Thinking About Exams: Alhambra and Fraisier

It's pretty early in the course, but we've already been introduced to two of our three potential exam dishes. I guess it's never too late to start practicing!

First up, the Gateau Alhambra. It's basically a chocolate cake filled and masked with chocolate ganache, enrobed in a chocolate glaze, and decorated with piped chocolate writing and tempered chocolate pieces, and topped off with a marzipan rose. Have I mentioned it's got chocolate? 

Needless to say, things were a bit frantic in the kitchen trying to do everything, and our group finished way over time. We had a relaxed chef for the practical, which can be a blessing and a curse. A blessing since it's a lot less stressful, but a curse as you tend to take time that you won't have during the actual exam. 

All in all, I was pretty pleased with how the cake came out, but my chocolate piping can still use a lot more work. I ordered 5 pounds of chocolate, so I'll definitely get some more practice in unless I eat it all first! I also need to practice tempering since chocolate can be pretty finicky to work with, and we're not allowed to use thermometers while we're trying to warm the chocolate by only a few degrees. The chocolate will "talk" to us and tell us when it's ready. Um, okay. I must be deaf or we're not speaking the same language. 

Our other exam dish is the Fraisier. It's a genoise sponge filled and lined with strawberries and creme mousseline. It's topped off with a marzipan disk and rose and decorated in royal icing. 

This time, we had a chef who pushed us constantly on time, which meant we finished early and had some time to practice piping with royal icing. I hate it. It's completely different from chocolate piping, and I think it may even be worse, but that may be because we have much less experience with it. I'm just glad I got the spelling right! Let's just say not everyone did.

Chef was pleased with my cake except for the fact that I murdered my sponge when I removed it from my ring mold, and I need to remember to be less vigorous with my knives. As if my poor finger wasn't reminder enough. The marzipan was also tricky to work with and kept sticking to everything, making it nearly impossible to remove from the workbench without ripping. I'm just glad I eventually got everything on the cake!

Our technical this week was quite fun as it was similar to a demonstration rather than just a lecture. The topic was confectionary, and we learned how to make caramels, nougats, and jellies.

The best part was the tasting afterwards! I'm starting to wish school had a gym...