To all you foodies out there, this is a must see. You don't really understand it's foodie connection until the end of the film but it's definitely worth the wait.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Flapjacks!
These were soooo yummy!!! If you like granola and/or granola bars, these flapjacks are a fantastic combination of the two. Usually when you hear the word flapjack, you think of a pancake. Well that's the American version of a flapjack. Flapjack's are a British dessert which combines buttery cooked sugar and oats. So simple and delicious!
The recipe calls for golden syrup, which is apparantly only sold in England, or british import stores. I couldn't get my hands on the stuff and was way too eager to make them! I luckily had all the ingredients in my apartment and made my own interpretation of golden syrup (I mixed maple syrup and dark corn syrup). I also added a touch of vanilla and more than a pinch of salt, which is what the recipe suggests.
Remember last Saturday? How awful the weather was? Wow it was just terrible! Well I was warm and dry inside - baking - FLAPJACKS! It may have been miserable outside, but inside, my apartment smelled amazing and the flapjacks were a perfect treat!
Sweet Corn Cereal Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Buttercream
During my last weeks at ICE, I had to catalog a bunch of books. One of them was called, The Colors of Dessert, by Battman, a photographer who chronicles food and other things that encapsulate NYC. He got a bunch of famous pastry chefs in the city to make desserts that scaled the colors of the rainbow. I found this recipe from the restaurant, Good Enough to Eat, for sweet corn cereal cake. The cake sounded so different and interesting that I just had to try it. I of course changed a bunch of things based on my own choosing and what my grocery store had in stock.
Here are the changes that I made: Instead of sour cream, I used greek yogurt. The recipe called for sweet corn cereal, which is POPS, but my grocery store didn't carry POPS so I went with an organic brands version. My snooty grocery store also didn't carry canned creamed corn, so I had to buy the fresh stuff and make my own version. The buttercream was fairly simple, only containing butter, cream cheese, and confectioners sugar. I added a touch of vanilla and salt.
Here is the recipe and the cost analysis that I did. I ended up spending so much money at the grocery store that I wanted to see if the actual recipe was expensive, but as it turns out, its fairly inexpensive. I also had a lot of ingredients in house which made it easier. Doing baking experiments is a costly endeavor! Especially since you always leave the grocery store with more than you need.
The cake was really weird. I think there was too much lemon juice and I think it needs the creamed corn. Sometimes baking experiments don't work out, this one definitely did not. But it turns out that the experiment wasn't a total waste because the cream cheese buttercream was delicious.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Change is what's up!
Hello Cyber Space,
As some as you might know by now, I quit my job at ICE last week after realizing that I needed to get back into the kitchen. I've definitely enjoyed my time at ICE and am so appreciative of all the flexibility they've given me since I started in November 2008. Originally my job at ICE started as a part-time gig that I maintained while finishing up my senior year at NYU and pastry school. When I finished my grueling yet rewarding at times externship at Daniel, I questioned my future in the kitchen. My experience there, literally scared me out of the kitchen, and it made me doubt my passion for pastry :(
I've been at ICE for the past 3.5 months working full-time, and this time away from the kitchen has really given me the chance to think about my future and what I want to do with my life. In December, I was given the opportunity to teach a class at NYU. I am still in touch with a professor of mine, who teaches 2 different cooking classes in my department. She helped me develop my skills before I went to pastry school and was part of the reason why I earned a scholarship towards pastry school. Her class was techniques based class, and in their last class they were focusing on cakes. I luckily had a few friends in the class who told me about it and I immediately got in touch with the professor to see if she would let me help her teach the class. All I expected to do was help, but she suggested that I fully take over and teach by myself! I spent about a week planning the class, enjoyed every second of that, and then when it came down to actually teaching, it was just incredible. When I was lecturing the class and doing hands-on demos, it just felt so unbelievably natural. I was in the kitchen, working with pastry, and passing on my knowledge of a subject that I am so adamantly passionate about. When the class finished, I was filled with such a high that I immediately knew what I needed to do. TEACH!
Well, I couldn’t just teach professionally because in the food industry you need a ton of experience to be able to teach. It doesn’t matter how much schooling you have – you literally have to walk the walk before you talk the talk. Since I am in charge of instructor licensing at ICE, I know that I need a minimum of 5 years experience working at restaurants or bakeries to teach at a culinary school. Even though I knew I needed experience to teach, I was still scared to go back into the kitchen. I do know now that not every kitchen is going to be like the one I experienced on my externship. It took me some time to figure that out and at least I had a job while I was figuring that out!
So where does this leave Cassie’s Cakery? For now I’ll be blogging about my job searching experience. I plan on going on a ton of trails in order to find the right place! Then I’ll blog about working as a pastry cook in the restaurant industry. Cassie’s Cakery, can still happen, and I hope it does happen, but I’ve got a ways to go! It feels so good knowing that I have a plan. Who knows, maybe I’ll be a pastry chef in a super swanky restaurant, and you’ll think to yourself, “I used to read her blog.”
Please stay tuned for more updates because change is what’s up!
As some as you might know by now, I quit my job at ICE last week after realizing that I needed to get back into the kitchen. I've definitely enjoyed my time at ICE and am so appreciative of all the flexibility they've given me since I started in November 2008. Originally my job at ICE started as a part-time gig that I maintained while finishing up my senior year at NYU and pastry school. When I finished my grueling yet rewarding at times externship at Daniel, I questioned my future in the kitchen. My experience there, literally scared me out of the kitchen, and it made me doubt my passion for pastry :(
I've been at ICE for the past 3.5 months working full-time, and this time away from the kitchen has really given me the chance to think about my future and what I want to do with my life. In December, I was given the opportunity to teach a class at NYU. I am still in touch with a professor of mine, who teaches 2 different cooking classes in my department. She helped me develop my skills before I went to pastry school and was part of the reason why I earned a scholarship towards pastry school. Her class was techniques based class, and in their last class they were focusing on cakes. I luckily had a few friends in the class who told me about it and I immediately got in touch with the professor to see if she would let me help her teach the class. All I expected to do was help, but she suggested that I fully take over and teach by myself! I spent about a week planning the class, enjoyed every second of that, and then when it came down to actually teaching, it was just incredible. When I was lecturing the class and doing hands-on demos, it just felt so unbelievably natural. I was in the kitchen, working with pastry, and passing on my knowledge of a subject that I am so adamantly passionate about. When the class finished, I was filled with such a high that I immediately knew what I needed to do. TEACH!
Well, I couldn’t just teach professionally because in the food industry you need a ton of experience to be able to teach. It doesn’t matter how much schooling you have – you literally have to walk the walk before you talk the talk. Since I am in charge of instructor licensing at ICE, I know that I need a minimum of 5 years experience working at restaurants or bakeries to teach at a culinary school. Even though I knew I needed experience to teach, I was still scared to go back into the kitchen. I do know now that not every kitchen is going to be like the one I experienced on my externship. It took me some time to figure that out and at least I had a job while I was figuring that out!
So where does this leave Cassie’s Cakery? For now I’ll be blogging about my job searching experience. I plan on going on a ton of trails in order to find the right place! Then I’ll blog about working as a pastry cook in the restaurant industry. Cassie’s Cakery, can still happen, and I hope it does happen, but I’ve got a ways to go! It feels so good knowing that I have a plan. Who knows, maybe I’ll be a pastry chef in a super swanky restaurant, and you’ll think to yourself, “I used to read her blog.”
Please stay tuned for more updates because change is what’s up!
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