Brutal

So, last week was exam week, covering Wedding Cakes, Chocolate Showpieces, and Sugar Showpieces.

Monday and Tuesday were practice days, when students are free to do anything they had done in the sections covered by the exam. While those days are great in theory, my opinion is that they tend to be unproductive due to the lack of structure.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were exam days. It started Wednesday morning with the written exam, which was basically pretty easy. It seems, however, that there was one trick question on the test, which kind of pisses me off (because I missed it, and they always tell us there won't be trick questions.)

Then we were given the practical exam, which was:

• Produce a 2-tiered cake, filled and covered with buttercream, and decorated with buttercream. This was due by the end of Thursday.
• Produce a chocolate showpiece to mimic one produced by the Chef. This was due by the end of Thursday. This included 2 discs for a base, and a 200 cm ring with a 140 cm ring inside of it. Also, three small shiny sphere, and three shiny plaquettes. (The fact that it said "shiny" means that they need to sit for 24 hours.) Finally, there needed to be a chocolate rose, and the entire piece should be airbrushed with cocoa butter.
• Produce 3 gum paste roses. (Due anytime.)
• Produce 3 gum paste daisies. (Due anytime.)
• Produce 5 gum paste rose leaves. (Due anytime.)
• Produce a sugar showpiece to mimic one produced by the Chef. This was due by the end of Friday, but some of the elements, such as the pulled rose and the blown apple, could ONLY be done on Friday. In addition, we needed to cast several discs and include at least one pastillage element. (Pastillage must dry for 24-48 hours.) A pulled curl and/or ribbon could be done for extra credit.

So, that's your teaser for today. I'm tired and going to bed right now, so come back to see how I think I did, and hopefully I'll have my grade in a few days and we'll see how Chef thinks I did.

And then this week we start ice creams and sorbets. Umm.... ice cream...