Tres Leches Cake

I went to a friend's house for an Oscar party last Sunday.  She wanted to make tostadas, so I wanted to make an appropriate dessert.  So I decided on Tres Leches cake.

We had made tres leches in school, during our nuevo latino menu, but I didn't get a chance to make it, because I had to work on other courses.  I made a sponge cake for the base instead of a yellow cake.  Then I used Alton Brown's version of tres leches milk.  Then, because we did it in school, I made common meringue, and brought my mini blowtorch to torch it!

I think it turned out nicely and was very elegant for an elegant awards show.

Fudge Cake with Hazelnuts

This is both sexy and unsexy at the same time.  Is it a perfect slice? No.  Is that an ooey, gooey center?  Heck yes!

My love for chocolate and hazelnuts is well-known and showcased on this blog.  So of course, any recipe with them together, I have to try.  This one comes from Food and Wine, December 2012.  It's called the Tunnel of Fudge Cake with Hazelnuts.

It's a recipe from a second-place winner in a Pillsbury bake-off in 1966. Wonder what won first place?  Anyways, I don't think this one's a winner for me.  The ground hazelnuts tasted great, but gave too gritty a texture to the whole cake.  I liked the gooey center, but my husband wasn't a fan.  So, I'll have to pass on keeping this in my repertoire.

Update: Strawberry Shortcake

This is how the presentation of my strawberry shortcake turned out in gourmet class.  On the customer comment cards, lots of people remarked that the strawberry sorbet was great.  Yeah!

Strawberry Shortcake and Sorbet

In this semester of culinary school I really want to get as much as experience as I can in desserts.  To this end, I'm going to be road-testing dessert recipes on our menu before we have to make them for school.  This is my first one.  The picture above is how my practice run turned out.  Below is the version in The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller. 

I've got some kinks to work out, put that's what practice is for.  The creme fraiche sauce was to die for and had me licking my plate.  I also really loved the strawberry sorbet, but wonder what the difference is between the deep red in the book vs. my light pink.  Such a fitting dessert for Valentine's Day!