Extreme Baking at the World Pastry Cup

On our second day at Sirha we entered the stadium of the Espace des Chefs to the sound of chainsaws carving massive blocks of ice into delicate sculptures. It was Sunday morning and the first group of teams - Denmark, Japan, USA, Italy, Colombia, Malaysia, Tunisia, Egypt, South Korea, Mexico and Argentina - were presenting their first dishes to the judges.

Over the course of the two-day competition each three-person team (with one alternate) was required to produce a chocolate dessert, fruit dessert, ice showpiece, chocolate showpiece, and plated dessert, all within the allotted ten hours. The international jury consisted of the president of each country's delegation as well as a couple members of the competition's governing body and a smaller press jury.

I knew from watching the Food Network and the documentary Kings of Pastry that, yeah, once you reach a certain level of culinary prowess it's about finding ways to validate and inflate your prestige - earning that next Michelin star, for instance, or perhaps an MOF title if you're French. To say it's competitive is an understatement; when a sugar sculpture goes crashing to the floor it's been known to cause grown men sob profusely. So perhaps it shouldn't seem so surreal, then, exactly how much watching a pastry competition resembles watching a sporting event.

The Coupe du Monde, as the event is called, had a similar energy and atmosphere to a collegiate gymnastics competition (I would compare it to basketball or something more mainstream but really the pace is more akin to the former). There were also commentators (not very insightful; just like in sports), hilariously dramatic music when teams were introduced, and cheering sections (and extremely vocal ones at that; well at least for Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, France and the UK).

But, unlike in athletics, watching the process was more satisfying than the results. I'm skeptical of institutions that claim to judge art (but I have to admit I love the Oscars because I find Hollywood politics fascinating), which is why we ended up leaving before the jury announced the final results. And in the end I got out of watching the competition exactly what I was hoping for: inspiration.

---

I left my zoom lens at home, like a dunce, so here are some "screen caps" of pieces I really liked from the competition.

Team France putting the finishing touches on their sugar and chocolate showpieces. They ended up taking first.

Team UK's plated dessert.

Forgot which team produced this plated dessert, but I loved the concept of the mirror image.

Belgium's gorgeous chocolate dessert. 

Italy's whimsical circus-themed fruit dessert.

Denmark's (?) fruit dessert, inspired by Davy Jones' Locker.

South Korea's chocolate dessert. The fiery bit is painted onto the glaze.

Tartelette au Chocolat Praliné

Let it be known that a lack of posts generally means one of two things: that I'm genuinely busy, or that I haven't done anything worth writing about. This past week has consisted mostly of work and apartment hunting, both of which seem to have finally paid off - my boss sent a text this morning that my pay for November has been disbursed and on Friday I'll be signing a housing agreement with my new colocataire. The timing couldn't have been better since this weekend I'm heading to London, and after I return on Tuesday my family is coming to visit.

I originally wanted to make this tart, inspired by one that I tasted at a dinner a few weeks ago, for a holiday party I'll be attending on Saturday. But, I decided, even with the most careful packing, the chances of the dessert making it to London intact were slim. So instead I brought it to a dinner hosted by a friend from school. (She also loaned me her tart rings for the project).

What it is:

A basic sweet pastry dough filled with a layer of crispy praline (melted chocolate, praliné, crushed gavotte cookies) and chocolate glaze ganache.

I'm feeling a bit too lazy to type out the recipe here (just got home from babysitting; 3 and 5 really know how to tire me out) but if you would like to know how to make it please send me a message via the contact form.

Blind bake the tart shells.

Fill with crispy praline.

Top with glaze ganache. If I had bothered to wait another hour it wouldn't be hemorrhaging chocolate like this. 

Macaron Cannelle

If I were to open a single-concept bakery it would probably be centered on macaroons. (I like the idea of a pie bakery too but this fad has already taken off in my hometown). I've always maintained that cupcakes are vastly overrated, so their popularity is a mystery to me. IMO they don't require much skill or artistry, so it is with great skepticism that I observe people willing to shell out $4 a cupcake or $40 a dozen. Personally I would much rather just eat a normal-sized cake, because even if you eat a cupcake the right way it still gets kind of messy.

Macaroons, on the other hand, require a lot more finesse. From the ingredients (e.g. aged vs. fresh egg whites) to the technique (e.g. how long to wait before putting them in the oven), there is no consensus regarding the "right way" to make macaroons. A Google search will yield a myriad of different procedures, but I just followed the method they taught us at LCB. 

Below is the recipe I used to make cinnamon macaroons. (The French name is the title of this post because it sounds more exotic, doesn't it?) Mostly I just wanted to use the spice because I love the flavor and it's very under-utilized in French baking. Also, Snickerdoodles seem somewhat passé now that I'm a certified intermediate pastry chef.

Using the proportions of the key ingredients (powdered sugar, ground almonds, egg whites, granulated sugar) you can flavor them, dye them and fill them however you want. Fruity macaroons are nice, but I'm also partial to chocolate, coffee, salted caramel, and pistachio. If you're ever in Paris you must try the ones from Pierre Hermé and Ladurée, two of the most famous pâtisseries.

What you need:

• 300 g powdered sugar
• 180 g ground almonds
• 5 g cinnamon
• 150 g egg whites
• 70 g granulated sugar
  
  

What you do:

Combine the first three ingredients with a whisk to ensure there aren't any lumps

In a separate bowl, begin beating the egg whites. Gradually add the granulated sugar once soft peaks have been achieved. Continue to mix until firm peaks form.

Times like these make me long for my KitchenAid at home.

Fold the dry ingredients into the egg whites. You can start by using a rubber spatula, but eventually want to use a pastry scraper so you can "macaroné" the mixture.

I should have done this a few more times (that's why the final product still looks lumpy) but in my defense I was rushing because I had to pick the kids up from school.

To do this you will use the scraper to bring the batter up to the rim of the bowl, rotating it as you do so. The point is to make the mixture smooth and shiny. Collect the batter at the bottom of the bowl and repeat several times as necessary. 

Prepare a piping bag with a 10mm tip and pipe the batter into uniformly sized circles onto a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or silicon. The batter should be runny enough from smearing it around the bowl that the small peaks that result from piping should sink back into the cookie.

Clearly uniformity is not my forte. At school I usually try to surreptitiously eat the most uneven/asymmetrical ones before chef comes around and sees.

Preheat the oven to 155C.

Let the cookies rest on the sheet until they are no longer sticky to the touch, about 15 minutes. Some people like to skip this step, but the way it was explained to us in class, the resting period is crucial for forming an initial shell. During baking the air can't escape through the top, and thus is forced out along the edge where the shell meets the pan, resulting in the "feet" at the bottom.

See the feet? At least I got one thing right.

Bake for about 15 minutes. Immediately remove the parchment paper from the baking sheet.

Once cool, gently peel the shells off the paper and flip them over. Pair them up by size. Pipe a small amount of filling onto half of the shells, placing the other half on top to make a sandwich. There should be enough filling inside for a thin layer to be visible between the two cookies.

I filled these with what basically amounts to cream cheese frosting. Unfortunately I neglected to write down the quantities of the ingredients, but a 2:1 ratio of cream cheese to butter, plus a dash of vanilla and enough powdered sugar to make a smooth, pipe-able consistency should suffice.

Refrigerate the finished macaroons for at least 24 hours to allow the flavors to meld.

Gazing with the Food Eye

On Thursday night as a study break I attended a food photography workshop at school led by Emilie, aka The Food Eye. Having retained a surprising amount from photography class regarding shutter speed, aperture and ISO (wish I could say the same of other subjects), instead what I gained from the most were her tips on styling. Emilie's work has a distinct and almost child-like vibrance to it, particularly in the way she plays with color and texture. Definitely some artistic inspiration for the future. 

After a brief presentation she let us play around with some props, studio lighting, and desserts prepared by one of our chefs. Results below.

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

I stuck around afterward hoping that we would get to eat something (IMO the best types of free things are food, wi-fi and drinks, in that order), but alas this was not part of the agenda. Luckily chef took pity on me and let me try some anyways.

However, not everything was as delicious as they appeared to be. The wafer is, indeed, a cookie topped with raspberry jelly, while the chocolate dessert is actually just a plain old bar of chocolate. Chef said that the macaron was "fake" but...my friend and I stealthily split one when no one was looking and it tasted real enough to us. 

It's Intermediate, My Dear

The final exam for the second of three courses in my program at LCB is this Saturday, so to prepare I have studiously been going over all my notes and photos. A couple weeks ago the chefs gave us a list of ten recipes we've worked with throughout Intermediate, but only one of which we are expected to make in under three hours on exam day. And we won't know which one until the day of! Fun, right??

When I look back on Intermediate Pâtisserie I will probably remember it as the time that I had to prepare a great many mousses, creams and dacquoises by hand (read: lots and lots of whisking). I'm not really sure why they make us do this, because even in demos the chefs will say that no one actually does this in real life -  in professional kitchens they use machines. I suppose they think that it builds character or something. Muscle tone, maybe? I always make sure to switch hands periodically lest I end up looking like tennis player Rafael Nadal.

And now, the pastries!

Macaron Anis-Framboise / Raspberry-filled Macaroons with Anise-flavored Pastry Cream

Thanks to a fellow classmate misinforming us that the pastry cream called for six leaves of gelatin (rather than  six grams, which is only three leaves), several students ended up with a mixture that had the approximate consistency of cottage cheese. Not ideal for filling the delicate shells. Chef also wasn't pleased that my macaroons were not of uniform size; trust me, piping is harder than it looks. But they still tasted good!

Fraisier

This Frenchified strawberry shortcake is probably one of my favorite recipes. Strawberries and mousseline cream sit between two layers of genoise sponge cake, which is topped with toasted Italian meringue and fresh fruit.

Streusel / Streusel Cake

My puff pastry base topped with fromage blanc, apricots and streusel was ruined when I placed it in the broken oven, which was mostly disappointing because I was looking forward to eating it after class. However since I failed at crimping the edge of the pastry in an attractive manner, maybe it's better that chef gave me a pity grade of 3/5.

Tarte Passion-Framboise / Passion Fruit and Raspberry Tart

Whereas in Basic the only fruit we got to work with was apple, Intermediate had us using some more exotic flavors. After blind baking, the tart shell is filled with a layer of raspberry coulis before being topped with passion fruit cream and neutral glaze.

Jamaïque / Jamaica

A chocolate joconde biscuit flavored with coconut, almonds and pistachio surrounds a bottom layer of coconut mousse with poached pineapple, topped with a nice mango-passion fruit mousse.

Opéra

The dreaded Opera cake is right up there with brioche in terms of things I love to eat but hate to make. It consists of thin layers of cake imbibed with coffee syrup, coffee buttercream and chocolate. Delicious, yes, but an absolute pain in the kitchen because there are so many steps. Naturally this is one of the potential exam recipes.

Chocolats Café et Truffes / Coffee Chocolates and Truffles

Part two of a series of lessons on tempering chocolate, the process of melting, cooling and reheating the substance to specific temperatures in order to achieve a final product that sets quickly, looks shiny and breaks evenly. It's not hard, but requires a lot of patience. The truffles are dark chocolate rolled in white and then coated with cocoa powder. The square ones are marzipan flavored with coffee extract, then dipped in white chocolate and decorated with dark.

Bavarois aux Trois Chocolats / Three Chocolate Bavarian Cream

Lady finger sponge cake serves as the base for three layers of chocolate Bavarian cream: dark, milk and white. Topped with chocolate glaze and white chocolate decoration. The gelatin in the Bavarian cream recipe gave the chocolate layers a thick, custardy consistency that I didn't particularly care for (I prefer mousse) but it's still a nice cake.

Douceur Chocolat / Heavenly Chocolate

Chocolate on chocolate mousse on hazelnut dacquoise. Need I say more? The hardest part is not over-beating the mousse. As you can see mine is starting to fall apart. Chef was not pleased.

Plaisir / Pleasure

Chocolate mousse and vanilla supreme are sandwiched between two layers of Joconde sponge cake. The top is a caramelized egg yolk and sugar mixture with glaze smoothed over it. What I remember most about this cake is thinking how much more annoying it is to work with square molds than round ones.

Petits-Fours Salés / Savory Petit Fours

Probably one of the yummier things we've made, and almost certainly the only time we'll be incorporating meat - chorizo, cocktail sausages, ground pork - in the recipe. We also used inverted puff pastry, which is exactly what it sounds like; you combine the dry butter with a bit of flour and fold the détrempe dough up inside of it. After the first turn it feels pretty much the same as normal puff pastry.

Tresor Vanille-Fraises des Bois / Wild Strawberry and Vanilla Treasure

I loved the flavors in this cake - almond dacquoise base, wild strawberry mousse and vanilla Chiboust cream - but the shape isn't terribly appetizing, IMO. I've never had a Baked Alaska, but I would imagine it's something like this.

Dôme aux Marrons / Chestnut Mousse Cake

Since I'm not a huge fan of chestnuts, I found the chestnut mousse and cream to be a little off-putting. Why couldn't we have used chocolate instead?

Entremets Passionata / Raspberry and Passion Fruit Cream Cake

A coconut dacquoise base with passion fruit cream, raspberry mousse and glaze. The Jackson Pollock effect on the side is achieved by dyeing a small portion of cigarette batter two different colors, piping squiggles on a piece of parchment paper, freezing it, and spreading the Joconde sponge batter over it before baking.

Triomphe aux Noix / Walnut Cake

The dominant flavor in this cake comes from the caramel base that is used in the imbibing syrup, mousse and glaze. Cooking it to the correct color is daunting; too dark and it will taste bitter, but too light and it won't look good. Chef didn't offer much helpful advice regarding when to remove the caramel from the burner...sort of like when you're rolling out dough for a tart and all they say is, "Not too thick, not too thin." Chefs just have a sixth sense for these things, I guess.

Croquembouche

The practical so labor-intensive it had to be split into two classes. On day one we prepared the nougatine base (basically sugar cooked to caramel stage with almonds folded in at the end). Nougatine hardens as it cools, so the only way to mold and cut it is when it's hot. Chef had heat-proof gloves when he prepared it in demo; we just used our bare hands. Many burnt fingers ensued. Day two consisted of preparing the cream puffs: first baking the choux pastry, filling them with pastry cream, and finally dipping them in caramel. (Read: more burnt fingers). Putting the final cone together is challenging since there's no mold or anything inside to guide you; it's up to you to attach the cream puffs together (using more caramel) in a way that looks even from all sides.

Pain Blanc et Pain de Mie / Baguette and Sandwich Bread

Last practical: introduction to bread-baking. It seemed a lot easier than when we made brioche in Basic, but then again chef did a lot of the work as far as putting our dough in the oven and proofing box so that it would rise quickly enough to finish baking everything in two hours. I'm still a little sick of baguettes from when I went to Cannes in May and ate nothing but sandwiches for ten days straight, but the sandwich bread was delicious.

A Basic Pâtisserie Retrospective

Things I made in my first month of cooking school, as I study for my final exam tomorrow.