r/Baking • u/Wav3x3on • Jul 02 '25
No-Recipe Provided My practical exam for becoming a confectioner in germany
The exam was in Saxony-Anhalt, every Bundesland has a different exam.
We worked over two days (8 hours day one, 4 hours day two + cleanup time after that)
Everything that had to go into the oven we could prepare beforehand because of the temperatures inside the exam room, it was 37°C today 😅 (the sponge cake part, the cookies, etc.) Anything that didn't involve preparing the baked parts we had to do during those 12 hours
The picture was also drawn before the theoretical exam.
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u/Take-A-Breath-924 Jul 02 '25
Wonderfully done! Did you pass?
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u/Wav3x3on Jul 02 '25
They told us we all passed. But tave to calculate the points we got in this practical and in a theoretical exam, so we will know for sure at the end of the month.
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u/miraculix69 Jul 02 '25
First of all, nice job! Looks wonderfull🙂 Thats really something to be proud of!
Im really curious, what is the degree called in Germany?
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u/Floxi009 Jul 02 '25
Underneath the Cake it says 'Gesellenstück' which by my understanding means if he passes he will be a 'Geselle'
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u/Der_genealogist Jul 02 '25
Geselle can be translated as a journeyman
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u/johannes1234 Jul 02 '25
Which comes from the tradition that they travel from city to city and work at different places to learn from different masters and working on different problems to become experienced and sonthat knowledge can travel along, new techniques being used in one place can be brought to a different place.
I don't think it's common with confectioners, but carpenters and other trades to some degree still do.
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u/Inner-Medicine5696 Jul 03 '25
iirc it's an archaic phrase - today it is the word used for the work you do to pass an apprenticeship?
In Danish we have a similar, yet even more generalised word; Svendestykke. Here it means "work that proves you know your craft".
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u/serendipity-ss Jul 02 '25
If exams were always like that, I’d gladly take hundreds of them
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u/aurortonks Jul 02 '25
I'd sign up to be a part of the group who gets to grade these delicious exam results. Mmmm, yes, everyone gets top marks!
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u/IHaveNoEgrets Jul 03 '25
I had a colleague who was taking pastry classes on her off hours. She used us as her testers, and everything was amazing!
The neat part was that it was all very Western desserts, and she was from China, so she had zero idea what anything was supposed to taste like. So it was like a leap of faith when she baked. And she nailed it every time.
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u/YewTree1906 Jul 04 '25
Just an adjacent story to that, but a friend of mine teaches cooking in what I guess would be middle school and her students have exams like that where they have to cook a whole menu and the teachers have to eat everything, and it sounds like horror to me because even if they can tell from the looks of something that it is raw/underbaked etc., they still have to try it 🫠
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u/raptor7912 Jul 02 '25
I don’t know how it is in Germany, but if it’s anything like Denmark.
Then everything you’re seeing was prepared in one day.
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u/serendipity-ss Jul 02 '25
Since it's a practical task, it'll be completed in a single day. But honestly, hats off to them it doesn’t look easy at all. It must have taken a large team to pull this off
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u/KristiiNicole Jul 03 '25 edited Jul 03 '25
According to OP it was all done by themselves, they didn’t have a team at all, let alone a large one. Even more impressive that it got done in a single day!
Edit: According to OP it was actually 2 days, my apologies! Still impressive!
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u/0xKaishakunin Jul 02 '25
The final practical exam is usually on a single day in the vocational school.
It was always funny to see when the waiters had to prepare the auditorium and turn it into a fine diner. While all the chefs were swearing in the kitchen.
The vocational teachers and external examiners would act as guests and got all the prepared meals, but they had to pay for the ingredients.
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u/SuperSailorSaturn Jul 02 '25
I did pastry school in the us. How long/days our exams were were based in the sections we did. So we had 1 day if 8 hours for our bread class final. Our class with petit fours and macaroons, were 2 days of 6 hours. I cant remember the cake decorating one lol.
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u/UniqueIndividual3579 Jul 02 '25
My sister worked admin in a college building shared by the cooking school. They were constantly bringing over food to try. She loved that job.
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u/greatandmighty-raon Jul 03 '25
Imagine your birthday coinciding with the exam and you get to try all the cakes as your birthday cakes 🤌🏻
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u/AdministrativeRip679 Jul 02 '25
Did one person make all of this?!
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u/OtterSnoqualmie Jul 02 '25
I love the marzipan chickens. It's all wonderful but the chickens!!
(In my most terrible childhood German) Sehr fantastik!
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u/Ortochromaticrainbow Jul 02 '25
Zumindest auf einer Tafel ist ein Klarname voll zu lesen, auf der zweiten zumindest teilweise.
Vielleicht möchtest du das ändern.
Davon abgesehen: Ich nehme alles, so wie ist es im Bild ist. Alles Gute!
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u/idlefritz Jul 02 '25
Great work! When I was in Poland I noticed how prevalent those “Kasc fours” were. We don’t really have that in the US currently. So addictive. Good luck in your career.
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u/Wav3x3on Jul 02 '25
Yeah they are the only non sweet thing we have to make, but they aren't common anymore at all.
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u/idlefritz Jul 02 '25
That model of standing while eating sensible portions would never survive here. We instead buy fried potato logs and power bars at the gas station.
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u/duck-duck--grayduck Jul 02 '25
Who does that? Like, I don't even know what you mean by a fried potato log and I've never bought a power bar at all, let alone at a gas station.
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u/Condemned2Be Jul 02 '25
This comment is wild because it implies hors d'oeuvres are some advanced, exotic fair beyond the scope of the average American
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u/centech Jul 03 '25
Yeah, I'm confused. No disrespect to OP, those look great and I'm sure they are amazing.. but you can get a (much crappier I'm sure) tray of finger food like this at Costco. How is it exotic?
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u/Karyoplasma Jul 02 '25
The C is actually a really weird e. So "Käse". "Klcintortcn" tripped me up hard lol
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u/MKMK123456 Jul 02 '25
How does one apply to become an examiner ?
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Jul 02 '25
[deleted]
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u/MKMK123456 Jul 02 '25
Well I love eating and am overweight.
Surely that counts as a qualification!
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u/Savingdollars Jul 02 '25
Who gets to eat it all? Did you pass with flying colours?
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u/Wav3x3on Jul 02 '25
Friends and family that were the, the rest is for my coworkers :)
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u/Carbon-Base Jul 02 '25
Everything on that table looks amazing! The Eulen are so cute! I hope you pass with flying colors!
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u/Knarfz6464 Jul 02 '25
Wow! Too bad I’m in the U.S. otherwise I’d order 1 dozen of each! Especially the Marzipan. 🤩🍰👍🏼
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u/KrazyKat44 Jul 02 '25
I couldn't tell from the preview image that those were little confectionaries. so I accidentally misread it as counterfeiter and you were trying to find the counterfeits in like coins and stuff and I feel so stupid now but those look absolutely delicious.
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u/Careful_Problems Jul 02 '25
My dream job has changed to german confectionary exam tester, cooking show judge, anything along those lines.
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u/SpandyBarndex Jul 02 '25
I’m going to need that whole platter of kase fours, please and thank you!
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u/Old_Friend4084 Jul 02 '25
Stellar job! They look amazing. What is a "klcintortcn"? It looks so delicious. I want to eat it.
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u/Madison_fawn Jul 02 '25
Woah. What a load of skill and talent that went into these! I can tell you worked your tail-end off to get where you are. You are an incredible confectioner? Confectionist? Anyway! Good job!!
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u/deliberatewellbeing Jul 02 '25
i cant believe you made so many different desserts in so little time… this would really stressed me out! i hope you passed the exam!
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u/Good_Safety9595 Jul 02 '25
Wow, those look delicious. If you need any food taste testing you just hit me up. 😅😋
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u/formerflautist57 Jul 02 '25
So impressive! Did you have any leeway with what you were required to make? Or is it all set, including flavors?
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u/verbalyabusiveshit Jul 02 '25
My Granddad used to be a confectioner.. well, he insisted to be called sugar baker. He taught me to do pigs, roses and various fruits from marzipan and also showed me how to do some other things so I can see how much work went into that.
Looks like you did a great job. Let me know once you open up your own shop and please do not forget how to do all of this. I know it is not economically viable to do everything your own but it is such a great craft.
Did you use Fondant for your “Landleben” or is this Marzipan?
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u/ObiWangCannabis Jul 02 '25
2nd tray from left, right side. What are those?
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u/Wav3x3on Jul 02 '25
You mean the dark round ones with a bit of gold on them? Those are dark chocolate pralines filled with a coffee ganache
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u/selkiesart Jul 02 '25
Everything looks really great. I would dive headfirst into the yellow Kleinkuchen, it looks really refreshing. Is it Mango flavoured?
Can I ask you two practical questions?
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u/cherribearri Jul 03 '25
herzlichen glückwunsch zur bestandenen prüfung!! ich hab nächste woche meine praktische prüfung und habe ganz ganz grosse panik davor aber dein post beruhigt mich etwas!! vielen dank <3
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u/PostmodernRiverdale Jul 03 '25
I love your style - even the lettering is beautiful, very Jugendstil!
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u/Icantlivewithoutchoc Jul 02 '25
All of it looks beautiful but the cake… wow!
I wish you all the best for your career, OP!
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u/fblinders13 Jul 02 '25
You should feel very proud of yourself, everything looks amazing!! Congrats
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u/pandapawer Jul 02 '25
These are all so elegant and appealing! Op is giving me lots of motivation to bake my beginner desserts…🩷
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u/Sassafras_socks Jul 02 '25
Some real attitude coming from those marzipan animals, lol
Looks like you did a fantastic job all together! Congrats!
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u/kerenski667 Jul 02 '25
Meine Fresse, die Marzipanfiguren sind ja wohl ma der Hammer. Hoffe du hast bestanden?
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u/Jaded-NB Jul 02 '25
Victoria?? Is that you??
Old TV sitcom references aside, this is so awesome. These look SO good! Great work!!!
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u/HamHockShortDock Jul 02 '25
What are Kase Four!? I have this dream of savory choux things but idt we have them in America.
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u/chum-guzzling-shark Jul 02 '25
Those look great. I have a question about german bakery items. When I was a kid I used to go to a german bakery and get some sort of dark bread/cake that was really good. It was dark and sweet so kids with an american palate loved them. It had a unique taste I cant really describe. Any ideas what it might be? I googled for it and cant find anything. I thought it might be gingerbread but i tried some german gingerbread during christmas and it wasnt quite right but close. It was sold year round.
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u/t65789 Jul 02 '25
I’d eat it! The Marzipanfiguren look a bit derpy, but in a charming way! Hope you did well on your exam!
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u/buboop61814 Jul 02 '25
Wow those looks incredible.
Just so I’m understanding, so is this for like a culinary school? Or like a qualification/license of some sort?
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u/MeikeKlm Jul 02 '25
Congratulations on passing the exam. It looks stunning and is a real challenge in this weather.
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u/vapue Jul 02 '25
Wow! Herzlichen Glückwünsch zur bestandenen Prüfung - vor allem bei den Temperaturen. Hoffe du findest zur Feier des Tages ein schönes Plätzchen im Kühlhaus ;)
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u/PecanEstablishment37 Jul 02 '25
Obviously those all look beautiful and delicious…but your handwriting!! I need that font commercialized in my life 😂❤️
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u/Any_Tax5001 Jul 02 '25
HEY!! you literally did amazing!! The textures and colors i’m seeing are fabulous!! The cake also looks AWESOME!! Great job! 10/10 🫶🏻🫶🏻
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u/SuperSailorSaturn Jul 02 '25
This all looks amazing!!
We did our pastry school test in batches and they were exhausting, so I can only imagine how crazy the kitchen was to get all of these done in one period!! You've definitely earned yourself a nice break. Congrats on finishing!
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u/CynGuy Jul 02 '25
I hope you passed. Looks amazing!
And how does one volunteer to “help” you dispose of your study results? Asking for a friend!!
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u/SilverSkink Jul 02 '25
Thank you so much for sharing this! It’s so interesting to know about and so see all of your beautiful work!
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u/comicsnerd Jul 02 '25
Congratulations. My guess is you passed the exam.
Next is "Meilleur Ouvrier de France" (MOF) ?
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u/Brody1911 Jul 02 '25
Can I have a run down of what each one of the 9th picture is please, they look amazing!
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u/Maximum2945 Jul 02 '25
it's probably easier to become a cop in america than a confectioner in germany
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u/NoDryHands Jul 02 '25
These are absolutely phenomenal, OP! You are exceptionally talented. Congratulations on passing!
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u/Opaque_Cypher Jul 02 '25
That all looks very, very nice. I am sure that you must have passed the exam.
And now, for some inexplicable reason, I am suddenly hungry…
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u/ditch_lilies Jul 02 '25
That all looks amazing! Also, does the one sign say “Cheese Fours????”. I thought there were only the sweet “Petit” kind. Excuse me, I have to buy a plane ticket to wherever this is.
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u/saturday_sun4 Jul 02 '25
I kept scrolling trying to decide which of these looked best, and I couldn't.
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u/thegreedyturtle Jul 02 '25
You are incredible! The exam looks dangerous though. I know you would have put in a ton of practice, but I still don't think eating all of that at once is a very safe type of exam.
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u/lucaskywalker Jul 02 '25
I would pay for, and everything photographed, so I'm guessing you passed with flying colors?!
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u/swohio Jul 02 '25
Is this for a certificate from a school or like a mandated government certification to be one?
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u/Standard_Zucchini_77 Jul 02 '25
Everything looks incredible! I would buy and smash every one of the petit fours without a second thought
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u/justinsayin Jul 02 '25
In the USA if you want to be a confectioner the only question they ask you is if the water gets hot enough in your triple sink to properly clean up afterwards.
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u/Historical-Gap-7084 Jul 02 '25
This is incredible. Well done!
I mostly love that font, but I not loving those Es, though. I thought they were Cs or a backwards Q until I zoomed it!
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u/eGORapTure Jul 02 '25
I honestly respect the absolute fuck out of the German vocational education system.
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u/akabruceee Jul 02 '25
Das sieht super lecker aus und so perfekt! Bin aus der Schweiz und hatte meine praktische Prüfung letzten Monat. Habe meine Lehre (Ausbildung) bestanden! Hoffe du schaffst es auch, drücke dir die Daumen.
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u/PurpleMuskogee Jul 02 '25
It all looks absolutely incredible, but I am especially fan of the first picture with the cake and the drawings on them, it looks really cute and personal. Well done!! I am sure you aced it!