A Bittersweet Christmas

Merry Christmas! Hope everyone had a wonderful time. My family and I went to candlelight Christmas Eve service last night. There were scripture readings, a message from the pastor, and lots of singing. I had invited my friend A to the worship; I'm glad she was able to join us. We lit candles as we sang "Silent Night". It was indeed a holy, quiet night.

Today we went to the 9AM worship. The pastor had told the congregation that today's worship will be casual one, so wearing pajamas are perfectly acceptable. Some people did indeed show up in their jammies--most noteworthy was the gentleman wearing Hello Kitty flannel pants.

Back home, I texted a bunch of people on my contacts list wishing them a Merry Christmas. I came across my ex, T's number--whom I haven't talked to in 6 years--and on a weird whim, sent him a holiday text as well. Few minutes later, I got a text back from him, asking who I am. I texted him back, telling him who I am. Few minutes later, he calls me.
I answer, a bit surprised that he would actually call.

T: Hello. Who is this??
Me: It's me, Yoko! Remember me??
T: ...Yoko....???
Me: (confused)...um...We used to date ten years ago.
T: wha...? Oh. This is his dad.
Me: His dad?? Oh my gosh! How did I get your number?
T: I...don't know. But yes, I remember you. How have you been?
Me: I've been doing well. How's T?
T: ...Do you know he died 4 years ago?
Me: ...! Oh...my...gosh...no...I... did not. How...?
T: He took his own life.

I was shocked beyond belief. T was my first boyfriend, and although we had a messy breakup, we had some sweet memories and good times while we were together.

His father told me that T had barely gotten married earlier that year, and how they were planning on buying a house. Then while his dad was out of town, he shot himself. His brother and his sister found him, along with a death note and a poem.

While going through his belongings after his death, he told me he found some poems that T wrote. Love poems. About me. "He had strong feelings for you," his dad said. "I'm sure he would've loved to talk to you."

My heart ached...for his family, for his wife, and for the way we broke up. I was hoping that someday, we'll run into each other, and I can then apologize for my immaturity, cold-heartedness, insensitivity...
But it's not going to happen. Never will.

But his dad was glad we got the chance to talk. I was a part of his son's memory that he didn't know existed. We wished each other Merry Christmas and to keep in touch.

I found some of his artworks he gave me ten years ago on my computer. I asked his dad if I should send them to him; he replied that he would love to have them. So I sent them to him, along with a very short audio record of T saying, "Hi Yoko."

It was sad and heartbreaking to learn what had happened. But I'm glad I was able to help them reconnect with another piece of T's memory. I hope this brought some comfort to souls, as fond memories of their son.

Rest in Peace, T. I'm sorry; I wish I could've been a better girlfriend.

Winter Break Part II

Part II of my winter break: Two birthdays in one week

The first one was for a dear family friend. We asked her for her flavor preference: fruity or chocolatey? She answered "fruity", so I set about making a "fruity" cake for her.

The oranges and mangoes were on sale, so we had a stockpile of those. I asked Mom if she wanted anything in particular--and she said, "orange mousse".

Hm. A cake with orange mousse? An idea was forming in my head...how about Orange Mousse cake with Mango compote and Orange cremeux? It's just a variation on the Fruit charlotte recipe we made in the European Cakes class.

I made a chunky puree with the mangoes, heated it (otherwise the enzymes in it will break down the gelatin), and set it with gelatin in 5" diameter glass container. The orange cremeux was frozen in the same manner. I used vanilla chiffon as my base.

Once the orange mousse is made, I poured some into a glass bowl lined with plastic, and layered with the frozen orange cremeux and the mango compote. After I put the chiffon on top, I put it in the fridge to let it set.
The next day, I inverted the whole thing, and everything looked fine...until ten minutes into decorating, the sides begin to bulge out. It was melting! The mousse recipe didn't call for gelatin...but it was meant to be poured into a torte with sides reforced with joconde. But I solved the problem by wrapping the bottom part with a strip of decorative cardboard and taping it. Hey, a lot of Parisian-style pastries come with a strip of pretty acetate wrapped around it, so it won't be a problem, right?
I finished decorating with the white chocolate snowflakes I made the day before. The result...

A billowy mound of snowball! The mousse did turn out a little too soft, but it was incredibly fruity and delicious. I think next time, I'll add gelatin to make it more stable.

The second birthday was for my friend A. I knew her favorite is the red velvet cake...but I didn't want to make her a plain, old-fashioned one. Instead of cream cheese frosting, I decided to make a cream cheese mousseline instead. And how about chocolate ganache with toasted pecans in the layers?? And chocolate decorations???

The cake itself was easy to make. I just baked the cake in 9"x13" pan, and cut out an 8" round from it. I would've used my springform, except it's prone to leaking if the batter is too thin. Haven't decided what to do with the leftover cake pieces...
I brushed coffee syrup on the cakes and layered it with ganche, pecans, and mousseline.

I barely had enough mousseline to cover the cake! Next time, I'll make more...
Now it was time for decorating. The day before, I was battling the temperamental chocolate. I figured I'll just melt it, pipe it, then let it set, right? Nah. It refused to set. I used regular baking chips, but I had to temper it for it to set properly. That took a lot of time and patience, but the decorations finally set.

Tempering involves melting the chocolate, allowing it to cool to a certain temp while constantly agitating it. Once it reaches 85F, it needs to be warmed back up to a workable consistency. At least I got practice with tempering.
I decorated the top with cake crumbs (traditional decorating method for red velvet), the chocolate decor, a single piece of caramel pecan, and a rose candle.

The sides looked a bit naked, so I pressed chocolate lattice onto the sides. Very pretty!

My friend loved it! She said it "had a tragic ending"...which I understand it to mean, "it was devoured hungrily by a bunch of ravenous ladies".

Winter Break Part I

A few months ago, my friend A. gave me 15-lbs of chocolate; one 5-lbs dark, a 5-lbs of milk, and a 5-lbs of green mint chocolate. I was overjoyed--until I tasted it. I could immediately tell they were stored poorly, and had absorbed some funny odors from whatever was in her basement. They tasted gross.

Well, there goes my plan for making chocolate cakes, brownies, cookies, candies, etc....

Then I had a brilliant idea. If these can't be eaten anyway, I'll just turn them into a chocolate showpiece/centerpiece! So I made modeling chocolate with the dark and the green mint chocolate.

Conveniently, they are dark brown and green. Perfect for a Christmas tree! I got right to making the tree trunk.

I made 5 main roots, and pushed a dowel into the center for extra support.

For the branches, I threaded wires through the trunk, and packed them with more chocolate. I repeated the whole process several times.

After a few hours....finished with the branches. Now onto the leaves...

The leaves were the hardest. I wasn't sure how to shape the evergreen "leaves" (since they were technically a bunch of thin needles) without toiling for ten hours. But I figured it out, by cutting the leaves in a jagged, arrow-like shape and wrapping them around each branch.

Finished with the leaves! Now on to decorating...

I used frosting to stick candies onto the tree. For the star on top, I made a cast sugar star with a metal cookie cutter, and perched it atop the tree with wire.

Finished! Turned out pretty good. The room smelled sweet from the candies. I still have a lot of leftover modeling chocolate--what should I make next??

Display Cakes Final

Last week, we made all our gum paste decorations for our 3-tiered wedding cake final. This week, we assembled everything....

The three tiers consisted of two each of 6", 8" and 10" rounds. We used two, since they need to be filled and stacked to make one tier. Each tier has to be crumb-coated, final coated, then covered with fondant, dowelled (i.e. putting dowels into the lower tier for support), and finally stacked. Towards the end, we were running out of fondant, so those of us who finished sooner than others churned out several batches.

I managed to final coat all my tiers and covered one in fondant before the end of the first part (Day 1) of the final. The second part (Day 2), I covered the other two tiers with fondant, which I tinted pale, icy blue. I learned my lesson on rolling out the fondant thinly and using enough to cover the cakes with, so the cakes turned out without cracks and (almost) wrinkle-free. Whatever imperfections I had, I covered with gum paste ribbons.

Then it was time to decorate! I used royal icing to paste the snowflakes onto the cake. Others I embedded into the cake itself. The 3D snowflakes looked really cool sticking out of the cake. I also embedded some pearl dragees. I checked on the cast sugar snowflake I'd made last week...and it hadn't recrystallized! It still looked very pretty. I stuck that on top of the cake. Luster dust gave the cake a pearly sheen. Behold....

My winter-themed wedding cake!

A close-up of the snowflake decorations. I'm in love with this fondant cutter now. Of course, the cake is not finished just yet--there's that final touch I'm about to do...

Yes, the cake topper is a light-up! I put the submersible LED lighting behind it. The luster dust coating shimmered in the light.

Although I didn't score as well as I'd hoped (Chef said that the cake was off-centered and not enough scrollwork--but mine didn't need any...), I'm happy with the way it turned out. Regardless of the score, every passerby complimented and loved my cake, as did my classmates.

Well then...what should I do with my three weeks of vacation?? ...Bake, of course :)

Display Cakes Week 9

The final week is here...well, the preparation for it anyway. This week, we did mostly production to replenish our supply and to make sure we have enough cakes for everyone to make a 3-tiered wedding cake. Then we made our gum paste decorations to put on our cakes. They will be left out to dry and harden over the week.
It's winter, so I wanted to make a winter-themed wedding cake. I've been thinking about my cake entire week. I was formulating an image in my head what my cake will look like--yes, icy pale blue cake, with snowflakes dancing and swirling all around it. So I went and (after going through three different stores) found these:

Snowflake fondant cutters. They also leave a cool imprint too. I stamped out dozens of them, and pressed in pearl dragees on some.

I cut a few of them in half, and pasted the halves onto a whole one. This results in a 3D snowflake...

I also wanted a cake topper...yes, a giant snowflake that's different from all the other snowflakes. For the topper, I made one big snowflake by casting sugar in a metal snowflake cookie cutter. It turned out beautiful! I just prayed it won't recrystallize over the week. Aw well, if it does, I'll just make it again next week. After I cleaned up, some of us headed to Amano Chocolate Factory for a mini-field trip. Our Chef had arranged for us to meet there for a free tour.

The only photo I got for this place. Camera wasn't allowed inside the factory. There were tons of heavy machinery--huge sifters, roasters, grinders, and refiners. The inside smelled intensely of Pocky--a very strong smell of chocolate.
After the tour, they gave us a sample, a caramel-ganache truffle. It was so good! Turned into this liquid caramel-y chocolate lava flowing down my throat...mmmm it was awesome.

All right...next week, we assemble our cakes and finish it!

Display Cakes Week 8

Display Cakes Week 8: Topsy Turvy Cake

We made Topsy-Turvy Cake this week. Topsy Turvy cake is....kinda hard to describe. Unlike a regular cake, the sides are sloped, giving the cake a "lop-sided" look. To make this cake, after filling and stacking two 6" cakes, we put the cake board that's been cut smaller than the cake on top of it...

The cake board is used as a guide to cut the sloped sides. Once cut, the entire thing is flipped upside down. The exact same thing is done to the larger 8" cake. Both cakes are crumb-coated and covered with fondant, then stacked to make the tiers.

I wanted the Apocalypse to the theme of my cake, so I made the Four Horsemen, the dragon, the bloody moon, black sun, and God (represented by the Greek letters alpha and omega).
I guess I overworked the fondant for the dragon, because the dragon was sagging pretty badly when I put him on the base.

It's hidden pretty well (thank goodness...) but the dragon is pinned up against the cake with wires and supported by skewers in his forelimbs.

The Four Horsemen (technically just the horses, I didn't have time to make the riders...). The white, red, black, and pale horses.

I painted the sun black and the moon bloody red, but the red got so dark it almost looked black.

I painted the Greek letters representing God with gold dust. Nice metallic sheen. Unfortunately, the fondant crumbled and the cake ended up with cracks in multiple places. But it turned out OK, not as good as I had hoped though.