How to Assemble Your CAP Pastry Competition Toolkit

In recent weeks, we've covered the CAP outfit, how to prepare well via a CAP practice exam and what questions to ask when visiting a lab. Today I'm offering you all the tips for properly assembling your CAP pastry kit!

To do this I was very kindly invited to visit Maison Lejeune in Asnières sur Seine, a reference in the field of culinary equipment since 1930! That says a lot about the advice they had for me!

Originally it was a tinning workshop (which is the process of restoring pots and pans by applying a new layer of tin inside cookware and other sauté pans). It's still one of their activities today for a number of restaurants and communities. I had the opportunity to visit the workshop at the back of the store and it's impressive to see how much you can restore a pot!

But let's get back to what interests us: namely how to put together your kit. First, you should know that at Maison Lejeune, they focus on quality and French-made products as a priority. The cutlery and utensils are manufactured according to the rules of the art to withstand intensive use and the pastry bags are manufactured in Germany. Thermometers and scales are manufactured in China: they haven't found products in France meeting their superior quality selection criteria.

In fact, they're so confident in their work that their knives come with a 30-year guarantee! If you have a professional project after the CAP pastry exam, this is therefore the ideal place to supply yourself. Besides, most customers buy their kit for their CAP and come back over the years to add new equipment (some customers have been loyal for 30 years!).

The company supplies many great French chefs (but also international ones who after their internship in France can't find adequate equipment in their country!). It's also a partner of many pastry schools (Ferrandi, Val de Reuil, CFA Mederic, Youschool, EISF…). So I'm not lying when I tell you that these are the big names in the field!

They've seen a number of candidates over all these years, so I took the opportunity to ask them for advice on the kit but also for the exam. First of all (and this is something few people know) your kit must be locked with a padlock. Indeed, with the knives it contains, it's considered a category 3 weapon. If you're caught with your kit without a padlock, that's a 150 euro fine (and you'd have to admit that would be silly).

Regarding the equipment, they don't make a difference between students and professionals: they recommend equipment that lasts for everyone. You also have the option of having your purchases engraved on site (which isn't cheap but it's still pretty classy as they say!). They also strongly recommend stainless steel pastry bags and especially with a rim (which prevents the bag from escaping in case of too much pressure – true story-).

For the kit itself, the most practical thing is to have removable trays (that come out) to have everything in view and clean everything easily. Another recommendation (and we never think about this!) is an oven thermometer. Indeed, our home ovens aren't reliable and can vary by 20° from the required temperature. If you mess up everything, it might not be your fault: check the temperature inside the oven using a thermometer!

We also talked about the specifics of self-taught candidates. According to the person who received me, the success rate would be around 1%. That's a bit scary but it's true that quite a few self-taught candidates come insufficiently prepared (hence the need to do at least one CAP practice exam in a lab) or not at all. Since organization in a lab is completely different from home, even good candidates are quickly destabilized in a professional lab.

You also need to remember to prepare well: it's a bit silly to say but starting an exam at 7am when you're not used to it and you have to get right into it, is far from obvious. If you arrive a mess, it's game over for the rest of the day! Besides, if your exam center is more than an hour from your home, it's better to get a night in a hotel nearby.

And I'm telling you again: if you withdraw, call the center to notify them of your absence. Self-taught candidates already have a bad reputation (many jurors can't stand us, even calling us "TV pastry chefs") so please notify us of your absence. Last year, an astronomical amount of strawberries was thrown away because many candidates gave up. It's a lack of respect that must not happen again if we want to gain a minimum of respect in the profession!

We didn't discuss this point, but I imagine that just like the CAP outfit, your equipment should have been used a bit so it doesn't look too new. Oh yes and for the exam, you can come with a pair of earplugs to isolate yourself a bit from the rest of the environment. The goal obviously being not to remain deaf to any request but to create a bubble for yourself to be more effective. Indeed, it's not easy to see people running around during an exam (not to mention the jury's insistent gaze scrutinizing your every move).

That's all the advice I was able to gather for you. And since at Maison Lejeune they're also very very cool, they gave me a complete kit to have you win!

CAP Kit: what to put in it?

If you want to check on the website, it's the PXXL PASTRY Kit 32 pieces and it contains everything recommended for the exam:

• 1 MICRODENTE peeler
• 1 stainless steel office knife riveted 10 cm
• 1 stainless steel spatula mabs 15cm
• 1 stainless steel spatula mabs 21cm
• 1 stainless steel spatula mabs 30cm
• 1 solid riveted chef knife 25cm
• 1 entremet/sponge cake serrated 28cm Mabs
• 1 all-purpose scissors
• 1 St Lejeune horn
• 1 large flexible horn
• 1 stainless steel dough pincers
• 8 stainless steel pastry bags (3U/2C/BU/PF12/STH)
• 1 stainless steel apple corer
• 1 zester
• 1 beech rolling pin Pm
• 1 stainless steel triangle 10cm
• 1 stainless steel dough cutter CD
• 1 angled spatula 24+4cm
• 1 pure silk brush Mp 40 Lejeune
• 1 nylon pastry bag 40cm
• 1 maryse France 24cm MP
• 1 composite spatula France 30cm
• 1 digital spike thermometer -50/+230°C
• 1 stainless steel whisk France 30cm reinforced
• 1 padlock

To participate it's simple and it happens on Facebook:

• Like the Maison Lejeune page
• Like my Camille Pâtisserie page
• Comment on the post by tagging 4 friends who love pastry

You have until April 22 at midnight to participate!