Hey everybody! Sorry it's been so long since my last post, I've had a bit of a crazy week. We just finished our second and final week of Celebration Cakes. It was awesome to learn new techniques, and to learn more about techniques I've used before.

This was the second cake we decorated, a baby shower plaque with embossed plaque and gumpaste French tulip. Again, starting out pretty easy but we did get our first lesson on sugar flowers!

This is what we were practicing the back of the cake. It's called string work and it was definitely the most difficult and frustrating technique we've done so far. It's an old decorating practice and is more widely used in England and Australia but it was good to learn how to do it. We only had to do 1-2 inches or string work around the cake but generally you would go all the way around. Considering this took the better part on an hour I don't even want to think about how long it would take to finish the whole cake!

This was the last cake we decorated in the unite. A quilted train case with a white moth orchid. We learnt about quilting, an embossing technique. We also got to do out second gumpaste flower which was much more involved than the first. This was definitely the most fun project we've done so far.

The technique we used here is called quilling and is something I have never seen on cake before. Originally it's done with paper but we created the designs with gumpaste. Though rather time consuming, it was really fun and I think it's looks pretty cute.

We also got to learn about brushed embroidery, which is one of my favorite decorating techniques. I've done it a couple times before but it was nice to learn the proper way to do it. We only worked on it for a couple hours but I would be perfectly happy doing it all day.

Well now you're all caught up on the happenings at the French Pastry School. Next week we're doing pastillage and pressed sugar so that should be fun! I will try to update more regularity from now on. Today I am off to volunteer at Pastry Chicago's 5th annual pie competition! Cross your fingers that I'll get to sample some!

Happy baking,

Kayla

Hello everyone and welcome to the first entry of Baking In Chicago! On September 4th I began classes at the French Pastry School in the L'Art du Gateau program, a 4 month course focusing on the art of cake baking and decorating. This is something I've wanted to do for over 2 years and I can't believe I'm here!

I have now been in class for just over 2 weeks and so far it has been amazing! All the Chef's seem like awesome teachers and it's great to be learning alongside people who are as passionate about baking and cake decorating as I am! So far we have covered Sanitation, Baking History and Technology and Basic Skills. This week we started celebration cakes. What we've done so far is fairly basic but I know things will soon be getting much more complicated and involved, and I can't wait!

Here's me looking super snazzy in my brand new FPS uniform! As one of my Chef's put it "You're gonna look stupid in the hat, just accept it and move on".

This is the kitchen I will get to work in for the next 4 months. It is absolutely gorgeous and has everything a baker could possibly want! 

This was our first decorating project of the program. A Birthday cake for a man with a fondant bow. It was fairly straightforward but fun to make! Unfortunately it was a dummy cake so I didn't have anything to take home for my roommates. Sorry guys!

This is un-related to anything we were doing in class right now but I felt I had to include it. One of the Chef's was working on a chocolate showpiece in the kitchen and was using a chocolate tempering machine, which I have never seen or used before. I have never craved chocolate so much in my life, what with the steady stream of chocolate poring out of it and the amazing chocolaty smell the permeated the entire room. I hope we'll get to use one at some point!

Well guys thanks for reading! I'll be updating regularly to let you all know how things are going at the French Pastry School. Until next time!

Happy baking,

Kayla