What made it such a good demo today was the fact Chef N shared a lot of little tricks of the trade with us. I have to say he's improved out of sight as an instructor. I am not sure whether it is because he's built up a great rapport with us (perhaps he hadn't done so when we were in Basic Pastry), or whether he's made a conscious choice to enhance his teaching techniques, or maybe a bit of both. Either way, I enjoyed the demo very much. I came away feeling most inspired.
The Pacific cake is essentially a mousse cake, consisting of a colorful Joconde biscuit on the outside and bottom (with multi-colored cigarette paste marbled on the outside of the Joconde biscuit), a bottom layer of strawberry mousse and a top layer of lemon mousse. It is glazed on top with a neutral glaze, and then decorated with fruits. The Pacific cake is supposed to make you think of a Pacific Island holiday...
I cannot resist sharing photos of Chef N's Pacific cakes here, because they were so artistically constructed. I'm sure you'd agree the cakes are almost too pretty to eat.
Chef N made this as a plated dessert. It was fascinating to see how he put this plate together. It was like watching an artist at work.
Chef N's round Pacific cake
Chef N's tear-drop shaped Pacific cake
I was still a little slow in my practical today, but I managed to present both the full-size cake and the plated dessert to Chef N, just a couple of minutes after he called "time". I was a little late mostly because the eleven of us had to wait our turns with the blow-torch (for unmolding the mousse cake from the cake ring).
Below are my full-size Pacific cake and my plated version:
Of course, my designs were a far cry from the Chef's, but I'm happy with them. A beginner like me should always keep it clean and simple until we build up enough confidence to take some risks. And as we are exposed to more and more designs or examples from the chefs, we can gradually incorporate those techniques to enhance our own presentation skills.
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PS. I dedicate my Pacific cake to my beloved sister L, just because it is such a pretty cake, and because she and I both love fruits (including the ones I used to decorate my cake with). I will make her a Pacific cake when I get home later in the year.
