Plated Desserts and Confectionary

This week we lost a student permanently (she posted that she had achieved her educational goals and moved on to other things which we all thought peculiar given we have just reached the halfway point)…. and the original covid student is off again, having now twisted her ankle. We are down to (up to?) 18, with two returning from illness and covid last week. Same partners as last week, strangely – good thing from our perspective, we worked well together.

We made classics today; Creme brûlée, creme caramel, soufflé, panna cotta, floating island, and preparation for others tomorrow – chocolate sponge cake layers for Black Forest cake, biscotti, tuiles, caramel decorations…. We watched a demo and tasted crepe suzette prepared by our chef – absolutely wonderful, and I could feel my arteries hardening as I consumed my tiny bit. Tomorrow we also make French toast which unlike any that I’ve consumed in the past, uses “leftover croissants” (WHY WOULD ANY DECENT CROISSANT EVER BE “LEFTOVER”?) or brioche as a base, so we primed the coating for overnight in the fridge and made the brioche. It surprised me, as always, how much is prepped the day before and left in the fridge to “mature”.

The verdict: (just my opinion) – floating island is revolting (meringue in a sea of creme anglaise), panna cotta is lovely with fruit puree integrated but vanilla isn’t great, though the texture of this recipe is lovely compared to the recipe I’ve been using… Creme brûlée was good but I prefer my PICA recipe, however was happy to learn how to torch it properly…. creme caramel was excellent, out goes my current recipe; can’t WAIT to make my own crepe suzette complete with flambé….. useful tips for making thin sponge for layered cakes, and how to choose which sponge for which purpose…

We practiced how to make quenelle shapes with one spoon (I learned this for bruschetta in Northwest Culinary Academy with two spoons) for presentation and practiced with buttercream icing (which was then recycled). Apparently as basic a skill as making crisp tart rings.

And the fun ended with kitchen cleanup. The home fridge is now housing creme brulee and creme caramel. I liberated the pumpkin tart from its stasis over the weekend – it has sweet potatoes in it as well, and that gives it a richness that much improves it. Love that pastry shell!

I sat down at coffee with the Australian and trolled through her pictures – she is a talented baker at home with some gorgeous (and delicious looking!) creations. We were comparing the classics we made today with some of the more modern plated desserts – she makes black “caviar” to plate with which is a really neat process she has promised to share, resulting in jelly consistency caviar sized round beads with any taste you like – I see yuzu caviar on the horizon….