Monday, February 18, 2008

Plated Desserts

IMG_0124.JPG

Plating desserts is one of my favorite things to do! I love creating something artistic and beautiful with food and having someone exclaim, "WOW!" before digging their fork in.

When plating desserts, several factors should be considered, including food trends-whether rustic looking is in or more structural/contemporary, the style of the restaurant and the visual and palate preferences of your customers. The contrast wheel of pastry plating illustrates certain texture, flavor, and temperature balances one can achieve on a plate. Chefs should aim for a contrast of delicate vs. robust taste, feel, aroma, and color.

In class we were tasked with creating two plated desserts. The first was assigned to us and the second was our choice. Inspired by my recent trip to Paris, I elected to create a Framboiser, which I constructed with 3 layers of phyllo (5 sheets with melted butter), creme mousselline, raspberries, raspberry sauce, and shaved chocolate. I worked really well in creating this dessert and got so excited when the result of my concept came into fruition.

I think this dish worked because of the contrasts in texture - crunchy phyllo vs. creamy mouselline, tart vs. sweet - raspberries and sweet phyllo and cream, and colors - white and bright pink for the sauce.

Framboisier

IMG_0124.JPG

The next item was a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. The components of this dish were an individual sized cake with poached pineapples, a pineapple chip, and shaved chocolate. The challenge in this dish was to create something beautiful from a dessert whose flavors I am not that excited about. If I had to do it again, I would have garnished the dessert with the pineapple chip formed into a flower and made it look like a sunflower. One element I was really excited about though was my decision to flavor the creme chantilly with the pineapple poaching liquid. It has the most delicate aroma and flavor and added to the dish.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

IMG_0125.JPG

No comments: