[trulys]

Hi everyone,I'm been asked to supply desserts and pastries and such for an upcoming coffee house. Now the uniqueness is it is going to be part of a greenhouse.
the owners are up for something of quality and I think it should reflect the greenhouse in that the menue should contain a few items with flavors that are herbal or floral
such as Geranium infused pound cake. Now I've got a few ideas of flavor combos or flavors I would like to use such as Basil, Tarragon, Rose, Lavender,Orange flower water, Hibiscus etc. I was wondering if any one has any good ideas as well as recipes that I could use?
Thanx,TrulyS

[m brown]

Lavender Zabaglione
Candied Rose Petals/Flowers
Chocolate and Tarragon Ganach
Orange Water/Oil/Zest or Rose Petal Short Breads
Vanilla Geranium Brulee
Honey Financiers with HoneySuckle Flowers
Violet Dark Chocolate Ganach
Lassi Drinks
Flower Teas

Infuse Sugar Syrups, Ganaches, Oils, Creams, Anglaise, Ices, Cake Batter, Cookie Dough, Tea, Coffee and Cold Beverages with Flowers and Herbs!

There are flavor compounds made in France that work really well to give you a consistant, well balanced flavor.

this sounds like FUN!

[bluezebra]

Don't forget about the power of nasturtiums, violets, and johnny jump-ups. Great eye candy!

Speaking of candy: you could also do a line of chocolate truffles. The best in my opinion for a recipe is Alice Medrich's basic chocolate truffle. You can then use infused creams to flavor them and top them, once dipped or rolled with whatever flower or infusion is inside. They are easy peasy to make. Look beautiful and have a fabulous roi. Flavors that work great are:

orange
raspberry
Earl Grey
lavendar (too die for!)
rose
hibiscus (red zinger)
cherry

Those are all the ones I've tried. Infusing with teas is very popular these days.

[trulys]

Thank you, for your great ideas they sound fabulous, and yes Bluezebra, Alices truffles are the best in my opinion as well and i've been making her recipes with infused teas, herbs and flowers for a few years, chocolates are a division of my company.
trulys

[bluezebra]

trulys it is so fun to have affirmation from pros in the business that I'm on the right track so to speak in my own non-professional environment!!!

A question for you...do you temper the chocolate you dip your truffles in? I would think commercially you would just have to in order to avoid bloom, but Alice thinks untempered is best because of the explosion of flavor untempered chocolate immediately gives you when placed on the tongue...how do you handle that in a commercial environment?

[trulys]

Yes Bluezebra, i do temper my chocolates cause they keep better at room temperature in packages during my selling time, otherwise i'ld have to keep them refridgerated. I let the customers know if they are planning on saving them to refriderate them or freeze them. But i sell them fresh at the most 2days and most people eat them immedietly so if they were cold they wouldn't taste at their finest. Now my husband would rather have an untempered truffle more so because of the mouth feel i think cause as you sink your teeth into an untempered chocolate it becomes one whole package unlike the tempered ones were you bite into a hard crust then the soft center so you have two textures. Now my favorite is if you take Alice's cold creamy centers and have that inside a tempered outside so now you have a crunchy outside and an almost liquid center. Have you tried that? trulys