Sorry about the lack of posts today.  MAJOR computer issues at the Malone household – still working out the kinks, but hoping to be back to full speed soon! 

In the meantime, let’s catch up on yesterday’s class – my LAST day in Baking & Pastry class – sniff, sniff.  The day started with our written final exam, which I think I did really well on, despite the fact that my dog literally ate my notebook!

Next was the mysterious cake project.  Our chef did a 45 minute demo, showing exactly how she wanted us to cut, fill, and decorate a cake.  Then we were sent out on our own to recreate it for an exam grade!  Instead of taking notes to reference when I made mine, I took pictures!

She started with slicing…

And did a raspberry and buttercream filling…

Followed by another layer of cake…

And MORE buttercream!  Then she smoothed out the sides…

Got it all shaped and smooth, and then sectioned it off for 12 servings.  The final touch was a piped rosette on each slice!

One she finished her example, we did our best to remember the steps and recreate the same cake again.  I couldn’t take any pictures for you guys during the cake creation, since my hands were covered in frosting, but here was my final product…

It came out pretty well!!  My final grade was a 4.75 out of 5, since some of my edges were a bit rough.  The very last thing we did was “pull a project out of a hat” – and I pulled muffins – ugh.  Not that I don’t like muffins, but they were definitely the hardest thing to do, since so much is out of your control once they hit the ovens.  I decided to make BLUEBERRY muffins…

I smoothed them out with a fork so they were all even, and topped them with some decorating sugar.  After 20 minutes in the hot oven, they came out fabulous!

Mmmmmmm.  Nothing like a piping hot muffin to end a long week of classes.  Go figure in BAKING class of all places, I sliced my hand open on my cake slicer, and had to wear this ridiculous bandage and glove for the rest of the day.

I also managed to get a good burn on my arm, so I guess it’s for the best that this class is over – it was getting dangerous!  Today was my first day in Stocks, Soups, and Sauces.  I guess it worked out that I had all these computer issues, because I had no pictures to show you from today’s class anyways.  Since it was the first day of class, and we were heading into the weekend, we did SIX HOURS of lecture instead of production today – paaaaaainful!  Looking forward to getting my sauce on come Monday…

Crossing fingers that my next blog will be posted from my NEW COMPUTER!  If I can just get the freaking internet to work….