Japanese-French Pastries 09-III Class

Yesterday was Chef Keiko's last class at Shermay's Cooking School before she shifts back to Japan. Good news is, she may be coming back to teach if opportunity arises :) Certainly hopes so because her baked goodies are visual treats, always presented stylishly and prettily in typical Japanese cafe/patisserie fashion, just like my favourite Afternoon-Tea. And of course tasted heavenly as well.

5 recipes were demonstrated during the class.

• Raspberry Chiffon Cake - Raspberry-flavoured chiffon cake with Rasberry cream frosting
• Gateau Chocolat - A Keiko-style chocolate cake
• Super Vanilla Cheese Cake - Cheese cake with digestive biscuit base
• Healthy Florentine - Almond and walnuts caramel cookies
• Lavender Cookies - Lavender-flavoured butter cookies.

I must rave about the Rasberry Chiffon Cake with Rasberry Cream!!! So sweet and pretty looking. When she completed decorating the cake, everyone went 'Awwwwww, so princess like'. It looked exactly like those cakes/pastries I was drooling over in the patisseries at Tokyo.

She was so amazing! A simple chiffon cake got transformed into an angelic looking cake, and she made it look effortless.

And the chiffon cake was super-light and not too sweet. Everyone received one slice to take home. But since it was so light, one was not enough at all! I ended up craving for more. Alas, I have to depend on myself now to satisfy the craving. Ok, this shall be my to-bake cake next.

Keiko-style Chocolate Cake.

It was actually quite simple to bake. And though it was very humble looking, the chocolate was rich and intense! Certainly not for the faint hearted. Haha. Chocolate lovers would adore it.

To balance the richness of the chocolate, it's best paired with some whipped cream. Eaten together, it could very well trigger an orgasmic taste experience.

Super Vanilla Cheese Cake.

This cheese cake would have been too rich if not for the blueberries added. The blueberries provided some tartness and brought about a balance to the otherwise heavy cake. Cheesecake lovers would enjoy it.

I love the multi-level of tastes - biscuit crust base, blueberries, cheesecake and finally sour cream filling top layer.

These lavender Cookies are quite easily done as well. I thought the fragrance of lavender would be weird for cookies since lavender products are inclined towards soap and aroma oils. Can't imagine myself eating my soap :p

But nope, this is very much a butter cookie, with subtle hint of lavender and not anything like those lavender scents at all.

Healthy Florentine - Almond and Walnuts Caramel Cookies. Thought it tasted a little like muesli bars. While I liked the nut mixture with caramel, the base cookie was a little bland and hard for my liking. I think I would just eat the nut mixture on its own without making the cookie dough. LOL.Presenting all the yummy and pretty cakes and pastries! The feature here was the teddy bear donning chef uniform, bought by Shermay as a farewell gift for Chef Keiko! So cute!

Baked treats for everyone to bring home. Gonna miss her!