Pastry Buffets

[chefette]

I know we have a few vocal pastry pros who regularly contribute and I am sure there are at least a few lurkers who follow the goings-on on eGullet - so I am interested in your feedback and insights about Pastry buffets or sweet tables. I know I am asking a lot of questions here but it is something that we have not really talked about. Pastry buffets can be a nightmare or they can be an opportunity to really show off and do your best work depending on frequency, resources, and funding. So share your thoughts, experiences and photos.

I know that Sinclair has spoken many times about creating sweet tables and the photos she shared from her Easter buffet were very impressive.

For starters: How do you feel about pastry buffets? Are they the greatest thing ever? Lots of fun (you can't do them often enough?) Worst idea in history? Pain in the ass? Great opportunity to strut your stuff? What is your opinion on them in principle?

Here are a few other issues we might address:

Do you work in a venue where you routinely have to put out a pastry buffet? (every Sunday? Special parties? Holidays?

Is the pastry buffet in conjunction with a savory buffet? Brunch orientation? or main meal?

What is your philosophy is creating your buffet? How do you determine the menu?

What is your pastry buffet presentation style?

You have an entire table or areas dedicated to pastry and you decorate/present your goods according to the occasion?

Do you just pull decorative serving pieces?

Do you do showpieces? (Sugar, chocolate, pastillage, ice?)

Do you style your food to fit a theme?

Do you rely on non-edible decoration?

What about your pastry buffet technical details - as in cold things cold, hot things hot...?

How do you control the buffet appearance as people enjoy items from the buffet? is everything portioned? Do you serve?

What are the pressing issues for you?

Where do you go for inspiration? Your favorite authors or books/sources?

Anyone care to share pastry buffet menus that they are particularly proud of? Photos? What about your ideal pastry buffet share your fantasies?

How much time/staff hours and resources do you commit to creating pastry buffets?

Who does the conceptualization and realization of the centerpiece work?

Anyone work with a stylist?

And what about the audience? Do you feel that they appreciate pastry buffets in general? or do you feel that they could care less?

Do diners seem to respond better to fantasy food presentations or just nice arrangements of old standards?

How adventurous are you on your pastry buffets? (it seems to me that since people are already paid up for dessert it is an opportunity for them to try some out of the ordinary daring desserts in a low threat environment since it costs them no more and they don't have to eat it if they don't like it after a taste, plus they can still have the same old same old as a safety net)

[mckayinutah]

Good topic

I have some experience with pastry buffets, with 2 of my previous employers winning "best of's " as a matter of fact, so I do have some expertise in this area.

I think they are a great way to showcase your stuff, but I do see some concerns, depending on how they are run. By this I mean, is it self -serve or does one of your employees serve? Self serve can be a nightmare, for many people do not know the correct manor of serving themselves. At my most recent employer we did self serve and basically just ran up every 15 minutes or so to check on it. Many times I would see half slices of cake that someone had cut because it was too big for them, instead of just taking a full slice and not eating it all. Who wants to see a half slice of cake on the buffet table? Also , by the time you got down to the last 2 or 3 slices of a cake, it looked like a bombed had landed right in the middle of it, again not very appealing.

As far as items go, I think a good pastry or dessert buffet should have at least 1 if not 2 hot items in a chauffer, cakes or tortes , a couple of standard ones plus 1 or 2 different and more upscale varieties ( everybody is familiar with that approach ) , some smaller items ( we did smaller size - 2 or 3 ounce serving size ramekins, of creme brulee , as well as 8 or 10 different petit fours ) and of course,

berries accompanied by some type of sauce ( we did orange sabayon - very popular).

We did this for our Sunday Brunch Buffet, but also did it during the winter EVERY day for 4 months ( winter in Utah brings out the celebs, especially to Park City, where the Sundance Film festival is held in January ). A lot of volume, so much so , that we had 1 pastry cook that did the buffet exclusively for those 4 months. ( which in a big resort or hotel may be popular, but is not often done in a smaller place ( 130 rooms )

On the whole, I think buffets have their place, but I wouldn't want to do one every day ( once a week is enough for me, thank you )

Jason

[Othafa9]

When I was at Amelia Island Plantation, we set up an Easter Pastry buffet, it looked great, then we went to replenish it, and people had eaten much of the pulled sugar, and chocolate showpieces. The pastry chef wasn't happy.

[ShaRae]

I work as a baker at a University. I have a dessert buffet every day. I make all the desserts myself and from scratch. It usually consists of cake, pie, squares, cookies. Some times I have hot desserts like apple crisp or a type of cobbler. It is usually not too fancy, sometimes when I have extra time I will make desserts that are more upscale.

I used to plate all the cakes, but my boss feels that it looks better if I just cut the cakes and leave them whole, let the students serve themselves. Some people do not know how to serve a peice of cake and they make a mess of it.

I had made a Gingerbread house one year to display on the dessert table, but as soon as the students came for lunch, they destroyed it. So, no, I won't be doing that again.

I also do a chocolate buffet, twice a year. I usually have different types of chocolate cakes, cheesecakes, cookies, chocolate mousse, chocolate dipped strawberries and bananas...and so on. The students love this and is always a big hit. I would love to do some chocolate sculptures, but I am sure that it wouldn't be appreciated and would just get destroyed.

[Skwerl]

I am really shocked that people started to eat you guys' showpieces! Is this really a common thing that happens? I can imagine certain groups (little kids, senile country folk, Joe Dirt) doing that, but I can't conceive of many grown adults, at least partially educated, that would have the audacity to break a piece of chocolate off a showpiece and put it on their plate. Of course I suppose it would only take one dufus to confidently tell a whole group of dufuses "that's what it's for" and they'd all be nibbling on Santa's spun sugar beard and Mrs. Claus' white chocolate panties. Maybe a pastillage sign saying, "Please don't eat me," would prevent destruction...

[Steve Klc]

Oh my God, Josh--you haven't had showpieces destroyed by the public or by diners? I think if you've done your job creating an inviting display you draw people in because they're fascinated by this stuff--they have no clue about it but they are fascinated by it. People think nothing of touching, grabbing, breaking, pinching, poking, you name it, they do it--you need ropes and stantions and guards to keep people away. One year after we finished the US Pastry team Championship thing, it was in Beaver Creek out under the hot tent and we were dead tired, had to go change and then hike somewhere for the announcement (not in a nice crowd controlled temperature controlled environment like it is now in Vegas) so we go back to our condos, change, come back later to find all of our showpieces just sitting out, unguarded in an empty tent with this wild pack of little kids running around trashing them all, breaking them, eating them, etc--and the event photographer hadn't even gotten good pictures of them yet because he headed up to the award announcement! No, there is a primal attraction to these things and it extends beyond culture, age, etc--it's like we're all coded from previous generations and have some inherent attraction to these pieces montees built-in since the Middle Ages.

It's interesting, I've observed the opposite reaction to one particular buffet item showpiece--the croquembouche--most people stay completely away from it--they're completely stunned, they think they know what it is but they're not sure what to do with it--and then usually some little old French lady comes along and says brusquely "this is what you do" as she grabs a pastry cream-filled caramelized choux section and rips them right off, knocks a little piece of nougatine off and then it is a free for all.

No, if you do a buffet you have to have a whole strategy in your design about how you're going to keep people from reaching and destroying your beautiful pastillage or sugar piece--for putting their big fat warm thumbprint on your chocolate sculpture, from pulling off and licking your pulled sugar rose--for how would you recycle or re-use it later at the next buffet if they broke it!--or just don't do a traditional showpiece like that, design one MEANT to be eaten in the first place! An interactive buffet.

(One year for the NY Chocolate Show I partnered with an architect and restaurant designer, the fantastic Warren Ashworth, to create this little loop de loop building in chocolate which we designed that little kids could drop a molded chocolate ball in the top and it would roll all the way down and around and out a chute. It wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes if not roped off because what is modelling chocolate if not a slightly more sophisticated tootsie roll?)

ShaRae--do you make any attempt to present things at different heights--to stagger some low, some on stands, etc?

Jason--what kind of presentation strategies did you emply to keep the brulees and sabayon cold on the buffet?

[Skwerl]

Well, no, I haven't had any of my showpieces destroyed because I haven't gotten to make any yet. I'm afraid showpieces just aren't in my repertoire yet since everything I know is self-taught and I haven't had time to practice sugar techniques beyond basic pulled decorations. Maybe I was just raised to not touch things or tear stuff up, or perhaps I have an intrinsic sense for what not to touch. It just blows my mind that people will tear the hell out of a showpiece but not a croquembouche. I could understand them not touching either, but a showpiece and not the croquembouche?

I had heard that the Beaver Creek ordeal was a real mess, but I wasn't there since that was before I really got into pastry. I hope you found the parents of those kids and bent kid and parent alike over your knee and gave them all a spanking.

[ShaRae]

ShaRae--do you make any attempt to present things at different heights--to stagger some low, some on stands, etc?

I have cake stands and pie stands, different heights. I have a tall wire basket that I use for cookies, and other assorted baskets. Many types of platters. Sometimes I place pans underneath the cloth of the table to give platters a rise.

When I had made the gingerbread house to put on my dessert table, I had put a bowl of candy there also, so if someone wanted candy they wouldn't pick it off the house. Ha, like that stopped them. My tree and snowmen were gone in about 5 minutes.

I also make a gingerbread house at my home each year and my kids have never touched it. Of course all I have to do is give them the "look" and they back off.. In fact they always helped me to decorate it. Although it didn't stop the dog from getting it one year, he happily munched on it.

[nightscotsman]

The flip side of the showpiece thing is, of course, if you actually WANT people to eat them they treat the stuff like poison. During school we had some displays at Chicago charity events giving away chocolates made by students. When the chocolates ran out we invited, encouraged, even begged attendees to break off chunks of the chocolate showpieces and either take them home or eat them. Very few people were bold enough to go for it.

[mckayinutah]

(Jason--what kind of presentation strategies did you emply to keep the brulees and sabayon cold on the buffet?

Steve,

We didn't do anything to keep the brulees or sabayon cold on the buffet. Usually only 15 -20 brulees were put out on a tray at once, and they usually were gone within 30 -45 minutes, and the sabayon was just given more " fluff" by adding whipped cream. It usually was out for an hour or so.

To add, I had never done or presentated creme brulee or sabayon on a buffet, so it was basically a learning experience of some sorts for me. I actually have since seen brulees on other buffets and they were presented in somewhat of the same fashion.

Jason

[Matsu]

I work in a restaurant/bakery and we occasionally have small buffets for

private parties in the restaurant and for offsite catering. This is usually in

conjunction with hot food but the pastry buffet is setup on separate tables

from the savory food.

Everything is preportioned and I make several small platters of the same item

and replenish when empty rather than making one large platter. This keeps

everything neater because large platters can get messy as the evening goes on.

This also helps to keep 'cold things cold' until it is on the buffet table. Smaller

platters also allow for more variety as I am usually limited on table space.

For our Thanksgiving buffet, we had one buffet table just for breads and rolls.

I made different types of braided breads and bread dough animals, fish, starfish,

etc. for decoration. The rolls and sliced breads were preportioned in baskets

and cornucopias. People took the animals and whole loaves of decorative

breads from the centerpiece. There was nothing left!

They are lots of fun and very creative. On the flip side , lots of work and

planning since this is in addition to my regular work.

[mktye]

First off -- I am not a professional, but I do have some experience with dessert buffets in my own home.

My husband is military and every one or two years (depending on our rotation schedule) we host a Holiday Open House for his coworkers and employees. These parties have ranged in size from 50 to 350 people. I do all the baking myself and usually make from 2 to 3 dozen different types of cookies (bars, piped, crisp, soft, plain, decorated, etc.), candies and a few pastries if I am feeling particulary ambitious that year. The biggest thing I've learned is that people like to know what they are eating.

Yes, that means little signs. Usually, just a decriptive name of the item, but if that is not clue enough I put the predominent flavors in parenthesis under the name.

Maybe it is due to the conservative food tastes of our guests, but I've had items that were not touched one year and where totally devoured in subsequent years once they were identified. A memorable example: basic sugar cookie pinwheels with a dab of Nutella in the middle. I would not normally think of them as particularly threatening, but I guess people were worried about that dark blob of something -- is it chocolate or some kind of fruit?

Anyway, in today's world of special diets and food phobias, I think the general public likes to know for certain what they are putting into their mouths. Yes, the little bits of nuts, candied fruit or whatever garnish should be enough of a sign, but sadly, I don't think many people know enough about cooking to grasp that subtle hint.

[Matsu]

For inspiration I visit other bakeries, go to pastry shows, browse through books

and magazines, watch the food network, surf the web, talk to other pastry chefs,

vendors and purveyers. I also attend the national RBA (Retail Baker's Assn)

meetings when they are local and the regional CRBA (California Retail Baker's

Assn) meetings. I've gone to the World Pastry Forum competition for the last

two years and hope to go again this year. This is a great venue for inspiration

as many of the the top pastry chefs are in one place.

People do appreciate pastry buffets and it's a chance to try new things that

might end up on the menu.