Baking and Pastry - Final

On the days of the final I always like to get into class a little early. This morning I arrived around six o’clock and set up my station, pulled out my dough’s and made the butter cream for the cake. We took a break at 7 to take the written final then went to work. I rolled out my pie first and got that safely tucked away in the oven. I made the Bavarian cream for my tart then prepared all my fruit. I carefully assembled the tart (I had the shell the day before) then set it in the refrigerator to set up a bit before adding another coating of apricot glaze. My shell came out a bit too dark but it was going to have to do. I did not want to try and bake another one. It gets pretty crazy with 15 people trying to bake at the same time. In fact yesterday when I baked my chocolate sponge cake, I went to check on it and realized that the oven had been turned off. This happens a lot and is very frustrating. The dial for the oven is the same as for the burners and you can mix them up pretty easily. Oh well. I moved it to another oven and hoped for the best. That night I made a back in case I ran into a problem when I tried to cut it into layers. It wasn’t much of a back up, I forgot to put in the melted butter. When I realized this, the cake had already baked for a few minutes. I figured better late than not at all.

It came out a little flat. At least I would have a choice as to which was worse.

I didnt have to choose because I ended up giving my extra cake to my partner Dennis. He needed it more than I did. I’ll say no more.

My decorating went just OK - a little shaky with the piping. My pie crust was too thick but very flavorful and my tart came out nice, though my wrists were welting up not so nicely from a fumble from the oven the day before.

Tomorrow I am taking a day off. It is Mothers Day weekend and my husband and I are heading out of town with two other couples. We rented a house up North at Sea Ranch and all I know is that I will be bringing an Apple Pie, a Fresh Fruit Tart, a Chocolate Cake and my golf clubs.

Goodnight.