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This week, we had demos and practicals for the first two of our four exam dishes: the opéra cake and the fraisier cake. It’s hard to believe that we’ve already arrived at week four and are already learning our exam dishes in preparation for practical exams in December!
Fraisier Cake
We started with a traditional fraisier cake. This traditional French cake is comprised of genoise sponge, strawberries, and creme mousseline. It also features a layer of marzipan and royal icing decorations on top.
During the demonstration, we watched the chef make marzipan leaves and roses. He also explained the process for creating these pretty decorative elements.
Here is the chef’s finished fraisier cake:
In the practical, I did okay with making the fraisier. I thought that my genoise sponge and mousseline turned out quite well. I just need some practice with the decoration. Piping royal icing is definitely much trickier than chocolate, so there is some practice to be had there! And, I need to spend a couple of hours practicing making marzipan roses. Mine wasn’t terrible but it could definitely be better.
Opéra Cake
Our second exam dish is an opéra cake. Opéra is a French cake make with layers of almond sponge, coffee buttercream, chocolate ganache, and a coffee soaking syrup:
The trickiest part of this one is the layering. The layers on my finished cake weren’t quite as even as they should be. And, the buttercream and ganache could’ve been thicker. I also need to be more generous with the coffee soaking syrup. But on the upside the chef said my glaze, piping, and decoration were excellent, so I was happy with that part!
Tortes, Tartes, and Cheese
Although the exam dishes are always stressful, at least we balanced out the week with two lighter lectures: a demo of tortes and tartes, and everyone’s favorite—cheese night!
In the tortes and tartes class, we learned to make two Swiss classics: the Engadiner Nuss Torte and the Linzer Torte, as well as a modern take on the Galette des Rois:
The evening cheese lecture, given by cheese historian Tom Badcock of Harvey and Brockless, is always the highlight of the term. In the intermediate-level lecture we tasted eighteen different kinds of cheeses:
It’s no surprise that my favorites were the bleu cheeses. I also really liked the clochette and the halloumi, too! It’s always so interesting to learn from someone so passionate about the subject they’re teaching. And in the process, to discover new ways to incorporate cheeses into our pastry work.
And that’s a wrap on week four. Just two more exam dishes to learn next week!!
Missed last week’s pastry school diary? Read it here.
About Rebecca:
Rebecca earned the Diplôme de Pâtisserie from Le Cordon Bleu London in 2020. She kept this detailed diary as a record of her journey, and as a way to help others decide if pastry school might be the right choice for them. Rebecca also holds an MSc in Culinary Innovation from Le Cordon Bleu and Birkbeck, University of London, and a Professional Chocolatier’s Certificate from Ecole Chocolate. She currently works as a recipe developer, food stylist, food photographer, writer, and pastry chef. Feel free to make one of her original recipes, or to follow her on Instagram @bastecutfold for more baking and pastry inspiration!
