I had my basic pastry practical exam today. It consisted of two components: bon d'economat and the practical exam.
Bon d'economat is the blank form we have to fill out for a recipe, as if we were ordering all the ingredients required for the cake we are making (we each pick an envelope, and inside the envelope, it tells us which recipe we need to write the bon d'economat for). This means we have to memorise all the quantities and ingredients in the exam recipes (there were 10 exam recipes in total). We don't all get the same recipes. It is just luck of the draw.
I got the St Honore cake for my bon d'economat, and I was fine with it. I had made it twice last week, so I could remember the ingredients for that recipe.
After completing the bon d'economat, we each had to pick another envelope for the cake we have to make. I picked envelope no. 9, and it was the envelope for Pavé du Roy (chocolate cake), which was the cake I practised at home last week (and took to my French language class). At that moment, I really thought it was my lucky day.
However, it did not turn out to be as easy as I had thought. I was able to make the cake, but my ganache was overworked, and it was dull and had little cracks on the surface. I think, in my nervousness, I had stirred the ganache too much. But I managed to serve the cake on time, complete with chocolate decorations (to hide some of the imperfections in the ganache on top of the cake). I was not totally satisfied with my cake (again, because of the ganache), but at least I finished it on time.
Three of the chefs (Chefs H, T and N) were watching us make the cakes and they took notes on various aspects of our techniques. It was quite intimidating when they walked around, peered at the things you were preparing and said nothing (no reassuring smile or anything). When the time was up, they took our cakes into another room for the judges to taste and grade.
The judges are outsiders who have been invited to the school to taste and assess the finished products. They have to assess the cakes based on some criteria listed on a sheet of paper. Also, the judges do not know who made which cake. Each cake presented to them just has an ID number. Only the chefs know which student was given which ID number. And the chefs only grade us on techniques in the kitchen (and not on the finished product). I think this is a fair system of assessing students. At least no one can say a chef was biased towards/against any particular student. The cakes must pass a taste test by outsiders.
I think I passed, but I felt annoyed at myself for not handling the ganache better, especially since this is my third time making a Pave du Roy.
Anyway, if we do not get a phone call from the school on Thursday to say we have failed, then we are graduating from Basic Pastry on Friday (21 November). That's how it works here.
Fingers crossed.
