FULL MARKS!

This is the Light Fruit Cake I received full marks, from none other than a no nonsense Frenchman, Chef Olivier. The key operative word in the 2nd week of Patisserie is 'beurre' & lots of it. Classic French cooking is so closely married to butter it seems there is no end. The cake is made from a heavily buttered dough; with raisins, sultanas, candied cherries, almond flakes, mixed citrus peel, lovely lemon zest & vanilla essence in it. The Streusel (German for Crumbles I was told) Topping comes from flour, sugar & butter, of course. It bakes well to form a crunchy crust while the cake stays moist & soft, thanks to the butter. At the same lesson we also prepared Piped Sables aka Viennese or Shortbread Biscuits aka Buttered Cookies! Rum is in the recipe so I let it pour. My lucky star was watching me today as I was on top of my mise en place, ingredients, techniques & timing. When presentation time came everything was ready and Chef Olivier was quick to pass judgement ... 'full marks, Raymond' ..... made my day!