Galette de Rois & Chaussons aux Pommes*

Our premier class for this month is Pistachio Pie (Galette de Rois)!

Galette de Rois, meaning “King Cake” in English, is a celebration pie eaten in France for Epiphany (Christian holiday). The holiday falls on January 6th, but Galette de Rois is served in patisserie and boulangerie all over France during the whole month of January. It is a big event in France, even in Japan it is getting popular the last few years, and contests are held to choose the best Galette de Rois of the year both in France and in Japan.

The original Galette de Rois filling is a simple almond cream, but we will make pistachio cream and put pitted cherry together. As for the pie crust, we will make in feuilletage rapide, a faster way of making a pie, although it still takes a full day to make… But that makes the pie tastes good and I will be preparing replacement for this class.

People in Japan comparing Galette de Rois from famous pastry shops

The best part of this cake is the “feve”, a ceramic trinket hidden in each Galette de Rois. Usually when the pie is cut (by mother), family members (children) will hide under the table so that they won’t accidentally see which slice contains the feve! A person who gets this feve wears a king hat made by paper and becomes a “King” of the day, and it is said that his/her fortune will last for the entire year.

I have a few feve collection as well, and I am going to put one of these into my demonstration Galette de Rois! So let’s have an exciting tea & tasting time! Students who gets the feve will get a gift from me – A free packet of macarons, yehhh!

We will also make a few Chaussons aux Pommes (Apple Pie) using the balance of pie crust.

Here are the class schedules;

DATE & TIME:    January 16th (Thurs.)   11:00am-3:00pm – FULL

                               January 18th (Sat.)  11:00am-3:00pm – FULL

                               January 19th (Sun.) 1:00pm-5:00pm – 1 more seat left!

FEE:                      RM210.00 (RM169.00 for members)

To register for the class, please email me at caramelmoko@gmail.com (Tomoko). Thank you for visiting our site and I will be looking forward to hearing from you!!!

January 2014 class schedule*

Happy New Year 2014!!!

Another year has passed! 2013 has been a fruitful and busy year, both professionally and personally. We welcomed a new addition to our family, as well as introducing new menu items in our classes:)

We are happy to announce our schedule for January 2014!

This year Caramel Factory will begin offering longer form courses, aimed at providing a more in-depth and immersive experience. In addition to our regular classes, we are now offering a 3 day course: ‘Coffee Making and Macaron Master Course: Master The Fine Art of Coffee Making and Macarons’. The course is for casual and more serious bakers alike. Course details are listed below.

Hope everyone is having a great start to the year and hope to see you all soon!

1. Orange Souffle Cheesecake (18cm whole) & Orange Chocolat Cookie (18pcs)

DATE & TIME:    January 11th (Sat.)   11:00am-2:30pm 

                                 January 25th (Sat.)  11:00am-2:30pm 

FEE:                       RM195.00 (RM149.00 for members)

*8 students maximum.

2. Pistachio Pound Cake (18cm pound) – Request Lesson*

DATE & TIME: January 14th (Tue.)  11:00am-2:00pm *Public Holiday* – FULL

FEE:                        RM180.00 (RM129.00 for members)

*8 students maximum.

3. Pistachio Pie (Galette de Rois – 21cm whole) & Apple Pie (Chaussons aux pommes -3pcs)

DATE & TIME:    January 16th (Thurs.)   11:00am-3:00pm – FULL

                               January 18th (Sat.)  11:00am-3:00pm – FULL

                               January 19th (Sun.) 1:00pm-5:00pm – 1 more seat left!

FEE:                      RM210.00 (RM169.00 for members)

*6 students maximum.

4. Coffee Making and Macaron Master Course: Master The Fine Art of Coffee Making and Macarons

Caramel Factory is pleased to announce our new intensive course for all pastry and coffee aficionados! This 3 day course is designed to provide the skills and knowledge of coffee and macaron making, focusing on Japanese hand-dripped style of coffee making, known as the best way of making coffee. All participants will learn hands-on the techniques of how most coffee is made in cafes in Japan and Korea, as well as a detailed history and the characteristics of beans from different regions around the world.

The course is also intended to immerse you into the mastery of macaron making. Participants will be taught more than 10 kinds of macarons by both French and Italian meringue. The course is fully hands on and baking materials and ingredients are all provided. All participants will receive a certificate of completion from Caramel Factory.

Course Structure

<Day 1>

1. Introduction To Hand-Dripping Coffee

    History of Coffee: Arabica and Robsta

    Countries and Roast grade

2. Macaron Making (Italian meringue): Belgium Chocolate Macaron, Apricot Chocolat Macaron, Caramel Macaron, Vanilla Macaron

DATE & TIME:    January 26th (Sun.)   11:00am-5:00pm

 

<Day 2>

1. Step by Step of Making Hand-Dripping Coffee: Make your own Cafe au lait (by Kalita method)

    Comparison of different kinds of coffee beans (Brazil Santos, Guatemala, Kenya AA, Ethiopian, Blue Mountain, etc.)

2. Macaron making (French meringue): Lemon Macaron, Mango Macaron, Raspberry Macaron, Passion Fruit Chocolat Macaron 

DATE & TIME:    January 29th (Wed.)   11:00am-5:00pm —> CANCELLED

 

<Day 3> 

1.  Introduction to Other Coffee Making Techniques: Syphon and Espresso machine

     Iced Coffee Making (Cooling method)

2. Macaron making: Green Tea Macaron, Royal Milk Tea Macaron, Blueberry Cheesecake Macaron

DATE & TIME:    January 30th (Sun.)   11:00am-5:00pm —> CANCELLED

FEE:                       RM1,290.

Introductory Price (first 6 customers): RM990.  

*6 students maximum.

To register for the class, please email me at caramelmoko@gmail.com (Tomoko). Thank you for visiting our site and I will be looking forward to hearing from you!!!

Earl Grey Tea Cheesecake Class*

Hi there!

We are starting April class from this weekend^^! I am excited to see you all again and also to meet new students.

This is Earl grey tea cheesecake we are baking for Basic class. It’s rather a soft and light cake, and not so creamy like my Japanese souffle cheesecake. You can see there are lots of earl grey tea in it! The bottom is oreo crust. We bake it in 7″ whole size.

Another menu for this class will be Egg tart (Flan nature)! 

I know many Malaysia likes to eat egg tart ^^. So do I! This is a Japanese recipe, so might be slightly different from what you normally eat but it’s still delicious! You can both have it warm and cold.

The bottom crust is called pate brisee, which is a non-sweet type of quick pie crust. You can use this to make kiche as well, so it’s good recipe to learn! Each of you get to bring back 5pcs of 10cm size.

Here are the class dates;

DATE:        April 6th (Sat.) 11:00am-2:30pm —> Finished.

                        April 21st (Sun.) 11:00am-2:30pm —> 2 more seats left

                       May 11th (Sat.) 2:00pm-5:30pm —> 1 more seat left!

FEE:            RM180 (RM139 for members)

To register for this class, please email me at caramelmoko@gmail.com.

Thank you and hope to see you soon!

 

Pierre Herme Paris ~Tokyo~

In the heart of Tokyo Aoyama, there’s a very elegant and nice patisserie called Pierre Herme Paris. Pierre Herme has now several branches in Tokyo, but this was the first branch that opened in Japan in the winter of 2005. It is a two-storey building with a boutique on the 1st floor and salon/bar chocolat on the 2nd floor where you can overview the city of Aoyama, a very trendy and fashionable city between Shibuya and Omotesando. My university campus is just right opposite this boutique! Oh~ I wish they came a bit earlier when I was still in school, haha…  (but it’s a little too pricey for students)

Anyway, my husband and I decided to have a cup of tea there while my mother was baby sitting Hanae taking a nap in the stroller. Yeay!

Pierre Herme is famous for his Rose flavor cakes and macaron called Ispahan and so I ordered St. Honore Ispahan with Ispahan tea. I am always fascinated by this beautiful form of St. Honore.

Another cake I wanted to have was tart au vanille but unfortunately it was not the season so instead I ordered Mille Feiulle. I still remember when I had his first Mille Feiulle about 5 years ago and was overwhelmed by it. Since then I’ve never encountered anything better than that (although the one in Angelina @ Paris was pretty good), and it didn’t betray my expectation this time again!

I truly recommend this cake if you happen to drop by Pierre Herme boutique. His cakes are all quite big in size so it’s enough for two people to share.

The showcase was full of RIKA chan barbie doll. It was funny so I took a couple of photos.

Official website of Pierre Herme Paris Aoyama 

Banana Coco Pie* August Premier class

Some updates on the new classes in August – Banana Coco Pie! It’s a banana pie with a hint of tropical coconut taste.

The crust we are going to bake is called Pate Brisee, which is something in-between tart and pie. Unlike the typical tart crust pate a sucre, this crust is not sweet and has a hint of salt taste so it is often used for the tarts such as kiche, egg tart and others.  

We are going to bake this in a 18cm mold and you will also be learning how to foncage them nicely into a mold.

Another menu for this class is Honey Blanc Manger. Blanc manger is panna cotta in English, and is a simple yet delicious desserts. We will serve it together with apricot jam.

Here are the class schedules;

DATE:     August 18th (Sat.) 10:30am-2:30pm

                 September 2nd (Sun.) 10:30am-2:30pm      —> Full      

FEE:        RM195 (RM146  for members)

If you are interested in joining the class, please contact me by email/sms: caramelmoko@gmail.com / 012-352-3106 (Tomoko).

Thank you for visiting my blog and hope to hear from you!

Apple Pie*

The other day I made pie (pate feulletee) from the scratch and baked Chausonnes aux pommes (apple pie)!

In Japan we usually make pie during cool autumn to winter season, or in an air-conditioned room; otherwise the butter will melt and you cannot make pie. Just like tarte, pie is also a sensitive and much more difficult pastry to make.

There is another easier and faster way to make pie which is called Feuilletage rapide. Since this method cuts out part of the complicated process, you won’t feel the layers of pie as much as the other one (pate feulletee), but it still tastes good!

I filled them up with baked apples.

Nothing tastes better than the just baked pies!!!

Kiche

With the leftover crust from the other day (of which I baked the apple tarte), I made kiche for lunch!

Tarte can be kept frozen in the mold so once you have that in your stock it is so much easier for you to bake. You just have to take it out from the freezer and make the filling only. The fillings I made this time was with onion, bacon, pumpkin, spinach, enoki mushroom and cheese. Basically you can use anything you have in the fridge.

Kiche just taken out from the oven taste so good…

By the way, there are 2 types of tarte – Pate Sucre and Pate Brisee. Pate sucre is what you normally refer to as a tarte whereas pate brisee uses more butter and less sugar. Pate brisee tastes in between pate sucre and pie (Pate Feuilletee) and is almost non-sweet that it is also suited to kiche. It was pate brisee that I made the other day for apple tarte.

I also made egg tarte with the same crust. It was awesome!