Sweet Progress

Happy new year everyone! I'm late with that as I am with a few other things I'm going to be mentioning here, but better late than never I suppose. Life's been pretty crazy the last few weeks. I had to do a lot of studying for my final exam, and then attended my graduation. The holidays were a whirlwind with my parents' visit, and then I danced the night away with a friend to welcome in the new year. Not to mention my work life is changing too. I'll leave most of that to other posts, but for now I'll share some of the last pastry photos from my time at school.



Starting from the top, there's a Charlotte aux Poires, a pastry made from ladyfinger biscuit, filled with bavarian cream and pear chunks, and decorated with Chantilly cream and braised pear. The second photo is the Charlotte served with a strawberry coulis. The chocolate decadence below is a Pavé du Roy, chocolate biscuit soaked with rum syrup and layered with a dark chocolate ganache and topped with chocolate decor. Finally, two Saint-Honoré cakes, made with a base of shortcrust and choux paste, filled with Chibouste cream and decorated with caramel. The first was my initial attempt, and I unfortunately failed my Chibouste cream. My second attempt went much better and I was much happier with it.



These last two photos are a before-and-after of an apple tart I baked up in my own kitchen yesterday. The dough was leftover from one of my first ever classes and had been sitting in my freezer ever since and I figured I may as well use it up. I do so love baking. Which makes my other news all the more wonderful. But I'll save that for another day. Cheers!