On a crisp October morning, I went to attend a French baking class in Irvine that I had signed up for a few weeks back. To tell the truth, my very first dream was becoming a patisserie. Of course, back when I was little, I had no idea that such a word existed. So I told everyone – my family, relatives, and friends – that I wanted to own a bakery to decorate cakes. I thought it was the same thing as a “patisserie.” But I didn’t become a “bakery owner,” and my dreams shifted around multiple times.
But today, I finally got to revisit my very first dream and bake a lemon tart at the Irvine French baking class! 🍋🥧
Making a Lemon Tart – The Beginning
The materials all being provided for (with a fee of $10), my fellow classmates and I simply had to follow instructions given by our French instructor, Sylvie Roux. She was efficient and friendly, giving us professional tips and knowledge on the details of making a good lemon tart.
Everyone received a ceramic pie holder/mold to create their lemon tarts on, and each holder was named with a French word. Mine was “Montmartre,” the famous hill in Paris. Others got “Paris,” “France,” “Merci,” “Bisou,” and other beautiful French words.
Lemon Zest
So the first thing we had to do was create lemon zest. The 11-12 of us got into groups of two to create the lemon zest under the guidance of 3 French instructors. Some people were given zesters and others graters.
I was the only person to receive a knife to cut the lemon peels as supplies were low. If I had been better acquainted with knives, I wouldn’t have had a problem. But as I was only a baker by heart, not by hands or actual skills, I cut myself. (It was so embarrassing!) The cut wasn’t deep so I tried to hide it away, but my caring class mates and teachers got me a band aid.
It had only been 10 minutes into the cooking class and I already hurt myself! 😖
I thought that I was the only person to cut the lemon with a knife (and cut oneself with it), but others were also given knives later on to cut the lemons. Luckily, no other baker was injured, and we successfully made 200g of lemon juice and piles of lemon zest.
The Sugar Dough
After producing the lemon juice and zests, our next step was to create the sugar dough. In large groups of about 5 to 6 people, we took turns mixing butter, powder sugar, lemon zest, almond powder, egg, yolk, vanilla extract, and flour.
After about 40 minutes, we got a gritty dough to work with.
Each of us had our little batch of gritty dough (sugar + butter). As instructed, we covered them up with plastic wrap, left them in the fridge for 30 minutes to get:
The Lemon Cream
The lemon cream was created before the sugar dough. Our French instructors were very efficient with time, so we worked on the lemon cream while waiting for the sugar doughs in the fridge. Similar to how we produced the dough, groups of 5-6 took turns heating the lemon juice and mixed it with sugar, zest, 6 eggs, agar agar, and cold butter.
It’s Baking Time
After creating the lemon cream, we took out our doughs, rolled them on the sheets and put them in our molds.
While our doughs baked in the oven at 370°F for 15 minutes, our French instructor introduced us to making meringues. It was surprisingly easy: you mix egg whites and sugar together at high speed:
The Finishing Touch
Once the doughs were taken out (and cut out of the molds by our instructors), we all poured lemon cream into what had become crusts. And with the meringue our instructor created, we each took turns decorating our lemon tarts.
Mine looked as follows:
Lemon Tart & Dreams
The lemon tart was délicieuse! The sweet and sour complemented each other so well. But I think I can definitely do better next time, especially with the decoration..
The French baking class led by Slyvie Roux was such a treat – a fun experience where I got to reconnect with my younger self who wanted to create pastries and “own a bakery.”
Though I most likely won’t become a patisserie at this point, I can and will bake more pastries. And hopefully create better-looking lemon tarts. 😉
To learn more about the Irvine French baking class, check out these links:
- Instagram Account of French Cooking OC by Sylvie Roux – https://www.instagram.com/frenchcookingoc/?hl=en
- Official City of Irvine website where you can sign up for the classes –https://www.cityofirvine.org/irvine-fine-arts-center/adult-classes
P.S. I attended the Irvine French baking class again to learn how to bake apple pie and tarte tatin. Check out the post HERE.
*Update: A couple of weeks after the class, I tried to bake the lemon tart by myself at home, and it turned out great!
And it was délicieuse! 😁
