Had a fun class today, we made a vanilla pound cake quickly, which took forever to cook. And then we decorated our chiffon cakes from yesterday.. this was what I had been waiting for!

First we had to torte the cake, cutting a 2″ high cake into 3 even layers. Spreading a thin layer of jam between them we restacked them with the flattest layer (with the best angle between the edges and top) on the top.

Then we got the ganache out (made yesterday). First we covered the cake as if that were the finished product, getting it all on smoothly and then making sure it had perfect 90 degree angles, no slanty sides at all.. this is a professional establishment dontyaknow!

Then they were refrigerated to harden them up, and we reheated our ganache over a bain marie to make it smooth and glossy and runny. That we poured over the cakes, to make a shiney smooth glaze. We put a thin rim of chocolate vermicelli round the bottom and then after leaving it to set for a short while piped on the top.

I practiced for a good long while on parchment paper before piping the cake. I am very impressed with myself, I’m very happy with how it turned out.

It amuses me.. the Instructors are getting so excited about our attendance.. When an entire class attends for an entire week, every member of the class gets a pin badge with crossed knives on it, saying ‘Our Class Won One’.

Apparently this badge is supposed to be a good incentive for people to turn up.. More to the point, they seem to think it actually works and we’re excited about getting this badge.. Maybe if I got something nice for it, but for just for a badge!

Our class, starting three weeks ago, is getting it’s third badge in a row if everyone turns up tomorrow. All the instructors got so excited last week, saying they had never had anyone get 2 weeks in a row, and it’s so rare, especially at the start of the course.

Now, assuming that no one has rich families who are paying for this then we are all putting ourselves into some substantial debt to attend this school. In which case, I’m going to have to be on my deathbed to not turn up, little badge or no! And I’m failing to see how people can voluntarily not turn up, when they’ve paid this much. And knowing how intensive the course is, how much you can miss in one day. At this point we’re likely to remake most of what we’ve done, they’ve just been covering important methods, but still! There’s some important information being tossed out that I don’t want to miss.

Maybe it’s an American thing!