Using the left over Pâte à Foncer and the vanilla Sucree, as well as a chocolate version made for us by our instructor, Juliette, we made a trio of tasty treats. The first was a Pear Bourdaloue. A rectangular tart filled with frangipane, jam and topped with artfully sliced pears. Right up my ‘rue’. Next, using the chocolate sucree, a salted caramel tart. Quite a lengthy process this one, as it involved making a salted caramel with which we lined the base, a chocolate ganache which formed the bulk of the filling, all topped off with ‘black glaze’, which contrary to it’s name isn’t a new tone from Dulux, but a silky chocolate flavoured glaze which gives the finished tart a shop ready sheen.

The final tart of the trio was a creamy passion fruit tart, which had a tasty curd like filling similar to a tarte au citron, topped (slightly un-necessarily in my opinion) with blow-torched Swiss meringue, to give a nicely burnished effect. Or at least that’s the theory. For most of us, this was the first time we had used a piping bag to finish a desert, and there were some mixed results. My effort (not pictured) wasn’t too bad, but lets just say Pierre Hermé hasn’t been knocking down my door to offer me a job.

The following day we got busy making choux pastry, hence the HILLARIOUS title of this post. The good news is that choux is, comparatively speaking, a doddle to make. The bad news is that you have to pipe it to make your creations. This being the case, we started off slowly making croquembouche (choux puffs covered in pearl sugar) and a cheesy version on the theme called gougères. Luckily, both just involved piping a small ball of the pastry onto a baking sheet.

More choux shenanigans followed with the Paris Brest (pictured above), a pastry created to commemorate the cycle race of the same name which is the warm up for the Tour De France. Made by piping a circle (or as close as one can manage) of choux, filled post baking with a praline flavoured cream, and topped with flaked almonds. I love anything with praline, so I was a fan. I imagine Lance Armstrong eats a bunch of these every day when he’s training. We also made éclairs later in the day, but for me these were eclipsed by the Brest. No laughing at the back.

Wednesday was almost entirely dedicated to baking and assembling the Gateaux Saint Honoré, a French cake named after the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs. The cake has no less than 6 separate elements. 1 – a puff pastry base. 2 – a choux pastry ring running the circumference of the base. 3 – choux ‘puff’ balls filled with 4 – Mouselline and dipped in 5 – caramel, finally the centre of the cake is filled with 6 – chantilly. Complicated, but seriously good stuff.

After three days of sweet architecture, the rest of the week was comparatively mundane, as we made cookies, muffins, meringues and what we would call ‘tray bakes’, brownies and ‘lemon bars’. Thats not to say it wasn’t interesting, as it’s been good to get to grips with different techniques and learning the right way of doing things. A special shout has to go out to the peanut butter cookie. Biscuit crack.

So that was last week. This week its cakes, cakes and more cakes…see you then.

Rewinding again to Christmas, if you can remember that far back, here’s a recipe for a classic lemon tart. It’s basically a piece of cake (or rather tart), particularly if you use shop bought pastry, which I’d recommend unless you’ve got the time to make your own.

I’ve not managed to work out how patisseries manage to get that glossy finish on their tarts, so I cheated and added a festive twist by glazing mine with a bit of raspberry jelly.

This recipe was made in a 30cm / 12″ tart case to serve around 8-10 people, if you’re making desert for less use a 20cm / 8″ case and half the quantities. Lets begin.

Ingredients

500g all butter shortcrust pastry

10 free range eggs

8 lemons, juiced

380g caster sugar

500 ml double cream

Zest of 4 lemons

4 tablespoons of raspberry jelly for the glaze, optional

Method

Get your oven on to 200c and then take your pastry out of the fridge (it’s much better to work pastry when it’s cold) and roll it out big enough to comfortably fit over the tart case (NB. use a non-stick case with a loose bottom). Lift the pastry with your rolling pin and drape it over the case, and then gently press it down into the sides trying not to make any holes (patch them up with spare pastry if you do).

You’re now going to ‘blind bake‘ the pastry, so first off cut off some of the excess pastry off the side, leaving a little overhang as it will shrink in the oven. Now gently prick the base all over with a fork, you don’t want to go through to the base, just make indentations in the surface. Then cut a piece of greaseproof paper big enough to line the base and then fill with baking beans or rice and then pop in the oven.

Cook the pastry for 15 minutes, then take out the case, remove the greaseproof paper and beans, and then  return to the oven to bake for a further 5 minutes until the pastry is light golden colour. Whilst this is going on, prepare the filling.

Crack the eggs into a bowl, add the sugar and mix the two together. Now zest 4 of the lemons, and set the zest aside before juicing all of the lemons, and then add to the mixture along with  the cream. Mix everything together until smooth, but try and avoid whisking and making the mixture bubbly.

You’re now going to sieve the mixture to remove any lumps or inconsistencies. If you’ve got one to hand, do this into a jug as it’s going to make it easier to pour the filling into the pastry case. Once you’ve done this, add the zest and mix in. By now the pastry should be ready and waiting to be filled. But before you do, turn the oven down to 150c and trim the edge of the pastry so it’s flush with the edge of the case.

Now pour the filling into the case. A good tip is to pour half the mixture in, and then place the case on the oven shelf before adding the rest. This should mean your kitchen floor remains clean. Now close the oven door and cook for about an hour until the filling is just set (it should wobble a bit when shaken).

Remove from the oven, and set aside to cool.When cooled, and if you fancy it, you can give the tart a glaze. Dissolve the raspberry jelly in a saucepan on a medium heat with a couple of teaspoons of water. When the jelly has turned to liquid, pour it over the top of the tart, tilting it gently so the glaze covers the entire surface. Set aside somewhere cool to let it set.

When you’re ready to get stuck in, serve generous slices with a scroll of clotted cream, or a drizzle of double cream.

P.S. Sorry for the quality of the finished article and the photography, I think I may have partaken in a bit too much Christmas cheer by the time I made this one. Ho Ho Ho.

The final course of our valentines meal was a lemon posset with heart shaped shortbread biscuits (forgive the cheese).

The Posset is pretty much as old school as it gets with roots in 12th century England where it was drunk for it’s medicinal properties. I’m not sure this recipe could ever be described as good for you, cream and sugar tend to be frowned upon these days, but it is delicious, and very easy to make.

Ingredients

For the Posset

300ml double cream

75g caster sugar

1 lemon zested and juiced

For the shortbread

45g icing sugar

90g plain flour

30g cornflour

15g ground almonds

125g butter

Lemon zest

Golden caster sugar

Method

First up, put the cream and sugar in a pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 3 minutes, making sure it doesn’t boil over, and then take off the heat. Allow to cool to room temperature, add the lemon juice and then whisk. Divide the mixture by pouring into two glasses and then put in the fridge to set.

Now make the shortbread biscuits. Sift the flour, cornflour and icing sugar into a food processor and then add the ground almonds. Cut the butter into cubes, add to the processor bowl, and then pulse until the butter has been blitzed, leaving you with a breadcrumb like mixture.

Tip the mixture out onto lightly floured surface, and bring it all together to form a smooth dough. Wrap in clingfilm, put in the fridge and set your oven to 180 degrees C.

When the oven is up to temperature, remove the dough, and using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll it out to around half a centimetre thick. Using a pastry cutter, cut out the dough and place on grease proof paper on a flat baking tray. Grate a little lemon zest and sprinkle each biscuit with a little golden caster sugar before popping in the oven for around 10 minutes.

The biscuits are ready when they are a pale yellow in colour and golden brown around the edges. Remove from the baking tray and cool on a rack. The biscuits will be soft and brittle, so be careful.

Remove the posset from the fridge to warm it up a little, and then serve with a couple of the cooled shortbread biscuits.A class act.