Divine Dessert Tour 2010 finale - Sweet and savoury!

Divine Dessert end of year Home Bake - sweet and savoury!

To challenge ourselves, and those who are game enough to attend our half yearly home bake, we come up with themes so tricky, that means we have a lower turn out than we would like… then again, us obsessive compulsive dessert perfectionists won't settle with mediocrity … right? Besides, it's the end of the year! Gotta end DDT 2010 with something more than memorable!!

Our theme confused and baffled many. "Savoury? What contradiction! I'm lost for ideas! I'm afraid I can't make it then…"  But it really wasn't that hard. The most simple savoury dessert I have had was a chocolate 'goo' tart, with just a pinch of salt to break up the richness and adding a new sensation and indulgence. Or salted caramel, maple syrup and bacon (a classic Canadian breakfast), or simple pleasures of hot chips in soft serve.

Then creative chefs such as Heston brought the art of cooking to a new dimension, messing with our senses further. They created dishes that look savoury, but are sweet; or looks like a chocolate cake, but are in fact maybe a duck liver parfait. Some of us have experienced dessert sushis and Vietnamese spring rolls. In fact, it appears that modern cooking aim to break boundaries and perceptions!!

So come up with something that tastes both sweet and savoury. Or something that looks like a savoury item. Or something that includes ingredients that are normally associated with savoury dishes…   Think outside the rectangle of classic recipes and reach for the sky!! (or Google something)

Our brave CEO decided to attempt a chocolate ravioli - yes, pasta - chocolate pasta filled with chocolate creme patissier or peanut butter cream. The flavour was a hit, visually it just looked like very dark pasta (really messing with our perception!!), which unfortunately was a tad tough. I demand a repeat attempt and to be the taster!!

I was ordered to create savoury macarons, taking inspiration from the 2kg macaron recipe book carted all the way back from Lenotre Paris. The idea was to use macaron as the carrier only, ie plain shells topped with savoury ingredients and serve as finger foods. Smoked trout, double cream, avocado and dill adorned a dozen open macarons - visually pleasing, and of course tasty. Although this didn't look as pretty, the maple syrup baked crispy bacon was a hit with the DDDs, it was described as "crunchy and melty and creamy and crispy at the same time". Flavour and texture sensation!! I did cheat and make simple macs with salted caramel/peanut butter. I like them. I make them. People adored them. No complaints!!

One other simple offering: red wine and brown sugar poached pear with blue cheese - sweet and savoury. Phwaw the blue cheese was potent ... an acquired taste that. But the pear was nice :p 

June our first time DDD brought along a "Malay Cake" which probably originated from Malaysia, but there are now different versions adapted form different regions in SE Asia. It's a steamed brown sugar cake with deep fried shallots, which is very aromatic and adds a savoury touch to a lightly sweet cake.

Poor Martin. His initial intention was pumpkin pie - which was gunned down by our CEO (KT: I put the challenge to him to make mascarpone souffle and he chickened out!) So he brought along a yam and maple syrup pie with vanilla mascarpone cream topping - OH yum, aromatic flavour galore, and the fragrant luscious mascarpone cream, smooth pie filling, thin pastry. It would be lovely warm too, served with cold mascarpone cream. (KT: Ok, it looked pretty good, I appreciated the vanilla seeds in the cream, but improvement on the pastry next try please! ;)

Eat your vegetables - Zucchini anyone? It was hidden in a moist zucchini, date and maple cake, served with maple cream cheese (I see a certain flavour preference today! Maple syrup doing good business with the DDDs - KT: trying to butter me up?? LOVE maple syrup!). Couldn't taste the zucchini which was masked by the dates and the sweetness, but it certainly made the cake beautifully moist.

Ah I love all foods colourful: Beetroot and chocolate cupcakes with cardamon icing - this would have qualified for the last DDT home bake too - cardamon flavour was just right, it is a strong spice and can easily over power but it didn't; and just like the zucchini cake, beetroot flavour was undetectable except for the lovely rosy hue. Gorgeous cake!

Another colourful offer that was highly unusual - tofu and berry mousse, carefully blended with organic firm tofu, but apart from the texture we could not actually taste the tofu (unlike the tofu cheese cake from Ella's patisserie which tasted like soy). And it was lovely! There you go, ways of getting kids (big and little) to eat tofu and other vegetables. Disguise them in desserts!! A bit of a shame that it wasn't very chilled - Stephanie did come a long way to Chatswood!! 

Dessert to wrap up a dessert tour: crispy prosciutto baked with maple syrup, cracked over vanilla ice cream. This one had KT hyperventilating!

That's all folks, another culinary year - we had our ups (Paris!) and downs (canceled DDT for the first time! And it was to Adriano!), desserts that exceeded expectation or desserts that did not meet expectation. But all of our indulgent experiences add to our memories ... so we bid you farewell 2010, and wish that 2011 brings us a new heights in culinary explorations! INDULGE ON!!

CS

KT: Welcome, our first-time DDDs: June and Amy! :D

October Good Food Month!

Before you read this one, please go to the previous blog - DDT does Europe - to check out our activities in September! CS

Paris, je t'aime!! Having spent 3 weeks just eating my way through Paris, it was sad to return, because now I have to look harder and walk farther to find a good croissant, luscious almond chocolate croissant (if they exist in Sydney), fresh baguette that is just so tasty on its own, pastries and desserts and cheeses and wonderful fresh produce than I could dream to indulge.

But we must pay the bill and that means the holiday must end at some stage... the consolation was, we would be returning to Sydney for the October Good Food Month!!

Being our favourite month of the year (yes, better than Christmas and new years holidays!) October Good Food Month is simply a culinary delight for gluttons such as us. Long before October, and far far away from Sydney, the CEO and Secretary munched French baguettes and indulged on €2 Camembert cheeses, €5 bottles of wine, while cherry-picking five of the SugarHits from this year's Sydney International Food Festival.

I love creme brulees. Second only to macarons, it would be my favourite dessert. Unfortunately I have had poor creme brulees in Sydney - curdled at Santa Cruz (Mexican restaurant in Cremorne), runny (too many places to mention), or solid creme brulees at Paradoxe (Crows Nest, which WAS a paradox because they are run by a French chef!!!).  But I could not resist the orange and grand marnier infused creme brulee at Harbour Bar, Park Hyatt, The Rocks. Verdict? Two thumbs up. It was luscious but not overly rich, and I easily polished off 1 and 2/3 portions thanks to fellow dessertee who has a much smaller dessert stomach ;-) Citrusy fruity Brown Brothers dessert wine totally complemented.

Big welcome to Flora and hubby to their first DDT!!

Next stop, desserts with a heavy Asian influence at Monkey Magic, Surry Hills, for black sesame creme caramel with red wine-poached pear, coconut ice cream and pink peppercorn, served with a choice of cognac, or Brown Brothers dessert wine, or Choya plum wine. What also intrigued many of us were their attractive a la carte dessert menu, so we managed to have a variety of desserts on this night - with caramel semifreddo, silken tofu cake with lemon sorbet, banana white chocolate and shiso spring rolls.

Tofu cake was very light, but I could not taste the soy flavour. Quite unlike the tofu cheese cake from Ella's at Hurstville. To me it was a tad bland. Lemon sorbet was lovely, very smooth, literally disappears as soon as you lick it. Very nice. The spring roll was interesting - Not sure I personally enjoyed the flavour, but that's unfair to this unusual and flavoursome dessert. Salted caramel semifreddo was gorgeous and creamy. The black sesame creme caramel was the SugarHit of the night. LOVE. Rich sesame flavour; coconut ice cream light and fresh, but I'm not sure about the pink peppercorns - which I scraped to the side, but others enjoyed the spicy and slightly numbing flavour. And we agreed that the plum wine went best with this dessert - maybe it's got something to do with the Oriental flavour - Asian sweets seem to go better with green tea, for example. One criticism I could come up with was that it wasn't exactly creme caramel, but more a creme brulee without the burnt sugar on top. Not a flaw in my mind.

Tofu cake, black sesame creme caramel, banana white chocolate shiso spring rolls ... sorry but i didn't get a photo of the caramel semifreddo because I forgot to bring my camera!!! :-p
Big welcome to Lisa and Cathy :D What a place to start your dessert experience!

The one chocolatey dessert we chose from SugarHit was the white and dark chocolate mousse in a tuille, with cointreau orange segments, woven caramel nest, and honeycomb pieces on chocolate grenache. It was probably the most average dessert we had on our dessert tour this year, chocolate mousse was not light and airy, there was not enough dark compared to white chocolate mousse, and the tuille which encased it was a little stiff after refrigeration. We couldn't taste the cointreau, the 'woven caramel nest' was simply caramelised sugar. My favourite part was actually the honeycombe - melt in your mouth (except the outside crust) and lovely and bitter-sweet.

Welcome Amy and John!!

The next dessert echoed the Asian theme - Black sesame blancmange served with sparkling muscato at Ocean Room. It was slightly disappointing in terms of the serving size, after being spoiled by Monkey Magic and Holiday Inn, this little cup of blancmange was looking very pathetic. But it was so delicious! Blancmange is like a panna cotta, it's cooked cream set with gelatin, and quite unlike Monkey Magic, this one was very light. Give me 5 - because I can have 5 in one sitting.

Because our CEO missed out on Holiday Inn and Ocean Room, the finale was the Bel Mondo's poached pear and medjool date with hazelnut praline ice cream, spiced french toast and butterscotch sauce. We had last minute cancellations so it was just the two of us, eating 3 desserts - not that we are complaining because it was very delicious (and the head bartender was flirting heavily with us) - the spiced french toast was soaked with eggy goodness, very moist and full of flavour. Ice cream was just lovely - who doesn't like praline ice cream (apart from ppl with nut allergies)?! It took us a while to figure out what was the dark, what looked like the caked-on paste on the bottom of the plate - it was a paste made of dates! Very delicious.

Another month of culinary over-indulgence is over. I wonder what other creations the pastry chefs in Sydney will come up with next? But before they do, November DDT is the half-yearly home bake again!! Get your creative juices flowing and come up with something no one else had had before!! (KT: test it on others first please :P)

CS

No Adriano?! High tea in Buenos Aires then...

This is the first time DDT was postponed due to poor turnout! Adriano, you've lost it... So, with KT and CS both overseas, let's reminisce the high life of Buenos Aires. KT indulged in afternoon tea at the Alvear Palace Hotel in Recoleta last October as well as this August. It is an absolute must if you ever visit Buenos Aires! Here are some photos of what went down her stomach. Stay tuned for DDT in Europe - or come join us ;)

Winter Bondi & Ice

DISCLAIMER: Due to unforeseen circumstances, KT chaired this DDT alone which means her rudimentary blogging skills will forthwith lay bare for all to snigger.

What conundrum I was in: CS unable to appear at all today; I was nursing a sore stomach; nobody showed up to eat for me until 11.30am... I soldiered on, like a true Dessert Queen with mixed feelings.

Paris Patisserie is only 6 minutes walk from my house, on Bondi Road. How is it that I've never bought a morning croissant aux amandes is beyond me. I walked in and immediately hated myself for not being able to eat much, if at all! Oh, the endless pastries, tarts, gateaux... CS, where were you when I needed you most!? I had to buy something simple and light(ish) so a cinnamon brioche it was. And the little bits that I put in my mouth... mmm... I love brioche and this is good fluffy brioche - even better if warmed, and dowsed with chocolate sauce, sprinkled with chopped almonds... Okay, I'm imagining again. The point is, you all must go there and pick up something and report back due to the lack of variety I managed today!!

On I walked to Wellington Cake Shop, only a block towards the beach from Paris Patisserie. It was very busy - a good sign. This Hungarian bakery has strudels, kugelhupf, sweet cheese pastry pockets - none of which I dared to purchase. Again, I thought I'd better buy something, anything... An apple cinnamon bagel, which isn't in the shape of one but the texture is definitely lighter and more moist than the average bagel. Perfect as a snack; perhaps with apple sauce mixed into the dough but without overpowering cinnamon. This one item per store pattern is beginning to make me cry!

Time to head down to the beach. Seeing as I was alone, I walked past some of the potential hang-outs: Blue Orange, a tad disappointed from my last visit - their French toast brioche just cannot beat those at Flat White Cafe; Le Paris Go Cafe, busy, packed, not much on the sweets menu. I decided to wait for the others at Gelato Bar on Campbell Parade - at least they have heaps of desserts on display! My purpose wasn't to eat them, you see... Being fully aware of my digestive condition, I ordered poached eggs, mushroom with rye bread, plus a pot of mint tea. How BORING! I got stuck into my Stieg Larsson book (the last of the trilogy). When RC & DL arrived, I pleaded for them to start chomping!

As was expected, no one could eat like CS or I. Accepted. So crepes with strawberry & ricotta cheese (was it?) and a cinnamon twist were ordered. The crepes were surprisingly good - the tart strawberries combined with the cheese made great filling for the light crepes. We love pastry so the cinnamon twist was a safe pick. Although I note that the style of desserts here are more Bavarian hence the pastries aren't as buttery or fluffy as those of the French variety. This is also true with the palmier leaf (measuring 15 cm x 15 cm) I collected for CS - not before I broke off a wee bit to "test-taste"!

While the ladies walked through the Bondi Markets, MB & SM strolled to Gertrude & Alice Bookstore Cafe with me. Still packed, but we managed to find some seats at the back, hidden amongst the books. Another "one item per store" event - not happy Jan! However, despite being very tempted by all the homemade morsels, I resisted and only took a bite out of SM's chocolate brownie. And oh baby! This is the best brownie I've had since my own! Yes, I'm blowing my trumpet but once you've found a recipe that is divinely yummy, it's hard to go back to the pre-made store-find mediocrities. This is pleasantly dark, moist, warm, fluffy (mouth-watering as I reminisce) - and I can only imagine that scoop of ice cream made it more than perfect! All the while Row-row kept us entertained by demonstrating how the face eats yogurt. When I recover fully, I'm going back to have my own slice of chocolate brownie...

We walked past the not-so-packed-now Gusto Cafe and wondered what all the fuss was about. The boys ordered their takeaway lattes as there were no seats and I consistently ordered one item: pistachio & almond shortbread. So the coffee is actually very good. Now I understand why the joint is filled with people for hours on end. The shortbread was disappointing as it was not buttery enough to be called shortbread. If it was a cookie, it'd still be just okay. Worth trying the coffee proper next time.

The Winter Festival at Bondi was nearing its end. Apart from the ice rink overlooking the beach, packed with kids, mums & dads, a dozen food stalls were set up. We got excited by seeing Max Brenner flags but on close inspection nothing obvious from the bald man was available. There is one thing that I always love at outdoor events and it's poffertjes, those mini Dutch pancakes. Once in a cafe in Den Haag I stared, drooling, at the enormous baking cast with envious glee. Perhaps it reminds me of Taiwanese egg-puffs which are of similar size but these buttery, hot, fluffy dollops of baked batter, served with maple syrup or chocolate sauce, to them I will always say YES!

It was a fair day. Cruel, but fair. I will make sure my stomach is made of steel by the time CS and I are in Paris for the September DDT *rub rub*!

KT