How kick ass is chocolate! The first day we learned how to temper it looked like a chocolate cocoa bomb went off on me. Being a pastry cook is not only about baking and frosting. It's about being an artist, a sculptor, a painter, an architect. The first half of pastry school is about being precise, being able to duplicate what your chef makes and being consistent every time. *I remember the chef measuring our eclairs with rulers to see if it was exactly 4 inches. This half is about creativity and showing off what school can't teach you, talent and thinking outside the box. Everyone can bake an apple pie, but who can make that apple pie into a new mind blowing experience?
Our first project was to design a chocolate showpiece that can be used as a candy bowl. I decided to use a chess motif because we had chess chocolate molds at school. Shit buying your own equipment is expensive! My piece is a three dimensional and can be seen from all sides. I was afraid the steps wouldn't hold but it did. The entire structure with the staircase reminds me a lot of M.C. Escher's works of art (shown here, Escher's House of Stairs). You can see in the picture my paper model behind the actual piece.
I love how food and art have so much correlation! The way you interpreted this masterpiece with what you have is so creative and inspiring! Are you still in pastry school? I think I need to rethink my career!
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