We're Certified!

We finally got that piece of paper. 

We traveled back to school on Tuesday afternoon for our graduation luncheon. We had a wonderful time with our families as we heard our chef instructors talk about the quality of work that this group of graduates puts forth. 

After countless hours in the kitchens at school during class hours, and even more we spent there for extracurricular activities, yesterday's luncheon brought our culinary education to a lovely close. 

We walked away yesterday afternoon with certificates of completion, and a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. As two young women starting out in this competitive industry, hearing words from our mentors like "come back and see us when you have your own bakery.." and "we're a family, maybe dysfunctional, but a family all the same" were inspiring and heart warming. 

We wouldn't trade our time in culinary school for anything, and it's very bittersweet to have it officially be over. After all without our time there, The Bakerettes would have never existed. It was through this journey that we became great friends, and willing to embark on this journey toward making our dreams come true together. 

It was in that lecture hall waiting for our ServSafe instructor to get to class, that we started chatting. Waiting for him to show up after two hours, we became friends. 

It was in our cookery class, where our chef always partenred us together referring to us as "The Pastry Chefs."

We're proud to announce that, yes, indeed we are: The Pastry Chefs. The Bakerettes. 

As they say this ending is merely the beginning of a new adventure.  

And so this new adventure begins, where it will take us we're not quite sure. But we know that as long as we have the unending support from our families that we've always had, and each other to remind us of our dreams, maybe someday, you'll see our shop, and the brunette and the red head back in the kitchen where we always hoped we would be. 

Chocolate Mousse

This is another one of our favorite recipes that can be eaten by itself, fill a cake, or fill a delicious fruit tart.

It's quick and easy, and very versatile.

This recipe makes a large batch approximately enough to fill three eight inch cakes

Chocolate Mousse:

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
•  1 tsp vanilla extract
•  1 cup of heavy whipping cream 
• 3 Tbsp powdered sugar

Procedure:

1. Start by placing your chocolate in a metal/glass bowl large enough to fit all the chocolate, heavy cream and room to stir. 
2. Put the 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream in a heavy bottomed sauce pot on the stove with the vanilla extract. Heat this up until you see little bubbles rapidly forming around the edge of your pot. 
3. Remove from heat and immediately pour over your chocolate. DO NOT STIR!
4. Cover your bowl with either a lid or saran wrap, or really anything that will keep the heat in. 
5. Wait about two minutes and then stir, stir, stir. Keep going until no lumps of chocolate remain. *(if you do still have lumps of chocolate after stirring for a while, heat it up in the microwave on half power for about 15 seconds, take out and stir. Repeat this process until the mixture is lump-free and glossy)
6. Set aside (don't refrigerate)
7. Put the rest of your heavy cream on your stand mixture fitted with the whip attachment. Start the mixer on a med-high speed, fast but not so fast you get splatters of cream everywhere. When you see the cream start to thicken add the powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time.  
8. Mix until stiff peaks form.
9. Check your chocolate mixture (ganache). It should be thick but spreadable. When it reaches this consistency, stir in one scoop of your whipped cream until it blends together. After that fold in the rest of the whipped cream gently in two additions.
10. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before using. (Overnight is best)

After the mousse has set for several hours you should have a fluffy and delicious chocolate mousse. 

This mousse is easy to switch up, use dark chocolate or add flavoring. One of our favorite vartions is to add Baileys Irish cream. :)

If you do decide to add a flavoring or a liqueur stir in directly after you fold your whipped cream in. 

Good Luck! We hope you enjoy this scrumptious chocolate mousse!!

-The Bakerettes