My Pastry School Experience
I finally went to a Pastry School, the famed Academy Of Pastry Arts Malaysia! Come see the products and modules covered in my pastry school experience.
After 9 years of full time having covered almost everything cake related, from selling cakes, blogging, distributing free online tutorials, charity sales, participated in one competition, sponsoring a cake, interviewed for one local magazine, got my cake picture on a bilboard,…working with wedding planners, collaborating on a cake with a bakery, organising a roadshow with SugarFlours, supplying dummies to hotels, refurbishing dummies, …teaching the Wilton Method under International Centre of Cake Artistry Sdn Bhd, demonstrations, competition duty, won the WMI of the Year 2009,…provide services for a local retailer Wah Seng (1986) Sdn Bhd such as starting and managing FB page, schedulling classes and getting in new instructors, attending classes, recommending products to carry, promoting products,…and so…I finally went to a pastry school.
The 24-days Intensive Pastry Programme
Experience the 24 days Intensive Programme of the Pastry School. Covering 8 modules, from Entremet to Chocolate and Confectionary to Asian Breads, each module is 3 days long. I can’t choose a favourite module, but I have a favourite product, the St. Honore (a pastry named for the French patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs, St. Honore or Honoratus, Bishop of Amiens – Wikipedia).
St. Honore by Chef Kean Chuan. reminds me of Eye of Sauron. The isomalt gives a good crunch to the taste.
With classmates from Phillipines, India and Singapore with Chef Edison for our last module, Asian Breads.
Another Chef who taught us Entremet and Verrines module was Chef Chong Ko Wai, no picture taken because I was busy coping in the first two modules.
The outcome of what I learnt from the course is now I know roughly how the desserts are made and won’t be such a noob when I see them on Instagram. And also learnt what I can and cannot do, and what I want and don’t want to do. The first few days needed some getting use to as all other students are in their Advance level while I just slot in, further more we started with Entremet module, which for me was the most difficult because it’s as French as French can be with all the mousse, jaconde, different types of cream, coulis and compote, etc. Industrial tools and equipments are different, as well as some uncommon ingredients. Seeing and experiencing how the Chefs work in a kitchen, I’ll be refining the quality of my products.
A Compilaton of Class Modules in Pastry School
Entremet and Gateaux
Cakes with layers of sponges, biscuits, mousse, cream, jelly, and etc. Basically anything that can be layered upon constructed into a shape of round, square or rectangle. The decoration on top are chocolate pieces of art. I made a note of all the names given to the cakes.
Verrines
Verrines are anything that is served in a cup. There were 12 types made but I only captured 6. This is one of the easier module. Everything is made from scratch, right down to the chocolate spoons in Irish Coffee.
Petit Gateaux
Petit gateaux are small cakes. Similar to entremet but in single portion size. These are what cafes are currently serving. Two traditional desserts are covered, the Opera and St. Honore.
Chocolate and Confectionery
One of the interesting modules. All about sweet making. Items like nougat, Snickers, gummy, Pate de Fruit, jam, panning chocolate and pulled candy.
Petit Four
Petit four are bite-size desserts. Literally just ‘pop the whole piece into your mouth’ type of size. Lots of intricate chocolate work for decoration. Demanding precision, a steady hand, speed and a cleanliness of work. The design details has been pre-planned. Quite stressful for some students. The results are to be proud of.
Wedding Cake
This is right up my alley. From basics of covering dummy cake with fondant, to the traditional royal icing stringwork, gumpaste flowers and painting. My honest opinion, the design is too traditional. Stringwork is commonly found in cake competitions and gets you high marks, but hardly used in actual weddings cakes.
Cookies and Macaron
Cookies and macarons is a fun class. Two types of macaron recipes, French and Italian, with a variety of ganache and marshmallow fillings, from sweet (caramel, earl grey) to savoury (TomYum). Cookies are the all time favourite Chocolate Chip, S’mores and Piemontais.
Asian Bread
This is the most fun module. All breads are from scratch as well as the fillings. We covered 15 different types of bread from croissant to brioche and buns, tarts and pies, and various fillings. We get to eat all the bread, it’s the yummiest module!
Conclusion
And so, finally I can add a City & Guilds certificate in my resume. These 8 modules are Intensive Part 2. There is another Part 1 with 8 completely different module which my financial capacity can’t accomodate.
To choose a course, you can check their website Academy of Pastry Arts Malaysia on the variety of programmes offered, and call them for assistance to find one suitable for your needs.
