This was a super fun week in pastry class. We focused on plated desserts. We were instructed to spend lots of time looking in books/magazines/online at beautifully plated desserts. As a class, we were told what we were going to be making- three desserts in total. We all volunteered to create one element of the dessert. I made hazelnut semifreddo. After all of the components for the three desserts were made, we were able to prepare our own garnishes and presentation elements, including lace cookies, caramel garnishes, chocolate garnishes, and tuiles. The next day, we came to class and were given between 8 and 10 minutes to plate our dessert and bring it to the front table. As a class we looked at each dessert and constructively commented on them…then, we ate! It was so neat to see how unique each plating was- we all used the same components, and produced all different ideas!

The first dessert to be plated was a apple-lime mousse with walnut japonaise, mango sorbet, apple chips and walnut-caramel sauce. Unfortunately my mango sorbet melted before I could get it in the picture! I think you can see it in some of the class pictures, though. I chose to serve my mousse in a lace cookie bowl, and crumble the japoniase on top, with a gooseberry garnish, and framed by the apple chips.

The next dessert was a chocolate-hazelnut-espresso terrine, with hazelnut semifreddo, black-cherry wine sauce, and caramel garnish. I chose to serve this one in a lace cookie bowl with chocolate dipped mint and a strawberry. Man do these things melt fast in a hot kitchen!

The last dessert to be plated was a lemon-coconut brioche bread pudding with passionfruit-caramel drizzle, lemongrass cream sauce, raspberry coulis, honey-thyme ice cream, and candied citrus. I added strawberries, mint leaves, raspberries, and a lace cookie bowl!

And one more group shot!

P.S. Check out these fun little tuiles I made when my Olympic spirit was running wild!