All for the sake of buttercream

Level 2 Lesson 11 Aug. 16, 2010

Ana combined sugar and water in a pot on the stove.

We waited for the mixture to boil. Once it did, we would need to numb our fingers in ice water and dip them in the sugar water to check its consistency. If the sugar syrup formed into a soft ball between our fingers, we could add it to the egg yolks in the stand mixer to finish making buttercream frosting.

Ana stuck her fork in the sugar water. Chef X warned her with his eyes.

“You’re going to test it yourself. We not using forks,” he said.

Ana shook her head. She was confident in making everything else, except touching hot sugar and water.

I numbed my fingers in a container of ice water, touched the sugar syrup and rubbed it. It felt smooth instead of elastic. It wasn’t ready.

As the syrup began to get hotter, I said to Ana, “You need to try.”

“No,” she said.

“But Chef X said you have to,” I said.

She shook her head.

Chef came to our station.

“Did you try?” he asked us.

I nodded. Ana said no.

“Come on,” Chef said.

Ana reluctantly came to my side of the counter. Chef tipped the saucepan toward him with one hand and dipped his other hand in the ice water.

“Numb your finger,” he said.

“No,” Ana said.

I dunked my fingers in the ice water, while Ana eased her fingers in. Touching sugar syrup didn’t burn your fingers if you numbed them beforehand.

I dipped my fingers into the sugar syrup and put them back under ice. The sugar syrup instantly coagulated, and I knew it had reached the “soft-ball” stage.

“It’s done,” I said.

Chef looked at Ana and said, “You do it.”

Ana didn’t budge. Chef took her hand and pulled it toward the sugar syrup.

“AHH!” Ana squawked.

Chef gave her a look and then left us alone. I don't know if Ana actually touched the sugar syrup.

I poured it into the stand mixer as the whisk went round and round.

This version of buttercream was made of sugar syrup plus egg yolks with a pound and a half of cold butter mixed in. Ana flavored the buttercream with coffee extract.

We spread the frosting on each of our genoise, or whole egg foam cake. Then we put some of the frosting into pastry bags. I decorated the top of my cake with stars, and pressed sliced almonds around the cake sides.

Chef approved the cake when I showed it to him.

I went back to my work station that was right in front of Chef. His eyes focused on our bowl of buttercream, which was the color of deep brown. Other classmates’ cakes were the color of light brown.

“Is that coffee?” he said.

“Yes,” Ana and I said.

“How much coffee extract did you put in there?” he asked.

“About 20 grams,” Ana replied.

“You eat that, and you’re really going to be awake,” Chef said.

After I got home, I tasted my cake. The frosting had a strong coffee flavor, but I liked it anyway.

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