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dessert question

post #1 of 4
3/11/04 at 8:05am
Thread Starter 
hello,

i have my dessert final tonight in classical french class and got a question. my plan is to make a white chocolate mousse or a vanilla bavarian cream, and place it in a mold. my question has to do with what i turned in last week as my req. sheet from the storeroom. put on the spot to turn it in, i was originally going to do an apple tartetatin. so i got apples coming to me and ingredients to make a dough of some sort.
now i'm not experinced in the dessert area yet. but this is what i was thinking. i would make a dough of some sort. i was considering making a choux paste and piping it out, in a very thin layer so that it wouldn't rise too much and be unlevel, into disc shapes and baking it off. i would then place my molded mousse or cream on the center of the disc. now with this paste, can i change the flavor of it to make it more dessert like? i dont want to mess around with the composition of it too much and have it not come out. i was considering a small amount of flavored syrup when i add in the egg. my other concen is the hold up of the disks after baked. does anyone here think they will collapse from the weight of the molded substance on top? this is an timed practical so i dont have the time to make a puff pastry dough.
i would of course finish it off with some sort of topping. probably use the apples sine thats what i originally requested.

thanks for the time in reading this.

-robert
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post #2 of 4
3/11/04 at 8:28am
Thread Starter 
alright, i'm back. i think i may have been jumping ahead of myself here. now when molding the mousse, do i need to spray the insides of the mold so the mousse won't stick to it? i can't ask the teacher these questions because it is my practical and since i'm changeing my original game plan, i'm on my own. i was just looking through the book (professional baking) and i didn't see any indications of how to go about molding the mousse or cream. it just says place in mold. i just dont know how it will work when i remove the mold. will it loose its shape from sticking to the sides of the mold?

i understand i'm late in asking these questions since the practical is tonight, but even if i decide to play it safe and go with the original idea, i'd still like to know how to this whole mold thing works and try it in the future.
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post #3 of 4
3/11/04 at 8:59am
Lots of good questions here.

The best way to unmold a mousse is to chill or freeze it in the mold, and warm the outside just slightly until it slides out of the mold. Spray will not help you in any way.

Since your class is focused on CLASSICAL French, I wouldn't stray too far from what is classical, so while it is possible to add other ingredients to a choux paste, don't choose this time to play around with the formula. Use what you know, and you'll produce a much more classical product.

Don't think too hard, or get too creative with ingredients. Your instructor is most likely interested in whether you can grasp the tenets of French pastry; not whether you can expand on them. The apples, being the most intense flavor on the plate, really have the potential to shine, so make sure they are perfectly cooked and flavored.

Use your imagination in how you plate the dessert. Remember that texture and temperature count for a lot, as well as color and composition.

In the future, if you have any other pastry questions, please post them in the pastry forums. I look forward to hearing more from you there!
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post #4 of 4
3/15/04 at 4:50pm
In general, you should stay away from trying to be too creative. Concentrate instead on good technique. This means making a good textured bavarian, serving the proper size portion, making sure the sides are smooth or covered with some kind of garnish (nuts or something) making sure you strain your sauce, making good cuts for your garnishes, etc. The choux paste disk is risky because there's almost no such thing as a "proper" choux disk, get my drift? Some instructors will use a creampuff as a benchmark, some might use a meringue. Who knows?!?

Kuan
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