Baking with Michal

My friend Tonya very kindly invited me along to a cake baking workshop last week at a private club in London run by the super talented head chef Michal. A small group of us enthusiastically followed instructions given my Michal who first demonstrated what to do and then gave us each one recipe to follow. Tonya and I were given  lavender cupcakes (I am after all the cupcake girl!) and other recipes were tiramisu, chocolate mousse, strawberry cheesecake cupcakes, a very sophisticated pastry called pasta frolla for a fruit tart that also included pastry cream (really delicious) and peanut butter cookies. I have to say that it was the most fun I've had for ages and more than made up for the debacle at the cafe. It was great experience to attempt some quite complicated recipes with the expert guidance of Michal who bravely guided us through all the stages until we finished with a pretty impressive display of cakes and tarts. (see above). We all sat down at the end of the session and did our best to eat as much as possible of the delicacies with  several cups of tea... such hard work!! We ended up taking away bags brimming over with goodies and with an increased knowledge of the wonderful world of patisserie baking.