Day 5: The One with the Toppings

The last day of the first week is bittersweet, I cannot belive its already Friday! Today was a short day, we worked on finishing all of our eclairs and cream puffs from yesterday. We started by making some ganache, whipped ganache, and chocolate cocoa nib dip. Damien showed us how to fill the eclairs and … Read more

Day 4: The One with the Pâte à Choux

Another whirlwind of a day working on pâte à choux to make cream puffs and eclairs. We made two different choux recipes, one for the eclairs and one for the cream puffs/profiteroles. Both recipes are pretty much the same except the eclairs called for salt and were cooked out longer on the stove before being … Read more

Day 3: The One with the Vegans

Not to disappoint you but there were no actual vegans in the area, however there were lots of vegan macarons! Today we began advanced macarons, which included vegan and nut free pastries. It was an interesting class as the main ingredients in really good pastries are eggs, butter, and milk which are all very much … Read more

Day 2: The One with the Macarons

Wow what a day! Today we began the true baking lessons with two different types of macarons, Italian and French. I did not know there were two different ways to make macarons so this was a brand new lesson for me. I have also never made macarons at home due to the fact of not … Read more

Day 1: The One with the Icebreaker

We have officially made it to day one of the pastry academy. Today was all about icebreakers and getting to know the other 11 students in the class. Most of the students are from the EU or the UK. I am the only student from the US. We got to know the main instructor, Damien … Read more

Day 0: The One with the Introduction

Welcome to day zero of my pastry academy journey. My name is Alison and I just left my job as an electrical engineer to pursue a dream of learning more about baking and all the tips and tricks I could use to one day bake for the masses. Tomorrow starts this journey at the Pastry … Read more