Day 3: Passion in Paris

Looks like I've been less than diligent with updating my blog this term and it has NOT been because I'm too busy with school.  I only have about 4 classes a week which leaves me with a ton of free time.  The problem is that it's been hard to sit down and write when I am constantly running around exploring Paris and France and doing fun things.  So, while I'm going to commit to blogging at least three times a week starting today, the French Confection will no longer solely be about pastry school, it will also be a sharing of my adventures in France.

Let's begin by rewinding to Friday January 7th.  I was 4 days into living on the Peniche and loving every second of it.  My friend Maggie and her friend from home Whitney were staying with me and we'd been drinking wine and watching the Eiffel Tower sparkle every hour on the hour nightly from the downstairs window in my living room.  Friday was a doubleheader for me so I had a 3:30 demonstration class followed by a 6:30 practical class.  Two classes Friday meant no classes on Saturday providing me with my first complete weekend in Paris without school in weeks.  The dessert we learned to prepare was called a Tarte Passion-Framboise, in other words a Passionfruit and Raspberry Tart.

This tart was AMAZING and finally, a break from pears and apples!  My tart was just as delicious as the tart Chef made in the demonstration.  I was very proud of it.  It was a regular sweet pastry dough crust similar to the crust for an apple tart layered with a raspberry coulis and a passionfruit fruit cream.  After assembling and chilling the tart we covered it with a shiny jelly glaze and decorated it with different fresh fruit.  When decorating most of our cakes the chefs always encourage us to create height on the dessert and make sure our decoration shows movement.  I used half of a passionfruit, strawberries, raspberries, and red currants to create movement and a little bit of symmetry at the same time on this tart.

My Tarte Passion-Framboise

Looking ahead it seems like we will be making one cake per class for most of this session.  Just like this tart all of the cakes will have several steps and layers so I'll be sure and take pictures of the progress when assembling the cakes and not just the finished product.  I can't wait to share all I'm learning with you all in the next few weeks!

Until next time Au Revoir and Bon Appetit!