LOUISIANA KING CAKE QUALMS

Tonight is the first class on how to make a Louisiana-style Mardi Gras King Cake. Even though I made a bajillion king cakes working at an amazing Cajun restaurant in Littleton, I find myself super nervous to teach it.
Scaling down the recipe from a big batch of dough that can make 20 cakes versus 1 or 2 is no easy task. I have to take in account how much the rising agents (yeast) and amount of flour will be affected. When you use a large commercial mixer, the dough gets warmer due to the power of the mixer so I would have to add more flour to keep the dough from being too sticky. Also the dough would rise faster than it would if I was making the cake at home.
Also, I wanted to make sure that clients would be able to replicate the recipe successfully. Whenever I make a mistake, I try my best to fix in the moment, but I realize that not everyone feels confident that they can fix it at home. I want to make sure they understand how finicky dough can be and which steps are important.
There’s so much more that goes into developing classes at The French Kitchen than just knowing a recipe. Thanks to Blandine, I’ve learned how important testing is, as well as writing recipes to be as clear and organized as possible, weighing everything and taking notes every step of the way.

-Chef Kristi