Baking, Assessment, Trip to UK(!!), and back to Baking!

It's been just over a month since my last posting, and a lot has happened since then. The saddest part was finding out that my brother-in-law (J) in the UK has been diagnosed with late stage pancreatic cancer, which is a particularly vicious form of cancer at ANY stage, let alone at the late stage. Baking class or no baking class, I just HAD to make the time to go see him and my very much loved sister-in-law (A), who is Ken's only sibling and younger sister. I love her and her husband dearly, and I had to go and see them both... so, once they gave their OK, I made arrangements to head to the UK. Left KL on 23rd April night, arrived Heathrow on 24th April morning, was picked up by a very good friend who, with her husband, drove all the way from Cardiff to get me - back all the way to Cardiff... and Ken's very good friend (K - who also lives in Wales) drove over to their place for lunch with all of us (and it was a 2+ hour drive for him too!). I spent the night in Cardiff, then the next morning they put me on a train to Warrington. Arrived there in the afternoon and A & J were there to pick me up. J has lost quite a bit of weight :-( (and so has A!!) but they are still the same very loving, and very lovable, people they have always been, and it was brilliant to be able to see them again. Their younger daughter (T), whom I have not met before, was there from the US, and her 2 week stay overlapped with my stay, so that was another major plus! Their older daughter (K - who lives close by) and her 2 sons spent a lot of time with us too, and I really really enjoyed my stay with them - being able to spend time with all of them as they are a truly amazing and close-knit family. I did a surprising amount of baking - which was hugely enjoyable to me, and (I hope) enjoyed by them too. Made quiche (both vegetarian and non-vegetarian), breads, tarte normande, and lemon-cream tart. Basically all things that could be made with zero equipment other than bowls, a whisk, various ladles and knives, an oven, and my hands! I spent a week with them then was picked up by Ken's and my friends from the Netherlands, who were driving from Netherlands to Scotland. They stopped in Warrington on Sunday 1st May, joined J, A and myself for dinner (cooked by A, with dessert made by me), and we had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The next day I left with them, heading up to Scotland. The drive from Warrington to Rhu in Scotland was approx 4 hours (not much different from my usual drive from KL to SG). I was with them there till Friday, when I flew from Glasgow back to Heathrow at noon, then flew from Heathrow back to KL on Friday night. Landed in KL on Sat 7th May night, was picked up by my sister, had Sunday to catch up on a load of laundry, then back to baking on Monday! Jet lag is still with me, even though it has been a week since my return, though I think the jet lag has been made worse by the fact that I have not slept for more than 3 hours a night for the last 2.5 years, and even less than that while I was in the UK! I counted myself lucky if I got 2 hours sleep a night while there. Anyway, I will get past it. I am just glad that I was able to get to the UK and spend some time with J & A!!!

The week before my trip to the UK was a full week of assessment, marking the end of the first three months of this course. The first day of assessment we had to do dipped chocolates, and chocolate mandola cookies - basically any cookie, with a filling, dipped in chocolate. I did plain vanilla cookies, sandwiched with raspberry jam, dipped in dark chocolate.

And here are my hand-dipped chocolates and mandola cookies :-). Not VERY pretty, but very nice to eat!!

The 2nd/3rd days were to do Opera Cake, Baguette, Paris Brest and Cream Puffs, Lemon Meringue and Palmiers (Puff Pastry). We had to present all these items by 4.30pm at the latest, on the 3rd day. Then the 4th/5th days were to do Croissant, Black Forest, Financiers, Florentine, and Macaroons, all of which had to be presented by 4.30pm on the 5th day.

I am only putting up a picture of the croissants I made as they came out absolutely WONDERFUL! This is the croissant...

... and this is a close-up to show the layering!

Anyway, I have to say, even if I am not the best baker or the best at showcasing what I have made, I AM very efficient at making the best use of available time, overlapping tasks, and getting things done fast... so I was ready to present by 2pm on the 3rd and the 5th day! Which was kind of a relief to just get it all done and over with. Am happy to say that I have passed the assessment and have a nice certificate to attest to that.

As of the 9th May we started again - like the 2nd semester, if you will. And got a total shock when we found out that we have to do 32 hours of theory - which was supposed to be a full 8 hours a day for the first 4 days. The thought of sitting still for 8 hours a day was a bit too much for all of us (including our Chef teacher) so we agreed to theory in the mornings, and baking in the afternoons - so it has not been tooooooooo bad :-D. Then, on Wednesday, our Chef asked us to DESIGN a cake, a chocolate, a tea bar, and a verrine! The design to be based on all that we had learnt to make so far, and on what we had learnt about complementary tastes. Once we had done that, and he had checked what we had done, he told us that our task on Friday would be to actually MAKE the cake we had designed!! Whoa!

So, we did! I think I had designed the simplest cake (sort of like a WHITE FOREST - with sponge, raspberries, raspberry syrup, raspberry coulis, and fresh chantilly cream). The sponge turned out a little bit strange, and required lots of cream to camouflage the imperfections, but it did taste good I must admit - the combination of raspberry and fresh cream is yummy! I think I will make that again, at home, once my kitchen is renovated (!), but might use chocolate ganache on the inside layers, rather than chantilly cream, and keep the chantilly cream just for the outside. We'll see how that turns out later. For now, here are the pictures of the cake:

The components: Chantilly cream on the left, raspberry coulis in the measuring cup, raspberry syrup in the bowl. I also had raspberries, but not in this picture):

Work in progress:
- Here is the cake, with 2 layers done. Sponge, cream, raspberries, cream, sponge, cream, raspberries (and each layer of sponge is daubed with raspberry syrup)

...and here is the cake, layers complete, with the first layer of chantilly cream:

... and here it is COMPLETED!

... and here it has been sliced open and tasted and approved by the chef, with some slices being taken by some of my classmates (am happy to say that they did enjoy it!) and the raspberry coulis running down the cut edges of the cake really looks YUM!

The rest of the cake came home with me, where I had a slice, and then the rest went to my sister and her husband and 2 boys :-). And after having my first slice of the cake I was even more certain that I will make it again!

That's it for now folks. Till next time, have a good day, every day!