4 posts tagged “cake”
Well, kids, my good buddy Rick who owns Cakelava in Hawaii, has asked me to be his assistant in a Food Network Cake Challenge. I'm going to do it. He's the main competitor......I'll just be the dork in the background, but that's good enough for me! I have to be all hushy hush about the details, but it will be a challenge that's right up my alley. I promise I'll tell ya all about it as soon as it's ok for me to do so...........
So go support your local merchant and buy a danish there, won't you?
Here's another quickie........
On almost every website I participate in, I go by the moniker, "chefpeon". A lot of people wonder why. Well, there is a story behind it, but I also use "chefpeon" on websites because it's such a unique name, and no one has already taken it.
I admit the name sounds a little self deprecating....but it's not.....it's more of a reminder to myself to be humble, and keep things in perspective.
When I was first out of pastry school, like many culinary grads, I sort of thought I was better than I was. I kind of had this "hot shot" attitude and felt that perhaps I was too good to start at the "bottom". My first job was in an upscale cake shop. I was very lucky to get hired there, and I really tried hard to get the job because I really admired the talent of the head cake designer and pastry chef. I wanted to learn all his techniques. I had this idea that we would be working side-by-side together and I would be happily decorating cakes and sharing the spotlight. Well, OF COURSE everyone has to start at the bottom, even culinary grads! I was a little miffed when I found out my first tasks would be covering cake boards, washing dishes, mixing buttercream, making fillings, crumb coating cakes, and basically doing all the "grunt" work. Well, of course I did all that quite willingly, because to be honest I willing willing to lick the chef's shoes if that's what it took to keep the job. But I couldn't help being a little snip, and when I was given yet another poopy task, I commented, "Yep, just pile it on me, the resident peon......! Just call me Chef Peon!" Well, that kind of irked the chef and he said "Cut it OUT....you are NOT a peon! The work you do is important." Of course, he was right, but I was still kinda mad that I wasn't actually decorating cakes. Every once in a while, just to be annoying, or to tease the chef, I'd say stuff like, "Chef Peon reporting for duty, SIR!" and I'd stand and salute. It's a wonder he put up with me!
One day, I was out shopping and I came across a coffee mug, that simply said, in very small letters, "peon". HAD to buy it. The next day, I stood in front of the chef's work table, with my new cup, full of coffee, and just sipped at it, til he looked up and saw the mug. At that point, he realized that even though I was annoying, I did also have a sense of humor. From then on, we struck up a great relationship, and worked well together, and I finally got to decorate some cakes, starting from easy up to advanced work. He taught me a lot, and he's been the most important mentor in my career.
I kept the name Chef Peon because it reminds me of those fun times, and also because no matter how experienced you are and how much you THINK you know....there is ALWAYS more to learn. In a lot of ways, I'm still a peon, not in a self deprecating sense, but in a sense that no one knows everything. Chef Peon reminds me to have humility, to admit when I'm wrong, and that I can always learn from others. And, last but not least, I STILL have to do my own dishes!!!!
to my 15 minutes of fame. I believe I've used up maybe 5 minutes so far. I calculate I have 9 minutes and 58 seconds more to go. That's just enough for a segment on "Dateline". Oh, but wait, to get on "Dateline" I have to
either form a bizarre plot to kill my husband, or troll for underage boys and girls in chat rooms. Nah, forget "Dateline".
How about a spot on the "Jerry Springer Show"? Then I get to bring whomever I want and beat them up. I could go for 9 minutes and 58 seconds of that.
But I digress.
This recent two seconds of fame is attributed to my latest cake project. As per usual, I didn't get paid to do it. It was a donation to an auction to raise funds for the Jefferson County Historical Society. I donated my services to create a celebration cake for the grand re-opening of Port Townsend, Washington's historic city hall. Originally they wanted me to re-create the building in cake, but I didn't have the space, the refrigeration, or quite that much time to do a replica of the building. So I designed a tiered cake, in the popular crooked whimsical fashion, that represented the best parts of the interior and exterior of city hall. The top and bottom tiers represent the best of the outside of the building, and the middle tier represents the brand new carpeting installed in the interior. The thing that looks like a satellite antenna on the top is a representation of some beautiful railing work done by the late great blacksmith/artist Russell Jacqua.
Not sure how much time I spent on this thing, but it was a lot of time. I started the project at the beginning of September and completed little tasks in between all my other responsibilities that related to domestic engineering and my outside cookie baking job (of which I no longer have-Thanks Heidi!!!). I was asked how many hours it took me.
I didn't count. I honestly don't know. Maybe 100? Maybe more....maybe less. Here's a picture. I added the pigeons and the seagull at the last minute at the suggestion of my husband.....brilliant!
The inside of the cake was an amazing chocolate stout cake with a hazelnut praline buttercream filling. The chocolate stout cake is definitely the best chocolate cake ever. Yes, it's made with stout beer, and no, the cake does not taste like beer. It tastes like wonderful moist dark chocolate. It rocks! Want the recipe? Go here.
