For my birthday last summer I got a giftcard for a Patisserie course with L’Art Sucré and was very excited. Too bad I had to wait until now but it was totally worth it.

We made a wonderful desert, Tarte au citron and I learned that my grandmas pie crust recipe sucks. Florian Köller said something that made me think: Baking is just Chemistry and anyone is capable of making a cake that tastes good when you stick to the recipe, but to make perfect fantastic cakes you need to pay attention to all the details.

• only the best ingredients guarantee the perfect taste (e.g. piemontese hazelnuts, Ceylon cinnamon, real vanilla)
• only use french butter (because it is the best in the world… I have my doubts there…)
• I need a digital thermometer
• it is essential to use butter and eggs at room temperature
• patience is a very valuable and necessary asset for patissiers and bakers
• creaming is better than sablage for perfect results (and that’s why my pie crust recipe stinks) and strictly no hands!
• when beating with an electric mixer don’t overspeed to blend all ingredients (I was told exactly the opposite at Das Cupcakes cupcake course where Ewa Feix stated that you should use a little 5 sec highspeed blending in the end)
• to make a silky smooth meringue only beat at low speed (Kitchen Aid maximum 4)
• the professional Version of the Kitchen Aid is so much better
• bringing taste into ice cream is VERY easy if you cook the milk-cream-mixture with the flavour and let it brew for 10 minutes
• Patisserie is all about planning and there is no witchcraft involved
• making a Patisserie worthy tarte au citron takes a lot of a) time b) expert knowledge and c) patience (and I mean a whole lot)
• I now know why a tiny tartelet costs 6 bugs…
• And if you do take notes be sure to note down every little bit