The season of all things open air is in full fling in Paris. With Paris beach (don’t laugh , it’s quite cool with palm trees and some sand. It’s not a bad attempt), cinema, concerts, dancing along the Seine and of course the most important the PICNICS.

I’ve been wanting to make this recipe for a long time. Helen over @ Tartelette made them a while ago and they just sounded delicious. A picnic with friends seemed a great opportunity to try this out.

Last year when I studied @ Le Cordon Bleu we made regular Brioche. It all got a bit messy while kneading the butter as it was extremely hot. 40°c with the ovens on full blast and wearing a nasty chefs uniform. We added extra salt to the recipes with the sweat dripping off our foreheads. Nice! With a stand mixer and the dough hook attachment you can avoid the melting-butter-kneading problem.

‘Let them eat Brioche’ as the famous Marie Antoniette said.

Dulce de leche brioche buns

adapted from Tartelette and Le Cordon Bleu Pâtisserie manual.

250g flour
6g salt
25 sugar
3 eggs
1 sachet of instant dried yeast or 11g of fresh compact yeast
120ml of warm milk
125g of cold butter, cubed

250g cream cheese
250g dulce de leche

makes 12 buns

Mix the warm (not hot otherwise you will ‘kill’ the yeast) milk with the yeast and set aside. In a bowl add flour, make a well in the centre of the bowl. Add eggs and yeast into the ‘well’. Slowly combine. Once combined add salt and sugar. Knead for about 15-20 minutes or until the dough is elastic (like chewing gum). Add half of the cubed butter, continue to knead until incorporated into the dough (this can become messy, you need to work fast if you’re doing this by hand as your hands will melt the butter) then add the rest and continue to knead until you have a smooth elastic dough.

Leave to prove for 1 hour in a clingfilm covered bowl. Knock back and roll out dough into a rectangle. Spread cream cheese then dulce de leche (this part is a bit messy) leaving 1 inch border. Roll into a long sausage and cut into 12 parts. Place each brioche bun into a greased muffin tin. Wrap and leave to rise overnight in the fridge.

The day after take brioche out of fridge and leave to rise a bit while the oven is pre heating to 180°c. Put in oven, reduce heat to 160°c. Bake 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Remember the ‘cake which did not make the blog’, well here it is. I made it at home today.

Everything went pretty well. The cake sponge didn’t melt on me which meant I could pipe without too many problems. The raspberry mousse set perfectly and I even managed to do it in 2 1/2 hours which will give me enough time to do my shortcrust pastry tart in the exam (we only get 3 hours to do both a cake and the pastry).

I was so happy I did a little cake dance around the kitchen, don’t think I’ll be doing that on Wednesday though.

So this is it, the last cake on the course. And what a nightmare. Chocolate ganache, chocolate glazing (didn’t turn out quite right, wasn’t quick enough) and a chocolate rose. And to top that off we had a tough chef teaching. Ouf! I’m finished.

It’s chocolate all the way until the end now. This and another chocolate cake and than that’s it. Chocolate ganache sandwiched between a light pistachio sponge with more chocolate ganache covering it and to top it all off, a chocolate glaze.

Typing this is turning out to be a bit troublesome, I cut myself on the dreaded breadknife (worse knife in the whole kit). I now have a bandaged index finger, great look.

I’ve tried to write the instructions as best as I could (we take our own notes for the instructions). This recipe is very complicated and not the easiest thing to write/explain. Please ask if you don’t understand anything.

Chocolate-Pistachio Log cake

Taken from the Le Cordon Bleu Basic Pâtisserie manual

Serves 10-12

Pistachio ‘biscuit’ sponge

70g ground almonds
50g pistachio paste
120g icing sugar
4 egg yolks
1 egg
- – - -
4 egg whites
50g sugar
- – - -
90g flour
30g butter, melted

Imbibing syrup
100g sugar
100ml water
kirsch, optional

Ganache
250g chocolate, chopped
250ml cream

Finish
500g dark chocolate
Handful pistachios, chopped
Handful chocolate sprinkles

You will need two log moulds, lined with baking paper.

Preheat oven to 170°c.

Whisk egg whites, add sugar while whisking. You should be able to turn the bowl upside down without the egg whites falling out.
Add a bit of the melted butter to the pistachio paste (just enough to make it smooth and easier to work with). Mix together ground almonds and sugar. Incorporate the egg yolks and egg.

Gently fold the pistachio mix into the egg whites. Add rest of butter and flour. Fill the moulds 2/3 or max ¾.

Put into the oven, turn down the heat to 165°c. Half way through the baking, open the oven door a couple of times very very quickly to release the steam from the oven. Bake for about 30mins or until the cake bounces back when you touch it. Level off the cake (cut off any excess from top), unmould immediately.

Imbibing syrup
Dissolve sugar and water in a pot over a medium heat, leave to cool and add a couple of spoons of kirsch, if desired.

Ganache
Boil cream. Pour half the cream over the chocolate, wait for cream to melt the chocolate a little, stir and then add the rest of the cream. Leave to cool. The ganache must have the consistency of softened butter when used, otherwise you will not achieve a smooth finish to the cake.

Cut a rectangle shape piece of baking paper, the same size of the moulds. It should have the same length of the mould but roughly 1cm wider on each side (this will make it easier to remove the paper).
Spread a thin layer of ganache onto the paper, leaving a 1cm wide border on the longest sides. Pour the rest of the ganache into a piping bag with a 10mm nozzle.

To cut the cake into 3 layers you will need 2 x 1cm thick ‘candy rulers’ (these are like thick square metal sticks). Lay a ruler on each length of the cake. Cut through the cake with the knife against the rulers, remove that layer and then cut the next.

Imbibe the bottom layer well on all sides. Next pipe 1 cm thick lines of the ganache onto the bottom layer. Smooth lightly. Imbibe the next layer and place on top. Pressing lightly. Repeat the piping. Imbibe top layer and place on top. Press lightly. Now imbibe the whole cake. If the cake is too dry the ganache will slip off.

Pre-masking
Pipe two thick lines of ganache on the top of the cake. Using a palette knife spread the ganache over the cake to create a layer. Make sure the layer is smooth (no lumps, holes etc). Take the ‘ganached’ paper. Now carefully place the paper onto the cake, making sure it is lined up. Smooth the paper down. Refridgerate.

While the cake is refridgerating, temper the chocolate. It is vital that the chocolate is at 37°c, when you use it. Take the cake out the refridgerate, check the ganache has set. You should be able to carefully remove the paper.
Put the cake on a wire rack. Pour over the chocolate. Stick either chopped pistachios or chocolate sprinkles to the side. If you still have some ganache leftover decorate it.

No, it’s not supposed to be a giant daisy. It’s a puff pastry pie filled with almond cream.

Also known as ‘Galette des Rois’ or ‘Three Kings cake’. Normally eaten at the beginning of January to celebrate the arrival of the three kings. They are sold with a golden crown and a small figure hidden in the cake. The ‘aim of the game’ is to get the piece of cake with the figure and be crowned king for the day.

Pithiviers500g ready made puff pastry
Little figure

Almond cream
60g butter
60g sugar
1 egg
60 ground almonds
rum optional

Finish
Egg wash
Syrup
50ml water
50g sugar

Bake at 200°c

Almond cream
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together. Then add egg and finally the ground almonds. Add rum if desired. Put into piping bag.

Preheat oven to 200°c.
Roll out half of the pastry into a square about 2-3mm thickness. Sprinkle baking paper on tray with water (this will help stop the puff pastry shrinking in size). Place pastry on tray. Use a large bowl to lightly mark the centre circle. Making sure you still have enough pastry left for a border (about 5cm). Pipe an almond cream snail shape within the circle. Put the little figure in pastry cream. Brush the outside with the egg wash. Roll out the 2nd half of the pastry to the same size. Place over almond cream base. Use the bowl to gently press down/mark the circle. Refridgerate for 5 minutes. Cut petal shape border. Egg wash, making sure you don’t let the eggwash run down the sides. This will hinder the rising of the puff pastry. Refridgerate until eggwash is dry. Eggwash again carefully. Use back of knife to do curved pattern on pastry. Poke a hole in each of the petals and 4 in the top. Bake for 30mins. Brush with syrup when still hot.

And here’s what you can do with the leftovers. Sprinkle with cinnamon, nibbed sugar and chopped almonds, cut into 1 cm strips and twist.

Chocolate genoise sponge soaked in raspberry liquer with a thin layer of raspberry confiture followed by a chocolate mousse topped off with raspberry again.

If you like chocolate you’ld love this.

Soft, fluffy ‘petit brioche en tête’ (transl. brioche with a head). Great stuff but a lot of work when you have to make it by hand (everything is done by hand at school). Especially with the heat at the moment. I was melting like a piece of butter today. You can do the recipe using the dough hook on your kitchen mixer, reduce the kneading time though.

Brioche

recipe taken from the Le Cordon Bleu Basic Pâtisserie manual

250g flour
6g salt
25 sugar
3 eggs
1 sachet of instant dried yeast or 11g of fresh compact yeast
12ml of warm milk
125g of cold butter, cubed
eggwash

makes 1 loaf or 12 buns

Mix the warm (not hot otherwise you will ‘kill’ the yeast) milk with the yeast and set aside. In a bowl add flour, make a well in the centre of the bowl. Add eggs and yeast into the ‘well’. Slowly combine. Once combined add salt and sugar. Knead for about 15-20 minutes or until the dough is elastic (like chewing gum). Add half of the cubed butter, continue to knead until incorporated into the dough (this can become messy, you need to work fast if you’re doing this by hand as your hands will melt the butter) then add the rest and continue to knead until you have a smooth elastic dough.

Leave to prove for 1 hour in a clingfilm covered bowl. Knock back and divide dough into 12 individual balls*. Shape the balls into a Russian doll shape. Push the head into the body. Place each brioche into a greased muffin tin or a small fluted brioche mould. Wrap and leave to rise overnight in the fridge.

The day after take brioche out of fridge, egg wash and leave to rise a bit while the oven is pre heating to 180°c. Put in oven, reduce heat to 160°c. Bake 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Best eaten while hot.

*If you’re doing a loaf, place dough in a greased loaf tin. Follow same instructions but bake for about 45 minutes.

What more can I say than I’ve finally made a croissant.

Yum yum, especially when the chocolate is still warm and goooey inside.