Morning saw more practice spooning quesnelles… Some last minute decoration making (sugar spheres, sugar pulling lesson 1 with isomalt, making of stencilled sugar decorations both clear and frosted) and we were then off to start with ice cream and sorbet making…. oh my. Oh my.
With the ice cream machines, it took 6 mins to make ice cream, and 3 to make sorbet. Astonishing. Some of the flavours were amazing (orange – really tasted like fresh squeezed OJ), green apple was very fresh in the sorbet dept. and coconut was lovely. Cherry was disappointing; I’d use a stronger flavoured cherry next time. Our flavour was honey ice cream and it was quite strong and tasty – the chocolate mint ice cream was awesome, using mint leaves for flavour (overnight infusion) and of course passionfruit sorbet was tough to beat. The morning was punctuated with tastings of ice cream and sorbet… and a taste of what our chef labelled ‘real’ French toast, made with brioche dried out from the day before. Uck was my conclusion (shared by many others); too soft and doughy a texture for my taste.
After lunch we assembled our desserts table by table with an assembly line; the table responsible became the line director and the chief decorator, and helpers were pulled in as needed. Conclusion: In our restaurant, dessert comes slowly….. but is worth the wait! We made 4-5 of each so that we all got a taste. Apologies for the pictures which aren’t particularly good – we weren’t allowed to photograph ourselves. Descriptions below each picture.
Orange French toast: brioche french toast with caramel sauce and caramel praliné, cocoa powder stencilled sectional decoration, orange chablon, vanilla cream with orange pieces and orange sorbet quesnelle on breton sablé.
Black Forest: Chocolate roll sponge with cherry kirsch comfit filling layered with marscapone cream kirsch; whipped marscapone cream with chocolate dentelles and cherry sorbet quesnelle on Breton sablé, dotted with cherry kirsch compote and chocolate crumble.
Exotic cheesecake: Cheesecake mousse stones, passionfruit crémeux with almond crumble., passionfruit gélée discs, passionfruit caviar and basil leaves.
Honey citrus (this was ours): Lemon curd and melba cream dotted with crumble, citrus jelly, honey ice cream quesnelle on breton sablé, honeycomb dentelle and chocolate bee with meringue decorations.
Pear sablé breton: Vanilla poached pear noisette on melba cream with pear coulis; pear chablon, pear opaline decoration and vanilla ice cream quesnelle on sablé breton with dill leaves.
Paris Brest: Pate a choux filled with whipped marscapone and coconut praliné with caramelized hazelnuts, melba cream and citrus coulis decorated with ring of almond crumble and coconut sorbet quesnelle on breton sablé.
Chocolate soufflé tart: Baked chocolate soufflé tart nestled in chocolate sauce and topped with nougatine disc, surrounded by smoked cream and chocolate ice cream quesnelle on a breton sablé disc.
Lemon meringue tart: Lemon curd balls with whipped marscapone crémeux interspersed with crumble, sponge cake and citrus coulis; decorated with meringue flowers and tiny basil leaves.
Apple sugar sphere: Golden apple noisette layered wtih vanilla chantilly inside a sugar apple sphere, decorated with chantilly and crumble interspersed with green balm (dill leaves) and accompanied by green apple sorbet on a breton sablé disc. Unfortunately the picture taker didn’t show the apple sphere properly – side on it really looked like an apple, and was made of extremely thin blown sugar.
Red Fruit Pavlova: Meringue discs sandwiching raspberry mousse, marscapone cream and fresh raspberry accompanied by vanilla ice cream quesnelle on breton sablé.
Chocolate mint roll: chocolate sponge rolled with chocolate sauce topped with chocolate stick and mint leaves; chocolate mint sorbet quesnelle and chocolate crumble on breton sablé disc.
We stumbled out after tasting all of these after 5 p.m., our latest day yet, in a sugar coma despite very small tasting sizes, and having had an amazing day of learning! Half of the job competence comes from being able to organize production, planning ahead the components needed and being able to plate beautifully and efficiently. While many of the components can be refrigerated or frozen ahead of time, the life of the dessert lasts from 2 min (chocolate soufflé) to 2 hours.
My favourite? Chocolate soufflé I think, tied closely with the exotic cheesecake just because of its citrus prevalence and passionfruit, one of my favourite flavours. Would love to try yuzu caviar…. Black forest was excellent as well (very boozy with the kirsch though the cherry sorbet was meh) and the green apple was spectacular in flavour and presentation. Red fruit pavlova was also beautiful. And the marriage of chocolate mint in all the components of the chocolate mint roll….Okay, there weren’t any except the French Toast I wouldn’t happily eat or remake (though not today!!!).