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Pastry School Diary: International Pastry Diploma Recap

July 22, 2015 by Beth Meyer

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Now that we’re in the work experience portion of the course, I’ve had a chance to take a look back and reflect on the the experiences of the practical portion of pastry school. At the end of week 24, we received our International Patisserie Diploma. For me, it was more of a midway ceremony, as I’m enrolled in the full 48 week course. I went into culinary school with an interest in both the practical and management skills, which included costing, supervisory, global gastronomy, and health and safety. Enrolling in the full 48 week course also made it easier for visa purposes.

Following the completion of my pastry diploma, I had a two week break before beginning the second twenty four weeks towards the Higher Culinary Diploma, of which I’m currently finishing up.

I think when you go back to school as a ‘mature student’ (man, I hate that phrase), after a decade-long prior career, it’s a bit of a mental roller coaster to come out in a different field as the new kid. It’s taken a little adjustment to remember that the course is building the foundation. Plus, while I might be the new kid in a culinary environment, I still have ten years of event planning and marketing to pull from which makes my skill set and experience unique in other ways. Hopefully. 😉

When I look back at the pictures from the first six months of my course at all of the skills we learned in such a short period of time, it’s pretty impressive. During the course I would occasionally get frustrated with my progress, or things not being completely perfect for exams, but I’ve realized that imperfection is a stronger tool for learning.  It’s amazing to see how our group of seven progressed and what we were able to achieve in twenty four weeks.

Friday in the bakery after my first week of school! :)

Friday in the bakery after my first week of school! 🙂

Here’s a look back from the beginning to the end. Starting with a sampling of the skills learned and products produced during the first six weeks.

Fruit tart #1

Fruit tart #1

Learning about breads: wholemeal sesame rolls, Pain d'toile de pavot (poppy seed stars) & soda bread

Learning about breads: wholemeal sesame rolls, Pain d’toile de pavot (poppy seed stars) & soda bread

Breadsticks, pizza & focaccia

Breadsticks, pizza & focaccia

Danish pastries

Danish pastries

Profiteroles (cream puffs) with chocolate sauce

Profiteroles (cream puffs) with chocolate sauce

Eclairs

Eclairs

Raspberry financiers

Raspberry financiers

Patisserie exam #1: shortbread biscuits (cookies) & fruit tart (#2)

Patisserie exam #1: shortbread biscuits (cookies) & fruit tart (#2)

Bakery exam #1: pain de mie (loaf), seeded white rolls, Swiss buns & Chelsea buns

Bakery exam #1: pain de mie (loaf), seeded white rolls, Swiss buns & Chelsea buns

I started work experience between weeks three and four at sushisamba/Duck & Waffle on their pastry team. My friend Chan, who I knew previously and had given me advice about beginning pastry school, was the Head Pastry Chef and he graciously let me join his team for work experience.

Looking back, I was very green when I started, but it was great being able to learn and develop my skills simultaneously in industry and educational environments. Chan would occasionally quiz me on raising agents and other fun facts to keep me on my toes. Everyone on the team was so nice and helpful which made for a really nice experience from October to January.

Chan & me in the sushisamba/Duck & Waffle production kitchen (first day!)

Chan & me in the sushisamba/Duck & Waffle production kitchen (first day!)

After each six week period, we moved on to more advanced skills. This is a sampling of patisserie and breads produced during weeks seven through thirteen.

Brandy snaps

Brandy snaps

Bakewell & Lemon Tarts

Bakewell & Lemon Tarts

Panna cotta, Chocolate mousse & Crème brûlée

Panna cotta, Chocolate mousse & Crème brûlée

Doughnuts - cinnamon & sugar, plain & raspberry filled

Doughnuts – cinnamon & sugar, plain & raspberry filled

Meringue Pavlova

Meringue Pavlova

Pain au chocolat & pain au raisin

Pain au chocolat & pain au raisin

Mille-Feuille

Mille-Feuille

Patisserie exam #2 (partial): panna cotta

Patisserie exam #2 (partial): panna cotta

Bakery exam #2 (partial) - croissants

Bakery exam #2 (partial) – croissants

Bakery exam #2 (continued) - Guinness bread

Bakery exam #2 (continued) – Guinness bread

Bûche de Noël (Yule Log)

Bûche de Noël (Yule Log)

Florentines

Florentines

Ciabatta

Ciabatta

The start of 2015 brought around a new year, a new chef lecturer and new, more advanced skills.

Gâteau Mocha

Gâteau Mocha #1

Bakery exam #3: pretzels & bagels

Bakery exam #3: pretzels & bagels

Bagels

Bagels

Brioche

Brioche

Biscuits (cookies)

Langue du chat (cat’s tongue cookies/biscuits)

Peanut butter sandwich cookies

Goober cookies (peanut butter sandwich)

Chocolate chip cookies

Chocolate chip cookies

Fudge

Fudge

Mississippi Mud Fudge Pie with Meringue Topping

Mississippi Mud Fudge Pie with Meringue Topping (recipe development)

Marshmallows

Marshmallows

French Apple Tart

French Apple Tart

Dark Chocolate & Coffee Tart with Walnuts & Caramel

Dark Chocolate & Coffee Tart with Walnuts & Caramel

Patisserie Exam #3: Gâteau Mocha #2

Patisserie Exam #3: Gâteau Mocha #2

Lemon Meringue Tart

Lemon Meringue Tart

Dark & White Chocolate Tarts

Dark & White Chocolate Tarts

Le Fraisier

Le Fraisier

Gâteau Mozart

Gâteau Mozart

Gâteau Opera

Gâteau Opera

Battenberg Cake

Battenberg Cake

Raspberry Delice

Raspberry Delice

Raspberry Soufflé

Raspberry Soufflé

Patisserie Exam #4: Plated Raspberry Bavarois

Patisserie Exam #4: Plated Raspberry Bavarois

Banana Tart Tatin with Coconut Tuile

Banana Tart Tatin with Coconut Tuile

Pâte à Savarin (Rum Babas) with raspberries & cream

Pâte à Savarin (Rum Babas) with raspberries & cream

Crème Opera / Caramel

Crème Opera / Caramel

Choux buns dipped in caramel

Choux buns dipped in caramel

Gâteau St. Honoré

Gâteau St. Honoré

Final Centerpiece Exam: Nougatine Croquembouche

Final Centerpiece Exam: Nougatine Croquembouche

I loved all of our confectionary arts lessons. We started out tempering chocolate, then moved on to making chocolates, their ganache centers, truffles, and finally bean to bar chocolates. We made a chocolate centerpiece, a pastillage centerpiece, and worked with isomalt on sugar pulling and blowing to create an isomalt centerpiece. Throw in some sugar flowers, marzipan modeling and more chocolate making and you’ve got a pretty sweet confectionary scheme of work. Get it, sweet, haha! 😉

Being in the chocolate lab was always my favorite! Even with the burns sustained from hot isomalt sugar, which hurt like hell if you’re wondering.

Chocolate Motifs

Chocolate Motifs

Making ganache-filled chocolates

Making ganache-filled chocolates

Our first batch of chocolates!

Our first batch of chocolates!

Chocolate Centerpiece

Chocolate Centerpiece

Pastillage Centerpiece

Pastillage Centerpiece

Isomalt Sugar Centerpiece #1

Isomalt Sugar Centerpiece #1

Isomalt Sugar Centerpiece #2: assembly & pieces (I liked this one because it came out very dragon like!)

Isomalt Sugar Centerpiece #2: assembly & pieces (I liked this one because it came out very dragon like!)

Isomalt Sugar Centerpiece #3 pieces: I tried to make another dragon, or turkey (for Thanksgiving)

Isomalt Sugar Centerpiece #3 pieces: I tried to make another dragon, or turkey (for Thanksgiving)

Isomalt Sugar Centerpiece #3 pieces: sugar spheres

Isomalt Sugar Centerpiece #3 pieces: sugar spheres

Isomalt Sugar Centerpiece #3

Isomalt Sugar Centerpiece #3

Sugar flowers

Sugar flowers

Bean-to-Bar Chocolates

Bean-to-Bar Chocolates

Chocolate Mints

Chocolate Mints

Marzipan modeling

Marzipan modeling

Marzipan modeling take 2

Marzipan modeling take 2

Chocolate Ribbons

Chocolate Ribbons

Salted Caramel Chocolates

Salted Caramel Chocolates

We had a really good group, so we had fun during the course as well. Including some Jackson Pollock-esk chocolate splatter painting, a good ol’ fashion dust up with cocoa powder (ha!), and some deep fried candy and Twinkies. We got a lot accomplished and had a good time and a few laughs along the way!

Chef Andrew getting his chocolate paint on

Chef Andrew getting his chocolate paint on

Jennie & my cocoa powder 'dust' up ;)

Jennie & my cocoa powder ‘dust’ up 😉

Giggling about something during pastillage construction

Giggling about something during pastillage construction

Friday evenings - trying to look fierce

Friday evenings – trying to look fierce, or something

Frying Twinkies (and other candies)

Frying Twinkies (and other candies)

Chef Ian & our jelly banter

Chef Ian & our jelly banter

Baguette swords

Baguette swords

Fried Twinkies

Fried Twinkies

We had six weeks of food science learning about the science behind cooking and baking. I really enjoyed this part, although it took a little bit to teach my brain to remember how to learn an actual subject. 😉

The other six weeks, we spent in the science lab testing and experimenting. Jennie & I worked on recipes that used the centrifuge, mainly because I was won over by the words ‘chocolate’  & ‘wine’ in the Heston Blumenthal cookbook.

Our chocolate wine experiment

Our chocolate wine experiment

Demonstrating the Maillard reaction

Demonstrating the Maillard reaction

Making paneer cheese

Making paneer cheese

frying eggs

Frying Eggs

Science

Experiments in Science

Science2

Science Experiments

We had a few outings as a class. We celebrated the end of the program with dinner at one-Michelin starred The Clove Club. We visited Borough Market just before the holiday season (mmm…mulled wine!). Visited the pub a time, or two. We also enjoyed a decadent afternoon tea at The Ritz. I was blessed with a great group of girls that were fun to hang out with both in and out of the classroom.

Clove Club Lunch

Clove Club Lunch

Pre-Christmas at the Pub

Pre-Christmas at the Pub

Borough Market

Borough Market

Kaoru, Jennie & Me post-class pub

Kaoru, Jennie & Me post-class pub

The Ritz Afternoon Tea

The Ritz Afternoon Tea

The Ritz Afternoon Tea

The Ritz Afternoon Tea

We had a miniature graduation ceremony honoring the patisserie diploma. The patisserie diploma recognizes the practical achievements of the twenty four week course. It was a small ceremony since some of my classmates had to go home to deal with visa renewals prior for those completing the second part of the course.

Pastry Diploma with Ian Sutton & Chris Basten

Pastry Diploma with Ian Sutton & Chris Basten

Partial class shot with Miranda Godfrey, Ian Sutton & Chris Basten

Partial class shot with Miranda Godfrey, Ian Sutton & Chris Basten

Partial pastry girls and some family

Partial pastry girls and some family

Filed Under: Pastry School

Beth Meyer

Hi y’all, I’m Beth. Born and raised in Atlanta. Moved to Los Angeles to work in event marketing. Spent 2012-13 traveling around the world for a year with my best friend. Followed by living in London for nearly three years where I attended pastry school. In April 2016, I moved back to the City of Angels, where I am a pastry chef and food stylist... read more...

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