Chocolate sponge cake with layers of chocolate mousse and peanut butter mousse, enrobed with ganache
Showing posts with label Restaurant desserts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Restaurant desserts. Show all posts
15.7.10
Chocolate Peanut Butter Torte
Chocolate sponge cake with layers of chocolate mousse and peanut butter mousse, enrobed with ganache
Double Chocolate Espresso Torte
White chocolate and espresso cheesecake enrobed with ganache and topped with white chocolate shavings
12.2.10
11.2.10
Chocolate Orange Shortcake With Strawberries
Chocolate orange shortcake with vanilla bean ice cream and strawberries
Chocolate Orange Shortcake
1 1/4 c all purpose flour
1/3 c cocoa powder
1/4 c sugar
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/4 t baking powder
zest of 1 orange
5 oz butter (10 Tablespoons)
1/2 c buttermilk
Combine all the dry ingredients (from flour to zest). Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles chocolate breadcrumbs. Make a well in the center and pour in the buttermilk.
With a fork, stir in the buttermilk until it forms a crumbly dough.
Pat the dough into a circle.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a 1/3 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes.
Bake at 425F for about 10 minutes (depending on size). The best way to know if they're done is to test one!
25.1.10
22.12.09
Pumpkin Bread Pudding With Orange Cranberry Compote
A couple of months ago, I took on a second job working for a pastry chef who started training for her career at the age of eleven. Needless to say, she knows her craft. She's very particular and meticulous. She also has a sharp tongue. Many times, I had to hold back a retort or my tears; and every time, I was glad I did. Her criticism, no matter how harshly worded, caused me to stop and reevaluate how I do things. What makes everything bearable is that she is very willing to pass on her knowledge as well as help me with the issues I face at my pastry chef job at the restaurant. So I latch on to her like a leech and pick her brain.
"Waste not, want not" is our motto. In her pastry shop, everything is well thought out so that nothing gets wasted. Her mastery of baking techniques and theories is all well and good, but there is something to be said for being able to transform a dreaded ingredient such as prunes into a confection that everyone raves about (by soaking them in cognac then pureeing and using this puree as filling for a flaky cookie dough).
This pumpkin bread pudding was her idea. After Thanksgiving, I got stuck with ten leftover pumpkin tarts at the restaurant. She told me to stop fretting and just make bread pudding out of them. With that idea, I came up with pumpkin walnut bread pudding with orange cranberry compote. The dessert was quite a success that I continued making it weeks after I got rid of those ten tarts. Initially, I just used a custard batter (cream, eggs, and sugar) and added cut up pumpkin tarts (including the crust) and cut up bread. When all the tarts were gone, I made pumpkin pie filling and added pieces of buttery bread (croissant, brioche, even pie crust) for the bread pudding.
7.12.09
3.12.09
Sweet Lime
And sweet it is! You can make limeade with these sweet limes just by squeezing the juice; no sugar or honey needed. The growers describe the juice as having an "insipid, bland flavor." I suppose they do, in comparison to the biting tartness of the other types of lime.
2.12.09
Oh Color!
Lemon Panna Cotta with citrus compote and raspberry glazeGarnished with almond florentine
Sweet and flavorful too. It's early in the season yet but what a way to get lifted out of the blahs! Citrus makes me look forward to winter.
1.12.09
Shades of Brown
Chocolate Espresso Cupcake
Chocolate chiffon cupcake dipped in chocolate glaze, filled with espresso cream, and topped with toffee bits
Turtle Cheesecake
Brownie fudge, chocolate cheesecake, and caramel cheesecake stacked and topped with coconut, glazed walnuts, caramel and chocolate sauce
My sister Becky suggested that I keep a portfolio of the desserts I create for my job. This morning, it occurred to me that this blog is as good a place as any to file my "creations." But after appraising the dessert tray, I realized that I am presently lodged in what I call the "brown phase." Chocolate or caramel or both drizzled, glazed, enrobed, or flavored the majority of the dessert choices.
I love chocolate and caramel; they are the epitome of what is familiar and comfortable. As I looked at the array of dessert on the tray, I felt like I had been lolling in a bubble that was comfortable and familiar. That's a little melodramatic, I know, but I did feel like Betty Crocker rigged up in a chef coat. To embody the image of a good cook was not why I decided on my profession. I can be Betty at home! At work, I wanted to explore the possibilities. Intrinsically, I don't go for anything outrageous. I opt for simple desserts because that's what I know and like. My ambition is to be able to fully understand the ingredients that I work with so that I can add elements to the plate that would highlight the extraordinary qualities of these simple things.
Obviously, I am presently not in tune with my ambition. I distract everything with chocolate and caramel. I've worked for the same restaurant for almost three years and I can honestly say that I am not burnt out. There's so much more to learn! Even in a corporate-owned restaurant, I am given practically free rein to create. A couple of company recipes have to stay on the menu but I do the rest. I plan the dessert menu, tinker with my own recipes, bake the desserts, and instruct the pantry cooks on their execution. I am never bored. Except lately, because of the economic downturn, my position has been drastically cut to a part-time job and I decided to settle for desserts that I can quickly slap together. Without realizing it, I sort of checked out and lost the desire to go the extra mile. Consequently, I now feel stuck in a rut.
I started this blog for two reasons. First, I wanted to take advantage of Rosalind's interest in learning to prepare the food we eat. I thought the blog would be the structure to our lessons. Second, I felt the need to try, at least try, to get to know the various technologies (i.e. pretty much anything computer related) that seemed to have taken over the world. In the last decade, I have succeeded in ignoring any technological advancement.
But it now appears that there is a third and perhaps a more pressing reason: I need to figure out what to do next, career wise. In the back of my mind, I must have known this all along, because, honestly, I can't think of a better approach in sorting out my dilemma than to step back and start from scratch, armed with the genuine enthusiasm of an eight year old, and revisit the reasons why I fell in love with baking in the first place.
Chocolate chiffon cupcake dipped in chocolate glaze, filled with espresso cream, and topped with toffee bits
Turtle Cheesecake
Brownie fudge, chocolate cheesecake, and caramel cheesecake stacked and topped with coconut, glazed walnuts, caramel and chocolate sauce
My sister Becky suggested that I keep a portfolio of the desserts I create for my job. This morning, it occurred to me that this blog is as good a place as any to file my "creations." But after appraising the dessert tray, I realized that I am presently lodged in what I call the "brown phase." Chocolate or caramel or both drizzled, glazed, enrobed, or flavored the majority of the dessert choices.
I love chocolate and caramel; they are the epitome of what is familiar and comfortable. As I looked at the array of dessert on the tray, I felt like I had been lolling in a bubble that was comfortable and familiar. That's a little melodramatic, I know, but I did feel like Betty Crocker rigged up in a chef coat. To embody the image of a good cook was not why I decided on my profession. I can be Betty at home! At work, I wanted to explore the possibilities. Intrinsically, I don't go for anything outrageous. I opt for simple desserts because that's what I know and like. My ambition is to be able to fully understand the ingredients that I work with so that I can add elements to the plate that would highlight the extraordinary qualities of these simple things.
Obviously, I am presently not in tune with my ambition. I distract everything with chocolate and caramel. I've worked for the same restaurant for almost three years and I can honestly say that I am not burnt out. There's so much more to learn! Even in a corporate-owned restaurant, I am given practically free rein to create. A couple of company recipes have to stay on the menu but I do the rest. I plan the dessert menu, tinker with my own recipes, bake the desserts, and instruct the pantry cooks on their execution. I am never bored. Except lately, because of the economic downturn, my position has been drastically cut to a part-time job and I decided to settle for desserts that I can quickly slap together. Without realizing it, I sort of checked out and lost the desire to go the extra mile. Consequently, I now feel stuck in a rut.
I started this blog for two reasons. First, I wanted to take advantage of Rosalind's interest in learning to prepare the food we eat. I thought the blog would be the structure to our lessons. Second, I felt the need to try, at least try, to get to know the various technologies (i.e. pretty much anything computer related) that seemed to have taken over the world. In the last decade, I have succeeded in ignoring any technological advancement.
But it now appears that there is a third and perhaps a more pressing reason: I need to figure out what to do next, career wise. In the back of my mind, I must have known this all along, because, honestly, I can't think of a better approach in sorting out my dilemma than to step back and start from scratch, armed with the genuine enthusiasm of an eight year old, and revisit the reasons why I fell in love with baking in the first place.
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