The cakes and chocolate bonbons for our Superior Pastry exam were:
Group A
* Apricot Tart, Rum (molded chocolate) and Pâte Amande Cafe (dipped chocolate)
* Entremet Vanessa, Tea (molded chocolate) and Rochers (dipped chocolate)
* Bûche de Noel, Honey (molded chocolate) and Caramel Chocolate (dipped chocolate)
Group B
* Apricot Tart, Rum (molded chocolate) and Pâte Amande Cafe (dipped chocolate)
* Entremet Fruit des Champs, Praliné (molded chocolate) and Palets Or (dipped chocolate)
* Bûche de Noel, Honey (molded chocolate) and Caramel Chocolate (dipped chocolate)
Each student only had to present one of the combinations above (--> one cake + one plated dessert, 10 molded chocolates and 10 dipped chocolates). Five hours to complete the tasks, including tempering chocolate.
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The exam was worth 30% of overall marks. The other assessment components of the course were the exam sugar showpiece (worth 25%), the written exam (worth 10%, and the student transcript indicates I scored over 9% on that), and the regular practicals (worth 35%).
My student transcript for Superior Pastry (photo below) shows I was pretty weak in my organisation and presentation on exam day, and that's no surprise to me.
I think the chefs were fair in their assessment of my skills. They had a set of marking criteria, and I did not fulfill the criteria as well as my classmates (I know that in my own heart).
Having said that, my organisation may not have been the best in the eyes of the chefs (and in comparison with my classmates), but it was how I wanted to do things, e.g. I deliberately left the Praliné filling to the last because I wanted to pipe the Palets Or first, before I got too tired and had to pipe with shaky hands (I have shaky hands even at the best of times, and it just gets worse as I get tired). I was aware I was slower than I could have been, but it was the only way I could keep from getting too nervous (or too panicky) in an exam situation. Like everyone else, I tried to cope the best I could. I didn't want to stress out like I did in the Intermediate Pastry exam.
This exam was the first exam I had enough confidence to do things my way, and that, for me, was a breakthrough. When I presented my cakes and chocolates, I felt I had done enough to satisfy the minimum criteria. In my mind, my Entremet Fruits des Champs for the exam was better than the one I made in the Lesson 2 practical, and my Palets Or dipped chocolate were more even in size. I was glad about this because it meant I was making progress. And I am happy my exam cake and chocolates tasted good enough to score 22 out of 30.
As I look back, I'm pretty amazed I managed to learn so many (sophisticated) skills in pastry in the nine months at LCB Ottawa. If I had just gone to a TAFE college (vocational skills college) in Australia, I reckon I wouldn't have seen and learned French pastry techniques at such a sophisticated level and in such a systematic way.
Yes, the chefs at LCB Ottawa do have high expectations (and they push the students hard), but they also teach techniques systematically. The program was designed to introduce more challenging techniques as we go along, and that was what I liked about it. In educational terms, we were provided some "scaffolding" each step of the way, and it gave us a better chance of succeeding overall.
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A special thank-you to all the kitchen stewards (aka dishwashers) for their assistance in our practicals. Without their help in washing the pots and bowls during our practicals, life would have been tough. As it was, they saved us time and made sure we had clean utensils to work with. For that, I am most grateful.
[Aside: We use many pots and mixing bowls (and the mixer a number of times) in each of our practicals, and if we had to wash everything ourselves, we would not have had as much time to concentrate on our cakes or chocolates.
By the way, I recall I actually washed some pots, bowls, dishes and other kitchen utensils in Production Kitchen while volunteering there one day (just out of sheer curiosity), and found that it wasn't as easy as I thought. It takes some skill and quite a lot of experience not to splash water everywhere. When I first tried "doing the dishes" in Production Kitchen, I ended up soaking wet and I nearly gave everyone around me a shower... :D Washing up in a commercial kitchen is nothing like washing up at home. Hence my respect for dishwashers now.]
