Here's what Chef CF made in the demo class yesterday:
The Apricot Tart has a pâte sucrée tart shell, which is filled with almond cream and canned apricots, then topped with streussel (or crumble) and a disc of jellified pistachio crème brûlée mixture.
The Entremet Vanessa consists of a bottom layer of Biscuit Viennois (a kind of sponge cake), followed by a disc of jellified crème brûlée mixture that is sandwiched between two layers of dark chocolate mousse. The whole cake is then coated with a dark glaze and decorated. See photo below.
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Today we had our workshop from 3:30pm to 8:30pm. I felt exhausted by 7pm. The tart just took so long to make...
Anyway, the photo below shows what I managed to make. I think my tart and mousse cake were OK. I would pass myself, but only just. There's definitely room for improvement.
In my haste, I actually made a stupid mistake with my dark glaze (-> not hot enough, and wrong consistency), and was in a lot of trouble until Chef CF saved the day. Thank goodness for that! I was so mad at myself. There was no excuse for my sloppiness; I should be really careful next time.
Chef gave the whole group a pep talk at the end of the workshop. I think we were all a bit disorganized towards the end, and he warned us to be more organized and to work cleanly for next time (we made a real mess in the kitchen today). And he wanted us to pick up our acts too. He felt we could have done better with the Easter theme for our decorations. I did the Easter theme in my plated dessert, but it was not satisfactory. Back to the drawing board I go, I guess.
Some days are just tougher than others. Today was one of them. But we live and learn.
Tomorrow and Friday I have my Bistro Bleu shifts, starting at 8am. I must get to bed now ...
