Plating Desserts

Once we finished with cakes and cookies, we have now moved on to Dessert Presentation (otherwise known as "plating"). This is the art of putting the dessert together on a plate that makes it appealing to the eye and palate. Pastry chefs consider taste, but also texture, temperature and layout in composing a nicely plated dessert. On Tuesday, we spent all day preparing the items we'd need for plating desserts on Wednesday. Then, on Wednesday, we set up the items and plated four desserts: Phyllo Nests with White Chocolate Mousse and Raspberries, Chocolate Mascarpone Tart, Lemon Curd Tart and Tart Tatin.







We finished class by preparing all of the items we'd need for today and then, today, we plated four more desserts: Chocolate Lava Cake with Toasted Almond Amaretto Ice Cream, Pineapple Upside-down cakes with banana Ice Cream, Dacquoise (meringue cake made with egg whites, sugar and finely ground nuts) with chocolate and white chocolate mousse and candied hazelnuts, and mini Angel Food Cakes with Fresh Berries.










This is what most of us are going to be doing A LOT of once we graduate, at least initially if we work in restaurants.

In non-food news, my dad and Tina arrived yesterday afternoon from North Carolina. Since I had another trail (previously planned), Todd got them settled in to their apartment and the three of them went to see the Yankees play Boston. I ran into them on the tram on my way home. They have a couple of days of sightseeing planned before the weekend. Since I have Monday off from school, we'll get to spend a long weekend together also.



Our last plated desserts included these crepes with Chocolate Pots du Creme, homemade Mallomars (lemon, coconut and rose marshmallows on shortbread covered with chocolate) and our take on pancakes with maple syrup (thin sponge cakes with maple ice cream, caramel sauce and maple walnuts).









After class on Friday, my dad, Tina, Todd and I went out with a couple of my friends from school. Here we are at the ever-popular Trailer Park Lounge. (We love that place!)