For one of my final assessments of my Foundations of Professional Baking class at Joliet Junior College, I was asked to create my own plated dessert. In order to do this I was given a dessert plating guide to help me with my dish. The guide consisted of all of the components needed to create a proper plated dessert; a cream, a cake, a crunch, a chocolate, a fruit, an ice cream or sorbet, and a sauce. To start you must choose your main flavors, for mine I chose chocolate and orange. Now let’s get into how I created my plated dessert!
Dessert Plating Guide:
Main Flavors:
- Orange and Chocolate
Components:
- Cream: Bavarian
- Cake: Yellow Cake
- Crunch: Chocolate Short Dough
- Chocolate: Dipped Cake and Short Dough
- Fruit: Orange
- Ice Cream/Sorbet: Orange Sorbet
- Sauce: Orange Fluid Gel
List of Ingredients:
The Vanilla Bean Bavarian:
- 63.5 Grams Milk
- 63.5 Grams Heavy Cream
- 1/2 Vanilla Bean
- 51 Grams Sugar
- 25 Grams Egg Yolks
- 135 Grams Whipped Heavy Cream
- 1.75 Gelatin Sheets
The Yellow Cake with Orange Zest:
- 3.5 Ounces Cake Flour
- 3 Ounces Sugar
- 0.5 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 0.25 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 0.25 Teaspoon Salt
- 1.5 Ounces Butter, Soft
- 1 Ounce Egg
- 0.75 Ounce Egg Yolk
- 2 Ounces Milk
- 0.5 Ounce Vegetable Oil
- 0.125 Ounce Vanilla Extract
- 3 Oranges, Zested
The Chocolate Short Dough:
- 8 Ounces Butter
- 3 Ounces Sugar
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 2.25 Ounces Eggs
- 10 Ounces Cake Flour
- 2 Ounces Cocoa Powder
The Orange Sorbet:
- 250 Grams Orange Juice
- 450 Grams Water
- 200 Grams Sugar
- 40 Grams Glucose Powder
- 20 Grams Trimoline
- 20 Grams Milk Powder
- 3 Grams Sorbet Stabilizer
- 0.5 Orange, Zested
The Orange Fluid Gel:
- 2.65 Ounces Orange Juice
- 0.9 Ounce Pineapple Puree
- 0.02 Ounce Agar
- 0.003 Ounce Xanthan Gum
- 1.75 Ounces Blood Orange Puree
The Vanilla Bean Bavarian:
To make the Vanilla Bean Bavarian I started by creating a crème anglaise with the first five ingredients. To do this I combined half of the sugar with the yolks and the other half with the milk, cream, and vanilla bean. Then I heated that cream mixture to a boil and tempered it into egg yolks. Finally, I returned the mixture to the heat and cooked it to 175 degrees Fahrenheit. To turn the crème anglaise into a Bavarian I added the gelatin, strained, and cooled it to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. After that, all that was left to do was fold in the whipped cream and fill the molds. Just like that, I have made the cream aspect of my plated dessert.
The Yellow Cake with Orange Zest:
To make the cake, I started by combining the egg, egg yolk, milk, vanilla, and oil and warming them over a water bath. Then, I combined the sifted dry ingredients and orange zest in the mixer with a paddle. Next, I added the butter to the dry ingredients and mixed until it reached a cornmeal consistency. Once the desired consistency has been reached, I added 1/3 of the wet ingredients to the mixer and mixed on medium speed for 5 minutes. Once that timer went off, I added another 1/3 of the wet ingredients on low speed and mixed until combined making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl and paddle. Finally, I added the remaining wet ingredients and then divided the batter into greased pans (I chose little madeleine pans) to bake at 340 degrees Fahrenheit until done. To add to the main flavor components of my dish and tie it all together I decided to dip the baked cake into melted milk chocolate before plating.
The Chocolate Short Dough:
To make the chocolate short dough, I used the creaming method which means that I creamed the butter, sugar, and salt with a paddle on a low speed. Then, I slowly added eggs in three additions making sure that I was scraping often. Once that was combined, I added all of the flour and cocoa powder and mixed until combined. With that, the dough is made and all that is left to do is refrigerate overnight and bake.
The Orange Sorbet:
For the orange sorbet, I followed the standard sorbet recipe which is when you combine all dry ingredients and add them to the water and trimoline making sure to heat until dissolved without boiling. Then, you cool the syrup, add it to juice, and put it through an ice cream machine until the desired consistency is reached.
The Orange Fluid Gel:
For the fluid gel, I combined the orange juice and the pineapple purée and mixed them with the agar and xanthan gum using an immersion blender. Then, I brought it to a boil and cooled it over an ice bath. Finally, I used an immersion blender to break up the gel and adjusted the consistency with the blood orange purée until I was happy with it.
Once I had all of the elements made it was time to decide how I wanted my plated dessert to look. I knew that I wanted to place the sorbet atop the shredded chocolate short dough so that it would stay in place even once it started melting. From there I chose to use my imagination and creativity to fill the remaining open space on the plate and I think I did pretty well if I do say so myself. Don’t be afraid to try multiple different looks, you can always get a clean plate and start over. Remember, there is no such thing as mistakes in the kitchen, only culinary experiments. Make sure to have fun and be unique! I hope you enjoyed todays post, tune in next week for some more culinary adventures. As always, thank you for stopping by!
Until next time,
Hailey