Superior So Far

My Superior Patisserie course is now fully under way, and during the second week we created a chocolate box and a variety of hand-dipped chocolates, both of which will be required for our final assessment in a few weeks.  Predictably, I chose to adorn my box with a large bow molded from white modeling chocolate, and I'm tempted to repeat the design on my assessment piece.  Below you can see the various chocolates we produced:  nougat, marzipan, and raspberry fruit paste.  The only thing the pictures don't convey is the enormous mess I made along the way (which required hours of soaking my uniform in a bleach solution).

Last week, the third week, we focused on marzipan modeling.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with marzipan, it is simply a combination of ground almonds and sugar (powdered, or "icing" sugar as it is called here).  The quality of marzipan varies depending on the almond content;  marzipan with a high almond content (and therefore a better eating quality) would be used to top cakes or for chocolate dipping, while marzipan with a low almond content is used to mold the figures seen below.   

My friend Eddie and I decided to make little marzipan bakers wearing pink pants - again, predictable.   

My little baker is rather beefy from rolling out pastry, whipping cream, kneading dough, and whisking egg whites.

As you can see, the lessons in Superior have focused on more artistic tasks, and the creative students in our class have had a chance to shine (not me).  This week we each completed a chocolate showpiece, and because the choice of chocolate molds was quite limited, most of us ended up with a holiday themed piece (mine had an Easter bunny on top).  I'll admit that I prefer making the gateaus, tarts, pastries, and breads, but I've accumulated a range of skills I never expected to possess.  While I probably will not need to make an Easter-themed chocolate tower in the future, I suppose it is satisfying to know that I could.