Showpieces and a Japanese Dessert Trio

After sugar class I headed right into Elegant Showpieces. It wasn't much of a change - same room, same schedule, same Chef.

What's the difference between this class and Sugar? Well, showpieces can be made of all sorts of mediums. Our two basic choices in this class were chocolate or sugar.

Our first showpiece was made out of chocolate. A massive piece weighing in at around 7 kilograms!

The "back"

It is supposed to be spring inspired, though other than the green pastillage vines and white buds, I don't really see it.

The second showpiece was entirely of our choosing as long as it fit the Easter theme. Sometimes when I finally get free reign on what I make, I am not sure what to do. My partner N and I drew up two separate designs and we decided to go with hers. 

One of the fun parts about this showpiece was that we got to assemble it downtown! We spent the rest of the week and a half making the individual pieces and then it all got shipped to the downtown campus. The next day, we put all the pieces together while the people getting lunch could watch.

Our piece was more contemporary and less "in-your-face-Easter".

You would never even know the hardships we went through with the center flower. We built the flower on a piece of metal wire (a piece of hanger) for support. But when it came time to take the flower off the metal, it just wouldn't come off! We tried and tried, but it was stuck. It came to the point where we had to break off all the pink petals (4-5 layers of petals) before we could pry the center of the flower off. We attached the center onto our showpiece and rebuilt the flower, petal by petal. N was definitely close to tears, but it worked out and we were so happy!

Totally nerve-wrecking, but also kind of fun. :)

Here are some of the showpieces my classmates created:

The only chocolate showpiece

And with that, sugar and chocolate was done! Next up is Wine Pairings and Plating.

For the plating portion, our classes is divided into two groups. One group stays late and plates desserts as orders arrive while the second group prepares the special desserts (allergen-free, ethnic, and special effects). The first group also prepares the regular four desserts. I started my first week in the first group - dinner service.

Plating desserts is fun! I find I quite like it.

Left to right: Tiramisu with sabayon sauce, goat
cheese souffle, pear chip, pear compote

Indian rice pudding, gulab jamun with mint, mango sauce

Lemon creme brulee with passionfruit sorbet in a sugar basket

Plates ready for their waiters

Plating a palate cleanser for 54 people

The most fun so far was last Thursday night. I got the chance to realize a dessert I had planned in my mind: a Japanese inspiried trio. I couldn't have done it without my awesome partner N.

Left to right: Lychee gelee with raspberry sauce, matcha
shortbread, black sesame daifuku

The plating was really simple but the flavours were so good! The lychee gelee had little pieces of lychee in it for texture and to make it more juicy. The slightly tart raspberry sauce helped to balance the sweetness of the gelee. The matcha cookies were tender and crisp and had just enough matcha without being bitter. The black sesame ice cream was a little on the bitter side (the black sesame seeds were not the best) but very black sesame-y. Daifuku is the name for a Japanese confection where mochi is wrapped around a filling. Mochi is a soft, sticky and chewy dough made from rice that can be served either sweet or savoury. 

The black sesame daifuku required a lot of running around. Because I had to make the ice cream day-of, it didn't have time to set hard enough to wrap, so N and I had to run up and down three floors from the blast freezer down stairs where we could scoop little balls of ice cream and freeze them, back upstairs so we could serve them. Lots of exercise, but totally worth it!

I was also asked, by Chef, to give the guests of the Chef's table that night an impromptu tour of the downstairs baking labs and the chocolate lab. It was a total surprise but I was in such a good mood, it was fun!

By the time I got back upstairs, my group was long gone. I was about to pack my tools when Chef pulled me aside again to help with plating the desserts for the Chef's table.

Chocolate mousse, white wine jelly, apple tartin

A busy day but a good one. I would really like to get more into the high-speed and demanding world of plating. Perhaps it's my calling. :)