"Garnishes: Watermelon Basket"

The next garnish that we created was a watermelon basket. It involved using a tool to cut around the center of a watermelon while leaving spaces for the handle of the basket. Once the shape was cut out we had to scrape out the inside of the watermelon so that it would be hollow. It is possible to use the watermelon that we scraped out to create "melon balls" that could be placed in the basket and eaten. This garnish was much simpler to create than the shark and I prefer the look of the basket to the cucumber shark.

"Garnishes: Cucumber Shark"

We have began creating garnishes in this class and there will be three that we will be making: a cucumber shark, a watermelon basket and an apple bird. The first of the three is the cucumber shark. There are many different steps to building this underwater fish. First of all, a flat bottom must be cut. With that piece that you cut off, you can create the fins on the top and on the sides of the shark by cutting slits into the shark and pushing the pieces of cucumber into the slits. You can also cut out a mouth full of teeth as well as some gills. A tail can also be made with a different cucumber piece and a slit at the back of the cucumber and finally you can give the shark some eyes by using a rounded tool. The challenges with this task were the size of the cucumber (it was very small and that made it difficult to add details) as well as the ability to use a knife.

 

"Cookie Monster Cake"

The second time that we used the monkey shaped novelty pan we had to be creative and think of a completely different design that would work with the shape of the pan. One of our ideas was doing cookie monster because we thought it would be fun and unique. Once the cake was ready to be iced the labor intense process began again. This time it was a bit simpler since most of cookie monster is blue. We decided to outline his hair to create more visual texture and to add detail to the cake. Also, we made cookies before hand to put on the cake so that it could be more realistic to cookie monster. This cake was a lot of fun to make and it turned out really well and tasted delicious.

"Monkey Cake"

To create this unique cake we used a novelty shaped pan, in this case a monkey, and used different icing techniques to make it resemble a monkey. Once the cake was baked and cooled it was time to begin what seemed like a big challenge. Five different colors of icing were required and it took patience and commitment to finish the decoration process. If your hands weren't shaking by the end then you weren't working hard enough.

The star tip was used on 95% of the cake and that's what helped give the cake texture. Otherwise, the smaller parts such as the eyes and the mouth were simply spread on. A grass border was created to give the impression of a monkey in its natural habitat. When the cake was finished it was easy to be proud of the work that had been accomplished. It truly looks like a monkey.

"Ze Bite"

A part of this course required me to taste the food from a local food cart. I went downtown and chose the traditional French cuisine of "Ze Bite." This food truck makes stews, soups and sandwiches and is a quick and healthy choice for a meal. I tried the Chicken Blanquette stew and everything tasted delicious.

Chicken Blanquette

"Marshmallows and Hot Chocolate"

I've always loved eating marshmallows, but this was my first time making them and actually tasting a homemade marshmallow. The stickiness of the marshmallows was the most difficult part of this recipe because once we were finished whipping the marshmallows, they began to solidify and that made it hard to spread the marshmallows out in the pan. Once all of the marshmallows were cut, tasting them made all of the hardwork worth it because they were a lot better than store bought ones.

After making the marshmallows, we made hot chocolate to go with them. Once again, the homemade hot chocolate was much better than all of those store bought powders that most people use. We made the traditional hot chocolate however there are so many variations of this classic recipe that with all the choices, you'll be a professional at making marshmallows to go with your different kinds of hot chocolate.

"Banana Brulé"

This Banana Brulé recipe had many components: the bruléed bananas, the caramel sauce, and the caramel design on top. Making caramel can be difficult and can easily go wrong if not watched carefully, however with careful attention to detail, caramel can be made easily. First, we made the caramel design by caramelizing sugar and then taking a spoon and drizzling it on a piece of parchment paper. This was one of the most fun things about this recipe. Then, we added cream to the rest of the caramel and refrigerated it until the next day.
On our second day of making this recipe, we bruléed the bananas by placing a mountain of sugar on top of the bananas and taking a blow torch and caramelizing the sugar. Then we put our caramel sauce in a squirt bottle and we were ready to begin putting everything together. As for plating the dish, the caramel sauce was drizzled on the bottom, the bananas were placed on top of the sauce, the traditional vanilla ice cream was scooped onto the dish and the caramel design was placed as the finishing touch on all of that. This made for a beautiful dish.