Artisan Pastry - Cakes & Tarts

Last week I was lucky enough to join the Artisan Pastry – Cakes & Tarts class. And I gotta say it’s my favourite class so far! I thoroughly enjoyed the Seeds & Grains class and the Baking with Brioche class I’ve also attended, but with my ever-growing love of cakes (and anything containing sugar), this is the perfect class for me.

Our Training Manager Matt is teaching the class tonight. We start by hoeing into some warm and flaky croissants that have come straight out of the oven. And then we get right into it. Mixing pastry by hand is hard work! My wrist was seriously sore the next day. Tonight we make friands, frangipane tarts and a scrumptious smoked trout & feta tart that we devour for dinner.

CHOCOLATE, RASPBERRY & PISTACHIO FRIANDS

First up are the friands, which get their beautiful nutty flavour from the almond meal folded through the sweet pastry dough. We’re partnered up to hand-mix the this dough. And we soon realise why Matt has decided to pair us up. It’s a long, arduous process and taking turns definitely helps in making it less like a bicep workout at the gym and more like an artisan baking class.

Matt keeps stressing that the dough can very easily split. Luckily we’re all super-awesome at whisking, and the dough remains intact.

We then pipe a layer of sweet pastry, distribute white chocolate and milk chocolate buttons, pipe more pastry and push raspberries on top. I won’t lie, some of those white chocolate buttons miraculously found their way into my belly during the class. If there’s a 12-step program for chocolate addiction out there, I should probably be on it.

Anyway! The lovely friands are baked and glazed, then sprinkled with chopped pistachios. Of course when you make these again at home you can change it up however you like! Try whatever fruits are in season, but berries are always a hit. You can also try experimenting with spices, whether it’s cinnamon or cardamom.

Matt introducing the class and feeding us warm croissants!

Slowly adding egg to the pastry dough

Handmixing pastry dough

The making of chocolate, raspberry & pistachio friands

Glazing the baked friands and sprinkling pistachio on top

FRANGIPANE TARTS

Next up are the frangipane tarts. We make a sweet shortcrust pastry for the base, which needs to rest in the fridge. We roll out the shortcrust dough and shape them into pastry rings. Frangipane is then piped into the shortcrust, and fruits are placed on top.

Tonight we make apricot tarts (my absolute favourite of our entire cakes and tarts range!) and sour cherry tarts. You can obviously get creative at home. Make some tangy lemon tarts or perhaps some rhubarb tarts (we have a rhubarb and strawberry tart, which is perfect for this wintry weather). If you’re entertaining, serve the tarts with a dollop of chantilly cream or creme anglaise. FYI, there’s an awesome crème anglaise by Pepe Saya that we also sell in our retail store.

Shortcrust bases in pastry rings - these are used for both the sweet and savoury tarts on the night!

Piping frangipane onto the shortcrust

Pushing sour cherries and apricots into the frangipane filling

Sour cherry tarts & apricot tarts. The ones at the front are mine! I could totally be an artisan baker 🙂

Matt shows us how to glaze the tarts

SMOKED TROUT & FETA TART

And then we bake a savoury tart! Tonight’s tart is filled with smoked trout and feta as well as a mixture of sour cream and egg (seasoned with salt and pepper). The tart has a basic shortcrust pastry (which is just like the shortcrust pastry for the frangipane tarts, minus the sugar of course) for the base. Our tarts are put in the oven, and after a quick tour of the bakery, we pull them out just in time for dinner.

We sprinkle dried wild mushroom powder on top, toss together a rocket and roast tomato salad using some delicious Alto Olive Oil (we use Robust here – my favourite of the Alto range), and then sit down for dinner in the cafe.

Other than bringing home a box of delicious cakes and tarts that we made completely by hand, we also take with us the recipes and of course the knowledge of artisan baking techniques.

The Artisan Pastry – Cakes & Tarts class is only held once a month so book in quick. You can check our Sydney Course Calendar to find the most suitable date.