Culinary School Update: Part 4

Published: Jul 10, 2015 | Updated: Sep 24, 2021

Disclaimer: This post is not for the faint of heart or short on time! I may have outdone myself. With the word-count 🙂

I started writing this post over a month ago when school had slowed considerably and I was having trouble adjusting to the new pace. It was like someone slammed on the breaks when you were cruising at 100mph.

We started working almost exclusively on showpieces, which are not my forte, and I was feeling under stimulated.

So, in full Lindsey Logic, I decided to pick up an internship to fill the gap.

Well the school gap closed approximately 5 nanaseconds after that decision and I am left with a very full plate.

Imagine your plate at Thanksgiving…Like, can you even see your plate at Thanksgiving?
{Please say no, or we can't be friends. Friends don't let friends diet on T-giving}

That is how my proverbial plate feels right now: piled high with not an inch to spare.

Unfortunately AHC has suffered. She has been placed on the back burner and it saddens me; it physically hurts. I miss sharing and interacting with fellow bloggers. I miss sharing recipes and stories with all of you!

It’s hard to believe that I have less than a week left of school, and all of those remaining days are finals.
With more croissants...
I told you that croissants and I aren’t on speaking terms. {Breathe, Lindsey, breathe.}

With the exception of the two units on plated desserts, school became a predictable pattern: learn some key techniques then build a showpiece that seemingly defies every law of physics.

Let’s take a little journey through 100% edible showpiece land, shall we?
(Yes, everything you see below is edible...not that you would want to eat it!)

ICC, being the amazing institution they are, eased us into showpieces with a chocolate candy stand. It needed to be at least a foot high and have some sort of vessel for candy. Mmmkay.

No theme, just imagination. Being unaccustomed to imagining anything 3D, my mind traveled to my other passions. What do I love?

Chocolate: check.

Working out: umm, no.

Eating: not helping…

Books: now we’re talkin’. If you have ever met me, you know that my passion for reading and collecting books borders on irrational and obsessive. [I actually miss my books being here in NYC. I know. It’s weird. Stop judging.]

So let’s build some out of chocolate. #obvi

Somehow I thought that since we built a chocolate box with a bow in a day, I could build 5 book boxes plus a base, a tea cup and an open book with actual pages in less than two days. Ha! #hopespringseternal

I loved this showpiece. The book with the pages on top was probably one of my favorite moments of showpiece genius.
Or only moment. Whatevs. We all peak sometime.

Then we actually baked a cake! This little bow-topped, bundle of flourless chocolate goodness was my practical exam for Chocolate I.

On to Plated Desserts I! The only thing I can tell you about this unit is that eating 5 plated desserts every day for a week is a recipe for burnout (and tight pants).

Mini galettes, churros, beignets, crêpes, pot de chocolate, vacherins, cheesecakes, molten chocolate cake, bread pudding (which was awful and you know I love me some bread pudding…mmmhmmm), crème caramel, clafoutis…

Honestly I feel a little nauseous telling you about all of these things…

And I haven’t even gotten to the soufflés yet!

Look at that thing! Behold the power of egg whites!
Let me tell you a secret (I can feel the hate-mail from pastry chefs rolling in right now...), soufflés are easy. Shhh! With a little gentle folding, that towering greatness could be all yours any day of the week.

I cannot even tell you how excited I was to get to Sugar I. Despite the name, there is no eating in this unit. Praise BE!

Look! Adorable little marzipan fruits! The cuteness! I can't even.

I also lied - I'm sorry; please forgive me. Marzipan is totally edible and so is that caramel almond nougatine that I shaped into a basket. Marzipan is my faves. I will not disclose how much marzipan I have eaten over the past 5 months. Some things are private. #Ifeelsick #forshame

Moving on to the less appetizing items that helped my relax and fit back into my skinny jeans again!

I loved making these sugar paste flowers and working with pastillage.

Pasty-what?

Let me break it down for you: pastillage and sugar paste (pictured above & flowers below) are very similar mixtures of sugar and gelatin, but sugar paste has additional gums that make it pliable and elastic. This allows you to roll it and shape it into flowers.

Pastillage, however, is a pain. It dries out before you can roll it thin enough to cut; it never dries how you want it, and it breaks just by looking at it.

Which brings me to my pastillage showpiece! Prior to building this 2 foot tall, gravity-defying piece, I had made 1 rocking horse cutout. If I had known, I would have toned it down. Like a lot.

On second thought, I probably wouldn’t’ have because “underachiever” isn’t in my DNA.

The first half day, I made my pastillage and did all of my cut outs. I was a little concerned that my lizard looked like a rat, but I am seriously not that talented and it was the best that I could do at midnight the night before.

The second day we only had an hour, so I made my base, sanded my cut outs and airbrushed my pieces with a moderate degree of success. My fine motor skills don’t include operating an airbrush gun…let’s just say that.

Then the last day I assembled.

And then my showpiece disassembled itself 10 minutes before the deadline to present to the chef.

Pastillage reeds and leaves lay shattered on the floor along with my heart (and sanity). I had to go to the B-team: the rejected pieces that weren’t as pretty or didn’t flow in the direction I wanted.

No time for a pity party, no time for a breath. On to Chocolate II: modeling chocolate, chocolate granite, chocolate made pliable and moldable in a food processor (I still don’t totally understand how this is possible…but it is…and it’s awesome), bon bons and another showpiece.

Our class chose movies as a showpiece theme. Beauty and the Beast is one of my all time favorites. Books, food, France, a love story, handsome princes, food, and castles. Pretty much all of my favorite things!

Yes, books. And since I built 5 books in 1.5 days last time, I thought I would make 7 books with a third of the thickness, a tiny teacup with a chip, of course, a chocolate rose, and a two-toned cutout precariously place on top.

Are you seeing a theme? No, not the books…I am certifiably insane when it comes to showpieces. My chef saw my sketch and told me, “There is no way you can do all of that in two days.”

Well I did. I had never made a rose out of modeling chocolate and it is just a shade away from hideous, but I actually finished the whole showpiece with 2 minutes to spare.

Advanced Sugar. So much sugar. And they aren’t kidding about the advanced part. Pastillage is a breeze compared to blown sugar, poured sugar, and pulled sugar.

True to form we poured a sugar owl one day, pulled sugar flowers and ribbons the next day, and blew a sugar fish on the third. The fourth day you start your showpiece. Say what now?!

My owl...before I broke it for a fourth and final time!

I used 10 different sugar techniques. Yes, ten. We had 2 days.

Everything on this showpiece is sugar. Every. Single. Thing.

The white base and "shell" are our old friend Pastillage. Happy to see you!

What was I telling you? Certifiably insane.

I’m not going to bore those of you who are still reading (is anyone still reading?) with each and every component of my design. Just know that half of it melted from the humidity; the background almost collapsed on itself and it took 3 people to hold it while it cooled enough to stand on its own (you have to shape it while it's still hot); and I blew those fish by hand 15 minutes before the presentation deadline. Insanity.

But there it is…

Are you sick of showpieces yet? I am.

Where’s the puff pastry? Mmmm puff pastry.

I have one more for you. It’s a wedding cake…with an Indian theme.

I am not entirely certain what possessed our class to choose this theme...but I am certain that I never want to pipe a henna design on a cake again.

At this point it is a given that I have designed something that should take twice as long as I have. Because that’s just how I do.

And it should also come as no shock that something went wrong. Terribly wrong...

We had the misfortune of our wedding cake project falling over a weekend. The final day was a Monday, on which I should have had to only assemble my cake, make and color royal icing, pipe my henna design, pour my sugar base and gems, make the green beaded border for the layers, and make the cascading, draped thingy. (Only that…)

But I didn’t wrap my cake well enough and the moist air from the refrigerator actually melted a hole in my fondant and buttercream on all three tiers. I should have taken a picture but I was so shocked that all I could do was immediately set to work fixing it.

I had to remove my fondant, refresh my buttercream (fortunately I had enough), re-mask and square off my cakes, and re-cover all three tiers with fondipan (a mixture of fondant and marzipan…I know, marzipan...I'm not going to pretend like I didn't eat some...).
AND then I still had to do everything else I had planned. Impossible.

I am incredibly proud to say that I not only finished on time but I executed my cake exactly like my diagram. I piped that design freehand in under 20 minutes against a ticking clock. I gave myself 2 hours on my itinerary for piping, because that is how long it would take a normal person. Adrenaline is a powerful thing people.

I don’t like the poured sugar gems on the draping; I wish I had more time to play with the exact positioning of the flowers and the sash; I wanted to paint my piping gold; and I wish I had time to tap down the tails on the piped dots. Details.

I only have the remainder of Plated Desserts II and Finals to go. One more showpiece and this adventure will all be over. Next time I’ll tell you more about my next chapter and where we go from here. But now I need to study and sketch! And I am sure you are bored to tears!

Be sure to follow me on Instagram for more pictures of what I make each day and the sweet treats and savory goodness that I try in NYC!

You can also, if you just haven’t had enough, read my First, Second, and Third Culinary School Updates!