Baking 211 Day 1 Advanced Patisserie Techniques (Plated Desserts)

Today was possibly the best day of class so far. It was our first day of the plated dessert rotation. Each student got a "mystery basket". Each "basket" (it was really a half sheet pan) had three different flavors in it. Each student was instructed to come up with one plated dessert using all of the flavors.

My basket contained almonds, strawberries, and dark chocolate. Today showed me just how much I have actually learned. At first, I was a little stressed about the whole mystery basket thing, but I had a blast! It really surprised me.

I chose to make a Chocolate Genoise (Chocolate Sponge Cake) with Almond Mousseline (kind of like almond whip cream). I maseraded the strawberries in a bit of almond extract and sugar. I used the juice the strawberries made to soak each layer of chocolate Genoise.

It turned out pretty good. It was very almondy.

Even though it needs a lot of work, I got a lot of compliments on the plate.
Tomorrow we are working with chocolate! We are learning more sauces and garnishes. =)