The end.

Hello readers,

 Today was a bittersweet day. Our last day of school. We presented our Black Forest cake and we got our portfolio back.

 Before I tell you about my day today, let me tell you about my day yesterday.

 Yesterday our job was to make our interpretation of a Black Forest cake. I had been planning my cake for a few weeks. I had a plan and I was going to get this done!! I was so excited to do my cake because it would be mine! First thing to do. Make my chocolate cake. No problem. Next, make cherry compote with honey and lemon. Done (and delicious!!)  next, make dacquoise. Easy. Next make honey and kirsch soaking syrup. Easy. Next make cherry glacage. Done. Next make anglaise for my vanilla mousse. ..oh that mousse.

 My anglaise was perfect, it was chilled, I added my whipped cream....liquid. I whip the shit out of it. Liquid. Frack! I needed to add an extra 3 gelatin leaves and leave my mixture in the blast freezer to semi set before I piped it in to my cake ring. I was doing so well until It came time to do that mousse. I've made mousse lots before, so I'm wondering if it was the recipe....who knows.

 Then it came time to build my wonderful cake. I sliced my cake in to three and put one slice on the bottom and soaked it. Easy! Then I put some of my cherry compote, then a dacquoise, cake, cherry compote....okay..starting to run out of room in this cake ring...let's skip the dacquoise and use the last piece of cake. Then I piped around the inside of the ring and over the top with my mousse and put it in the  freezer.

 When I was walking it down to the freezer I was worried. This isn't going to work, it's to high it's over the edge of my cake ring. I'm not going to be able to put glaze on it....I'm just going to leave it. I go back to the kitchen to clean up, I can stop thinking about my cake. I can't leave it...I didn't build it properly. It was eating me alive.

 I drop my dishes on the table and take a jog down to the freezer - gotta fix it! Luckily it was just starting to freeze. Phew. I carefully scrape off  the mousse from the top of the cake. Then find the edge of the chocolate cake and start peeling it up off the compote. At this point, I have cake all over the place and my brain is screaming "WHAT DID YOU JUST DO!?" ..I'm fixing it. Shut up brain.

The layer of cake I took out of my cake ring...fix. fix.fix.

 I get the layer of cake taken off and I smooth out my compote and put a thin piece of dacquoise on top. Perfect height now. Room to glaze it tomorrow. Cover it with fresh mousse and put it back in the freezer. Ahhhhh. I feel so much better. Sigh of relief.

  Now let's talk about today.

 First we finished our last rotation! Sugar work. Our group built an underwater sugar piece. I shouldn't be allowed close to something this breakable. I broke it...twice. Still loved building it though.
 We finished our little fishes, I named mine Gus. And hes so dang cute. I also made a girl one with eye brows and everything. I accidently left her at school. Hopefully she will still be there tomorrow!

This is Gus.

Our center piece!

Saras fish on the bottom and Aidens fish on the top

Leonas small cute guppy on the top. Gus on the Left and Aidens fish on the right.

I love it. I just wish I hadn't broken all the blue sugar..

Now back to cake...

 I had to give myself little pep talks to just stick with my original plan. Seeing everyone's cakes I was starting to second guess myself. No, do your plan..this is your idea. Do it. DO IT! I warmed up my cherry glacage (glaze) and ran it over the top. Then did some white chocolate lines. I wanted my cake to look modern and clean. I made a white chocolate decoration to add some height but it snapped while I was taking it off the asatate paper. Poo. Oh well!

 Then we had to cut a piece and present both the cake slice and the whole cake to chef. You had to explain the components of your cake. Then he tasted it. He took the first bite of mine and a few chews in and he has this look on his face. Oh god. He walks over to the sink and spits out a cherry pit. Oh my fucking god!! All the blood in my body rushed to my face. I can't believe it.

 He looks at me and says "there is always one." ...."yeah..it had to be mine...crap."

 So here is a lesson for you guys. If the cherries you use say "pitted" - they are lying to you! ;) haha. The real lesson is to always check your cherries. Don't assume there aren't any pits.

 He really liked it though! He said it was really nicely balanced. Sweet and enjoyable but not so sweet you couldn't eat a whole piece. I was over the moon excited and proud of myself.

My Black forest cake!

So proud!



The inside. A chocolate Ginoise. Almond Dacquoise, Sour Cherry lemon and honey compote, vanilla mousse and topped with a cherry glacage..

Chef has a rough job....

 We also got our portfolios back and I did really really well! 100% on that bad boy. What a great way to end the year, a burst of confidence. I needed that before I start my work term.

I cleaned out my locker....how much shit can you stuff in to a locker? Holy lord. Backpack, tool kit, bag with recipe books, two bags with my chef whites. I was not about to take two trips...it felt like my shoulders were separating, but I made it to my car in one trip! Two trips is for suckers!

 I sat in the car for a few minutes. It's over. I did it. That was a fast year. It's been such a blast. I learned a lot and I'm so excited for the next chapter.

 We are going in to school tomorrow to clean, do our last test, and have a pizza party. Done.


 I don't think this blog will stop here. Maybe it will take a new turn in to my recipes and creations. I'm not quite sure.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my year in pastry school! I've loved writing about it. Xo

Pastry chef Ashley Naugler