I realize I haven't reported anything on school since it started last week-- in part because after a full day of making things and then another couple of hours working on my food portfolio, I'm pretty much over whatever recipes we've been working on; but also because I'm growing new eyes for this stuff but not the skills to match them yet. And now when I look at the pictures of my imperfect cakes I start getting that twitchy feeling that was previously reserved for really poorly kerned type or crooked picture frames.

Pastry chefs have a reputation for being the weird, neurotic, perfectionist OCD types of the culinary world (not unlike, say, graphic designers...ahem). And while it's been pretty obvious since birth that I lean towards this personality, erm, quirk, judging by the number of pep talks my chefs have had to give my class on the subject of "don't give yourself a coronary, you'll get it eventually," it's not just me who wants to flip the table when the chocolate seizes.

So it is with great restraint that I don't delete pictures of things that haven't come out perfectly. And if you promise not to judge my heavy-handed caramel application or my inconsistent rosettes or the piece of cooked egg that ended up in my creme anglaise... I'll share a few things we've been working on:


The beginnings of a strawberry cake with vanilla bavarian cream


Dobos torte (five layers of sponge cake with chocolate buttercream, topped with a final layer covered with caramel and cut into triangles)


Strawberry charlotte

PS: if you know anyone in Chicago that likes cake, send them my way. Seriously. Jesus. I need to get rid of all this cake.