Piece of cake.

Today was our first day in the pastry section, which already seems so different then viennoisserie. We didn't make anything. Actually, that's not entirely true. We didn't finish anything today though.

We made a bunch of pieces of various desserts, the way it will all fit together is still a bit of a mystery, though I have some guesses...

Pastry cream -- I didn't burn mine this time or add too much vanilla, so, that's good.

1 chocolate sponge cake + 2 vanilla sponge cakes (all different sizes) -- the sponge cakes were so light and fluffy. I had to restart my vanilla ones because I messed them up the first time. Apparently, I am not good at folding flour into things. I think Jean-Luc worries that I am always on the verge of a nervous breakdown, because he constantly asks if everything is okay (or reassures me that it is).

Pecan pie filling -- one of the ingredients in this is glucose, which is a really strange thing to work with. It's basically sticky goop that you have to scoop out with your hands. That sticks to everything.

Sweet dough -- probably for a pie...? Maybe. Jean-Luc likes to keep us on our toes.

Lemon cream -- that looked really creamy and delicious. We got to use the really intense food processors to emulsify the mixture. I really like the term "emulsify" and just wanted to use it in a sentence.

All of these things went in the walk-in fridge to use later during the week. I think we have to do a lot of prep work in advance so we have time later in the week to learn more decorative things, like piping icing onto cakes. Presentation will factor a lot more into this section than it did in viennoisserie, if only because you don't have to worry as much about decorating a chocolate chip cookie as you do a layered sponge cake. (I hope the previous section's oatcakes are not an illustration of the extent of my piping skills.) After this section, our group moves on to the restaurant section, which is by far the most presentation-heavy of them all. Watching them make sugar cages today gave me a bit of anxiety in the pit of my stomach.

But I'll focus on the present and just dream about how delicious all of the things we started to make today will be when they're done. It's weird to end the day without having a finished product to show for it (or a finished product to taste...). But Jean-Luc told us we did a good job today and that's pretty much all that matters.