Simon Food Favourites: Chef Dom

05 September 2010

Chef Dom's Croquembouche (11 August 2010)

Croquembouche heaven

I feel very privileged where I work for many reasons but when it comes to a farewell afternoon tea for a couple of work colleagues the whole office is in sugar heaven with the amazing efforts of Chef Dom who creates a beautiful croquembouche for the occasion. The intricate spun sugar surrounding the croquembouche was completed only a couple of hours beforehand so it had a good chance of surviving any melt down on it's way to the office. The base was an edible ginger biscuit and the sweet scented jonquils completed the spectacular look. I would probably never attempt such a cooking feat so I'm glad to be working with someone who has the patience, courage and cooking skills whose willing to share his accomplishments with others. There was more than enough to go around the office and now the benchmark for afternoon teas has been set it an all time high.

31 July 2009

Meltdown of Adriano Zumbo Chocolate Mousse Cake: Masterchef Recipe (31 July 2009)

Super High Sugar Hit

Are we all sick and tired of hearing about the Adriano Zumbo Chocolate Mousse Cake yet?

As someone passionate about food I'm always keen to taste new things but making it myself is another story. I'm a keen supporter of the 'you cook it and I'll eat it' philosophy. While I wait to see if I'm a lucky lottery winner to buy one of the $90 limited edition cakes from Adriano Zumbo Pastisserie I thank my lucky stars that I work with Chef Dom who attempted the cake recipe over 2 long nights of preparation. I believe it was a very challenging recipe as EatShow&Tell, Tasted By Two, I'm Hungry Too and I'm sure many others have realised but I thankfully reap the benefits of Chef Dom's hard labour. He only had square tins and ran out of time to do the white tempered chocolate curls. His first attempt at the caramel failed and found some of the recipe ingredients hard to obtain.

The final appearance of the cake looked sadly like a bit of a chocolate car crash which was slowing melting away which Chef Dom was not happy with but the first slice revealed a perfectly layered cake worthy of Masterchef judging. Chef Dom did a great job and pleased the lucky few that sampled his amazing efforts. The taste of ginger throughout the apple tatin was excellent and helped to break up the heaviness of the chocolate taste and all the flavours including the caramel seemed to work very well together. A small slice was more than enough to get me bouncing off the walls with a sugar high.

If you can't be bothered trying to make it yourself, don't know anyone that will make it and didn't win a chance to buy one from Adriano Zumbo Pastisserie then try the Concorde cake from Bacco which I promise will deliver a satisfying chocolate hit as well.

The Cake aka The Chocolate Car Crash