Somehow, February melted into March. And March became a rushing river leading us all rapidly to the finale of our course. After much design time, practice runs, garnish experimentation, success, and disasters... it was time for Graduation. We were allowed to create anything we wanted. You name it: from macaroon cookies to full-size wedding cakes, brioche bread to creme brulee -- the world was our sweet little oyster. Because our program was so short and intense, recipes were divided up each week among the students -- hence, not everyone made everything each week. So I decided I would try to combine as many of those techniques I hadn't yet done during the course into my final project. I knew I had not made praline (a hazelnut, caramel paste), homemade Nutella, gelee (a clear gelatenous glaze), or jaconde (a pastry staple cake type). Then the real work began. How do I combine all these elements into one cake? Here's what I came up with:A hazelnut and chocolate chunk jaconde cake base
Layered with homemade nutella, praline bavarian, white chocolate frangelico mousse, and caramel gelee
Garnished with dragee hazelnuts, crushed hazelnuts, white and dark chocolate shavings
I passed! And graduated from Pastry School!
