First (and Probably Last) Wedding Cake

One of the reasons I took summer off from school is because my older brother was getting married in mid July, and I wanted to take the week off to help them out. J had originally planned on going with me, but work obligations made it impossible. It turned out to be just as well, as we found out that plane tickets, which aren't cheap to begin with, are more than double the usual price during July!

I volunteered to make the wedding cake, and IT WAS HELL. I ordered the groceries to arrive the night I got home with my suitcase full of cake pans, and I got started first thing in the morning. I kept at it for three days, and I couldn't help fearing that something would go awry no matter how much I had practiced and planned. And of course it did.

First, my mom failed to tell me that the oven was broken. I knew nothing about it, and I managed to bake most of the layers before the oven just crapped out on me. I freaked, and my dad called the repairman who basically told us that it was a no go and that a brand new oven would be necessary. My dad asked if I could just use the still-functioning stove. Um, no.

Luckily, my aunt, who doesn't live too far from my parents, let me pop over with the tins of cake batter in hand to finish the job. Whew, crisis averted. 

I was pretty upset on the ride back home with the baked cakes safely stowed in the backseat. I told my mom I had rotten luck, and this confirmed it added to the fact that I had seen a funeral that morning while walking the dog. My mom blithely informed me that seeing a funeral was actually good luck! Explanation, please. That's when she told me that the oven has actually been broken for months, and she was surprised to see it fire up at all that morning. See, funeral =  good luck!

I think that's probably the moment my head exploded. How did she think I was going to make the wedding cake?! She shrugged, and said what does she know about wedding cakes. More mental explosions ensued, accompanied by hysterical laughter. I guess I could've just bbq'd the cake, if necessary. OMG.

Second, my mom had cleared out the main fridge so I could store the cake in there, but my dad kept sneaking smelly things in there. I didn't want the chocolate cake to have a hint of fresh jalapeño, so I kept having to check to see if he hid anything else he shouldn't have in the fridge. I got to play "Wheres Waldo?" in the refrigerator for a week.

Third, my mom kept opening the fridge to stare at the cake. So much so that I was scared that the buttercream would melt and the cake would come apart in the intense LA heat. I kept having to holler at her to shut the damn door. As if she would listen. Then she would wander over to my workspace and tell me how I could improve the cake. This, coming from the woman who didn't know I'd need the oven to make the wedding cake. I finally ended up banishing her from the kitchen while I was working just so I wouldn't be tempted to cover her in fondant.

Despite that oven meltdown and my parents' best attempts at driving me batshit insane, the cake actually turned out okay!

I nearly crapped myself driving the unassembled cake to Malibu, and putting it together at the venue near about did my head in. Especially when my brother mentioned that he thought it was teetering. Luckily, he was wrong, but I was stressed the whole time, wondering if it was going to survive until the cake cutting.

Home free! My relief was palpable when they cut the cake, and the servers began to cut slices for the crowd without incident.

Thank goodness my other brother is already married, as I won't have to do this ever again!

Intermediate Patisserie

I'm two weeks in my Intermediate Patisserie course now, and things got off to a bumpy start. First, there's my stupid finger - I had to wear a glove over my bandage for the first week, and it drove me crazy. I couldn't feel anything properly, and one of the best things to happen all year was taking the damn thing off. My finger's still alternating between being numb and sharp pain when there's any pressure on it, but anything's better than the bandage. Second, our group has increased in size to fifteen people in the kitchen, which means things are even more hectic and crowded with everyone rushing around to get ingredients. Third, the weather's been warming up, which means it can get hawwwt up in the kitchen. It doesn't help that we're wearing thick chef jackets, aprons, two tea towels and a hat, all made out of extra thick cotton. I'm seriously contemplating cutting out armpit holes to air the business out. 

On the plus side, I attempted my first mini mock-up of the wedding cake that my brother's fiancee wants for the wedding. I was pretty surprised at how well it turned out! I'm still working out the little tweaks in the design, but it looks like all systems are a go!

Now, I just have to carry it off on the actual day. Scary!

School's been going well, I think our new group is getting into the swing of things and figuring out how to work with each other in the kitchen. Since my old partner went back to Malaysia (sad), I've been working with my new partner, and things have been going really well. We get on, and we both work at the same pace, so I'm pretty happy. She's also another "tall", which means I still have someone to reach the high shelves. Teehee.

Oh, and here are the brioche, croissants, and danishes I made last week. Chef told me my bear claws were the most ferocious pastries he's seen in a while. I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much. I think he was a bit confused though when I swiped at him with one with a loud meow. That's right, bear's can meow if they want to. 

Now that I've been doing the pastry thing for a few months, I'm starting to ask myself what, if anything, I'm going to do when the course ends. Most of the kids have firm plans to continue working in the patisserie field after they've finished their studies, but I'm not quite sure yet. I've heard lots of talk of long hours for pitiful pay, and something about that just doesn't appeal to me. It seems to me that you have to want to go into patisserie for the love of it and not so much for the cash money. Although J makes a good living, I still like to contribute my bit and help pay for the kitty kibble. I guess I still have to ponder it a bit more and continue to do some more research. 

On a separate note, I don't know what it is but my hair's been bugging the bejesus out of me. It's been in this godawful growing out phase for so long, and I just couldn't handle it anymore and then this happened...

Yeah, my hair really is that blond right now. But no longer on my head. Hahaha.