On a Sugar-High Note

If last Saturday was a case of sugar overload, yesterday's last course at Palate Sensations would cause my Fitness First instructor to disown me all at once.

Made my way down to Portsdown Road after work. I was really looking forward to this class, as I love desserts and all things sweet. Admittedly, I'm more of a baker than a cook. There's always a delicate balance in baking, the precision in measurement and the chemistry of the ingredients put together all combine to give a very therapeutic experience. All sickness and grogginess were soon forgotten as I put on the apron.

I've always wondered how difficult it would be to make some of these classic French desserts. On the list, we had:

• Vanilla Creme Brulee


• Profiteroles


• Passion Fruit Souffle


• Chocolate Fondant

The light and puffy Profiterole, made from a small, round baked choux pastry, gives a mixed sensation from the coolness of the ice cream filling and the warmth of the chocolate glaze. Making the choux pastry was quite tiring, we left the vigourous stirring to our male team member. Heh. Piping the pastry out was not easy either. Whilst Francois' looked so beautiful, mine looked like shit, uh, literally. But the end result - shiok at every bite!!






The Passion Fruit Souffle was quite a challenge as well. Our first try failed - the batter consistency turned out wrong - the egg white mixture had to be as pure as possible.

So we were really happy when we saw our souffles rising proudly from our second attempt. Because everything had to be prepared a la minute and fast, we also better understood why the waiting time required whenever this dessert is ordered at the restaurant. The souffle turned out to be perfect - now, remind me to buy the Grand Marnier the next time I'm at duty-free - Grand Marnier Souffle would be so heavenly.....


Next, the Vanilla Creme Brulee. This one was pretty easy, though the torching requires some attention or you may end up burning the sugar. Mine turned out quite ok! So, should I get a torch for the Jemej kitchen next? ;)

In between, we managed to squeeze in some time to add the finishing glaze and touches to the Framboisier, the Raspberry Mousse Cake we made last week.




Finally, the highlight of the 3-hour lesson would have to be the Chocolate Fondant, also known as the Warm Chocolate Cake. My god, I swore my sickness was all cured as I sank my teeth into this rich, dark chocolate cake with a molten hot chocolate centre that oozed out.

This is one of the most decadent desserts ever, this is the QUEEN of all desserts. This one beats Mortons' HANDS-DOWN. Francois said this recipe has been used at his restaurant for 10 years, so it was all applause when he said he was now passing on the recipe to us. It was as if I made the discovery of a lifetime, apart from meeting my husband. I was all hyped up to go home right away to try it!


And thus, the entire 8 sessions of the Basic Cooking Course ended on a sugar-high......