Advanced Restaurant Desserts Final!!

Advanced Dessert final! Well here goes... the final. Six components, one frozen, one sauce. We were allowed to use any components we've made during the quarter that was already in the freezer. But I was torn between playing it safe and easy vs. experimenting and trying out new things. I really wanted to incorporate lychee and coconut into my desserts--but I would have to make more components instead of using what was already made. I designed two options: Option A: Lychee gelee & Almond Blanc Manger, Coconut Frangipane, Coconut Sorbet, Mango Sauce, almond brittle

Option B: Carrot panna cotta, Orange Almond Cake, Cheesecake ice cream, Carrot glass/chip, Orange gelee, almond brittle (deconstructed carrot cake?)

For Option A, I would have to made the gelee, Blanc Manger, the sorbet, and the sauce. For Option B, I only have to make the panna cotta and the gelee. In the end...curiosity got the best of me. I chose Option A. And glad I did. I wanted the flavor profile of my dessert to include lychee, coconut, mango, and almonds. Something Asian, that hints at the coming of spring. An egg-shaped dessert would scream "SPRING IS HERE!" During Week 10, I made the lychee gelee, poured it into plastic Easter eggs, arranging a whole lychee (canned) in it. I made the blanc manger--twice actually. The first one didn't turn out as smooth as I had hoped, because I used almond meal. Second time, I used almond paste, and it turned out a lot smoother. Again, I poured the blanc manger into the Easter eggs. I made the base for the sorbet, and poured it into the ice cream maker. Now up to this point (I'm ashamed to admit) I've never made ice cream/sorbets. The main reason is because in my other classes, frozen components melted into soups by the time the instructor got around to critiquing the desserts. So I gingerly poured the base into the machine. Half an hour later--it turned into a creamy, coconutty sweetness! I scooped it into a container and put it in the freezer. During the week inbetween, I got into incorporating Chinese five spice powder into everything. It tasted great with carrot soups, pumpkin soups, apple pie...then I got this brilliant idea to putting it into my final project. So I tried it with almond tofu and lychee--and it worked! My project needed something to unite the flavors together, and this would work very nicely, I thought. The week flew by and it was time to plate. I checked the gelee and the blanc manger...they were nice and set. I dipped them into hot water, but it took me a good half an hour to get them unmolded. But I succeeded! All I had to make was the almond brittle and the sauce. I arranged the components on the plate, like I had sketched.

Lychee Gelee & Almond Blanc Manger, with Coconut sorbet, Mango sauce, Coconut frangipane. Instructor was quite impressed! He really liked the lychee, and thought that the addition of the five spice was a nice touch--said it "brought everything together". I scored very well, 98 out of 100! So that was the Advanced dessert final. I learned a lot, though I wish I could've learned more about the molecular gastronomy.