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LE CORDON BLEU BASIC PASTRY EXAM
NEWEST 2025 ACTUAL EXAM COMPLETE 100
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT DETAILED
ANSWERS WITH RATIONALES|ALREADY
GRADED A+|| LATEST VERSION!!!
Question: What is coagulation?
Answer: The clumping of particles. Thickening of liquid when
protein molecules crosslink. In basic cream, the eggs proteins are mainly responsible for the coagulation.
Question: What does the French word "sables" mean?
Answer: "Sables" means "sandy", which is the term French
bakers use when the English use the term "breadcrumbs". The butter is rubbed together with the soft flour and the sugar at the start of the recipe to make texture like breadcrumbs (or sand) before adding egg. This will cause the flour to go partially waterproof and prevent too much gluten strand formation during mixing.
Question: What is fraser aka fraiser?
Answer: Rub grains of dough between two hands [Note: Likely intended as "fraisage," a technique of smearing dough to blend fat and flour.]
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Question: The term "egg wash" is referring to a preparation that
can have 2 distinct purpose:
Answer: Assembly/sticking on shine/coloration
Question: When were sables invented?
Answer: Sables were invented in Marquise of Sable 1670.
Question: Soft flour (cake flour) is ______ in gluten ___%, and
Strong flour (bread flour) is ___ - ___% gluten:
Answer: Soft flour (cake flour) is low in gluten 7-9%, and
Strong flour (bread flour) is 11.5-14% gluten
Question: Butter consists of approximately... %:
Answer: Butter consists of approximately 82% fat, 16% water,
and 2% protein (binding agent)
Question: Difference between baking powder and baking soda:
Answer: Baking soda + cream of tartar = baking powder
Question: What is inverted sugar?
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Answer: A byproduct of sugar (saccharose-sucrose) that has
been boiled with an acid to separates the 2 simple sugars:
glucose and fructose
Question: Name three reasons for using inverted sugar?
Answer: 1. Keep product moist longer 2. Reduce re-
crystallization of sugar 3. Sweeter than saccharose (sucrose)
Question: Where are financiers invented?
Answer: Financiers are invented in the 19th century in Paris by a
pastry chef near the stock exchange. He wanted to create a dessert for traders to have a quick bite during their break, the shape is meant to imitate a gold bar.
Question: What is beurre noisette?
Answer: Beurre noisette is Hazelnut is butter aka browned butter
[Note: "Hazelnut" refers to the flavor, not literal hazelnuts;
corrected phrasing to "Beurre noisette is browned butter, with a hazelnut-like flavor."]
Question: What is the purpose of blind baking?
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Answer: Blind Baking: The purpose is to help the pie shell retain its shape.
Question: Causes of Shrinking of tarts. (4 reasons):
Answer: - Four with too high % gluten. - Dough over worked. -
Dough not rested enough. - Insufficient use of rice during blind
baking. [Note: "Four" corrected to "Flour" as a typo.]
Question: Where was Tarte Bourdaloue invented?
Answer: Tarte Bourdaloue was created by Chef Fasquelle
around 1850 in his pastry shop Rue Bourdaloue. Paris IXth.
Question: What is a cartouche?
Answer: A cartouche is a parchment-paper lid that allows for
some evaporation during braising while keeping the meat (or other food) submerged. It's a French technique that's also handy for poaching fruit and other long-simmering applications, when you want just a bit of liquid to escape.
Question: What is Creaming?
Answer: Creaming, in this sense, is the technique of softening
solid fat, like shortening or butter, into a smooth mass and then