Gettin' Back in the Groove!

Only two weeks left in our plated dessert class and so many things left to try! If I don't bake it in the next two weeks, I won't be baking it in culinary school! It is so much fun having the opportunity to choose the desserts I make, but there are so many. This week was a good recovery after last week, producing several good looking and tasting desserts.

The first dessert of the week: Coconut Meringue and Kiwi-Kirsch Sorbet with Fresh Fruit and Champagne Compote. I chose this recipe from my Chez Panisse Fruit cookbook because I wanted to make a beautiful springtime dessert as well as something that could go on a menu as a health conscious option. The Fresh Fruit and Champagne Compote was delicious and the Kirsch a perfect compliment to the Kiwi in the sorbet. Although the coconut meringue was very tasty, I wasn't fond of how soft it turned out and will try a different recipe for this component next time.



I made this dessert based off of a photo in a brochure from a company that provides pre-made desserts to retail establishments. The yellow portion is a thin cake, called a jaconde sponge, which is often used along with a simple colored batter that is first baked in the pan so that it produces different designs on the cake. I wanted to produce a random pattern that looked something like bamboo. I was very happy with the results of the jaconde, but wish that the green had been much more intense (the dessert in the photo had beautiful earthy-green stripes in the jaconde sponge).

I cut the jaconde sponge cake to line ring molds and then made a passion fruit mousse and filled the molds. The mousse was refrigerated and allowed to set and then removed from the molds. I was very happy with the results in both appearance and flavor. I wish that I had the time to plate it because it would have made a nice plated dessert, however this was an extra project.

This week our chef instructor showed us methods for making hot souffle. He assured us that they are not nearly as scary as people say although they do only last a few minutes out of then oven and then fall. My first attempt at souffle was a successful one! I flavored a vanilla souffle recipe with mocha and it was very tasty!

Poached Pineapple and Frangipan Tart with Macadamia Brittle. This is one of the best desserts I have made in this class thus far! This is another recipe I took from Chez Panisse Fruit, but I adapted this one quite a bit. Preparing the pineapple was quite a process, but well worth the results! Chez Panisse didn't have you poaching the pineapple at all, but upon my chef's suggestion I did so and was happy I listened! The pineapple was arranged on top of a layer of frangipane and then baked. Frangipane is an almond paste based filling that sets up and has a cake-like texture once baked--believe me when I tell you this tart was amazing!

The butterfly seemed fitting since the tart came out looking like a flower and too because nothing else really worked. The accompaniment of the brittle was good, but it would have benefited by the addition of a third component--coconut ice cream to complete the tropical theme and round out the plating.

The end of the week started a small obsession with French Macaroons (sometimes called Parisian Macaroons). The above were my first attempt and I was disappointed how most of them cracked on top--they should be smooth like the two shown below. These were a typical almond meal based French macaroon which was colored and sandwiched with Italian buttercream.

I also made a batch of Almond Macaroons, somehow of which I didn't get a photo?? I had mistaken Almond Macaroons for French Macaroons and since I had never made either, only eaten them, I decided to make both to see the differences. The Almond are made with almond paste in place of the almond meal used in the French which makes the Almond much chewier. Both are good, but with the curiously cracking French Macaroons and some questions about adding flavors I have the feeling that this obsession will not be over anytime soon...