I've never been this tired ever since I was still in my previous job (That was months ago!), and I've been waking up at 10-11am almost daily.
Perhaps it was the change in our final week's class schedule that got us all coming in to school early morning and having more demonstrations in the mid-day afternoon and then practicals for two days straight in the late afternoon. It was hectic, I tell ya!
To top it off, we have the written exam on Friday. How did it went, I'm sure all of you would want to know.
It was well...unexpected, disorganized, poorly conducted and really disappointing.
I was all eager and nervous and anticipating so much more, only to fell flat on my face when I entered the demo room to take the paper. Firstly, the exam paper was on the tables as it should be, but there was no notification or instructions written on the whiteboard, indicating what should be done; like, take a seat, remain silent, belongings to be put on the front table etc. And the student coordinators had totally forgotten about the fact that they have international students in the class.
Students was flipping the paper, talking, asking each other on the answers to the questions. All of which, would be avoided if the whole damn exam was taken under control by the SS. My friends and I was left sitting there wondering when can we start, and then the SS suddenly spoke out in Thai saying "You may start", whilst the chattering was still going on. (WHAT???) then there was some sort of silence, obviously after some students already finished getting all the answers. (CHEATING BLUNTLY, isn't it??)
It was a fortunate thing that I understand and speak Thai, what about my other friends who know nuts about the language - they lose precious time waiting like a fool.
Then, as I flipped and go through the question paper, I was really dumbfounded. Because the questions was full of grammar mistakes, which two to three questions was completely nonsense; making little to no sense. Then, the questions was all crammed up together, instructions written was not clear enough...the answer boxes was too small and no proper spacing...you could have easily written the right answer to the wrong box.
I'm usually not one to be picking on all these small little things, but damn, it was disappointing to expect such standards for an exam man! Even demo classes had so much more control. Tsk Tsk. I hope Practical exam is not of the same standard.
Also, out of the 3 areas specifically told by our chefs that we would be tested on, the exam paper only touched on roughly, ⅓. Non of the subjects that was repeatedly stressed by Chef came out on the paper. Even worse still, most of my friends and myself probably lost a mark on one question which we are very sure that was not taught yet. =( I'm hoping that my practical exam would be better.
ANYWAY! Back to school! I would like to share the bake goods I've done for the last week of Basic classes!
On Tuesday, Chef Marc did the demonstrations for Tarte Normande, Tiramisu and Biscuit cuillère.
I was exceptionally excited because I love Tiramisu! In the past before dating Ben, I didn't like having this entremet because I find that the rum taste was too strong for me. Then, after he introduced me to one of the few places that serves really good Tiramisu...this has since then, been my favourite entremet to have, of all times!
Here, Chef Marc made two different looks, in a verrine (small dessert glass, something like a shooter glass) and as a entremet (Cake). He however discouraged us from making the tiramisu like a cake because it isn't the traditional way to have this entremet.
A closer look at the Tiramisu presentation - decorated with various chocolate toppings; macarons, chocolate strips, chocolate squares and rectangles with sprinkled gold powder and gold leaves.
Then, we have the tarte normande next, which is something Chef Marc has gone through before, but as part of our exam practice, we are doing this tart again during practical class.
Tarte Normande - read more here.
Next, we have the Biscuit cuillère, which is a lady finger biscuit served with sparkling wine or champagne during celebrations. These are piped slightly larger with a tip #20 to give it a fatter look. Otherwise, the normal sizes piped with tip #6 is used for the making of Tiramisu.
Next up, presenting to you my Tarte Normande!!!
I've got to apologize for the terrible outlook of this tart. Due to time constraints during class, we had no time left for glazing, but as you can see...glazing entremets is very important, it is to give it a nice shine, as well as to preserve the fillings or fruits from drying out while you chill it in the fridge.
For this tart, I have cooked the apples till it is caramelised on both sides, before flambe the apples with Calvados, a type of apple brandy. Then we line the apples around the pre baked tarts and pour the fillings around before baking. It was quite straight forward...but due to either over poking the tart base with holes, or that my tart was slightly breaking at the bottom...
The fillings leaked out around the tart, creating a slight baked mess - you can see from the picture above. Chef Marc explained that sometimes after pouring the liquid filing and leaving the tart slightly longer outside before re-baking it can also result in the filing being leaked out. So the key is, to bake it immediately to prevent such thing from happening. =)
Moving on, for Wednesday's class, Chef Marc did the demonstration for Casino and Vanille Framboise.
Casino is a very tricky entremet. It is a rolled sponge cake filled with bavarian cream, and then glazed with apricot glaze. The rolled biscuit is thinly spread with raspberry seed jam, and then rolled and sliced at 5mm per pieces, before being placed around the curved ball mold like a jigsaw puzzle to ensure that the entremet is firmed for un-molding.
Besides the fact that the round look of the discs does look like Casino chips, this entremet has a nickname...Chef Marc shared that it looks like a brain, which he proceeded to shake the entremet a little, it wobbled and he pretended to be scared. HAHA!
Which, is also the main reason why he stressed that we have to put only a very thin layer of the raspberry jam, otherwise the excess will leak out and merged together with the cream, resulting in the image of a brain bleeding. (EWW!)
Last but not least, we have the Vanille Framboise...a Vanilla Raspberry cake, did the same way with the rolled sponge, but topped with raspberry mousse and glaze.
I called it, the sister of Mogador! It was yummy as usual, but at this point, I'm pretty sick of anything Raspberry! HAHA!
Presenting to you, my Casino!!
Sorry that I couldn't show you the whole look of the cake because the other side was slightly damaged at the bottom during transportation. HAHA!
Beautiful layers in between!
During the process of assembling the cake, I was filing it with the cream halfway through, when Chef Marc walked in and asked why I didn't have enough cream to fill to the top. I didn't know why either, having followed the recipe to a T, and I have never not 'scraped properly' ever since my episode with Madalines, where I didn't managed to bake 12 pieces exactly because I didn't scraped the batter enough.
Then, he was suggesting that my pieces was sliced thinner than required, at probably 4mm rather than 5mm. I cross my heart and can vouch that every single piece was 5mm exactly. I was rather proud of myself for managing to be equal sizes for all of my slices. In fact, I even checked with Chef Pixie who was supervising our class to help verified the sizes. She said it was good, very regular. If it was too thin, she would have voice it out already.
I was quite upset, because his view was that my slices was too thin, so needed more cream to fill in. =(
Upon talking to Chef Pixie about how I feel, I decided that the next time round he gives any measurement, it's just a gauge, I'll do what I deem fit, but slice it regularly and equally. Blah.
One last look at the pretty Casino! I ate this slice up after photo taking. Ben suggested that I can bake this cake for Mummy J because she loves going to the Casino, haha!!
Then for the final class on Friday, we have the demonstration for Bûche Pistache-Chocolat and décoration en chocolat!
The Bûche Pistache-Chocolat is a pistachio flavoured sponge cake with chocolate ganache in between and glazed with ganache before being decorated with chocolate fragments, fans and cigerattes. And of course, topped with chopped pistachio for the recognition of flavours for which the entremet consist of.
A look at the sides of the entremet.
Then, Chef did chocolate decorations, which is done using a triangle (a tool) and slowly scrap the chocolate off the tray with a finger at the edge, creating ruffles. Playing the length gives you longer ruffles/shorter ruffles and piece by piece, you can build up a flower, just like the picture below.
Pretty isn't it?
I'm kinda excited for the new term because we will be touching more on chocolate! :D Although I'll have more dirty uniforms to wash, but it's still fun and amazing to see and create with my own hands the various creations we can do with chocolate.
Anyway!!! Presenting to you, the last baked entremet for the basic level - Bûche Pistache-Chocolat!
Having stored it in my freezer, the ganache is not as shiny as when it was first glazed, but it's still shiny nontheless.
During the process of making my chocolate fans, I had a hard time trying to 'peel' my fan off the triangle because the heat from my finger caused the chocolate to melt in a matter of seconds. In the end, I used a smaller paring knife to help in the removal of the chocolate.
It was easier making the cigerattes than the fans itself - just ensure that the chocolate is slightly cooler and then slide the triangle under, the chocolate will curl naturally.
We also decorated the sides with broken fragments (we break it on our own) of the chocolate which we have tempered with a few weeks ago. Chef Marc didn't like the fact that I had a second 'level' of the chocolate fragments, but I confessed that I had to use something to hide the few dents I made by accident whilst placing the chocolates.
He smiled and said "AHH~ You have shaky hands ah!".
I just smiled sheepishly, I don't have shaky hands, it was purely accidental. But I didn't say anything else. =D
A intersection of my entremet! Look at the numerous holes of my sponge cake! The layers of ganache will seep through, and fill some of the holes within. =) Like a polka dot cake.
I didn't managed to distribute this cake, but my friends came over yesterday to practice piping and lining of the tart. We had lunch and dinner together in my room, and finished half of this cake at one sitting. HAHA!
Just to wrap up this post before I get back to my notes and all...here's a picture of me with my entremet! One and only picture. I figured since it's the last cake for the term, I've got to take a photo for memory's sake.
It's been a beautiful experience so far, and I'm so looking forward to finishing up on my exam and head back home!! I need to recharge before coming back again for Intermediate. Nontheless, I hope to bring back good news after tomorrow's exam!!!
Good luck to me, and have a great week ahead guys!
Till then!
No comments:
Post a Comment