Blog #4

 This week we started to work in the back of the bakery. I typically bake in my home during my free time. However, baking in a bakery was a much different experience than just doing so at home. On the first day, I learned how to make the featured flavor, which is blueberry bliss right now. I was able to see all the recipes that they follow in the back and the baking methods you need to follow. The first thing I had to do was look at the paper that listed how many of each size of the flavor we had to make. For instance, we had to make 9 pans of bundtlets, 15 pans of 8-inch cakes, and 14 pans of 10-inch cakes. After we gathered all of the pans, we started to spray them with non-stick spray. Once the pans were sprayed, I learned how to scoop the pre-made batter into the different-sized pans. The baker I was working with showed me this technique where I had to start the scoop from the middle and pull it up to the side where I had to level it out so that all the scoops and cakes were the same size. Then, I learned how to pipe the blueberry filling properly into the cake batter. At first, I was struggling, but then I learned that you have to push the piping bag from the top so it comes out more easily and evenly. Next, I began to fold the blueberry into the batter. We had to stick the spatula halfway in and fold because if you go all the way down to the pan so that the blueberry does not stick to the pan. Lastly, we made swirls with the blueberry by mixing in a circular motion. When first swirling, I tended to overmix creating an unpleasant color. However, after a bit, I was able to distinguish when to stop mixing to create a more aesthetic cake.

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