Archive for the 'Desserts' Category

Aria Chocolate Tart

Monday, 2 Aug 10

Hands up if you’ve ever thought to yourself: “How hard could it be to be a chef?” Maybe it was while watching Masterchef as a contestant was struggling to plate up on time. “How hard can it be, just get it on the plate!!” We all have, I’m sure. And there are so many bloggers who make it look fantastically easy. Photography with a serve of killing and wit on the side? Piece of cake. Working the plate? He could do it in his sleep. Whipping up insane creations by the ‘Patissier of Pain” Adriano Zumbo without breaking a sweat? These ladies have done it. By no means am I trivialising the work of these fantastic bloggers (this is more akin to hero-worship). They’ve worked insanely hard to get to the level of skill they are at, and there’s a long way for me to go before I can get anywhere near them.

Instead, today I offer insight into the life of the less perfect.

Allow me to present Exhibit A. Note the aesthetically pleasant coils of the printer cable in the background, and the misshapen attempt at an icecream quenelle as impatient hungry guests heckled demanded requested more icecream to counter the uber richness of the tart.

To your right, you can also see the printer, as well as too low an aperture setting. (This is when you ooooh.)

And here, in Exhibit B, you can see arranged lovingly in the background a collection of multi-coloured shoe boxes and a slice of tart cut less neatly than the former. And ugly lighting that really should’ve been rectified in processing. (Aaaahhhh..)

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Admittedly, despite the photography issues, I was quite pleased with the tart. It was relatively easy to make, once the trauma of coming home to a shattered Careme pastry shell had disappated (note to self: buy pastry weights and use enough baking paper to ensure rice grains do not contact tart shell and get stuck). I had been hesitant to make pastry from scratch, but with no other option, I sucked it up, and just did it. The pastry was a little too crumbly and dry, and probably not kneaded properly or rolled thin enough, but it wasn’t the end of the world, because it still tasted good.

*Chris has gained 21 xp points and can now use <ability> Tart Shell*

I was enamored  with the tart filling and chocolate glacage topping. Imagine chocolate so dark it teeters on the knife-edge of being too bitter, before being thrown a life rope by the glossy glacage, which reins in the bitterness with a little sweetness. They were surprisingly straightforward to make. From the dramatised pressure in Masterchef, I had imagined the tart component to be far more difficult, but I suppose without a massive clock in the kitchen and the judges telling me to get my tail into gear, I was cruising along ;)

Just in case you missed it last year, the recipe can be found here, along with a far more aesthetically presented plate. But I’m not a professional, not yet. I get stressed when guests heckle while I’m plating up 8 desserts, even when they haven’t actually finished their mains, I don’t know how to use my camera properly, especially under pressure or how to make a neat quenelle and I still have printers and shoe boxes in the background of my photographs. But I’ll just have to keep working harder to get there. And it’s the little challenges like these that make the journey (DRINK) all the more interesting.

Om nom nom. I still have filling and glacage in the fridge too, which I shall enjoy without taking photos and caring about aesthetics =D

Posted at 10:54 pm in Crumbs, Desserts | Respond?

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