Pound Cake - Grand Prix Round One Practice

The theme announced for the first round of middle school elimination is pound cake and Team Ichigo comes up with some great cakes that highlights each of their individual strengths and styles.

 

Ichigo makes a strawberry pound cake.

  

Andoh makes a macha and nut poundcake.

 

Kashino makes a chocolate and nut pound cake.

Eventually, Hanabusa is able to force out a rose pound cake that isn't quite right...

Cake Grand Prix - Middle School Round One

Theme:
A Cake to Enjoy with the Family

Match:
Team Itchimatsu vs Team Ichigo

Judging:
2hrs with scores circle, double circle, triangle or X for each taste, technique, and theme.

Results:
Team Ichigo wins

Opposing Team from MS Class 3B

 

The final entry was four separate cakes individually superior using the highest quality ingredients but clashing in flavor.

 

Nut Pound Cake

 

Chocolate Pound Cake

 

Kilimanjaro Coffee Marble Pound Cake

 

Chestnut Pound Cake

Team Ichigo from MS Class 2A

The plain pound cakes from the winning team were individually insignificant but soaked in rose water and arranged as a rose, supported and complimented each other in flavor and aroma - giving you the sense that you were taking a walk through a rose garden.

 

Coffee (Andoh), Peach (Ichigo), White Chocolate (Kashino), Rose Cake (Hanabusa)

In the end, this family really did enjoy the cake, didn't they?  *corny*

Getting the Gear

I realized that my kitchen is poorly equipped for any kind of pastry making and that at the very least, I need a good pan and some reliable knives.  I've ordered this crepe pan that can also be used for a lot of other things as well.  I went ahead and also ordered a crepe batter spreader.  I hope that when they arrive on Tuesday, that I'll become a crepe-making machine since I'm sick of having frozen waffles and instant-batter pancakes every morning with eggs... I need some variety.

As for the knives, pastry bag nozzles and madeleine pan... I've decided to hold off for now since I don't have any money and a decent knife is well beyond my means.  My uncle has agreed to let me borrow a few things and I hope that I can work off of those for now.  Besides, I'm going to need my money for groceries because things like couverture are expensive and the expense of eggs and flour does add up over time.  I never knew how much food ingredients cost!

... well, that was fun. I actually cooked a savory! Omurice!

I made my family dinner tonight... オムライス!!!

  

Figure out a workspace and layout your ingredients/equipment.

Cook your rice with less water.

 

Take your chicken and chop it by the half inch.

  

Cut a garlic clove in half, remove the sprout, and cut in to fine cubes.

  

Take your mushrooms and cut off the stems. Then slice by the half centimeter.

 

Place frozen peas in hot water to remove scent, then season with salt.

  

Coat pan with olive oil, sautee garlic until aromatic, add onions and cook until transluscent.

  

Add mushrooms and wine until all is oil-coated. Add tomatoes, peas, bouillon and bay leave. Remove bay leafe. Add rice. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

  

Take eggs, add cream, add salt, add pepper, beat it.

  

Make your omelette, add your filling, turn up the edges, invert on to serving plate.

Enjoy!

I made four individual plate-sized omelettes and the main costs were $2.49 for mushrooms, $2.69 for the canned tomatoes, $3.18 for a pound of chicken, and then the cost of 10 eggs. (2 eggs were because I screwed up on the first try.)  The rest of the ingredients were either already in my parents fridge or I used a negligible amount to where I wouldn't want to mention the whole price of the product. (i.e. white wine and olive oil)

CLICK HERE FOR THE OMURICE RECIPE

... yes, I chose the easiest thing to do first.

So, before I could do anything, I had to drop by the grocery to buy some basic items like cream, chocolate, eggs, etc.  I also stopped by the bakeware section and realized that I don't know what many of these tools are called let alone how to use them... I did finally know what the different kinds of cream and eggs were though!  =X

Okay, so after realizing that I don't have the proper hardware at home to get any actual baking done (i.e. pastry bag nozzles and crepe pans), I decided to go with the two easiest things in the world to make - chocolat chaud and オムライス. 

 

Chopping up all of the chocolate is exhuasting... 4oz.

 

Heat up two cups of whole milk.

 

Stir until all of the chocolate is melted and it thickens/foams a bit.

Enjoy in a good mug.  =)

PS  The next time you're at a cafe and you see a $6 charge for a cup of REAL hot chocolate, don't complain... enough good chocolate to make this at retail price is around $3!

CLICK HERE FOR THE CHOCOLAT CHAUD RECIPE