2011 FRLA Chocolate Showpiece Competition

 This is a chocolate showpiece I did for the 2011 FRLA Pastry Championship in Orlando, Florida.  After a little over a month of design and multiple failures I finally got my second showpiece to where I wanted it.  I'm starting to find out that I am always wishing I had more time.  I did a 3 hour build at the competition site at 6 in the morning and then waited for what seemed like forever for the award ceremony later that night.  I was called to the stage for my bronze medal wondering why the piece didn't do better.  Trying to understand why I went from a silver medal at my last competition to a bronze medal at this one.  After the critiques of the showpiece I began to understand the medium between the two and back to the books it was.  I had to challenge myself a step further and climb the ladder to push chocolate to its limits.  Time to take a break and see how fragile and balanced it can be.

Everything picture is chocolate from the tile up.  No commercial molds were used in the structure of the showpiece.  I learned that I spent just as many hours rubbing out my edges as I did building the piece.  Sometimes I wonder why I spend all the time and stress to build these creations but when you get to see the faces and the comments that people make when they walk by and admire it makes it all worth it.