11th Day of Externship

Today was fun. I matched and filled macaroons. Then I got to work in the chocolate world for the first time today. First I spread the molds with gold colored coco butter. Then I filled the molds with milk chocolate to make a shell. Tomorrow I get to put the foot on the chocolate. The Lady that showed me, filled the center with a gingerbread ganache filling. It's a holiday flavor. On the way home I got to experience my first time driving in BIG puddles of water on the road. To people in New Orleans, deep water on the road is a common occurrence. What fun!

10th Day of Externship

Sorry, the past two days were pretty much the same as Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday I got so tired of the BAC's and the feeling of not doing anything right that I had a break down. I put too much pressure on myself in trying to make a good impression at Sucre. Which led me into only failing myself. So, today I went in with a smile and a positive attitude, and ended up having a better day. The BAC's finally came out right. YAY!

7th Day of Externship

Well to start off I forgot to mention that I met Joel (the owner) yesterday. When he came up to meet me he wanted to shake my hand and of course my hands were all dirty. I wasn't sure what to do and he told me it was okay. I didn't give as firm a hand shake as I usually do because I felt so bad about my hand being dirty.

Today, I made chocolate caramel, cut marshmallows, and scooped BAC's. Fun Fun! Tomorrow is my day off, and I'm going to make pizza for my grandparents and my aunt. Thursday I might get to work with chocolate. Yay!!!

6th Day of Externship

Well, today was much of the same as last week. Baking off BAC's, storing baked goods, and other miscellaneous tasks. When I started cutting chocolate caramels, the assistant pastry chef said it was all wrong. I felt horrible, but I was doing it the way I was being shown by another girl in the kitchen. The assistant pastry chef told me not to take it personal, but I can't help it because I take my work seriously. Also, I believe I fixed the problem I've been having with the BAC's because the recipe told me dry then wet, but in school it was always wet then dry with the creaming method. So, when it came time to make another batch of BAC's today, I asked the assistant pastry chef, about the correct method. She confirmed that I had learned correctly in school and should do it that way. And so I did what I thought was correct and the batter looked like cookie batter. So I will see how that bakes off tomorrow. After that, I did another batch of chocolate caramel's for the store.

5th Day of Externship

Today was much better. Each day keeps getting better. The only things I made from scratch were a sugar free coconut mousse and a base for a chocolate mousse dessert. Both came out well. I packed cup cakes after I baked them. Last thing I did was fill an order for a restaurant in New Orleans. I got to watch Tariq and a co-worker make a wedding cake and a groom's cake for tomorrow. The cakes looked really nice. I'm so glad I have a day off tomorrow. I need it.

4th Day of Externship

Well, today was much better. Mostly because I didn't have to make anything from scratch. I baked off cup cakes, and the BAC's (which are yummy cookies by the way). I weeded through chocolate macaroons and filled them with caramel ganache. Well, I take back the not making anything from scratch because I did. I made a chocolate caramel that we use for the center of the BAC's. Then I packed cup cakes and the cookies.

3rd Day of Externship

Well, today I had a tough time trying to keep the pace up. First, I had to make a big batch of pastry cream, and I burned it. I burned it because I didn't stir quick enough, and I think that maybe the flame was set to high for the speed I was stirring. I felt horrible and got teary eyed. But Tariq (the executive pastry chef) was happy to show me how to do it. That made me feel a bit better about it. Then I filled, iced, and decorated 210 cup cakes. Because I was being shown the way to make each flavor of butter cream, and how to decorate each cup cake, I felt like I was moving slow. There where six flavors of cup cakes; vanilla - chocolate, vanilla - strawberry, vanilla - lemon, chocolate - chocolate, chocolate - caramel, and chocolate - salted caramel. In between the cupcakes, I made a batch of lime curd for the Gelato chef. I also helped pack up orders for tomorrow. Today was crazy with all the different things going on, and boy did it make me tired. Also I get tired because working in a real production bakery is a lot different than working in school. When you stir huge pots of pastry cream or mix up 30 quart pots of cup cake batter, well let's just say it's a real workout for my arms. I'm sure my muscles will build up over time.

Oh yeah, I'm off on Wednesdays and Sundays. So that's why I didn't have a post yesterday.

2nd Day of Externship

Well, today was a little better than yesterday. The first thing they had me do was to scale out a double batch of BAC cookies (which is kind of a basic cookie dough). Then they had me finish mixing the chocolate cup cake mix that I had started the day before. I then stored the cup cakes that I baked off yesterday and this morning, and put them them away. After that was done I scooped around 300 BAC cookies. Wow, did my arm hurt after scooping 300 cookies. I didn't get a chance to bake off the chocolate cup cake mix today, but a lady will do that tomorrow. I also made some strawberry mousse cakes for a hotel. When I started making the strawberry mouse and piped it out, I ended up short a few cakes. So I had to make more. Now I'm not sure if it was because I incorrectly scaled it or just that the recipe didn't make enough. I boxed xocolate's for another day. I also boxed some pecan rolls for a well known restaurant in New Orleans. Apparently we do wholesale orders for many other businesses as well as our own store.

Today I met Tariq Hanna the Executive Pastry Chef of Sucré. Tariq is a very pleasant and laid back man. He asked me a few questions, like where I am from, and why I chose Sucré. Tariq found it funny that I didn't want to travel the hour or more to any of the bakeries in Atlanta, but that I wanted to move to New Orleans to bake. I told him it was for the experience, as well as his and the shop's reputation.

First Day of Externship

When I got to the bakery this morning, my supervisor showed me around the shop and gave me an apron and two towels. Then I went strait to work on matching up macaroons by size and filling them. It was a bit time consuming, because the bakery just got a new machine to make the macaroons instead of doing it by hand (in order to make the macaroons faster) but unfortunately, the machine was having problems keeping the size consistent. After that, I scaled out a huge recipe for cup cakes and mixed it in a 30 qt. mixer. Boy was that heavy! When it came time to put the mix in the cup cake pans they had this machine that pumped out 4 cup cakes at a time. It helped make the process move quickly. The top of the machine where I had to pour the mix in was high up and the bucket of mix was too heavy for me to lift all by myself. So I had to politely ask one of the guys in the shipping room to help me for a quick second. Next, I started with the chocolate mix they had made the other day, but when I went to pour it in the top of the machine, I made a mess. Oops! :( I was embarrassed. I thought I could handle it myself since it was a much smaller batch of mix. I should have thought through the situation before diving in. I won't do that again. I baked off half of the cup cakes and had to save the rest for tomorrow because I didn't have time to bake them off today. After storing them, I cut up one pan of vanilla marshmallows and coated them with powdered sugar. I was not given too much to do, but I felt like I was moving to slow, and a burden on the other three workers. But I guess everyone has a first day. We all have to start somewhere. The one nice thing is that they have a dedicated dishwasher, but of course you still have to wash the small things when it's needed more than once. All things considered, my first day was not so bad.

New Orleans

Today I arrived in New Orleans. After unloading the cars, we had to have some Fried Shrimp Poboys and some Fried Shrimp plates from Bobby's Seafood on Jefferson Hwy. Afterwards, I drove to the Sucré Confectionery Studio to make sure I knew the route to get there and then back home. I can't wait to start work on Monday. My family and I rode to the Sucré store on Magazine street. My brother lives here in River Ridge where I'm staying and so he was with us also. It was probably the first time I had to actually parallel on a little narrow street. But I made it. Magazine Street is actually bustling with activity. The are many little restaurants, stores and shops with people all around. Sucré was very busy. We tasted many different chocolates and purchased quite a few to bring home to family. We also purchased some pastries to bring home. My mom and dad had a vanilla malt which they loved. On the way home, my sister and I stopped and each had a snowball. Yum.

Day 144 - Last Day of Class

Today is my last day of class and my final practical. I made the pulled and blown sugar sculpture above. I was able to go in to class early today so I could get on the road heading to New Orleans. I'm excited to be finished school and I'm even more excited about starting my externship at Sucré.

Day 142 - Geisha

Today was more practice with pulled sugar. I made a Geisha girl holding fans.

Day 141 - Pulled Sugar Fish

Today was more practice with pulled sugar. I made a fish, sea shell, and stand.

I also made a crab but I didn't get time to air brush it with the other colors.

Day 140 - Making Fruit

Today I fiinished up my Fruit made with blown sugar. The fruit is sitting on a stand which is casted sugar.

Day 137 - Blowing & Pulling Sugar

Today I was blowing and pulling sugar. The snow woman was what I made while practicing blowing sugar. It was a little difficult blowing the white balls. A hand pump was used to blow up the balls. The difficulty was keeping the sugar hot at the correct temperature and keeping the thickness kind of uniform so that it would blow up evenly. I was just being funny making the snow woman wear a grass skirt. I also gave her a little bow for her head. I had a great time doing it.

Day 136 - Pulled Sugar

Today I had fun pulling sugar to make the flower pictured above. I wore three pairs of latex gloves and it was still very hot to work with. It was a lot of fun working with it. We will be doing more pulling sugar the rest of this week and next week.

Day 135 - Chocolate Box

Today I finished my chocolate box and candies for my practical. Above and below are pictures of what I turned in. I guess I was satisfied with my second attempt. I wanted to do a better garnishment on top but I had difficulty tempering the white chocolate.