Chocolate sculpture class. Day 1

The first thing I learned in chocolate sculpture class is to let go of expectations.  Contrary to my desires we will not be designing and building a sculpture based on our own imagination, we will be recreating one of Chef Leroux’s designs with a partner.  I understand the neccesity of this as well as the practicality but at first it was hard to accept.

After a brief introduction and some housekeeping we got right down to business choosing our sculptures and learning how to construct the bases.  Here we have entered the real meat of the class.  We began using and building different molds to build the main structures of our final sculptures.  Chef Leroux has a technique I really like using multiple pieces layered together to build a base for the sculptures.The finished result is nice because it gives the pieces a great lift and feeling of lightness while still being very stable.  Unfortunately it is time consuming and requires a lot of precision.

As I come to terms with recreating Chef Leroux’s showpieces I get more and more excited about the piece we are creating.  It’s a nice opportunity to work outside of my comfort zone and learn some great new techniques.  Chef Leroux really is a master of his craft.  Everytime he does a demo I walk away thinking, “OK I can do that.  It looks pretty straightforward.”  Then back at my station I realize that his superb mastery of his craft is why it looked easy.  I just have to trust that with practice I will develop similar hand skills and be able to execute with as much precision and grace as he does.