How to Guides

The texture of a donut will tell you how fresh it is, and how it was made. A donut should be crumbly, delicate and melt in your mouth when you bite into the donut.

Texture of the Inside of the Donut

The texture of the inside of a donut should be moist, crumbly, and fluffy.

As you bite into the donut, the donut will crumble and be delicate. The donut should not be dense and hard, this can indicate overmixing of the donut dough, or it can be an older donut.

Donut dough should only be mixed until just combined, so it remains airy and light when it bakes.

When you touch the outside of the donut with your finger, you should be able to press it, and it will bounce back, or it may not come back fully. This will indicate a fresh donut with a fragile outside.

Texture of Glazed Donut

The glaze of the donut will be a smooth, thin layer. When you bite into the donut, the glaze should be effortlessly pierced by your teeth and be well adhered to the donut.

The glaze of the donut should be much thinner than frosting or icing. Glaze is a thinner version of the these types of sugared toppings.

Chocolate ganache is also a topping that is used for glazing donuts. For donuts, the ganache is thinned with butter to create a chocolate ganache glaze that is much thinner for topping donuts.

You should be able to grasp the donut, and easily dip the donut into the glaze, and let it dry on a cooling rack. If you’re adding a garnish, you’ll want to add it prior to the glaze drying.

Texture of Garnished and Glazed Donut

A garnish for a glazed donut can add both a unique flavor and texture to your glazed donut.

By adding toasted shredded coconut or nuts, this will add a crunchy texture and enhance the flavor of the donut, which will balance out the texture of the smooth, crumbly donuts as you bite into it.

By adding sprinkles, or lemon or lime zest, this will add a sweet or tart flavor to the donut. The texture of the donut won’t really change by adding these garnishes to your donuts.

Donut topping ideas

You can add many different toppings to glazed donuts including:

• shredded coconut
• sprinkles
• nuts
• lemon or lime zest
• crushed cookies

Puff pastry is made with laminated layers of butter, making it a creamy and flakey pastry to serve for dessert. Apples go well with puff pastry dessert, given their versatility. Apples can be combined with brown sugar to give them a sweetened taste for a pastry dessert.

Here are 4 of our favorite puff pastry desserts using apples.

Apple turnovers

Apple turnovers are made by baking the apples into a brown sugar and cinnamon sauce.

The sauce coats the apples as they bake in the oven to soften them.

The apple filling is transferred into a piece of puff pastry.

The puff pastry is folded over the apples and is sealed closed.

Egg is brushed onto the apple puff pastry to make it have a glossy look when it comes out of the oven.

Granulated sugar is sprinkled over the pastry to make it have a sugary crust while it cooks.

A few slits can be made in the top of the pastry to let the filling ooze out as the apple puff pastry dessert cooks.

Once the dessert cools down, a vanilla glaze is drizzled on the top of them right before serving.

Puff Pastry Apple Tart

Puff pastry apple tart is made by rolling out a sheet of puff pastry dough.

The dough is scored around the rectangle shape to make it have an edging around the dough.

This creates the sides of the tart that keep the apples in place as it cooks.

Egg is brushed onto the tart to have a barrier in between the apple mixture and the pastry. The edges of the tart will have a sheen to them when brushed with egg, making it have a professional look to it.

Sliced apples are mixed together with a combination of brown sugar, cinnamon, melted butter, and lemon juice.

The apples are arranged to lay on their side, giving the tart a uniform look to it.

The tart is baked in the oven and then it set to cool.

Once the tart has cooled, a vanilla frosting is drizzled over the tart prior to serving.

Apple Strudel

Apple strudel is made by combining sliced apples, lemon juice, vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and raisins into a sauce.

Roll out the puff pastry into a sheet. It should be about 1/3 cm in thickness. Place the dough on a cutting board.

Place the apple mixture down the middle of the puff pastry. Cut the edges of the dough into strips.

Arrange the strips to criss cross over one another. Seal the dough onto itself with a little bit of water.

Brush the apple strudel puff pastry with egg to give it a buttery look to it once it bakes.

Bake the puff pastry apple strudel and let it cool.

Once the apple strudel is cooled, you can add a drizzle of vanilla glaze if desired.

Cut the strudel in slices to serve.

Apple Puff Pastry Roses

Apple puff pastry roses are made by first preparing the apples. The apples are sliced and dipped into a bowl of lemon juice and water mixture to prevent the apples from changing color.

The apples are cooked by placing the the bowl into the microwave and cooking for a 2-3 minutes. This makes the apples soft and more malleable to work with.

The puff pastry is rolled out and cut into 2 x 9″ strips. Spread a layer of apricot jam on the puff pastry. This acts to adhere the apples to the puff pastry.

Arrange the apple sliced on top of the dough, with the skin side poking out. Place 3 layers of apples, alternating over it for more of a layered look.

Fold the dough over to enclose the apples and seal the edges with a little water.

Roll the puff pastry dough into a circle and seal it together with a bit of water.

Place the roll in a muffin tin and sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon.

Bake the apple puff pastry roses and serve immediately.

Pastry shape ideas can be made from using either puff pastry or croissant dough.

Since both of these types of pastry are made with layers of laminated butter, they create flakey, creamy pastries.

They also hold up well to hold custard or jam as center fillings for your unique pastry designs.

How to shape and design pastry

Roll out your dough until it’s about a 1/3 cm in thickness. It should be about as thin as a piece of cardboard. This is a good thickness to work with – not too thin, not too thick for creating shaped pastries.

Here are 6 ways of cutting, designing and shaping pastries.

It’s best to place the pastry on a cutting board, and then cut the pastry using a sharp knife.

Use a tape measure for rough measurements for designing your pastry shapes.

How to make a curled shaped pastry

1. Cut a rectangular shape of pastry dough ~ 2″x4″.
2. Fill the center will jam or custard.
3. Pinch 2 opposing pastry dough together to create the curled pastry

How to make a butterfly shaped pastry

1. Cut a piece of pastry 5″ x 5″.
2. Cut 2 small triangles on opposing sides of the square.
3. From the edge of the triangle you just cut, slice the pastry at an angle to create a point. Repeat on the other side.
4. Fill the centers with custard.
5. Fold the pastry over the custard downward on one side.
6. Fold the pastry over the custard upward on one side.
7. Pinch the ends of the point together.

How to make a duchess pastry shape

1. Cut a piece of pastry 5″ x 5″.
2. Cut the square 1 inch from the edges of the square giving a 1 cm border.
3. Continue cutting into an angle shape.
4. Repeat on the other side.
5. Fill the center with custard.
6. Fold the cut corner over the pastry.
7. Fold the other cut corner over to the other side.

How to make a windmill pastry shape

1. Cut a piece of pastry 5″ x 5″.
2. Cut 4 slices into the pastry starting at the points. Leave a 1″x1″ box in the center for the filling.
3. Fold the corner of one of the points into the center.
4. Fold all of the corners into the center.
5. Fill the center with custard.

How to make an envelope pastry shape

1. Cut a piece of pastry 5″ x 5″.
2. Fold the corner of one of the 4 points into the center.
3. Continue folding each corner into the center of the pastry.
4. Fill the center with custard.

How to make a center filled pastry shape

1. Cut 2 pieces of pastry 5″ x 5″.
2. Cut a circle in the center of one of pieces of pastry.
3. Remove the circle.
4. Place the cut pastry on top of the square pastry.
5. Fill the circle with custard.

How long to bake shaped pastries for

Bake your shaped pastries for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F.

Chocolate cake tastes rich in flavor. Chocolate cake has a chocolatey hint of flavor from cocoa powder. Chocolate cake has a creamy and buttery taste to it.

What frosting goes best with chocolate cake

Chocolate cake can be frosted with a variety of different icings including: vanilla buttercream icing, cream cheese icing, chocolate icing, chocolate ganache, etc. The frostings can enhance the flavor of the chocolate cake or compliment the flavor depending the choice you make.

Chocolate Icing

Chocolate icing will make the chocolate cake more rich and heavy due to the buttercream base with cocoa powder. Chocolate icing is luscious and buttery and will make your chocolate cake have even more of a heavy chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Ganache

If you’re going for a sweeter and stronger chocolate flavor, top the chocolate cake with chocolate ganache. Chocolate ganache hardens onto the cake, making it have a solidified layer when you cut through the cake. Chocolate ganache is full-bodied, and has a creamy chocolate flavor which will enhance your chocolate cake taste.

Vanilla Buttercream

By using vanilla buttercream for your chocolate cake, it will compliment the flavor, making a more balanced taste to it. Vanilla buttercream is a light, fluffy icing that will tone down the flavor of the chocolate cake, making it a desirable choice of frosting.

Cream Cheese Icing

Cream cheese icing has a unique tangy flavor when paired with a hint of vanilla extract. Cream cheese icing is thick and velvety when added to the top of chocolate cake. It compliments the flavor of the chocolate cake, making it light and sweet.

What is chocolate cake

Chocolate cake is flavored with cocoa powder. Chocolate cake is made by adding a series of wet and dry ingredients to create an airy, soft, spongy texture.

Chocolate cake is only mixed until just combined, this creates the crumbly consistency of the cake. If the chocolate cake is overmixed, it can combine dense.

A chocolate cake should be rich in flavor, and easily bounce back when you press your finger it.

What goes well with chocolate cake

Chocolate cake is best served with coffee, tea or milk to help wash down the rich flavor.

Chocolate cake goes with with fresh berries like strawberries or blueberries for an after dinner dessert.

Chocolate cake goes well with vanilla ice cream served alongside it. Vanilla ice cream added to chocolate cake is the perfect addition of texture and flavor.

An entremet is a dessert with many different layers and fillings.

What are the components of an entremet cake recipe

An entremet has 5 different components to it: a crust, body, filling, coating, and a garnish.

See video here.

Cake Base

The cake base of an entremet is the bottom layer of the entremet. 

• Shortbread cookie
• Cookie crumble crust
• Graham cracker crust
• Sable breton
• Praline Feuilletine
• Dacquoise

Body

The body of the entremet is the main composition of the dessert. There can be a few layers of body in an entremet cake, especially if it is prepared in a 9″ spring form pan.

• Mousse – made with gelatin so it stays firm
• Sponge cake – vanilla, chocolate, etc.
• Syrup soaked cake – (cointreau, orange, stout, amaretto, lemon, raspberry)

Filling

The filling of the entremet is one of the layers in the entremet recipe. The filling can also be the center of a dome entremet recipe.

• Chocolate ganache
• Curd
• Pastry cream
• Jam
• Panna cotta

Coating

The coating of an entremet is the outer layer that coats the body of the entremet. It’s also known as the topping of a cake.

• Dark chocolate glaze
• Mirror glaze
• Chocolate ganache
• Salted caramel glaze
• Raspberry glaze
• Caramel glaze

Garnish

The garnish of an entremet is to add decoration to the entremet cake recipe. It’s not necessary, but it does add appeal and makes the dessert eye catching for your guests.

• Caramelized hazelnuts
• Chocolate decorations
• Fresh berries
• Mint leaf
• Gold dust

How to make an entremet dome cake recipe

To make an entremet dome cake, prepare the entremet in a silicone half sphere mold.

1. Press the body of the entremet into the silicone half sphere mold, making sure to fill all of the crevasses.
2. Place the center filling of the entremet using a melon baller. At this point you can put more of the body around the center filling. An option too is to put the body component completely over the center filling to cover it. The center looks well presented this way.
3. Prepare your cake base for your entremet. You can bake the crust in a 9″x13″ pan, and then let it cool down. Use a cookie cutter or glass to “cut” out a perfect circle that will fit your silicone half sphere mold. You’ll have to measure to make sure it will fit.
4. Place the cake base cut out onto the silicone half sphere mold. Press it in well so it sticks to the body composition of the entremet.
5. Place the entremet dome cake in the freezer overnight.
6. Remove the silicone mold from the entremet. Use your fingers to gently pry the mold from the body of the entremet. Press down on the top of the silicone mold to remove the entremet.
7. Place the entremet on a wire rack with a plate underneath to catch any drippings.
8. Pour your glaze coating over your entremet.
9. Add your garnish to the entremet and serve immediately. If it’s too hard to serve, let it thaw for about 10-15 minutes before serving.