My First Exam at the FCI

I practiced a ton for this, this weekend. I'll post what I made later. Let me tell you, I'm really glad I did because I ended up getting the recipes I practiced for. Basically the practical exam is structured so that you are randomly assigned one of four sets of recipes and you have to make them in the allotted time. You don't know the recipe set you'll get until you walk into the exam. Right there, yikes. Of course there was one set that was much harder than the others (I'm not the only one who thought that, by the way.) So that's what I practiced. And of course, knowing my luck, that's what I got for the exam.

I had to make a lemon curd tart, two banana cream tartlets, and gingersnaps. I managed to do this almost in the 3 hours and 15 minutes; I only went five minutes over. My cookies came out perfectly! I'm very happy about that, because I love making cookies! My tarts came out nearly perfect, except for one giant, stupid mistake: I accidentally made one banana cream tart and two lemon curd tartlets. That's how we'd done them in class, and I just spaced. 

I was the last to present my tray to the chef and I did so thinking I was in big trouble because of that mistake. Well I was...sort of. He said that that mistake would cost me. He then went on to say that my tart dough was the best he'd had all night! I was the last person to go so, other than the hand-full of people judged by the other chef, mine was the best in the class! I'm really happy about that! My gingersnaps were good, cooked just the way he likes them, apparently. Another plus! My rosettes on the banana cream tart were even and the way I smoothed the cream and then made a little swirl in it got praise. He liked the meringue on the lemon tartlets, although I should have covered them completely, rather than leaving bits of the lemon underneath showing. That'll cost me a little, I'm sure, but still not too bad. He even approved of my candied lemon peel, which I was worried wasn't quite right.

All in all, I would have done really well had I not been so stupid and switched the tarts, but I still think I did okay. I hope my excellent tart dough and cookies coupled with my nearly perfect decorations will begin to make up for my mistake. I think it will, since the chef did say that overall he was happy with what I presented.

In any case, it's done and over with, and I have a nearly perfect lemon tartlet waiting for me for breakfast.

P.S. I'll post a photo of what I presented tomorrow.