Lindt Studio Master Class

Learning the Art of Classic Cake Making

Cakes we enjoyed at home after class.

Birthdays mean cake! And what better way to celebrate my birthday this year, than with a Lindt Studio Master Class. Thanks for the AWESOME birthday gift Big Sister, Nishtha. It was tons of fun spending the morning learning about cakes in the Lindt Studio kitchen.

We attended the Art of Classical Cakes class, where we learnt how to bake 5 different types of cakes: Black Forest Gateau, Helvetia Slice, Tiramisu, Paris-Brest and Sacher Torte. My favourite, by far was the Helvetia Slice. It was full of white chocolate and hazelnut delicious-ness!    

Here’s a description of each of the cakes:

Black Forest Gateau 

This dessert is made from a combination of chocolate cake, cherries and whipped cream. We made individual sized versions of this classic cake using silicone moulds. Chocolate cream was piped between thin layers of chocolate cake, finished with a layer of sprayed chocolate, a topping of Kirsch cream and a cherry.

Big Sister spraying the Black Forest 
Gateau with tempered chocolate. 

Helvetia Slice 

This version of the Swiss cake is made from almonds, white chocolate and sponge cake. The cake is assembled by alternating layers of the thin sponge and white chocolate almond ganache several times.

Tiramisu 

This popular dessert is made using coffee liqueur, boudoir biscuits, mascarpone, and white chocolate coffee ganache. Once the different components are layered, all that is needed to decorate is a generous dusting of cocoa powder.

Paris-Brest 

This ring of choux pastry represents the wheel of a bicycle. The dessert commemorates the Paris-Brest-Paris race in France. The choux pastry is baked with a sprinkling of almond slivers and filled with a rich hazelnut praline pastry cream. 

Paris-Brest ready to be filled.

Sacher Torte 

This sweet Austrian cake is made from an almond chocolate cake, apricot jam and covered with a dark chocolate ganache.

I enjoyed learning new techniques from the Lindt pastry chefs. Even though the class wasn’t very hands on I picked up some useful tips:

1.       A double boiler isn’t necessarily the best way to melt chocolate. A microwave is fine as long as you only heat the chocolate in 30 second intervals while stirring in between.

2.       Ganache is made by heating the cream first, then adding the chocolate. Not the other way around! (For you, Nishtha).

3.       Fresh cream whips the best straight from the fridge.

4.       The trick to using silicone moulds is to freeze whatever you’ve made first, then removing from the mould. This prevents any breaking of your special treats.

And finally, I discovered 2 more baking stores I can visit; Culinary Co. and the Chocolate Den. I will now not ONLY be found at Kadies and Baker’s Warehouse on the weekends!  

I really enjoyed attending this class. But most of all I enjoyed eating our treats at home. Don’t worry, we did share them! Tea and cake with friends is what my baking is all about. Give me a shout if you want to come over anytime. 

Chocolate! Can't get enough of it.