Plated Desserts

Worth ten percent of our grade, the stress was high for this two day exercise. We had to synthesize a dessert menu (5 items), do the food costs for one (easy; did this last year for culinary), make plate designs (overhead views and side views) -- I suck at that -- and prepare two of them for the two judges. I have mixed feelings about the exercise -- it seems like we've stopped the learning and now we are just proving what we've learned, yet these exercises do make us plan things out; this in itself is a form of learning. Anyway...

For the 1st day I made an apple tart with an almond-cream filling served twin sauces -- crème anglaise and caramel. Came out well I thought. Judges agreed but thought the portion size was a bit large (4"). A week later I'm still eating the leftovers.

Second dessert (2nd day) was more problematic: I made triple chocolate mousse cakes (dark, milk and white chocolate layers separated by thin chocolate meringue layers) in 3" cake ring (so they were 3" wide about about 4" tall). The sides were a bit uneven so I decided to glaze the cake with -- you guessed it -- chocolate. Shortly before the service time I poured the glaze over -- which promptly MELTED the top layer of the cakes. Glaze and cake top melted off into a blob on the table. Ungood. For an idea what it should have looked like, check out these slices from the first time we made it.

Recovered OK by glazing remaining cakes with cassis (black currant)-chocolate-cream. Served with "chocolate leaf" (think peanut brittle with chocolate, without the peanuts) and the cassis sauce. Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat!

Plated Dessert "Exam"
	One of our earlier creations -- not sure whose

Worth ten percent of our grade, the stress was high for this two day exercise. We had to synthesize a dessert menu (5 items), do the food costs for one (easy; did this last year for culinary), make plate designs (overhead views and side views) -- I suck at that -- and prepare two of them for the two judges. I have mixed feelings about the exercise -- it seems like we've stopped the learning and now we are just proving what we've learned, yet these exercises do make us plan things out; this in itself is a form of learning. Anyway... For the 1st day I made an apple tart with an almond-cream filling served twin sauces -- crème anglaise and caramel. Came out well I thought. Judges agreed but thought the portion size was a bit large (4"). A week later I'm still eating the leftovers. Second dessert (2nd day) was more problematic: I made triple chocolate mousse cakes (dark, milk and white chocolate layers separated by thin chocolate meringue layers) in 3" cake ring (so they were 3" wide about about 4" tall). The sides were a bit uneven so I decided to glaze the cake with -- you guessed it -- chocolate. Shortly before the service time I poured the glaze over -- which promptly MELTED the top layer of the cakes. Glaze and cake top melted off into a blob on the table. Ungood. For an idea what it should have looked like, check out these slices from the first time we made it. Recovered OK by glazing remaining cakes with cassis (black currant)-chocolate-cream. Served with "chocolate leaf" (think peanut brittle with chocolate, without the peanuts) and the cassis sauce. Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat! Previous Log Next Log

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