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07/15/2002 Entry: "Sponge cakes"

It's quite a lazy monday for me. I hope I don't get into the habit of bumming around the house in my pajamas all day. I've been doing a lot of reading lately... mostly about sponge cakes. I made a raspberry trifle this weekend. Three layers of genoise (one type of French sponge cake) filled with lemon mascarpone mousse and four cups of raspberries -- I was pretty happy with it. Most of the cakes I've been making are charlottes, which use a different type of sponge cake called biscuit. I won't bore you with the details, but the differences lie in the texture of the crumb and the lightness of the cake. Today I made a joconde, another type of sponge cake made of ground almonds and spread onto a jelly roll pan. I will be storing this for future use...

acoustic reserch
Raspberry Trifle

I really love making french pastries -- I might just open a patisserie. I emailed this pastry chef I admire, asking her to be my mentor. She replied to me today, giving me a bit of advice, but I don't really know if she welcomed the idea of being a mentor. She's probably too busy, and I'm really nobody to her anyway. I just wish I knew someone personally.

I know I need more experience, but a large part of me doesn't want to waste time. I would have to spend years working in other patisseries, earning close to nothing... I don't know if I'm patient enough.

But then again, I don't want to open shop and then close after a year because of inexperience. Aah. Life gets too confusing sometimes.