Intermediate Exam Prep

I may have gone a little crazy with the exam prep this time... We only get our list of possible exam recipes 2 weeks before the exam. And wouldn't you know it, my sister's bridal shower and bachelorette fell in that first weekend. With absolutely no time to spare what with juggling work, class and planning the bridal shower, I had to leave all of my exam prep until the very last minute. I took 2 days off of work and dedicated myself completely to baking every last one of those 12 cakes. Thankfully, Phil was able to find enough hungry co-workers to take every last cake off our hands, otherwise I don't think I would be able to fit through our door.

One of my first attempts was the Douceur Chocolat, which I haven't actually made before as I missed the practical class. A bottom layer of hazelnut dacquoise is spread with a praline crunch covered in milk chocolate mousse with a milk chocolate disc insert. The whole is covered in a dark chocolate glaze with white chocolate decor along the sides. Everything seemed to go along well until it came time to glaze the cake. I don't know if I added the gelatin to the glaze when it was too hot or if I tried to glaze too early, but the glaze really refused to set, as is evident by the chocolate mousse peaking out between the chocolate squares. Still delicious though!

 

This next one was a royal pain to make in the practical class. It is a triple chocolate bavarian cream, with a layer of sponge on the bottom. The trick with this is to ensure all the layers are perfectly even, which I still can't seem to master. Made for extremely tasty leftovers, though!

This is my latest Ambassadeur Exotique and one of the easiest of the term to make. It's a genoise cake with layers of pastry cream and chunks of oranges and pineapples throughout. The whole is covered in Italian Meringue and sliced almonds. 

One of my all-time favourites: the Marquise au Chocolat. Chocolate ladyfinger sponge topped with praline crisp and dark chocolate mouse, enrobed in dark chocolate glaze and decorated with macarons. I could eat a slice of this anyday of the week. Yum!

Delice Caramel - Coffee ladyfinger sponge with layers of caramel bavarian cream and pear mousse. I was out of clear glaze so just decided to drizzle the top with caramel sauce.

An assortment of chocolate candies: honey truffles, rochers and muscadines. Muscadines still remain the most difficult item for me to make in the Intermediate repertoire. I had quite a bit of leftover tempered chocolate, so I made some almond bark.

The Pacific. It should be a lot more colourful than it is here, but I ran out of food colouring mid-production. A joconde sponge coloured with cigarette paste holds together a layer of strawberry mousse and lemon mousse. It makes for a delightfully refreshing dessert!

This last one was supposed to be a strawberry-cassis tart, but I had absolutely no blackcurrants in my fridge so decided to improvise with blackberries and blueberries. It's a sweet dough with a layer of almond cream and pastry cream, covered with fresh berries.

Bread Workshop

This is one lesson that I have really been looking forward to. I've wanted to make my own bread for so long. I've dabbled in it a bit on my own, but too often had my bread rise too much or made silly mistakes. My biggest obstacle is a Kitchen-Aid that simply doesn't have the strength to work bread. I almost killed the motor on the last batch I tried. I've been longing for some real formal lessons on bread-making. And finally they arrived. The workshop was very similar to our plated desserts one. We arrived in the kitchen (no demo) and the chef did a run-through on how to prepare the various stages of the bread, then we got to work.

The first recipe was a simple white bread, which we turned into 4 different types of loaves:

Traditional Baguette

Fougasse sprinkled with herbs de provence

Fantaisie Baguette

Epi Baguette (shaped like a wheat stalk)

 The next batch of bread is Viennese bread, which is a white bread with milk powder and butter in it to make the bread a bit richer.

Grape-shaped Viennese bread

Daisy-shaped Viennese bread

Turtle bread

 The last batch of bread for the day was rye bread. I added pistachios to mine and soaked them in red wine first, then used all red wine as the liquid in the recipe. The decorations on top were made using "dead dough", called that because there is no yeast in it.

Loaf shaped with a bread tray and croissants decor

Round loaf with wheat-shaped decor

Crown-shaped

Plated Desserts Workshop

Today we had our plated desserts workshop. It was a bit of a change, as there was no demo preceeding it and we got to work in pairs. Chef H gave us a general run-down at the beginning of class on how to make each recipe and away we went. It wasn't too difficult a workshop. I just find that I am completely hopeless with plated desserts. The pressure builds up and I freeze; no ideas come to mind when it's time to plate everything.

We made two types of creme brulee:

Pistachio creme brulee filled with griotte cherries

Caramel creme brulee

Next came the actual plated desserts:

Craquelin with raspberry coulis and kirsch light cream

Macaron with anis cream and raspberries

Douceur Chocolat & Tresor des Iles

Chef J last class with us was the Douceur Chocolat (a truly divine chocolate cake) and the Tresor des Iles. We only had to make the Douceur in practical class, which I unfortunately missed as I wasn't feeling well. I'll include some pictures of what Chef J made, at least.

The Douceur Chocolat is a hazelnut dacquoise with a layer of praline crisp, covered in milk chocolate mousse with a disc of milk chocolate inside. The whole is glazed in dark chocolate and decorated with white chocolate squares. Unfortunately, the demo was running a bit late so Chef J had to glaze the cake when the glaze was still too warm so a lot of it just fell off the sides.

The Tresor des Iles is a nice tropical cake with layers of chiboust cream and strawberry mousse. Reminds me quite a bit of the Pacific cake.

I thought Chef J's plated Tresor was really cool. A very simple design but beautiful.

Triple Chocolate Bavarian

We seem to have driven all the pastry chefs out of town. Chef H has gone on vacation and now Chef F has left for a contract in Singapore. Thankfully, Chef J toughed it out and agreed to teach us again for the week. The first lesson of the week was the Triple Chocolate Bavarian cake, which is really quite difficult.

Three layers of white, milk and dark chocolate cover a thin layer of sponge cake with dark chocolate glaze on the very top. The trick with this one is that the outside of the cake is left uncovered by the glaze, so you have to be very precise in laying down the layers of cream. They have to be exactly the same thickness. We made a ruler guide to help direct us, but even so I botched the job.

Chef J's Triple Chocolate Bavarian - what it's supposed to look like

Chef J seemed poised to stop by at precisely the wrong moment and I was a mass of jitters. My hands were shaking so badly and I was too timid in pouring the bottom layer of mousse that the bottom layer of sponge was peaking out underneath. The layers are not even close to be the same thickness. And the cherry on top of it all? The glaze all stuck to the top of the ring mold and pulled off when I removed it. It's a chunky looking mess.

My sad mess

Opera

Another installment of Chef F's classes and this one was really fun. It's one of Chef F's favourite cakes and he made sure to instill the golden rules of the Opera cake in all of us. The cake was originally made for the grand opening of the opera house in Paris and is to be no more than 2.5 centimetres high. And EVERY single Opera cake needs to have it's name written on the top in dark chocolate. It's a decadent, rich and dense cake. Layers of almond joconde sponge are soaked in coffee syrup and layered with ganache and coffee buttercream.

We trimmed off the sides of the cake with a heated serrated knife to make sure the edges are pristine. The biggest criticism Chef had for all of us is that we didn't soak the joconde enough. It is to be soaked a meutre (to death), so much so that the colour of the sponge should be coffee. 

We made little individual portions with some of the excess cake and decorated the top. I tried to write "Opera" on those, but my writing was way too big. 

Pacific

The Pacific cake was pretty uneventful. We had a little bit of extra time in practical, so Jess made some bubble sugar with isomalt. It comes out different every time and is so much fun!

Personally, I find the colours of this cake a little too much, but it tastes so bright and fruity. It really is delicious! The outer coloured dough is achieved by colouring and marbling together cigarette paste, then adding a layer of joconde sponge on top. Inside are layers of strawberry and lemon mousse with another layer of joconde sponge. It simply melts in your mouth.

Croquembouche

This week we have one big challenge: the Croquembouche. It's a traditional French wedding cake and is composed of nougatine topped by layers of chocolate cream-filled choux held together by loads of crunchy caramel. Croquembouche translates to "crunch in mouth", and does it ever!

We started with a 5-hour demo from Chef C. He made everything seem so easy; the tower of choux almost made itself. For decoration, he created a beautiful pulled sugar flower and added some royal icing flourishes.

When it came our turn, we discovered just how frustrating this cake can be. You have to work the nougatine base when it is still piping hot and malleable. Half of us were yelping with pain as we worked it.

The choux assembly came without too many hick-ups. While baking, the front choux looked pretty cooked so I got nervous and opened the oven to check the rest of them. Half of them were uncooked and Chef C yelled out to close the door. I think all of us are sufficiently fearful of opening the oven door too soon with choux, for risk of collapsing.

Next issue was the caramel. With Chef H we are used to cooking caramel a little darker, but Chef C likes it lighter. My first batch was way too dark, but I fixed it by cooking the second batch a lot light and combining them to make an even caramel.

I have to say that creating the tower is probably the hardest part of this cake, though. Dipping the tiny choux in caramel brings your fingers dangerously close to piping hot sugar and I'm sure everyone suffered minor burns. We were warned not to angle them inwards too much, so both Jess and I started off slowly. Too slowly, according to Chef C. He insisted that we turn them upside down because we were moving outwards and not inwards. The result is a slightly pregnant-looking Croquembouche - I'd say maybe 2-3 months? It's just starting to show.

I didn't put enough caramel on the top choux, so the top spire started to sag and lean. I covered it overnight and left it on the counter, but it was way too humid that night. When I woke up, the tower had collapsed and was just a mountain of choux. Still tasted pretty good, though.

Marquise au Chocolat

This beauty is called the Marquise au Chocolat and is essentially the most decadent and delicious chocolate cake. A layer of chocolate sponge soaked in rum syrup is topped with a layer of praline crisp and then covered in a rich dark chocolate mousse. The whole thing is covered in a dark chocolate glaze and decorated with macarons. Positively sinful.

Today's demo was led by Chef F and was very entertaining, if somewhat difficult to follow. He often breaks off to give us some background information or a little science lesson on why the ingredients react the way they do. It's very interesting, but a little chaotic at times. He instilled some fear in us as he stressed the importance of exact temperatures when making the chocolate mousse. He even went to the trouble of drawing a chart on the white board of all the different results should we have the chocolate too cold, or too hot, and so on...

 All of us were a little reluctant to go into the practical as we had heard stories of other students unable to finish the cake in time. We really shouldn't have worried so much. Several of us finished fifteen minutes early and were waiting around, trying to find other things to do with our time. We should have spent that time fixing up our plated desserts. At presentation time, Chef F went pretty easy on us for the cakes. He wasn't so soft-spoken with regards to our plated desserts, though. "Shit! They're complete shit! I wouldn't pay $5 for that!" We were all a bit shocked, but he was completely right. They were quite a sorry mess. I had tried to be a little creative with mine, but it didn't turn out well at all.

The cake, however, was a COMPLETE hit at the office the next day. I pulled it out in the afternoon and could not get any peace until every last crumb was gone. People were coming into the office, groaning with pleasure. I can now fully understand the term "food-gasm" now.

Delice Caramel

It was not a good day... I had absolutely no desire to go to school today - not really a good way to start the day.

The demo went smoothly enough and everyone seemed pretty confident that they could complete this cake. After all, we all were able to make the dreaded Blood Orange Cake last week - "The Hardest Cake". We were feeling invincible! But as I walked up those stairs to the practical kitchen, my stomach just started twisting and I felt really uneasy. Maybe it was some sort of premonition, because that practical was the worst one we've had yet.

The two-toned chocolate cigarettes proved nearly impossible for everyone in the room. I lucked out and managed to make a few ugly thick ones while my classmates looked on in envy. I barely managed to pipe all of the required ladyfinger sponge onto my pan and the resulting rounds were almost an inch too small for the cake. My plated dessert was a dismal failure - the pear mousse at the top didn't set properly, so I covered the sloppy white mess with a caramelized pear (I refused to take a picture of the darn thing, though). My cake went in to the freezer a full 45 minutes before presentation time and yet I somehow managed to present a good 10 minutes late. I was a lucky one. Some of our classmates presented a good 35 minutes late. Chef H was understandably not in the best of moods when we left... and still had another practical to go with the other group. He's off on a much-needed vacation next week and probably can't wait to go after our performance tonight.

There were only two things I am proud of about this cake: 1) my caramel sauce is awesome; and 2) I got the layers of creams exactly the same. When I cut into the cake at home I did a little dance of joy seeing the perfectly even layers.

Blood Orange & White Chocolate Mousse Cake

We arrived in our demo class to a white board marked with "HARDEST CAKE" in bold letters across the top. That is how they refer to the dreaded Blood Orange & White Chocolate Mousse Cake. It would prove to be a tricky little devil to complete on time, but my fear still lies in the Millefeuille Praline.

Throughout the demo Chef H stressed to us the importance of timing with this cake. He set deadlines for us to have completed different components, without which I think I would have been doomed. We had one thing going for us today - we had already made the cigarette paste in our practical class the day before, so it was one less recipe to make. However, on the big exam day we will have to make that from scratch as well.

The cake is composed of a ladyfinger sponge on the bottom soaked with syrup & blood orange juice. On top of that is white chocolate bavarian cream, then a layer of flourless chocolate sponge cake and then the blood orange mousse. Holding all of it together is a joconde sponge lined with chocolate cigarette paste. Once all of it has been put together, you need to let it rest in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, otherwise it will be a soupy mess when you unmold it. I topped mine with some bubble sugar, chocolate ribbons and fresh fruit.

Count them - 3 sponge recipes, 2 cream/mousse recipes and the cigarette paste, not to mention having to temper chocolate for the decorations. What results is a whole lot of rush. The practical kitchen was a blur of students rushing back and forth for ingredients and the air was filled with shouts of "behind", "open oven" and, most of all, "CHEF!!"

In all honesty, those 2 1/2 hours are mostly a blur in my memory now too. I rushed to get everything done and was able to finish exactly on time - something I was extremely proud of... until Chef H told me I have to work faster next time. Always the same refrain: "work faster". I think that is probably my biggest weakness and will always be an ongoing battle for me in the kitchen.

A Very Busy Day of Millefeuille Praline & Plated Desserts

This morning we started the day with an open lab and above is my second attempt of the headache-inducing Millefeuille Praline. The chef had prepared the dough for me before the open lab, so I decided to skip making my own dough and get started on the rest of the recipe to see if I could finish on time. I was at a distinct advantage over everyone else because they'd forgotten to mention which recipe they'd be using and there weren't enough doughs prepared ahead of time.

I ran into problems from the beginning with the dough - it was way too soft and the butter was too warm. I tried rolling it out for the first turn and butter started shooting out of the top and leaking from 5 different spots in the dough. So into the fridge it went and all the time I saved by not making my own dough was spent waiting on everything to chill enough.

Everything else went pretty well, though. I managed not to melt another spatula in the caramel and I even cooked the puff pastry fully this time. I was still a little on the slow side and finished everything a few minutes late, but I'm pretty satisfied with the results. Phil and I indulged in a slice of it after dinner and the longer baking time for the puff pastry really makes a difference. It's so flaky and delicious. 

After the open lab, we had a demo where Chef H showed us how to make plated desserts - something I've been dreading for so long. Decorating a cake is one thing, but designing a plated dessert really intimidates me. I look at the white plate and my mind just goes blank. 

Despite the misgivings, the practical was really enjoyable. We worked in teams and, since there was an uneven number in our group, we were on a team of 3. We just whipped through the recipes and had enough time to make a pistachio brittle - Jess' brilliant idea. It turned out really well and added a nice crunch to everything. 

I didn't get the best review on my plates... I always like to work in even numbers and love symmetry, but apparently that's not what you want for plated desserts. My kiwi cutting skills aren't good and my chocolate piping was a bit shaky.  But I think the biggest critique from Chef H was that I need to take more chances and risks. Definitely something I need to work more on...

Millefeuille Praline

After reading other blog posts by former students and watching the demo, I knew this was going to be a right pain to make. Chef H was moving throughout the entire demo and only barely finished within the 2 1/2 hour deadline. What hope did novices like us have of finishing on time?

We entered the practical kitchen on THE hottest day of the summer. +40 C degrees, but I think I would have been sweating just from the stress of this cake. It doesn't look that fancy but it really is quite a process to make everything.

The number one difficult thing to make is the puff pastry. We started off by making our dough from scratch and then exchanged it for a detrempe made by the chef earlier, which had rested for the necessary amount of time. Then you layer it with a massive square of butter, rolling and turning. Then let it rest. Then turn it again. Then let it rest again. And so on until you've turned it at least 5 times; more if you're REALLY good. I wasn't. I had a hard enough time just getting in the minimum 5 turns during the time period. See, you're supposed to let it rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes between turns otherwise it becomes too soft and elastic and the perfect layers that make it puff pastry are ruined.

To keep you really on your toes, you need to complete a recipe or task in between each turn of your puff pastry. The praline crisp, whipped cream and pastry cream were a cinch - the only battle was squeezing in to the ingredient area, where all the other 10 students were on top of one another. And of all days, I tempered my chocolate without a hitch! Perfect on the first try.

What really put the wrinkle in my day was the caramelized hazelnuts. The caramel started off beautifully. I got it done right on schedule and it was exactly like the chef had made. Then I made a HUGE error in judgment when I picked my spatula. Rookie mistake. I used a spatula that wasn't heat-proof in over 160 degree sugar. It melted right into my caramel. I felt so ridiculous telling Chef H what had happened. Luckily Jess had some leftover and I just reheated and used that, but lost valuable time in the process.

It was a rush to make the final turn of my dough and in the end I had to sacrifice the last few minutes of baking time to finish assembling the cake. Not quite GBD (Golden Brown Delicious)* but passable. The assembly wasn't too arduous, but I still finished a good 5-7 minutes late. Major points deducted if this were the exam. Chef H was rather easy on his critique, but this is definitely going to be my open lab recipe. I just need to pick up a good spatula beforehand!

*On a minor aside, I had thought that this little saying was something that only Chef H says. But I heard the term used by a Cordon Bleu teacher in the States on an episode of Eat Street this morning. Made me giggle and feel like part of the hip GBD crowd. Finally, a clique I can relate to!

Petits Fours Glaces

I've been dreading today all weekend - we'll be working with the temperamental fondant once again. I think it's universally acknowledged by pastry students that fondant is one of the most frustrating substances to work with. It can't be too hot, or too cold; too thick or too liquidy - it has to be just right. For me, at least, that seldom happens.

The demo was mesmerizing - Chef H was just a blur of movement as he whipped up recipe after recipe - pate sucree, almond cream, simple syrup, ganache, italian buttercream... And we were only halfway through class! The rest of the time Chef H was busy assembling six different little delicacies, every single once is so intricate.

Most of them have a flavoured or coloured buttercream piped on top. The chocolate rectangles are piped with the rich ganache and the jam triangles are just spread with some raspberry jam. Afterwards, all except the chocolate rectangles are dipped in their respective flavoured/coloured fondant and decorated with chocolate piping or buttercream. The results of all this work are colourful little cookies that disappear all too quickly.

Vanilla Barquettes

Vanilla Mice

Coffee Domes & Jam Triangles

Chocolate Rectangles & Square Frogs

When it came time for us to go in the kitchen, I was a bundle of nerves. So many recipes to complete with limited time, not to mention all of the fondant work! That being said, it ended up being one of the most enjoyable and successful practicals so far. I think the trick is to be sufficiently intimidated that you keep your head down and just keep working. It's the days when I'm most confident going in that I usually really mess up. 

The Chef went easy on us with the practical as we only had to make 3 different types of petits fours: vanilla mice, coffee domes and chocolate rectangles. The fondant was really tricky to work with, as anticipated, but Chef let us in on a very handy trick to clean it up afterwards. Thank goodness because mine were all dripping fondant, even though I'd cleaned them up so nicely at first. I still have to work on the uniformity of my piping, and the tails on my mice were abismal; however, it was a pretty satisfying class.

Chocolate Rectangles

Vanilla Mice

Coffee Domes