Team Shambles The first day of our cheesecake, cremes, and custards course at the Pastry Training Centre of Vancouver was bussssyyyyy. We prepared 3 batches of cheesecake and creme caramel. We mentioned in our post on New York Style Cheesecake that there are different kinds of cheesecake; it turns out that there is way more … More German Cheesecake
Team Shambles We’ve all had apple pie at some point in our lives, but this pie takes the cake! (Insert giggle for questionable baking joke?) The filling isn’t runny at all, and the pie crust is nice and flaky. Chef Marco also gave us some really helpful tips to judge how well the dough needs … More Apple Pie
Team Shambles While we were writing up all of our posts from our first pastry class, we noticed that we had posted 199 times! In order to celebrate in a minor way, we decided to decorate cookies for post #200 🙂 Roopa had some fondant left over from her Earl Grey Tea Cakes so we decided … More Watercolour Sugar Cookies
Team Shambles We made graham crumbs (which were pretty great) on day one in preparation for a New York style cheesecake on day two. Unfortunately we didn’t talk about what makes a cheesecake “New York style”. A quick Google revealed that styles of cheesecake are differentiated by ingredients and the texture/consistency of the final product. … More New York Style Cheesecake
Team Shambles Strudels consist of flaky pastry wrapped several times around some sort of filling, typically fruit (though there are other kinds as well). Originally, strudels are an Austrian dessert; the dough is stretched thinly enough that you can read printed text through it, then wrapped around an apple and raisin filling. Watching Chef Marco … More Austrian Apple Strudel with Sauce Anglaise
Team Shambles Choux pastry is a French dessert that acts as more of a vehicle for pastry cream than anything else. It’s not terribly delicious on its own, but they expand during baking to create a hollow inside for delicious fillings! This is quite a technical recipe, as there are many techniques needed and a … More Choux Pastry with Creme Patissiere
Team Shambles We had our first day of pastry school at the Pastry Training Centre of Vancouver, and it was AMAZING!! Chef Marco is super knowledgeable, and had a scientific explanation for everything he taught us. It was kind of interesting to see how much of what he taught we already knew, but it was … More First Day of Pastry School!
Roopa My friend Chris was in town today, and we had decided on a baking/squash date weeks ago. We were thoroughly inspired by these amazing tea cakes by sprinklebakes, and originally were going to make them as cupcakes with a cardamom icing. I felt like procrastinating though, so I went and picked up a circle … More Earl Grey Poppyseed Tea Cakes with Cardamom Icing
Roopa Alana went to make a Nanaimo bar cake the other day and came across this intriguing healthy cake recipe; it is a gluten free, lentil based Nanaimo cake. Lentils!!! I am no stranger to lentils, and actually quite enjoy them, but I’d be lying if I said they tasted like anything but health. Cake is … More Chocolate Lentil Cupcakes
Roopa I mostly see Valentine’s day as an excuse to bake things and decorate in an obnoxiously pink fashion. I have been baking the same chocolate cake/cupcake recipe for ages, because it’s nice to bake something that you know will turn out well. I wanted to try something new, so I was creeping around for non-heart … More Chocolate Valentine’s Day Cake with Raspberry White Chocolate Icing
Chateau Gateau 