These are some of the dozen chocolate bird houses that I helped make and assemble. I made some of the bases with molds as well. I had used hot cookie cutters to cut the holes in the chocolate easter eggs two weeks ago, and I decorated and assembled the roofs yesterday. Later, a marzipan chicken (see photo below) will be placed at the opening of the bird house.
The marzipan chickens I made two weeks ago. The bodies and heads of the chickens were air-brushed with yellow food-coloring, and then the red beaks and combs were stuck on with white chocolate. I am glad I got to practise some of the skills I learnt in Basic Pastry.
This is a race-car bunny that I helped assemble. Cute, isn't it? It is amazing what you can do with chocolate and marzipan (two of my favorite ingredients in pastry).
These are chocolate boxes in the shape of Easter eggs. I made the chocolate boxes with molds before lunch, and then finished off the product in the afternoon. The lid of the chocolate box is studded with dark chocolate almond clusters (which I made first thing yesterday morning). Then I piped the milk chocolate and white chocolate decorations on each lid. Finally, I dusted the lid with "gold powder" (the same stuff we use at School). I was surprised how attractive the finished product looked with a light dusting of "gold powder". These chocolate boxes will be filled with a selection of chocolate truffles later.
This was one of the cakes from the successful batch of Streussel I made last Thursday, to make up for the failed batch on Tuesday (where a vital ingredient was left out of the streussel topping by mistake).
It's the first time I'd ever tasted Streussel (this one has cranberries, blueberries and raspberries), and it is so good. I love the contrast in texture and taste. The base is moist and spongy, the fruits give it a lovely sweet-and-sour flavor, and the topping has a sandy and crumbly texture, with just the right amount of sweetness. I highly recommend this cake -- when I brought one home to share with my housemates, they all enjoyed it too.
All in all, yesterday was a good day for me (I hope I get to work with chocolate again tomorrow). Seven hours of working with chocolate was cathartic for me because it helped to rebuild a shattered self-confidence. At the very least, my enthusiasm for chocolate dulled the pain of disappointment with my exam performance. I am still trying hard not to think about the "evil fondant curse" (as I call it) ...
Seriously, I have had to use fondant for glazing 5 times in my life: BP lesson on pâte à choux, BP Open Lab (pâte à choux practice), IP lesson on pâte à choux petits fours, IP lesson on petits fours glacés, IP practical exam with pâte à choux petits fours, and I have not had a single success with fondant glazing. :(
Either I am too thick to learn from my mistakes, or fondant is just an impossible ingredient to work with for glazing (/sigh/). I would rather believe I am capable of learning, so I can only conclude that fondant is an impossible ingredient to work with! I know the theory about fondant glazing - optimum temperature of 35 degrees Celsius, a smooth, shiny and liquid consistency, etc., etc., but getting it just right is pretty much hit-or-miss for me. No, make that 5 out of 5 misses.
Actually, I don't mind making pâte à choux at all because I know the recipe by heart (125-125-100-5-5-163-4/5 for the quantities of water, milk, butter, salt, sugar, flour and eggs, just like a number to a combination lock), but there was little I could do about the glazing on the petits fours. I felt I was in a no-win situation for the exam. If truth be told, I was found wanting, and that hurts the most. What made me extra sad was also the fact that my favorite cake in Intermediate Pastry -- the Opéra cake -- was in the exam; I just wasn't lucky enough to pick it or the other exam cake - the Triple Chocolate Bavaroise. I would also have been glad if the Blood Orange Mousse Cake had been one of the exam cakes. In fact, all of us from my group had expected this to be one of the three exam cakes, and we were confident we could make this cake in 2.5 hours.
[Aside: By a strange coincidence, I got envelope number 9 again for my IP exam. In my BP exam, envelope number 9 was Pavé du Roy - my favorite cake in BP. No such luck, this time around.]
Anyway, there's no point crying over spilt milk, as they say. I just hope I did enough to pass the practical exam. I think my mini-swans were ok -- at least I was able to make a decent chantilly cream for that.
To my family and friends, I just want you to know I will be fine. Life goes on ... even with the "evil fondant curse".
And if I ever have my own pastry or chocolate shop one day, fondant glazing will be banned!!! :D Besides, I'm sure pâte à choux tastes better with a chocolate ganache topping or just vanilla chantilly cream. Trust me! ;-)
