A little south of the border....

For some reason today it seemed like a good idea to make Cilantro Lime Pate de Fruit. I have a stock pile of ideas that I would love to try when I am at work and I think actually what I was going to do was lime and cumin, but when I talked to my boss about it...cilantro came out. Either way, in my opinion, as long as it is not the usual one flavor stuff that the current girl on this station usually does. Which really comes down to a lot of mango and strawberry, because that is the easiest and doesn't require actually thawing out frozen fruit or making your own puree.

The end result is quite piquant. The flavor of cilantro hits your tongue first, followed by the sour of lime, followed by more cilantro. All in all I think it kind of reminds me of ceviche or something else I can't quite put my finger on. It is interesting, because it is so incredibly powerful, the two flavors are together yet separate. I highly recommend trying it at least once. I think I will put this in my back pocket for later, perhaps for use in chocolate candies with something else, or even as a complement to an appetizer.

Cilantro Lime Pate de Fruit
Key Lime Juice 1K
Cilantro 57g
Sugar 1450g
Pectin 26g
Glucose 150g
Citric Acid 8g

Take 400g of puree and the cilantro and put in a robocoup or blender and blend until cilantro starts to break up. Strain and add this plus the remaining liquid into a large heavy bottom pot. Combine 1/2 of the sugar with the pectin, mix well (if this is not mixed well the pectin will form balls that do not dissolve when it hits the liquid).

Put the puree on medium heat and with a thermometer (I use digital) cook until it registers 40C. Slowly whisk in the sugar and pectin. Bring the puree to a boil and add the glucose and the remaining amount of sugar. Continue cooking while stirring continuously until the thermometer reaches 106C. Take this mixture off of the heat and add the citric acid.

At this point you can either pour this into a small metal disposable baking container, usually 9X9, or you can pipe this, using a sauce gun into flexipans. Let cool until set. Cut or unmold your pate de fruit and coat with white sugar.

*Sorry no photos today, I didn't get a chance to bring my camera to work.

Pictures from Chocolate Competition

I have posted these other places: facebook, myspace, ect. I thought to include them here, because I am working on an upcoming showpiece for Mother's day and I am looking for inspiration. Since it is spring that usually means flowers, hearts, and all things girly. Shoes, lipstick, and hats seems to be other things that pop up. I am leaning toward flowers.


I think this was the first time that I have ever made a chocolate flower so intense. I used the airbrush at the shop and it has a tendancy to spray a little more coarse than I would prefer. I am looking for the base to mine in order to start practicing at home. I will also have to order some decent cocoa butter colors. Different brands seem to spray a little better than others. It was a good experience. I have learned that I need to wear about five layers of gloves to properly work with tempered chocolate because my hands seem to be too warm (or I sit with a bowl of ice water next to me).

We did rolled chocolate last year for the competition, which involves chopping couverture through the robocoupe and rolling it out with your hands and smoothed out with a piece of cardboard or something with a smooth clean surface. My job was simply to warm the chocolate up with my hands so that it created a cohesive ball. Someone else had to roll it out because it kept melting whenever I touched it.


Every year it is something new. I was thinking this time for Mother's day about doing a pastillage bird house with sugar flowers and ribbon. Practice, practice, practice.

Constant Cycle

Does this ever happen to you? I made the Devil Dog cake and have two yolks left over. They sit together in a plastic container. Two little yellow round buddies just waiting to be useful. (The husband can't stand it. "You never use those." he exclaims. "Let's just have scrambled eggs.") Perhaps leaving those yolks in the refridgerator to dry out and mold was the old me. However, I am starting to try to be better about creating new things. Those two little yolks are like a promise of things to come. It's like sunrise and flowers in spring! (the round yellow ones anyway)



I am now pouring over recipes. What to make? A curd? A tequila lime pound cake? Better yet...ICE CREAM!? I have just come across a wonderful recipe for butterscotch pudding. I have made pudding before at the last job I had and it was amazing. Better than amazing...superb, fantastic, phenominal! It was gone before I knew it, with people asking for more.

What is better than making butterscotch pudding? The fact that it calls for four yolks and I have only two! Which means that there is a possibility of something tomorrow with two whites....a constant cycle of wonderment. WHAT TO MAKE?!

All Things Brunch

Brunch is served every Sunday from September to May in one of the restaurants at my hotel. The product list is generally the same.

1. Cheesecake (any choice either a white or a chocolate).
2. White Cake (if cheesecake is white only one of these.)
3. Chocolate Cake (if cheesecake is chocolate, we only do flourless).
4. Flourless Cake (constant).
5. Baked Item (doesn't matter what it is but it must be baked).
6. Brulee (white or "dark")
7. Pannacotta (white or "dark")
8. Petit Fours (two types, almost always a version of an opera)
9. Cookies, chocolate dipped strawberries, toffee, white/dark truffles.

What bothers me about the list? This week I made a guinness stout cake, it's brown, but does not contain any form of chocolate. However, because it is brown it goes in the chocolate category...because it's brown.

The same goes for brulee and pannacotta. It has to be white or dark? What is that? Why not just make something that is tasty and in season? No, white or dark. Which limits me greatly on the number of flavors that I can make dark: chocolate, nut, coffee, tea (which he hates and ridicules me everytime I pick this, as I have a love for chocolate and earl grey together.) Yeah, I'm still trying to find more "dark" stuff.

I would love to come up with items that are new and different for this list and I try every week. This becomes a problem though, because the person who works production with me has decided that they don't want to make stuff that they don't "like to eat." Which to me is the stupidest most limiting thing you can do to yourself when you are a chef or a cook.

This holds true especially when you aren't even going to get to eat any of the product you make! For example: Bananas make me physically ill, I love them, but they make me vomit, quite literally. That does not stop me from producing a cake that includes them as a carmelized layer between a peanut butter cremeux and a chocolate bavarian. The combination is so incredibly phenominal! How can I keep someone else from enjoying something so lovely?

My brain is overloaded with ideas and the desire to make something that will better my skills. I would like to at least attempt things at work, even if they do not turn out, the process of learning about flavors and techniques are important. This week, for example, I learned that when you forget to put the baking soda in a guinness stout cake (because the phone will not stop ringing), the cake will still rise and the texture is completely soft and without the gummy texture of the proper recipe.

This week while attempting to branch out and do things that I haven't done for an age, I made raspberry mousse coated in chocolate glaze on vanilla short dough. The mousse was extremely tasty, strong raspberry flavor not masked by the addition of too much sugar. It could use an extra sheet or two of gelatin to make sure that it will last for a few hours at room temperature for next time. I could also use a little more practice placing the mousse on the cookie so that it looks a little cleaner, but all in all I think that it turned out alright.

I also made a sliced apple tart. Short dough on the bottom, almond cream, and sliced apples with a liberal shake of cinnamon sugar. I like the look of the apple tart. I find the tart elegant and it looks like it took a good amount of time to make even though it really does not.

Perhaps I need to press my hand a little when it comes to making things that would be better than what we normally serve. I think that I sometimes take a back seat to the other people in the shop, because my ideas have been pushed aside as too complicated or something out of the ordinary for the people who live here. I would not only like the opportunity to "play" and practice my skills, but to push people to try things that are more elegant and taste better than the product that we inevitably serve every Sunday.

Devil Dog Cake

I have been wanting to make a dark cake that is incredibly rich. I found the recipe for this cake on Epicurious. I have never heard of a devil dog cake but it sounded and looked intriguing.

The batter for this cake was extremely dense, so much so that I had to force it to the edges of the pan. It took awhile for the cake to bake, but it came out moist and absolutely amazing straight from the oven. I couldn't help but sneak a small smackerel.

The frosting is a simple swiss meringue and for the first time I didn't actually use my own power to form the meringue itself. I found an electic hand mixer in the back of one of my cupboards and after dusting it off will probably not go back to doing much without it ever again.

All in all, I think that the cake is best served while still warm and I would add a little fleur de sel in some fashion either as a salted caramel sauce or a salted caramel ice cream. The meringue was a little too sweet for my taste, but did compliment the cake's bitterness.