Welcome 2012!!

As I look back on this worlwind of a year I look forward to what the next brings.
This year I Graduated with Honors from The Art Institute of Indianapolis's International Culinary School with a Baking and Pastry Certificate.
I became an Aunt and Godmother to two beautiful boys.
Elijah Jesse Miller                                                 Ethan Kellen Gruver

 

I got a new job as the Production Manager/Sponge and Dough girl at Great Harvest Bread company in Caramel Indiana. Which has been interesting and I have been there a month.
I know that this new year will bring changes as I grow as a baker as well as a person.
I look forward to planning with my cousin Kellee who has asked me to do her wedding cake at the end of the summer and that will bring its own challenges with making something Gluten free for a few members of our and the Groom's family.
Happy New Year and God Bless!
From My Kitchen to yours! Happy Baking! 

Job.. :D

So I have been lacking in the postings but should have some fun ones from the last holidays coming up as soon as I find the time!!
Well I started a new job after Thanksgiving.
I am a Production Manager/Sponge and Dough girl at Great Harvest Bread Company in Caramel Indiana!
It has been an interesting experience getting up at 3am to be at work by 4am and working on dough by 4:15am! and my schedule for the mornings are tight but it makes time go by pretty fast.
Its a good start job to get the experience I need before I am given another opportunity to grow in my new career.
Happy Baking and will post more soon!! :D

A little Practice!

So I have had a hard time finding a job but it doesn't mean I can't use a little practice.
So I made a few fun things today..
Starting with Gluten free vanilla cupcakes.. these are a trial run I have never made gluten free before. These are wonderful cupcakes honestly and I added my cream cheese frosting and some candied almonds! For my cousin's wedding I plan on also add pastry cream as a filling inside the cupcakes.

so these from here I made this WONDERFUL recipe by Martha stewart!! These are called the "Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins" After they are baked you let them cool and then brush them with butter and roll in Cinnamon sugar!!! they honestly do taste like doughnuts!!

these two cupcakes below.. have a devilish Halloween secret! the vanilla is Gluten free! and the chocolate is made with DIET coke! 

So these devil's food chocolate cupcakes are Diet coke cake! its simple! take a box of chocolate cake and a box of sugar free chocolate pudding add one can of diet coke and mix! then bake! crazy right! But it makes this soft moist diet cake! seriously you would be shocked that its diet.. well till you add the Chocolate frosting to the top! 

 All decorated for a party! These are all going to the Costume party we go to every year! So excited!

Happy Baking! :D

Wedding cake

So for our final we had to use Styrofoam and make a 3 tier wedding cake.
So here is mine enjoy! 

New Outlook

With three weeks left of school I decided the Blog needed a new look. So we even have a new name!! There is also a possibility of a new Banner coming to the blog.. stay tuned in while we make some changes.
WE also started working on display cakes today.
I am making "Burnt Almond cake" Which is one of my favorite cakes that you can only get in San Jose.. Oh man I miss this cake!!
Pictures and Fun to come! 

Sculpted cake

So Sculpted cake tends to be something everyone sees on TV but is not as popular out side of that.
But we learned how to do them. we were given a customer (14 year old Bobby) and a theme (Harry Potter Birthday).
Starting with a sketch we planned out our cake.

Once we had that we made our chocolate pound cake and Peanut butter butter cream. WE started by stacking our books and sculpting them as we worked. 

We then started on the hat. We then finished the hat with rice crispy treats for the bent point and made chocolate frogs as well as a solid chocolate ball covered in gold foil topped off with sugar wings! We added jelly beans and a few gum paste decorations for a finishing touch! 

Busy and Almost done!!

I know I haven't posted in a while but I have been really busy with taking my LAST 2 classes!!! And My Internship has been very busy and really great!
ON top of all of that I have been asked to assist during a demo at the Large art fair "Penrod" at the IMA!
http://www.imamuseum.org/special-event/penrod-arts-festival
It is an honor and a pleasure to be able to assist with this!

So Some of what I have been working on :)

A "Sabrina" Moment!

  Not everyone may know of the movie "Sabrina" at least not the 1954 version with Humprey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn but it is one of my favorite Movies! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047437/
  In the first few scenes of the movie Sabrina (Hepburn) goes off to Paris to cooking school. While she is learning to make Souffle she forgets to turn on the oven and her Souffle ends up as flat as a pancake.
   Souffles can be tricky and it has not been something we have learned in class. But since I finished a class on European Style cakes, which tend to be egg foam meaning their leavening agent is typically a stiff Egg white  mixture that is folded into the batter. So I figured I would venture out to try and make a Souffle.
   I found on foodnetwork.com an Ina Garten recipe for "Spinach and Cheddar Souffle" This actually turned out really simple compared to some of the sponge cake recipes. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/spinach-and-cheddar-souffle-recipe/index.html
   And It didn't fall!! I was careful not to look at the product while it was baking and the oven was hot so I did not pull a "Sabrina" It came out a tad bit dry but it may have been the cheese that I used since I used a very sharp cheddar cheese. But it went well with the rotisserie chicken that we made on the Grill spit.

Another Quarter in the books

So this last quarter was pretty hard on me and hence why I could not post. But today is your update! :D
So I aced all my classes this last quarter and finished with flying colors! and I got to graduate this quarter with Honors at the moment I have a 3.94GPA!
For my Final for European cakes I invented my own European style cake, a raspberry lemonade torte.

This torte is made with raspberry mousse and lemon mousse with a golden chiffon cake and raspberry gelee.

It was fun to do and to make up! 

For the other part of that final I had to work with a partner and we made another cake together the Le Frazie torte. 

This is one of my favorites it has moussilien cream and strawberries. 

Yumm!!

For Breads class we made bagels, croissants, Baguettes, and Rustic bread. I got a 95% on the test for my shaping, scoring, and taste!

Such a great Quarter and met great people!!
Next quarter is my last quarter I have Advanced patisserie and display cakes and my Internship! All of this starts In July! so I will enjoy the break and vacation. 

Goal Achieved!

I made myself a couple of goals at the New Year for myself and my work.
And as of this week the first goal has been achieved.
I got my work on display at school in their display case.

Internship

I have an Internship!!! YAY!
My internship is at a Cupcake shop in Carmel Indiana.
Holy Cow Cupcakes
http://www.holycowcupcakes.com/Site/Welcome.html
I start July 11th and will be there till September 24th as their Summer Intern

I am excited since they are moving and expanding the menu!!

Experimenting

For my final in European Cakes and Tortes we have to either find a European style cake or make one up ourselves. I have been doing some experimenting of mine to give my own instead of doing one that someone else has made up.
I have always adored experimenting in the kitchen. There is something about making up your own and getting things either messed up or perfect.
So experiment #1
I made a Golden Chiffon Cake that I then layered Raspberry Mousse over and then a Raspberry Lemon Gelee over the top. This was then frozen for 4 hours and un-molded. At that point I put whipping cream and fresh raspberries to decorate the cake.