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New Year's Eve Desserts Dec. 29-31
With great trepidation and excitement the event started promptly at 6pm and the guests began to arrive. I finally had all the parts of my desserts finished and an assembly line set up along the back counter of Gillie's restaurant, so I could bring together the desserts as the guests ordered them. All that was left to do was dive in and get creating.
The Menu
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Genevive
The first dessert offered was an almond genoise cake with a raspberry champagne buttercream, and frosted with a dark chocolate ganache.
The cake was delicately inserted into a pre-made almond and champagne sugar swirl and garnished with fresh raspberries. The sweet but tart raspberry flavor paired well with the light and fluffy texture of the whipped buttercream. Then the whole taste was finished off with a slight earthy balance coming from the dark chocolate. This dessert was served with raspberries floating in a glass of champagne.
What I was really excited about for this design was the interaction between the customer and the dessert. I watched the faces of the dinner guests light up with amazement and slight bewilderment as they wondered how they would even begin to eat it. I wanted to create a moment of uncertainty, then relief, once they realized they could crack the candy coating to get to the cake inside.
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Piper
The second dessert offered was a vegan pistachio pyramid cake with rosewater buttercream and caramel-covered pistachio spikes. It was topped with a gum paste rose petal.
The cake was baked in a large sheet pan and then cut very precisely into three inch squares for the bottom tier and one inch squares for the top. Rosewater frosting was carefully piped between the layers and was used as the glue to secure the top tier into place. The whole cake was dusted with a fine layer of pistachio crumble and confectioners' sugar before topping with the gum paste rose petal. Then the caramelized spikes were carefully placed leaning against the sides and corners of the cake to create a small pyramidal display.
When designing this cake I really wanted to celebrate the pistachio flavor and make it the star of the dessert. I liked the idea of a miniature tiered cake that would be left unfrosted on the sides to show the texture of the bake. Incorporating the soft touch of pink into the design with the petal placed delicately on top; I tried to pay tribute to the rosewater flavor of the frosting.
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Haley
The third and final dessert of the evening was a gluten-free honey pie with a pecan crust, topped with a basil-whipped cream and caramelized sugar cage. It was garnished with a fresh basil leaf and caramel sauce.
This honey pie was absolutely fantastic— a rich sweet flavor with a melt-in-your-mouth texture. Quite possibly my favorite of the three, the flavor and texture really resemble a British treacle tart (Harry Potter's favorite dessert). The basil-whipped cream was made by soaking fresh basil leaves in heavy cream overnight to impart their flavor and then straining them out the next day; then beating with an electric mixer until whipped. The whipped cream was then piped onto the pie with a star tip and then the pre-made caramel cage was draped the over top.
With this dessert I tried to elevate the best attributes that a slice of pie can offer. I included a flavorful crust that compliments the pie filling, a topping with a new take on the classic whipped cream, and a final crunch from the candied caramel cage. The herbal flavor of the basil paired so well with the natural sweetness of the honey, that I will definitely be studying this combination further. You know, for science.
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The event was an enormous success. I received many complements from guests who were amazed and delighted by the flavors and presentation of the desserts. After the initial orders came in, there were more— one after another and hardly a minute's break between. The event ran until 10pm to give the kitchen just enough time to clean up and try to make it out to see the ball drop. As the night wound down and the guests left, I began packing up what few left-over desserts I had, and I had time to reflect on the whirlwind of the evening as a whole.
Overall I was very happy with the reception the designs received. I would only want to make some minor changes to the desserts, things that I would call "cosmetic" changes. I would have liked the raspberries on the genoise cake to have been more secure in their placement on top of the cake. Perhaps the next time I make it I will pipe a bit of the not-quite-set ganache on the underside, to act as a glue to secure them into place.
On the honey pie I would have liked the pie color to remain a more golden color throughout, rather than the caramelized brown. Maybe messing with the temperature of the oven and giving it a lower and slower bake time would allow the honey to stay more golden yellow and look like toffee.
I had just enough time to wash all my dishes and pack away the food, before setting out to a local bar called Rivermill and raising a glass to the end of 2017. All and all, it was a great end to an otherwise difficult year, and the perfect place to start for 2018. Cheers! And a Happy New Year!
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