Coffee, lemon and rice plated dessert by Rory Macdonald

In the book Bake, Rory Macdonald teaches the basics of classic recipes, giving detailed instructions and tips, since “once you have mastered the rules, you have the knowledge you need to change them. Once you know the rules, you can break them! ”. And even if you are an acclaimed chef, he ensures that there are always new things to learn and you must be open to experimenting.

In the book, the American pastry chef teaches over 100 new creative twists on classic French and international pastries, and goes through all kinds of pieces, from croissants to petit gâteaux, macarons, and cookings.

The chapter on plated desserts, “AfterDark”, is particularly striking. As he explains, “it isn’t like any of the other chapters. Many of the recipes contain multiple components, and some will call for a few ingredients that may be unfamiliar or new tools you may want to track down. ” Their goal, far from intimidating, is to inspire the reader to try new things, enjoy the ride, and take pride in the results. Many of the creations included in this section are designed as dessert tasting plates, perfect for sharing, and can be carried out in the home kitchen. He also confesses that “although I love all the desserts I make, the kind of recipes collected in this chapter are my favorite. The flavor combinations and execution push the envelope a little and some are just fun to make. And that’s what baking should always be — fun! ”. Below we share a sample, this coffee, lemon, and rice.

“Espresso with lemon zest is a typical Italian drink — a classic Italian flavor combination and my inspiration for this dessert, which layers a coffee cream and salted chocolate ganache with lemon sorbet to contrast with the richness”

A classic Italian flavor combination, espresso with a lemon zest is a typical Italian drink. This was my inspiration, the salt and crispy rice cracker give it another element.

Coffee, lemon and rice

10 serves

Coffee cremeux

150 g milk
150 g cream
65 g coffeee beans
75 g egg yolks
32 g sugar
125 g Jivara milk couverture 40%
11 g cocoa butter
50 g butter, cubed, cold
1 sheet gelatin

In small saucepan heat the milk, cream and coffee beans until just simmering, remove from the heat, cover with plastic wrap and steep for 30 minutes. Strain into a bowl and re scale – add additional cream to take the total weight back up to 300g. In an iced water bath soak the gelatin leaves. In a clean small saucepan add the coffee cream mixture and bring to a simmer. In a separate bowl, whisk to together the egg yolks and sugar, gradually add the hot coffee mixture, using a spatula, make a figure of motion stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Using your hands squeeze out the excess water from the gelatin and add to the custard mixture. Using a fine mesh sieve, strain hot custard over the chocolate. Using a hand blender, blend hot custard and chocolate together until smooth and glossy. Add the butter and continue to blend, until totally emulsified. Pour into 3 inch disc mold and freeze. Reserve until needed.

Coffee ganache

300 gcream
60 g coffeee beans
75 g milk chocolate Bahibe
125 g dark couverture Manjari 65%
35 g glucose
20 g butter, cold cubed

In a small saucepan heat the coffee beans and the cream until just simmering, remove from heat, cover the pan with plastic wrap and steep for 30 minutes. Strain and re-scale. Place the coffee mixture in a clean small saucepan, add glucose and bring to boil, pour over chocolate and blend with a hand blender. When smooth and glossy, add the cubed butter and continue to blend until the butter has been emulsified. Pour into 3 inch disc molds and freeze. Reserve until needed.

Lemon sherbet

20 portions

160 g cream
500 g milk
320 g freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 u fresh lemon zest
400 g sorbet syrup
20 g sorbet stabilizer

Using a hand blender, blend all ingredients – churn in an ice cream maker/machine.

Rice cracker

300 g basmati white rice
1 l water
Black sesame seeds

Boil water, add rice and cook until the rice is over-cooked. Strain out excess water, and blend in a vita mix, pass through a chinois. Spread out onto a silpat as thin as possible, sprinkle with black sesame seeds and allow to dry for at least 24-48 hours until it is completely dry. Fry in oil, strain on paper towels, season with salt.

Chocolate daquoise

25 portions

75 g butter
300 g 64% chocolate
300 g egg whites
105 g sugar
60 g yolks

Melt chocolate with butter over bain marie. Whip whites to soft peak. Whip yolks slightly. Fold in whites and then yolks. Spread onto trays and bake for 10 minutes for 350F. When cool, punch out 2 inch discs, and reserve.

Caramelized popcorn

50 g oil
115 g sugar
130 g popcorn kernals
Maldon salt to taste

Heat oil in large pot until starts to shimmer but not smoke. Mix the sugar and corn and add to oil. Stir until sugar starts to melt, when corn starts popping cover with lid and shake pot- turn heat down until popping stops, stirring occasionally. Spread onto a silpat, break up and sprinkle with salt.

Lemon tuile

3 u large lemons
1:1 simple syrup

Freeze lemons in freezer for 3-4 hours, until semi frozen – not frozen solid, but firm. Slice lemons on deli slicer #1 thickness, remove seeds as they beomce apparent, so you get perfect slices and they do not tear. Soak in simple syrup over night. Drain, and place in dehydrator overnight until crisp, store in airtight container.

Milk chocolate caramel tuile

200 g fondant
100 g glucose syrup
100 g Isomalt
50 g milk chocolate

Cook glucose, fondant, and isomalt to 160C. Cool to 120C and add chocolate. Pour onto silpat and cool completely. When cool blitz to a fine powder in the robot coupe. Using a tamis tap onto a greased tray and bake @ 350 until translucent, remove from oven and cut out 3 inch circles. Remove from tray and allow to cool, completely flat on marble. Store in airtight container until needed.

Montage

Place Daquoise disc in center of plate. Sandwich together the coffee cremeux and coffee ganache bottom to bottom together, place on top of daquoise centrally. Sprinkle with some flakes of Maldon Sea salt. Place milk chocolate tuile on top of ganache. Place random rice cracker on top of ganache, garnish this with the caramelized popcorn. Shape a small quenelle of lemon sorbet and place in one of the grooves of the rice cracker on top. Garnish with Lemon tuile and dark and white chocolate cigarette.