Piece of Cake

And so comes the finish of my 3rd second year lab here at JWU. I only have two labs left until I am an actual Pastry Chef. It's crazy that a year and a half ago it seemed like forever until graduation and now I am two terms away from getting my associates.

I was in yet another cake class named Entrements and Petit Gateaux. Entrements is French for "between the dishes." It can be used for several different applications, but in this case it explains a cake like dessert. Entrements usually have several different layers, flavors and textures. There can be anywhere from two layers to ten all depending on the intricacy of the cake. There is also a decorative take to the cakes as well. They are usually modern abstract but still sophisticated.  Petit Gateaux simply means " little cake" in French and uses the same techniques as an Entrements but scales down to a portion about the size of your fist. They are also layered with flavors and textures and decorated to appeal to the eye.

We made a few different Entrements and we had free reign on our Petit Gâteaux. Our Chef even gave us the option to do a buffet for the other students and we took up his offer. Check out these delicious cakes!

Chocolate Mousse Entrements 

Components: ( bottom to top)

Chocolate Sponge Cake 

Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Sponge Cake

Chocolate Mousse

Chocolate Ganache Glaze

Modeling Chocolate rose

Raspberry Bavarian Entrements 

Almond Sponge Jaconde (Outside)

Vanilla Sponge Cake 

Raspberry Jam

Raspberry Bavarian Mousse

Vanilla Sponge Cake

Raspberry Bavarian Mousse

Raspberry Mirror Glaze 

Marzipan Carnation  

Passion Fruit Entrements 

Almond Sponge Jaconde (Outside)

Japonaise ( Hazelnut Dried Meringue) 

Passion Fruit Parfait 

Vanilla Sponge Cake

Passion Fruit Parfait

Vanilla Sponge Cake

Passion Fruit Mirror Glaze 

Chantilly Cream and Chocolate garnish 

Baumkuchen 

Baumkuchen (Outside)

Vanilla Sponge Cake

Orange Yogurt Parfait 

Vanilla Sponge Cake

Orange Yogurt Parfait 

Mandrin Oranges

 Chocolate garnish 

Chocolate Mudslide Entrements ( For hard core drinkers..) 

 Almond Sponge Jaconde (Outside)

Nutella Rice Krispy 

Bailey's White Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Sponge Cake

Kahlua Chocolate Mousse

Vodka Chantilly Cream 

Chantilly Cream and Chocolate garnish 

By group made these little chocolate pyramids with our left over mousse and cake..

Our buffet was the best the Chef and the head Pastry Chef chair member they had seen in a long time from the students. Heres the highlights..

For our final we just had to complete the Chocolate Mousse Entrements and the Raspberry one. We had two days to do it, and it was a sinch. I got a 100% on both cakes!

With the spare time I had in class I made cute little White Chocolate cups filled with chocolate mousse and drizzled with the left over ganache :) yummy

Is your mouth watering yet?

Anyways, I'm onto my next class now Plated Desserts! Look out for the recap in a few weeks!

Until Next Time, 

Jasmine