fine pastries with chocolate class

[makanmakan]

the pastries and chocolate class at northwest culinary succeeded in luring me into a class finally.

how could i resist?!! 2 evenings of chocolate!

reasons i wanted to take the class were

1) stuck in a baking rut

2) wanted to demystify certain techniques

the program, taught by chef marco, consisted of 2 nights of demos and hands on and the planned desserts were....

• pecan crusted molten chocolate cake, truffle honey

• chocolate espresso tart

• chocolate bourbon souffle

• chocolate raspberry mousse cake

• chocolate creme caramel & poached fruits

• French chocolate ice cream

really, i ask again, how could i resist?!!

i forgot my camera the first night. but what we accomplished were making the batter for the molten cake, and the truffle honey ganache that went inside of it. setting them aside to chill for the second night's assembly.

also, we made the chocolate espresso tart, the almond chocolate sponge cake for the mousse cake, and the chocolate creme caramel with caramelized fruits (which we got to devour that night).

sorry for the horrible picture but all i had was my camera phone!

the chocolate creme caramel with caramelized fruits and nuts, half devoured.

the second night, we arrived to a plateful of pretty chocolate truffles that the pro class had made during the day. never enough chocolate, i say!

first up was assembly of the chocolate molten cakes. sprinkling some crushed pecans on the bottom of the muffin tins, then a scoop of cake batter, and a ball of truffle honey ganache in the middle and sealed with more batter. the truffle honey ganache was by far, my favourite new combo.

cakes fresh from the oven

plated molten cake with vanilla sauce and raspberry coulis

next up was the assembly of the chocolate raspberry mousse cake. layers of the chocolate almond cake, made with marzipan, and chocolate mousse with raspberries sprinkled all over. so pretty, so yummy, so dreamy!

oh, by the way, here's the brilliant chef marco in action with one of my "need to have now" kitchen gadgets.....a copper bowl!

here's the finished chocolate espresso tart. whole.....

and halved. notice the layer of chocolate sweet crust, the milk chocolate and espresso filling, and the dark chocolate ganache on top. this was my favourite dessert that we made.

and finally, our chocolate rum souffle fresh out of the oven! aren't they purrty?!!

and plated with the french chocolate ice cream made fresh that night!

the souffle was moist and had a deep chocolate flavour. i have to say that having this on their menu was what drew me in. always have been a little scared of making souffles. we've all heard the scares and frights! now, i'm not so scared. and i have a list of "things i now need" that will make a dent in the wallet, not withstanding the complete pro kitchen i'd like to take home with me!

i loved this class. it was fun, simple and not to mention, delicious! chef was a great teacher, and made the class very accessible and fun. i loved this class so much that i'm signing up for the serious foodie class (jan 23 session) next week!

i think i'm going to raid the fridge for the leftover tart now

[Ling]

Everything looks wonderful!

[D90]

Everything looks great good job.

This may be a stupid question but what is the benift of a copper bowl?

[Ling]

^Copper heats up and cools down really fast, so it's easier to whip cream (or egg whites?) by hand with a copper bowl. (I think I read this somewhere...)

Edited October 31, 2005 by Ling (log)

[lemon curd]

At the risk of getting off topic...a copper bowl actually makes the whipped egg white less likely to denature/break due to a reaction with the copper. Scroll down partway in this eGullet thread for more details (the explanation is just after the picture of the whipped egg whites).

Edited October 31, 2005 by lemon curd (log)

[fud]

OMG. And to think this class happens in the same room as my cooking class. Maybe chef marco should bring some desserts to class tomorrow

Did he tell you guys what kind of chocolate he used?

[makanmakan]

D90, yup, lemon curd was right regarding the copper bowl. there is a chemical reaction when you use it to whip egg whites resulting in higher volume. big meringue! i decided to try it out when i could while the rest of the class used the kitchen aids and it really worked! sore arms, but big meringue

fud, lol, try bringing something back there to trade with the pastry class, you might have some luck!! as for the chocolate, we used cacao barry all the way through.

Edited October 31, 2005 by makanmakan (log)

[Ling]

^Cacao Berry cocoa too?

[makanmakan]

yup, i believe so