Although 75% of the classes at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College are online, there are some courses that are successfully taking place in person. With strict health and safety protocols in place, the award-winning Culinary Arts Program continues to move forward by baking beautiful cakes during COVID-19.
For the last two weeks, Advanced Baking 1 students have been working on entremets (pronounced ‘ontra-may’), stunning multi-layered mousse-based cakes with complementary flavors and varying textural contrasts.
French in origin, entremets weren’t cakes at all in the 12th Century when the word referred to the entertainment “served” between the courses of a feast. It eventually evolved into small dishes served between savory courses.
Today, they are most familiar as desserts and a way for pastry chefs and their students to demonstrate their baking skills. Entremets are complex cakes that involve difficult techniques and advanced knowledge of flavors and textures. Their construction is nothing short of architectural.
Culinary Arts Program Coordinator Pastry Chef Teresa Shurilla teaches this advanced class and has decades of experience making these stunning cakes.
“They’re the best way to teach the foundation skills that are required for almost any complex cake or patisserie,” Shurilla said. “Our students always love this project, especially when they see the beautiful results. And now, on to wedding cakes!”
For more information on the UH Maui College Culinary Arts Program, visit http://maui.hawaii.edu/culinary/.
View more photos of the students’ entremets on Flickr.
