praline & pineapple gelee.

Choux profiteroles being dipped into hot caramel.  Much much hotter than boiling water.....ouch! 

Ready for taste testing.....

What next you ask..... walnut macarons of course.

Look at their perfect 'feet' and gorgeous presentation.

And last but not least,

Slow baked dark chocolate mousse

Melt in the mouth with a wonderful hint of coffee.  The memory is making me drool.

There was also an amazing almond mini cake with cherry jam that simply did not last long enough to be photographed.... 

As if there was not enough sugar in my life, I moved straight onto Chocolate class..

Tempering chocolate is one of those terribly mesmerizing things to watch.  Heating chocolate to melt it and then cooling it to a certain temperature so that it recrystalises properly to give fine chocolate its trademark shine and crack is certainly not as easy as it looks.

Here Robin is tempering our dark Callebaut chocolate ready for class.

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Here I am.....attempting it...... somehow feels like an episode of Masterchef.....

The omnious looking Guitar cutter

See what it can do to a perfectly fine chocolate filling!

Dipped and dessed with the most beautiful chocolate transfer sheets

Smiles all round!  Chocolate is so good for the soul!

 

Perfect shine, filled with caramels and luscious ganaches all ready to be savoured.

So, get into Savour school, the art of patisserie is truly worth experiencing and you will have a whole new respect for the perfection that takes place there.

Back in Sydney, look where my topsy turvy cake has ended up.

Shop front at Alex and Alex shoes in Erskine Street, Sydney.  All glammed up and surrounded by shoes, every girls dream!

Hope you all have a great week ahead, stay posted for Entremet classes. 

(Entremets are formerly known as Gateaux)