Cupcake Couture, Etc...

I've fallen way behind in my Blogs but NOT in my progress!  I'll break down my writings into separate entries because there are at least three major things to talk about.

My Cupcake Couture class was now under my apron belt!  The three-hour class was not exactly what I'd expected but it did prove educational.  The class was taught at the Epicurean School of Culinary Arts in West Hollywood.  It felt great to be surrounded by like-minded people who shared a love of Baking.

It was also fun to be in a Professional Kitchen Setting with all the bells and whistles I'd imagine in my own Bakery.   We could have used a few extra chefs to help us all out though.  At times, it felt as though our Teaching Chef was spread a bit thin.

We were 14 students in all and were broken into pairs.  My partner, Charrise, turned out to be a great cooking pal.  She and I shared a very similar baking acumen and both of us had anticipated a different type of class.  But we made the best of it.  In fact, we worked well together and laughed quite a bit along the way.  This being one of the few times I'd signed up to do something alone...it turned out quite well.  It was a good lesson for me.

First and foremost, I thought the class would be slightly more focused on decorating than it would be the actual baking.  As it turns out, what I learned was quite valuable in a general baking sense.  For example, I'd never made 'curd' before and I did that successfully (although it was a slooooooooow process).    

Charrise and I assumed we'd be able to make the recipe of our choice.  Eh hem, we were apparently wrong.  She wanted to make a Caramel Apple recipe and I wanted to try Red Velvet - to compare it to the one I'd made the week before.  Instead we were assigned "Key Lime Meringue Cupcakes" - an unusual and complicated recipe, to be sure.

Truth be told, ours were among the most difficult, most beautiful and most delicious cupcakes of the group.  We even used a torch to crisp the Meringue peaks.  

So in the end, the lesson learned was that no matter what you think going in to something, there is always something to be learned.  I walked away learning some new cooking techniques, how to use an Electric Stand Mixer (which I now desperately needed to buy) and the bonus ingredient - I walked away with a new friend. :)

Sweet Dreams, 

Me

"Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know." - Daniel J. Boorstin