This is the cake that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friends...

I have always been told that it is always best to be ambidextrous when a chef. After looking in the mirror this morning, now I know why. My right arm, the one that does all the whisking, is quite toned; however, my left arm, which usually is just the 'holding the bowl' arm, is getting quite neglected. Today's practical did not help my situation at all. We had to whisk up a double recipe of our sponge cake...9 eggs and about 3-4 cups of sugar until 4x its volume...if anyone is wondering that is 20min of 'vigorous whisking' according to my chef. With all of us seriously feeling like our arms where about to fall off after 10 minutes, our chef gave use the oh so appreciated pep-talk, 'all you chef-ies need to be whisking more vigorously! its not that hard, I could do this all day, come on!!', we all responded to this comment with groans. About half way through the practical my arm started having spasms...I was not the only one. I just had to power through and get this cake finished.

The cake de-jour this morning was the Sabrina cake based off the 1950's movie with Audrey Hepburn. The cake is suppose to represent all things frilly, fun, and pink. Well Sabrina, no offense, but this cake was hardly a pink ball of joyous fun to put together. The result of the cake however is beautiful, and makes a rainy day in London just a little bit brighter. Of course the comments of today...your piping is too thick...to all of my followers out there I thought it looked so much better than my past two piping jobs, don't you? That comment aside most of the feedback went well. 

Today we had to temper our own chocolate and we must do it by touch. The chocolate must be warmed up to 45C, then brought down to 27C, then warmed back up to 30C and it must be used straight away to keep the shine. In school we are taught to feel the temperature of the chocolate with our bottom lip, because it is one of the more sensitive areas on the body. 

This cake has a crazy number of components to it and the assembly is the most challenging part. When I was watching the chef put this cake together, I was just thinking 'my gosh how many things can we add to this cake?! It seems never ending!'. 

Sabrina Cake composition: layer pate sucree (pie pastry), strawberry jam,  the sponge cake is rolled like a jelly roll with a layer of strawberry cream in between the layers so that the cake looks like it has horizontal stripes when you cut each slice, cover the entire cake with strawberry cream, 1rolled out layer of marzipan, 2 layers of tempered chocolate, marking of the chocolate, piping, add design to the outer edge, pistachios around the bottom edge, and a strawberry on top...did I mention this is all from scratch?!

After class I got on my regular bus to go home with my wellies, umbrella, 1 tote bag of baking books, 1 shopping bag of chocolate and strawberry stained chef clothes, a heavy cake box, and an umbrella...with it pouring down rain it was hardly a time for acting graceful. I finally got onto the bus and took the first two seats I saw, in a very unlady-like fashion I plopped down on the chair and put all of my extra things in the seat next to me. There were about 10-12 open seats around me...this is an important detail to note for the next bit of my saga. This guy gets on the bus, very arrogantly and then stands right next to me and says "I would like to sit in this seat at the front of the bus"...'what are your freaking kidding me!? Cant you tell that I have a million things and I am carrying a huge cake?', I thought to myself, I proceeded to give him an evil stare. I moved over with 2 bags, a wet umbrella, and a cake on my lap. Then, when I had to get off the bus, I said "excuse me this is my stop" and the (insert choice word here) wouldn't even stand up and get out of my way! I had to try to slide around him. I accidentally hit him with my huge Longchamp tote bag and I have to admit he had it coming! 

To Do List:

1. email my trainer Lauren 

2. laundry

3. do not eat the cake