In a previous post about cakes I made once upon a time I mentioned a photo album I foisted upon the unfortunates who happened to be in my home for more than five minutes. Recently I scanned in some of the photos from that album so I could share them with the hapless few who, by mistake or by design, end up at Cake and Commerce.
These are desserts I made when I was the pastry chef at Restaurant Sent Sovi, David Kinch's first restaurant, in Saratoga California. The plates were, believe it or not, the height of fashion at the time. Hard to believe that in 10 short years these plates - and some of the symmetry and saucing - would look as anachronistic as big shoulder pads and sun dried tomatoes.
Ice Cream Sandwiches with hot fudge
We already had an ice cream sandwich on the menu - I took the idea and dressed it up a bit with two layers of ice cream, a smaller size, and lots of gooey sauce. I suspect these were very hard to eat. Another dessert I'd add to the "good idea, bad execution" list.
The "Cappuccino Cup" - a shortbread cup, filled with two kinds of mousse.
I developed this dessert after having Nicole Plue's amazing shortbread and mousse dessert at a rather well-known San Francisco restaurant - I'm not able to remember the name of the place right now. I took the idea, turned the shortbread into a cup, complete with a tempered chocolate handle, and topped it with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. It was tasty. It was slightly too complex, however, and I sometimes struggled to get my mousse prepped in time for service.
Malted Chocolate Stonehenge
It wasn't called Stonehenge on the menu, but every time I look at this I think, "ah, that looks like Stonehenge." I was obsessed with ingredients like malt, chicory, palm sugar, pastis, and fennel. This chocolate cake had minor textural contrasts - snappy tempered chocolate pieces, soft buttercream, whipped cream, and malted chocolate cake. It was more homey than elegant. But it was damn tasty!
Chicory Cake with two kinds of buttercream and house-made sorbet
I loved this cake and the chef let me change its shape from time to time. Based on a recipe by Michel Bras, a French chef operating an auberge in the Auvergne, this dessert used hickory to flavor the flourless cake layers and was filled with a bitter chocolate and hickory mousse. I made the sorbet from tangerines and candied the skins and froze them to make small, attractive cups to hold it in place. I also candied kumquats, which must have been in season when I took this picture.
New Years Eve, 1997: Cherry Chocolate lava cake with White truffle & Port ice cream
The white truffle & Port ice cream was the bane of my existence. I usually didn't make ice cream in-house - we didn't have an ice cream maker and it was hard to make it by hand without significant ice crystal formation. But for that New Year, we did exactly what every other restaurant with a fine dining reputation did - we served a truffle-themed menu, and our ice cream supplier wouldn't supply just a few quarts of our one time only ice cream. Chef wanted me to come up with a white truffle dessert, with the caveat that I would have to use white truffle oil rather than real truffles. This was heart-breaking - truffle oil is foul and there's very little that masks its flavor in the sweet world. I found that Port - not necessarily vintage - tempered the fakey truffle flavor just enough in the ice cream to make it subtle rather than the focus of the course.
In 1998 I moved to Atlanta to work at the Four Seasons's pastry shop. In the beginning I was allowed to make nightly specials - something the chef quickly discontinued for reasons unknown to me, but I suspect ego played a large part. Here's one of the more memorable desserts I made - rather unusual considering the year.
Earl Grey-Chocolate Cake with Orange Earl Grey Ice Cream
What I really liked about this dessert was how it looked jet-age and 80s at the same time. Chocolate, tea, orange - those were the unifying flavors, obvious though they were. At the Four Seaons I took over ice cream duties and was responsible for all the ice cream we served, including this one, made with a base of Earl Grey Tea and orange ice cream and swirled with chocolate fudge.
The colors were a little limited - orange and chocolate, with a hint of white in the ice cream and tuile - as I had rejected mint garnishes sometime during my time at Sent Sovi. Mint. Gah. Thankfully, the most offensive dessert trend of the 90s, garnishing everything sweet with mint sprigs, regardless of flavor, seems to have fallen off the radar.
No mint garnish. Ever. Unless it is part of an edible diorama.
