For the holiday baking season and the 20% discount, I decided to take the Techniques of Baking Series class in the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts (CSCA). I signed up for CSCA newsletters for over a year now and this is the first class I finally decided to take and it has been a great experience. (I know, procrastination). There are 4 classes in this series, and we had 3 of them already – I loved everything of this class so far!

Instructor Chef Sharon Donovan has a great character and makes the class so much fun! She does not only provide professional insights and tips but also shares lots of personal family cooking and baking stories. Every class is a combination of cooking demonstration by Sharon and baking by ourselves. There are 7 students in this class, sometimes we bake in pairs, but more often we pick our own item out of many recipes in one class.

The first class was to make pâte à choux, which is the cream puff paste. We used Pâte à choux to make both sweet and savory dishes – gougère, cream puffs, éclairs, and cream puff swans. In cream puff swans, we also learned making pastry cream. I was so surprised that sugar glazes for éclairs can be this simple.

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The second class was about Pies and Tarts. We learned how to make standard pâte brisée (pie crust) by hand, and roll out the dough in a perfect round shape using a rolling pin. (But don’t worry if it is not round, just cut the excess part by bench scraper or scissors.) In this class there were many pie and tart recipes, so each one of us picked one recipe to make. I chose Praline Sweet Potato Pie in the class, and made tomato & pesto quiche and a mini apple tart at home. All of these are so successful, I am super satisfied with what I learned in pie making class.

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Last week was the third class, which is about bread making. We focused on yeast and yeast dough. In this class I also learned how to use an electric mixer. I chose Maple-Pecan Sticky Buns and Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Bread to make in the class. Do you know Maple-Pecan Sticky Buns can be made in cupcake baking pan? I was so surprised how great it turned out.

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I really recommend everyone who is interested in learning more about baking and cooking to take a class if there is a chance, I learned so much from the demonstrations and hands on experiences. Instructors and your classmates will also give you lots of tips that most and recipe books won’t even mention. I am having a blast in Cambridge School of Culinary Arts and I would definitely go back for more classes in the future.

The fourth class this weekend should be the climax of this series – cake making! I cannot wait and it must be a great fun. I will write a separate post on cake making as I love cake so much!

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