Today was day one of our lab exams, and I was so incredibly nervous! I have found it very difficult to impress my instructor from the very start, and I was terrified that he would not be satisfied with my product at all. I was worried. We had to make the almond pear flan, cream puffs, eclairs and a chocolate sponge cake for tomorrow (if we could fit it in). It was a lot to do in less than five hours and I had the additional challenge of doing all of this with only one outlet! I had an entire game plan for today's baking and needed to stick to schedule in order for me to get everything done. I started with the choux pastry for the eclairs and puffs. I made this, however I knew that something was wrong. The pastry was very liquid and it wasn't keeping its shape. This wasn't a good start. I baked it anyways, but decided to make the pastry again. This was a big set back to my plan. I made the choux pastry again, and it turned out better. I moved onto my next recipe- the sugar paste for the flan, while the pastry baked. I then made the custard for the eclair filling, and again, this as no trouble. Something that concerned me was that the classmates that I was sharing an oven with for the choux pastry opened the oven before I felt it was time. This was worrisome because you're not supposed to open the oven until the pastry has completely puffed up and gotten a little colour. Although I think they would have turned out better had this not happened, the eclairs and puffs came out of the oven looking fine. As these cooled, I made the almond paste for the flan, and rolled out the dough to fit the pan. Everything was working out fine for the flan! I sliced the pears and fanned them out over the top of the almond cream and baked it. Once it was done baking, it looked great! I would even say, perfect! I moved on to cutting the eclairs in half and dipping the tops in chocolate. As the chocolate set, I filled the cream puffs with the artificial whipped cream (ew! I hate it, but it was all we had) and mixed some of this cream with the chilled custard. I filled the eclairs and I felt like everything was going as planned! Seeing as I had time, I decided to make the chocolate sponge cake for tomorrow to save time and allow it to cool. Just before my instructor came to grade me, I brushed some apricot glaze over the top of the flan and finally was able to relax. I was so relieved. My instructor came around, and he liked my flan!!!! AHHH!!! I was so happy, I couldn't stand it! I have never received such positive feedback from him before (and even though it was just a "I like this", I was thrilled). He liked my choux paste and was happy that I had started again. The only thing was that he said my cream puffs were a little small and that my eclairs could have been a little straighter. I was so glad! I even told him how happy I was that he had said that. Tomorrow we assemble and ice the Black Forest cake, and we make brownies.