Trés contente! Made my day!

J'adore ça! C'est trés jolie! And that, my friends, was the best compliment I've ever received from the Chef since we started. Our eighth practical session and this was, by far, the piece of work that I'm most proud of:

I know, it doesn't look like much and I think I've even done more elaborate cakes than this.  Nonetheless, today's bake combined a lot of the elements from the previous lessons and whilst each was a simple, straightforward recipe, doing them all at once and putting them together within a short time was quite a challenge, especially when you have to whip everything from scratch, by hand. See, I knew this would prepare me for today!

Today's practical session started right when the temperature was at its hottest. Alas, we had four different components to make, some with ingredients that don't do well in heat at all. It was warm and humid; I was soaking wet in my chef whites and had gone into the practical class somewhat doubtful of how our bakes will turn out today. Muttered a short prayer and then the craziness began. Just so you know, each practical session is 3 hours long but you really have the first hour to prep and put everything together since with pastry, you've got to factor in time for baking and decorating. Besides, we always have to allot another 30 minutes for Chef's assessment and grading, followed by a thorough clean-up to prepare the kitchen for the next group of students. So you see, there's really not much time and as soon as the Chef says "allez", everyone starts to move quickly and you don't get a breather until the end of the 3-hour long session. Not even time for a sip of water!
Everything came together beautifully today. Despite that I had almost scrambled the eggs  - I had added the eggs when the choux batter was way too hot, then had to make on-the-spot adjustments; Chef kept mumbling "ce n'est pas possible, n'est pas possible" when he looked at my batter and I just kept adding the liquids, stirring away. Then I kept running back and forth between my workspace and peeping through the glass oven door, just praying that the choux puffs will puff. They came out great and it was such a relief! They look so cute, don't you think?

We were given a huge transparent tupperware at the beginning of the semester to store and transport our bakes. It's also a great advertising tool for the school since many students take the public transportation and we are, in a way, showcasing our bakes to all. At the Metro on my way home this afternoon, Parisians actually stopped me twice to ask about the cake. I was just beaming proudly, smiling from ear to ear! Ah, the satisfaction of a great bake.
I'll be off for a short trip and this is such a great start to a long weekend! Je suis trés, trés contente!