onward and upward!

The sun was barely coming up when our day started at Tante Marie's Cooking School this morning--it was graduation day for the professional pastry students.

Everyone started trickling in around 7:15am... even with daylight savings time starting a few hours earlier.

Coffee on... laminated doughs pulled from the freezer... looking for the perfect radio station for our mood (Prince?! Not Cat Stevens!!)

Students were focused, intense, happy. They had been working on their final project concepts, recipes and production schedules for weeks. They had been baking for a few days. Now, by 2:00 they had to finish their final projects, decorate their displays... and be ready to greet their families and friends.

Of course there was craziness... a napoleon that summersaulted to the floor... gumpaste flowers that weren't dry... the clock reading 1:30 when there was so much left to do... but what amazing presentations they all did. I want to share a photo album like a proud parent!

Jenn's Half Moon Bay Farmer's Market Pie Stand drew crowds.. it was complete with modelling chocolate bees with almond wings!

Amie's coffee theme included an antique samovar, coffee pots de cremes in espresso cups and B-52 mousses with caramel swizzle sticks!

Amelia's springtime wedding cake had gorgeous flowers.. and each tier had a different syrup and filling.

Sheryl's study of teas included infused panna cotta, caramels, tartlets, cupcakes, poundcake and truffles!

Ellen turned her Washington DC roots into an amazing display of presidental desserts--with cakes and confections from Presidents Washington, Lincoln, Eisenhower (or their wives!)....and the inaugural dessert of President Obama.. a delicious apple charlotte with caramel sauce.

Kathleen's Southern cakes display also reflected her roots and was mouthwatering.... especially the 4 layer coconut cake and the red velvet petit fours!

Matthew discovered his love of all things laminated, and made orange bouchees, caramelized banana danish, and chocolate and caramel croissants.

Kate went for the bite-sized desserts, with petit fours glace, mini cream puffs and cupcakes.

Kara wanted to show a small town boutique bakery. Her display was perfect, with tiny creme caramels, lavender cookies, scones and cupcakes... all presented in unique ways.

Jessica's love of her German mother and grandmother prompted her German Christmas display... complete with a Black Forest Cake, Zuger Kirschtorte, and stollen. There were even German Christmas ornaments!

Siobhan's "tipsy tea party" included a chocolate mousse with port-macerated figs... an olive oil cake with drunken grapes... and s'mores with Lillet marshmallows.

Ashlee's garden party was beautiful in pink, white and yellow... with tiny cupcakes and tarts in gum paste flowers, a lemon mascarpone cake and tiny ice cream cones!

Kat made a black-and-white wedding cake--the layer I fell for was chocolate with coffee buttercream. We joked that she was making her own wedding cake since she's getting married in the fall!

And speaking of weddings... Liz wanted to make her sister's memorable by designing an incredible croquembuche wedding cake filled with assorted berry pastry creams. And did I mention it was sitting on a chocolate gluten-free sphere cake with gum paste sea shells.. garnished with a mini adirondack chair sitting on graham cracker sand?

Whew! What a day! I am so proud of each of you for what you have accomplished in the past six months... may you have many happy days up to your elbows in flour, butter and sugar!

t.g.i.c. (thank god for citrus!)

Is there anything crazier looking than a Buddha's hand citron? It's one of those God's-got-a-sense-of-humor fruits... and it is so delicious candied.

We are all eating so much citrus in my house that a few of us have canker sores. But still, when I came home from the farmer's market this week with the best-ever navel oranges, my son said he'd just eat through the pain because they tasted so good.

We have two kinds of lemons in the yard--Meyer and Eureka, so I juice a bunch of them, stir in some simple syrup, add a splash of sparkling water, and we have wintertime lemonade. Maybe we should set up a stand under an umbrella in the front yard?

Insalata's Restaurant in San Anselmo makes an olive oil citrus cake that is so moist and delicious... and so perfect for after a winter dinner or with a cup of tea.

Orange Almond Olive Oil Cake

2 small oranges
1 lemon

1 cup AP flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

4 eggs, room temp

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup sugar

6 oz toasted almonds,finely chopped in a food processor

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 350F. Oil a 10"x3" round cake pan, line with parchment, and oil again.

In a medium saucepan, cover the whole oranges and lemons with water; bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until fruit is tender, about 30 minutes. Drain and cool. Cut the oranges in half, discard seeds and rough chop the whole orange. Cut the lemon in half, remove and discard pulp and rough chop the lemon skin. Process the fruit in a food processor to a fine pulp.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk, combine eggs and sugar; whip until light and fluffy and will hold a ribbon, about 5 minutes. Fold flour mixture into egg mixture. Mix together fruit, nuts and olive oil and fold into batter until well incorporated.

Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing top. Bake until surface is dark golden brown and springs back when touched, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool in pan. Dust with confectioner;s sugar. Delicious served with a dollop of cardamom whipped cream!

the wintertime blues

Just when I think there might be a glimmer of sunshine out there...it starts raining again. I actually did see some brave plum blossoms and a few daffodils this week on one of my foggy day walks, but now we're back to umbrellas, wet feet, and root vegetables. Time for some soup.

I crave vegetable purees. You can make them out of anything in your refrigerator and they are smooth, creamy and completely comforting.

Start by sauteeing your chunked-up vegetables in olive oil in a soup pot or saucepan. I love the sweetness and color of carrots, so I used onions, a little celery, a potato and alot of carrots. I'm also fond of celery root in this soup, butternut squash, turnip, rutabaga... you get the picture.

After the vegetables start to soften a little and smell good, add a nice big splash of white wine and let it reduce for a minute or two. Then cover your vegetables with chicken stock--homemade if you have it, or canned is fine.

Let everything simmer, uncovered, until all the vegetables are very soft. Adjust the seasoning.

To puree the soup, you can use an immersion blender right in the pot, or let the soup cool a bit and puree it in batches in a food processor or blender. You will probably have to add more stock to get it the right consistency. If you want it richer, add a little cream, but it really doesn't even need it.

Aahhhh... beautiful, warm and satisfying.

While I'm in the kitchen, I also peeled and sliced a few apples, tossed them in sugar, dotted them with butter and sprinkled on a handful of dried cranberries. Bake the apples at 350F-375F until they're nice and soft. Eat them on their own warm.... or top them with a little whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

It may be dreary outside, but it's warm and delicious in the kitchen!

busy bakers

My current class of pastry students at Tante Marie's

Cooking School have really been producing some beautiful work in the past few months, and it's time for the world to see some of their creations!

First,the simplicity of the Princess Cake....a great way to learn to handle marzipan for the first time. I always think of baby showers or little girl birthday parties when I see this sweet cake!

From the simple... to the crazy... with the Croquembouche. Students have so much fun assembling these towers of tiny cream puffs and decorating them with spun sugar, Jordan almonds, royal icing and nougatine. They are so over the top!

Everyone really had a chance to show their stuff during the entremet classes. These cakes have layers of genoise, flavored syrups, mousses, fruits and poured glazes, surrounded by decorated biscuit joconde.

And, of course, French macarons... these temperamental little cookies are all the rage. We filled a big glass compote with them for our Christmas party for a beautiful presentation.

Still to come.... wedding cake week! Then this group of students will be on to their final projects and launched into the big, delicious world of pastry in late March.

Great work, everyone!

happy birthday mom!

My mother had the misfortune of being born two days before Christmas.

But she's had the fortune of celebrating her birthday when everyone's in holiday spirits and there are lots of sparkly lights and bottles of bubbly stashed in the refrigerator.

This year was her 75th birthday... a big one, by anyone's standards... and deserving of an over-the-top birthday cake. So I made one, inspired by a cake I've seen Alice Medrich demonstrate to pastry students.

It has all the bells and whistles: a crunchy base made from Rice Krispies, nuts and chocolate... a chocolate genoise soaked in rum syrup surrounding a rich chocolate mousse layer studded with raspberries.... whipped mascarpone topping with chocolate ruffles and more raspberries. As Ina Garten would say.... how bad can that be?

The birthday girl blew out her one commemorative candle, then we all put the champagne glasses aside and dug in. I have to admit that it tasted as over-the-top as it looked... which is a good thing in birthday cake land.

Happy birthday Mom! You are awesome and inspiring!

a very thankful day

I admit it. I kind of went overboard on the whole Thanksgiving dessert thing. I started keeping a list of things I wanted to bake, and the list kept getting longer... and longer.

I had a good excuse, though, because the guest list kept getting longer, too. I have four siblings, with lots of kids... and now those kids have boyfriends and girlfriends who have Thanksgiving with us. We have some close friends who are like family who join us every year... and then there are always a few extra friends who thought they were going to be out of town but now they're in town and didn't buy a turkey and of course you can join us! So we had 32 people, and I kept baking.

First I made a Chocolate-Almond Torte.. because there are chocolate lovers in every crowd.

I love Pear-Frangipane Tarts, so I made one of those.

My daughter wanted to use my new cupcake tree, so I made some yummy chocolate cupcakes with espresso and chocolate buttercream, expertly piped by Angela. We made them for the little people, but of course the taller people ate their share, too.

This is my first Thanksgiving without my dad, but I made his favorite dessert anyway. It's a French Apple Tart, with an apple-vanilla bean compote that goes down first, followed by a spiral of sliced apples. Of course I used the apple corer-slicer he gave me for my birthday for this job.

It turned out beautifully and I think it was the most requested dessert to take home. My dad would have had second helpings!

Also in the tart category, I made a Linzertorte.. and a Cranberry Streusel Tart.

Then it was time to turn my attention to pumpkin, but not another pie... I made a pumpkin roulade, with cream cheese filling and a ginger-caramel sauce. No left-overs of this one!

All told, I made seven desserts. We were all very thankful for butter, sugar, flour and eggs, among other things, this Thanksgiving.

Got a Minute?

You really can bake an incredible focaccia in such a short time.... what are you waiting for?

Just imagine the luscious aroma of that olive oil-rich bread wafting through your kitchen... that lovely rosemary, maybe some caramelized onions, a scattering of gorgonzola....YUM!

The dough comes together fast, then rises for an hour or so. You spread it out on a sheet pan, sprinkle on your toppings, and into the oven it goes.

Here's the basic recipe. Add whatever toppings seem right, or knead a few herbs or olives right into the dough.

Focaccia
6 cups flour
2 Tbsp instant yeast
1 Tbsp salt
2 ½ cups water, room temp
6 Tbsp olive oil

In a large bowl, mix 5 cups flour, instant yeast and salt. Make a well in the center and pour water and 3 Tbsp olive oil into it. Stir to mix, adding flour from the edges of the well until all is incorporated. When mixture begins to hold together, turn it out onto a work surface and knead until you have a smooth, firm dough. You may need to add up to 1 additional cup of flour if the dough is extremely sticky. Form dough into a ball.

Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough in the bowl, turning to coat all sides with oil. Cover with plastic or a towel and set in a warm place, free of drafts, until double in size, about an hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously oil a half sheet tray. With the heel of your hand, spread the dough onto the oiled pan. Let rest about 10 minutes, then spread on toppings, along with an additional 3 Tbsp of olive oil and a sprinkling of coarse salt. Put “dents” all over the dough with your fingertips, being careful not to poke all the way through. Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden on both the top and bottom. Let cool briefly and cut into desired shapes.

Yield: ½ sheet

Topping ideas: Chopped fresh rosemary, sautéed red bell peppers, onions and olives, chopped green onions, caramelized onions, gorgonzola cheese, sautéed mushrooms, pancetta, walnuts, roasted garlic, artichoke hearts, goat cheese. If using cheese, add in the last 10 minutes of baking. If topping with tomato sauce and cheese, bake foccacia first until golden, then spread on sauce.