Cakes and more cakes

Hey everyone! So it seems that every time I write my blog now, there's about a month or more in between each entry. So very sorry for that, but I'm very excited to show yall what I've been working on. My class is now in our 3rd module, which is cakes and cookies. It really has been the most delicious mod thus far...and the most difficult for me. I had never actually decorated a cake before now--shocking, I know. So this has been an incredible experience for me to try and pick up all of this as fast as I can. As we go along, I've gotten more comfortable with all of the different cake making and decorating techniques, and I've come to really enjoy all of the work you have to put into the final product. Here's some of the projects we've been working on...

Orange meringue cake

Vanilla cake, layers of orange curd, buttercream and marmalade and torched Swiss meringue on the outside. Garnished with torched meringue and candied orange rinds.

My chef's personal carrot cake recipe. Carrot cake with cream cheese icing and garnished with cake crumbs and pecans.

Small almond frangipane tarts with fresh raspberries and blueberries. Topped with chopped almonds.

This is cheesecake I made for my family over Thanksgiving--plated with raspberry and chocolate sauces I made.

Toasted coconut cake. Vanilla cake, layers of whipped cream and toasted coconut. Vanilla buttercream on the outside, garnished with toasted coconut and almonds. Buttercream piping on the edge.

Closeup of the cake.

Chocolate hazelnut cake. Chocolate cake with layers of chocolate ganache. Glazed with a rich chocolate ganache. Garnished with gold dusted hazelnuts, white chocolate shavings and white chocolate piping.

Another view of my piping on the chocolate hazelnut cake.

Petits fours--layers of cake and chocolate ganache, cut into 1.5 inch squares. Glazing fondant poured over them, then chocolate ganache piping details.

Dobochetorte--one of my favorite things we've made. Very thin cake layers, chocolate buttercream inside, spread over the torte and piped along the sides. We then poured a dry caramel over one of the cake layers, allowing it to set and become smooth then cut into 12 pieces to make the pinwheel shape.

Another view of the dobochetorte.

A rich chocolate mousse cake glazed with chocolate ganache. Toasted coconut on the sides and white chocolate piping on the top.

Bouche de Noel--a classic French dessert meant to be served at the holidays. It's a bisquit cake shaped into a yule log with chocolate buttercream meant to look like wood. Then garnished with painted meringue mushrooms and marzipan holly leaves and berries. And I added a little green worm with a Santa hat, just to be festive! 

Mango miroir. Mango mousse surrounding two vanilla cake layers inside. These are put into a blast chiller to allow the mousse to set, then they're un-molded slightly. Then a glaze is poured over the mousse to create the shiny top layer. I garnished with a strawberry on top.

This is one dessert a couple of my classmates made while I worked on another. But I love how these turned out so I decided to include it. Chocolate and orange pastry cream layers alternated with cake layers. Topped with torched meringue.

Symphonie cake--layers of hazelnut cake, hazelnut buttercream and rich chocolate ganache. Glazed with ordinary chocolate ganache and garnished with white chocolate piping and gold leaf.

Tiramisu--alternating layers of rum soaked cake, whipped cream and coffee buttercream. Cut into triangles and sprinkled with cocoa powder.

My favorite thus far--a chocolate ribbon cake. These are a chocolate mousse cake allowed to set in the blast chiller. Then the outside is covered with modeling chocolate which creates the smooth texture on the side and the ruffles on top. Then I painted the edges with gold.

Another view of the chocolate ribbon cake.

Thanks for reading and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!