I was hoping to get the Apricot Tart as my exam cake, because I have had practice rolling out tart dough in Bistro Bleu, and I can do a streussel quite well now (having made a horrible mistake with a batch of streussel while I was doing stage not long ago, and having had to make another batch in mass production)... But, as luck would have it, I picked envelope number 8 and got a mousse cake (Fruits des Champs mousse cake). Fortunately, I have not had any major disasters with mousses ever since I failed miserably with my Marquise au Chocolat in Intermediate Pastry (where my mousse was hard like concrete).
We made the Fruits des Champs mousse cake in Lesson 2, and this was what mine had looked like then:
This was what my exam cake looked like today:
Same recipe, different design
As you can see, I made sure the top of the cake was not too red this time (I remembered Chef CF's comments from last time). I knew I would have to use the dark glaze this time, and I was not confident about marbling on white glaze, so I practised piping intersecting lines (at different angles) on a plate at home last Monday. Plan A was to do the lines at about 135-degree angles, but criss-crossing so that the lines would looked like a net (a pattern I remember from my childhood). Plan B was this design I used today (lines at 90-degree angle, a design which I had used on handmade cards before). I ended up doing Plan B because it was simple and I was running short of time.
I believe my white chocolate mousse and raspberry coulis insert inside the cake were fine today, though I almost had a heart attack when all three chefs (Chefs H, CF, and T) came over to taste my mousse as I was pouring it into the mold. It was the "uh-oh" moment -- for a moment, I wondered if I had forgotten something vital in the mousse (I have been known to forget things, which is not good). I was pretty sure I had put the gelatin into the pastry cream (since I had used the timer as a reminder), so I began to think maybe my mousse was not the right consistency, and doubt started to creep in... It was a scary feeling. I have no idea why the chefs did this -- I mean, the chefs do walk around and inspect things, but seldom all three inspecting the same thing at the same time (unless there's trouble). Anyway, I breathed a sigh of relief when they said it was ok.
I didn't get a chance to take any photos of my chocolate bonbons (dipped Palets Or and molded praliné chocolate) or my plated dessert. I was glad I practised the Palets Or last week, because I was able to pipe them much more evenly this time. It gets better with practice.
I took longer than usual to temper chocolate today, because the heat and humidity in the pastry kitchen simply made it harder. After I used the seeding method, the temperature of the dark chocolate stayed at 33 degrees Celsius (even though I kept stirring the chocolate, trying to cool it down), it just wouldn't come down to 31 degrees. I had to use the tabling method to bring it down to the optimum temperature of 31 degrees.
Then I found that the chocolate would not set quickly in the mold, so I had to put the mold into the fridge... Every little step just took longer than usual.
At the end of 5 hours (without a break), I was able to serve the required items, though I felt I could have done a few things better or differently. Isn't that always the case?
It was certainly not my best effort, but it was not my worst either.
After the exam, each of us were treated to a glass of champagne and some finger food by the School. It was nice to be able to spend some time relaxing together... Then most of Group B went to Angelo's for some pizza and chicken wings. As we were happily chatting away, it dawned on us that this was our last time together as a group, which made us a little sad. This was a good group to be in, because we have never had any fights or serious disagreements. We always did what we could for the good of the group, and we were supportive of each other. We shared ideas, tools, ingredients, cleaning duties ... and, most of all, we had a lot of fun!
Thank you for the wonderful memories, Group B!
