Week 8

Cheese-Based Plated Dessert

I chose Blue Cheese for this dessert. I made a Blue Cheese Souflee with a Fig-Chamomile Compote, and a Grape Salad. I chose blue cheese because I wanted to try something more out of the ordinary instead of cheeses more commonly found in desserts, like goat cheese, ricotta, etc. I knew fig went well with blue cheese and I found a recipe for a fig-chamomile compote. My challenge was determining a side component. Chef helped me out and suggested a grape salad with parsley. Surprising to me, it tasted quite nice. I tossed it in a balsamic reduction along with some of the sauce from the compote.

This was the first time I had ever made a souflee. I crossed my fingers that it wouldn't deflate...and it didn't!
I was pleased with how this dessert looked on the plate, and with the taste as well. It was a nice mix of temperatures, textures and colors.

Week 9

Mystery Bag: Asian Pear, Green Tea and Bacon

The mystery ingredients were asian pear, green tea and bacon.  The first step in my approach was searching for asian pear and green tea recipes, as I knew one of these would be the main component for my dessert. The bacon would be secondary. The whole time I searched for recipes I was keeping in mind textures, temperatures, color and how all of this would work and come together on the same plate.

I made asian pear mousse, green tea pound cake, and a bacon and pear marmalade. I garnished with a slice of bacon, which was probably a bit much and too savory, in hindsight. Even after I chose my recipes, I still felt a little like I was going somewhere without a map. When I started making the pound cake I wasn't quite sure how I was going to present it. I had several different options lined up before I started plating, and I tried a few different things to see what looked best. There wasn't an exact asian pear mousse recipe, but you can adapt any mousse recipe to incorporate your flavor of choice. It worked out, and luckily my mousse set up in time for the class presentation (but I was prepared with a filled pastry bag of the mousse just in case!)

The pear mousse had very subtle flavors of pear, but when coupled with the green tea pound cake and the marmalade...it was a nice marriage of flavors. Despite the fact that the marmalade didn't look very pretty, it tasted great! It was probably my favorite flavor on the plate. The green tea pound cake added some nice color. I wanted to do something different with the cake so I cut bite-size circles and positioned them on their side.

This was my first mystery basket project, and I was a bit nervous about it. It turned out to be an intense, but fun, exercise. It was definitely out of my comfort zone...but often times those are the best and most educational experiences.

Week 7

Frozen Plated Dessert: Banana-Peanut-Chocolate Dome
This dessert consisted of a peanut crispy base, chocolate chiffon sponge, and a banana cremeaux disk, all surrounded by a dark chocolate mousse. The dome was covered in a chocolate mirror glaze. It was garnished with a banana tuile and peanut butter sauce.

I enjoyed making this dessert as it was challenging and had about 8 components to make. It was a lot of work, and I learned about planning and timing especially since freezing was involved. My peanut butter sauce was a bit thick, it looked like peanut butter straight out of the jar. I should have added more milk to thin it out a bit. A thinner sauce would have been more attractive on the plate, too. I loved the chocolate mirror glaze, as it was so shiny it looked like glass.

Making this dessert was uncharted territory. I'd never made a single dessert with so many components. I felt really good about the end result, and it tasted good too.

Week 5

Chevre Panna Cotta
This was a dessert that had some interesting components, and I wasn't sure how well they'd all come together in the end. It consisted of  chevre panna cotta as the main component, with vanilla granny smith apples draped on the top. It was garnished with a nutmeg tuile nest, and a thyme gelee and port sauce on the side.

The goat cheese panna cotta was very rich, therefore the small portion was perfect. Further, the thyme gelee by itself didn't taste that good, in my opinion. But when coupled with the panna cotta and the apples, it worked very well. The flavors all really complemented one another. I'm learning that generally a pastry chef's intention is for guests to taste all flavors on a plate together. This was a lovely, dainty dessert.

Red Velvet Opera Cake
This plated dessert is one of my favorites thus far. I love the taste, the presentation and how well the colors work together on the plate. It consisted of flourless chocolate cake, pecan dacquoise, molasses ganache and milk chocolate buttercream all assembled into the opera cake. The sauce was a bourbon sabayon, and it was garnished with a candied pecan, pecan croquant and dark chocolate.

The cake tasted quite good. However, some of my classmates felt the molasses flavor was a bit strong. I could see how that flavor profile could be in the love/hate category. This was the first time I'd made a chocolate garnish like this. It wasn't as hard as it looks. The more I work with chocolate, the more interested and intrigued I become. There's so much you can do and the legs for creativity are endless. I think the chocolate garnish on the plate really makes a big impact and sells it.

As the quarter progresses, I'm learning to think broader in terms of how everything works together on a plate. For example, when it comes to garnishing and plating, and considering everything that's important (a sauce, height, etc...). 

Week 6

Deconstructed Dessert--Carrot Cake
I chose to deconstruct carrot cake. I really enjoyed working on this project as it was interesting to really think about the flavors and textures, etc...and create something different. I made a walnut dacquoise base, with a carrot gelee insert, all enveloped in ginger cream. My garnish was carrot chips, with carrot curd and brown sugar sauce.

Overall, this dessert turned out well. I learned how to incorporate additional ingredients into existing recipes. For example, I juiced carrots and added the dry part to my dacquoise. Further, I made a carrot curd from the juice. The ginger definitely dominated the taste. If I made it again, I would cut back on the ginger. In class it started melting a bit, as you'll see in the photos below. It would have a much smoother and cleaner look had it remained frozen. I tried three variations of plate presentations. I've found it helpful to look at a lot of books and at photos online for plating and garnishing inspiration. 

Week 4

Chocolate Grapefruit Tart

This dessert consisted of grapefruit-infused ganache, cocoa nib breton, grapefruit curd, fresh grapefruit, vermouth caramel, orange tuiles and dark chocolate spray.

The grapefruit ganache was really good, which was surprising to me. I wouldn't have thought that those two flavors would have worked together. That said, the ganache was a bit thickand heavy for this dessert. We made a mousse variation which felt much lighter and worked better overall. Using chocolate spray was a new experience for me, and it results in such an attractive result. The grapefruit curd tasted so good, and the pool on top of the mousse was almost a lava effect when you cut into it. I liked that a lot. The cocoa nib breton consisted of a very simple mixing process. All the plated components really went well together. However, I think the three fresh grapefruit segments were too large of a component on the plate. 

When plating my interpretation I wanted to create some movement since I had chosen the tear drop shape, which has some nice curves. This worked out well for me by creating a design using the grapefruit curd and cocoa nibs. I thought two of the orange tuiles were a bit much on the original plate, so I just used half as a simple garnish to add some height.

  

Fudge

We made Penuche and chocolate fudge with walnuts. I have made fudge before (the "easy, no-fail" kind), but I had never used the marble slab method. I thought the Penuche had good flavor, and the chocolate fudge could have been more chocolatey. 

Deconstructed Project Update

I am in the process of finalizing what to do for my deconstructed dessert project. For awhile I was set on doing something with chocolate and peanut butter, or perhaps the Ruffle Cake. It was helpful to discuss in class this past weekend, as it sparked some ideas I had not considered. I'm still finalizing my components, and will be ready to submit my requisition this weekend. 

                                          Plated as shown in the book.

                                                   My interpretation

Week 3

Roasted Pear with Chamomile
This dessert consisted of a roasted pear, chamomile jus, pear sorbet, pear chip, hazelnut financier and a sugar garnish. For my interpretation, I wanted the hazelnut financier to be a different shape, other than a circle as shown in the book. I made a couple options and ended up using a rectangle sliced in half length-wise. The cake itself was very dry, therefore I plated it on top of the chamomile jus. I also wanted to bring in some visual interest with the pear since it's such a large component on the plate. I fanned the pear over the cake, and later learned the correct way to fan a pear (which would have looked better!). 


It was a challenge for me to determine what to do with the remaining elements: the sorbet, pear chip and garnish. I also wanted to bring some color onto the plate. I cradled the sorbet in the sugar garnish, on a bed of crushed pear chip and green sugar. It did not work well, as you'll see in the photo below. I was really lacking creative inspiration for this dessert. I'm not sure why. I didn't have a good vision or plan in mind for the right side of the plate, so I sort of kept adding things in hopes that it would help, and come together. It didn't, but it was good learning. I think this dessert could have been better with something warm on the plate. 

A few other things I learned from this dessert include making sugar garnishes, and the benefits and results of making sorbet/ice cream with the Paco-Jet.

Pate de Fruit
Pate de Fruit was more work and constant mixing than I anticipated. I can see how this element can add some nice color to a plate. However, personally, it's too sweet for me.

                                          Plate as shown in the text book

                                         My interpretation

Week 2

Donuts

This week's plated dessert consisted of plain and chocolate raised donuts tossed in a spiced sugar, along with a vanilla bean parfait and layered hot chocolate. The garnish was a dark chocolate circular plaque. Again, I plated it as shown in the text book and a second way as well. 

The donuts were the main component on the plate and I wanted to do something unexpected in terms of the shape, a filling, etc..  Further, I love the chocolate and peanut butter combination and since I had made peanut butter ganache to make chocolates, I wanted to incorporate it into this dessert. I decided to make small pillow-like chocolate donuts, similar to a ravioli, filled with peanut butter ganache. I had a vision of three of the donuts fanned on the right side over a puddle of the layered hot chocolate . And on the left I wanted to create a tower with the vanilla parfait, rolled in chopped peanuts, layered between chocolate plaques. I was excited about the vision in my mind, and thought it would look great on the plate!

The execution of my vision did not turn out as I had expected. The donuts puffed up quite a bit when frying, and therefore were not as delicate and small as I had envisioned. Three of them together looked too big. The vanilla parfait and chocolate tower turned out alright. Overall, all the components just didn't work as well as I thought they would. I learned that the vision in my mind doesn't always translate onto a plate. The photo below is a variation that Chef Sid helped me with that worked a lot better with the elements I had created.

I am working on my ability to envision how elements will work together on a plate. I'm learning this is a process and takes practice.

Chocolates

Chocolate making was great fun! I have made rolled truffles before, but this was my first time making filled chocolates in molds. Each person made a different ganache, and I chose peanut butter. I learned so much about the chocolate making process, and thoroughly enjoyed it. All the chocolates looked so professional, and were so tasty!

                                          Plated as show in the textbook.

                                         A variation that Chef Sid help me with. 

                                          Molds lined with chocolate.

                                          Filling with peanut butter ganache.

                                           The final product!

Week 1

I am very excited for Plated Desserts this quarter. I'm looking forward to learning more about combining flavors, textures, temperatures and multiple components on one plate in a visually appealing way. Ultimately, flavor is most important but garnishing and overall plate presentation is intriguing to me as well. Even though it has only been one weekend, I really like the overall structure of the class in terms of a mix of individual and team work.

Strawberries & Cream
Our first plated dessert creation was Strawberries & Cream. This consisted of toasted almond cake, ice milk, marsala reduction, strawberry foam, and strawberries. I plated it as shown in the textbook, as well as another way that allowed for some creativity. The almond cake was a straight-forward recipe. The creativity came into play when slicing the cake. It was challenging to think of a different presentation of the cake, that would work with all the other components on the plate. I learned how to make a quenelle which adds a nice touch to the presentation of ice cream, or in this case, ice milk. I had never made ice milk before. This was the first time I'd learned about using foam on a plate, too. I used to think it was just there for color and decoration on the plate, but I learned a chef's intent is to taste all flavors on the plate together. In terms of taste, the top note is the smell of the dessert. The middle note is the first taste which is usually sugar and then a burst of flavor. Lastly is the finish, which is the final impression and flavor left in the mouth.

When I had to create my own plate presentation, it was challenging to visualize all the elements on the plate. This is a skill I hope to improve upon as a result of this class. I found myself wanting to do things over after I had put them down on the plate (when it was too late to move them for the purpose of class timing, etc...). I love the fact that we are given creative license, and I'd like to expand in this area by looking for inspiration in in books, trade publications, online, etc.. I really like how each student presents his/her plates at the end of class, and we all spend time talking about them. It's a great learning tool.

Marshmallows
We made Strawberry Marshmallows, too. Again, this is something I've never done. My group made the type without egg whites, and I actually preferred these over the kind with egg whites.  

Final Thoughts
It is amazing to me how much thought goes into a plated dessert. I've started thinking about what I'd like to do for my deconstructed dessert project, but I have not made a final decision. I'm thinking about desserts that have a few elements that would be able to be broken down into flavorful, and visually appealing, components. As far as I can tell, I think I'm really going to enjoy this class. It's "uncharted territory" for me which is a bit intimidating right now, but exciting at the same time. 

                                              My presentation of Strawberries & Cream.

                                           Textbook presentation of Strawberries & Cream.

                                           Unmolding marshmallows in a pan of warm water.

                                           The final Stawberry Marshmallows.