Nid d'Abeille & Feuille d'Automne

Today was the last cake workshop of the term and I'm a little sad. I really love making cakes and it wasn't my most stellar performances of the year. I made some serious mistakes in that workshop.

The first cake is called a Nid d'Abeille, which means bee's nest. This name comes from the honey flavours that are both in the mousse and the crispy decoration on top. I am definitely going to repeat this one at home - it is so scrumptious! It would be sure hit with dad, especially if I use some of his honey. I've never been a very big fan of honey. A fact that has plagued my father ever since he started bee-keeping as a hobby over ten years ago. Growing up, whenever anyone in the house was feeling a cold coming on, my dad's surefire solution would always be propollus tea or anything honey-related. He'll be floored if I serve this next time they come visit.

This one proved the most difficult I would make in the term, just out of pure stupidity. I was keeping pace with Jess, the fastest worker in class, and I think I got a bit too cocky. When it came time to make the mousse - a combination of honey italian meringue, pastry cream and whipped cream - disaster hit. I didn't soften the pastry cream enough (the starch and gelatin were both working against me) and the mousse was a lumpy mess. It was so frustrating, but thankfully my running start gave me enough time to make the mousse again from scratch. Leaving nothing to fate, I softened that pastry cream into submission with the Kitchen-Aid.

The result is layers of honey chiboust, dacquoise and strawberry coulis. The top is a layer of dacquoise with a honey almond cream spread on top and then baked into crunchy toffee deliciousness.

The Feuilles d'Automne, which means "autumn leaves" was a little easier to make. I just encountered a bit of lumpy chocolate mousse, but was able to whip the lumps out of it. The part that intimidated me the most proved to be one of the most fun aspects of it. Instead of tempering chocolate the traditional way, we spread warm chocolate on warm baking sheets and popped it in the fridge to set. When we were ready to top the cakes, we scraped off large fans of chocolate from the pans and set it on top of the cake.

The Feuilles d'Automne is layers of almond meringue with layers of chocolate mousse, covered in dark chocolate.