Christmas

This week I made candy canes and truffles at home. They came out ok. Work is a bit crazy this week, as we are making sure we produce the items for the store and for a party that we are providing desserts for on Thursday. I'm going to work that party, so it should be lots of fun. It's a very big party and it is sorta based of the idea of snow white. I believe from what I heard it is basesd on her name or something like that. But everything we are making for this party is flavored with apple in one way or another. It all looks wonderful.

Making Croissants

Last Friday I made croissant dough to make ham and Swiss croissants today. The first ones took a bit long to bake, but the second batch came out beautiful. I learned that it is a better idea at home to only proof the dough out at room temp for a while then put it in the oven without water and ice cubes to create steam for a little while then take out the pan with the water so that the oven does not have constant moisture in the oven. But I'm learning and having fun.

A busy and sad week

Last Sunday, I baked my first German Chocolate Cake for my uncle's birthday. It was a huge hit. I tried it, but I still do not like the texture of coconut. But the cake was good.

The New Store by Lakeside finally opened on Monday, December 6th. Not too many customers yet, mostly because they haven't done any major advertising for it. I went in early Monday and helped get products ready to ship to the store, and was under the impression that I was going to go help set up the store. But it ended up that they needed me more at the bakery, so I stayed. On Thursday I had to empty out the dark chocolate tank and put in milk chocolate to make milk chocolate bark. And I found out the tank holds about 50 pounds of chocolate. That is a lot of chocolate and it made me think about how much chocolate I must go through each week. I haven't really added it up, but it must be several hundred pounds a week. Mostly we use dark chocolate, some white chocolate and some milk chocolate.

On Wednesday, I got sad news about of my doggy, Noel. He passed away and it was totally unexpected. Noel who was a 7 year old papillon, was the first puppy we added to our family. He was the sweetest and most loving puppy anybody could ever want as a part of a family. He is greatly missed.

Grandpa's Cheesecake

Grandpa liked his Cheesecake with Blueberry topping.

I made my grandpa a cheesecake for his birthday on Wednesday. It tasted really good, and was light and creamy. Yum! And I made a blueberry topping, because he loves blueberries. It was a hit even though I know it could have been a bit better. I could have baked the cake a little longer or either not have used a water bath. Even though I wrapped the spring form pan in foil, water still seeped in and the graham cracker crust was soggy. I'm still learning.

Sucre's new store is not opening on Friday, Dec. 3rd. They are shooting to open it on Monday or Tuesday next week.