I felt really good about the exam, until the end. My lemon curd for the lemon tartlets didn't set and my meringue would only ever get to a soft peak, which made piping difficult (something I already needed help with). My trial run at home ended up better. Then I noticed something about my apple tart didn't look right. It was a little over-baked. The recipe called for an hour of baking time, but had I done that it would have burned. I pulled it out early, but not early enough. Over-baking though was not the thing that didn't seem quite right, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Then my instructor came to my table to grade me and pointed it out: my apples were fanned incorrectly, they were upside-down. How could I have done that??? Honestly, I still am beating myself up a bit about it. I don't know what happened with the lemon curd or meringue, but I could have at least saved my apple tart. I could have put it in the rotating oven instead of the convection oven and I could have fanned the apples correctly. Then it would have been perfect. O well. Time to move on, right? (On a side note: he didn't grade us too harshly on the lemon curd. He stated it really needed to be kept overnight in the fridge.)
On to the positives: flavor. Everything had a really good flavor. My cookies also turned out well. My instructor said my piping was good on the cookies. (He watched me as I did them.) I also did a good job rolling out my tart and tartlet shells. (The instructor said that it is one of the more difficult things to do and everyone did well.) Another good note: I finished early- 9:30, which means I did well on my time-management.
All in all, he said everyone did well. I watched him write down my scores and he gave me 8s across the board after coming to my table. With a scale of 1 to 10, I believe I got a B. I can live with a B. Honestly, with the silly mistakes I made, I am just glad I passed. (I should find out my total score soon: written plus practical. I will keep you updated.)
Here are the pictures of what I made:
2 comments:
Apples upside down or right-side up still taste just as delicious!!!!
Your lemon tarts look darling. I can't imagine baking with an instructor watching. I bet it takes time to get used to that, so in my book you did awesome! Love you bunches, Aunt Karen
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