"The Elements of Dessert" – Francisco J. Migoya

[Baselerd]

I've made a few desserts from this book so far - all out of the plated dessert section.

Above is the "Melting Chocolate Box" (without the box, with smaller molded/tempered chocolate bits) with the Fig [Leaf] Ice Cream, shortbread crumble, Jasmine Tea Cake, and chocolate sauce. It was a pretty good dessert, but I was somewhat dissapointed by the cake. It was way too dry - maybe an error on my end. The rest of the components were great.

I also made the chocolate tile with shortbread crumble, salted caramel, clotted cream, and soft peter's chocolate. This one was really tasty - the caramel sauce is one of the best I've ever tasted or made. While I am enjoying the book a lot, I can't help but think the book isn't as informative about cooking as it is plating.

[Bojana]

Foodman, did you like the Genoa Bread? I started making it, then noticed that it hardly uses any sugar other than what is in the praline paste and added some but I found the cake still too salty and not cake like. The caramel dusting and remelting in the oven technique worked like a charm, producing this thin and lacy caramel layer on the cake.

[FoodMan]

Foodman, did you like the Genoa Bread? I started making it, then noticed that it hardly uses any sugar other than what is in the praline paste and added some but I found the cake still too salty and not cake like. The caramel dusting and remelting in the oven technique worked like a charm, producing this thin and lacy caramel layer on the cake.

I really did like the Genoa bread and I do not recall making any changes to it. Is it possible you made a mistake while weighing out the ingredients? It certainly was not salty. As far as cake-like, I agree it is not a traditional cake. It is more dense but not dry at all. It definitely needs no extra sugar after being encased in caramel. I recently made a pistachio version based on this recipe that worked great and I will be posting about it soon.

[FoodMan]

I've made a few desserts from this book so far - all out of the plated dessert section.

Above is the "Melting Chocolate Box" (without the box, with smaller molded/tempered chocolate bits) with the Fig [Leaf] Ice Cream, shortbread crumble, Jasmine Tea Cake, and chocolate sauce. It was a pretty good dessert, but I was somewhat dissapointed by the cake. It was way too dry - maybe an error on my end. The rest of the components were great.

I also made the chocolate tile with shortbread crumble, salted caramel, clotted cream, and soft peter's chocolate. This one was really tasty - the caramel sauce is one of the best I've ever tasted or made. While I am enjoying the book a lot, I can't help but think the book isn't as informative about cooking as it is plating.

That looks beautiful!

For the Chocolate tile, did you actually buy the "special" Peter's high-fat chocolate? Do you think it would work with regular dark chocolate (like Green and Black)?

[Baselerd]

Thanks! I did use Peter's chocolate - my thought is that any chocolate that tastes good when softened should be good enough. The Peter's chocolate was definitely very high quality and it did not run when melted - it had more similar consistency to a soft ganache. I'm not a chocolate expert though, so take it for what its worth.

[PassionateAmateur]

Just received my copy -- am absolutely giddy with anticipation to cook from this thing!