bake - September 2014 - PAN37

CAKES AND DECORATING
nutrition and more than two-thirds
would like to see more fl avor variety,
this presents an opportunity to offer
more unique, high-quality offerings,
especially to younger consumers who
are more brand loyal and willing to
pay the price premium."
Mindy Segal, pastry chef and
owner of Chicago's award-winning
Hot Chocolate restaurant, shares a
creative idea for dessert sandwich
cookies that are dipped in chocolate.
"I try to think about ideas of
desserts like S'mores, and turn them
into sandwich cookies."
Segal recommends chilling sandwich
cookies after preparation to
make them easier to dip. "I dip them
in a chocolate that's appropriate to
the fl avor of the sandwich cookie."
USING A VARIETY OF
CHOCOLATE
Turning your bakery into a paradise
for chocoholics has never been
easier. With proper tempering, bakers
can use C'est Vivant couverture chocolate
to make beautiful bonbons and
truffl es.
"It also is a beautiful chocolate
for your own scratch mousses and
ganache," Skromme says. "Ganache
is a very popular item to use. We
have white, milk and dark ganache
that is bake-stable and ready to use
out of the bucket."
Also, chocolate chips and chunks
don't just to have to be for inclusions.
You can use them for decorations,
too, Skromme recommends.
Compound coating chocolate can be
used as a dipping chocolate without
having to worry about tempering.
"Chocolate can be used in a
very simplistic way, from a simple
chocolate chip muffi n, or you can
advance it to make a gourmet chocolate
donut," Skromme says.
C'est Vivant offers the finest
gourmet chocolate and pastry ingredients
for your signature creations,
such as indulgent pastries, cakes,
truffl es, or tarts.
One idea is spraying your cakes
with couverture chocolate to create a
velvet fi nish on the outside. Skromme
suggests using C'est Vivant dark chocolate
wafers and adding 50% cocoa
butter prior to melting together. Take
several frozen chocolate mousse cakes
out of the freezer and spray with the
couverture chocolate, using a standard
spray paint gun that is used exclusively
for your chocolate.
"Once you spray your cakes,
I recommend putting it back into
freezer for a minute or two to fi nely
set that chocolate," she says. "You
can add a variety of chocolate decorations.
Use a little ganache on the
back side to adhere the decorations
to the cake. Pipe a border and then
decorate the top."
In another creative suggestion,
bakers can use Westco® Sup-R-Whip
topping from BakeMark to make your
own whipped topping by just adding
cold water.
There is no need for refrigeration
or using up valuable freezer space.
"You can whip up what you need,"
Skromme says, "and you are ready
to go."
Westco Sup-R-Whip topping
adds a nice smooth shiny white
icing for cakes. It can be flavored
with purees or ganache, or you can
mix fi llings into it for a quick, light
mousse. "It's one of the most versatile
products that will save you time in
your kitchen," she says.
OTHER IDEAS FOR CHOCOLATES
To make your own artisan chocolate
candies, chef Jacquy Pfeiffer,
academic dean for student affairs for
The French Pastry School, offers
several helpful tips for making chocolates
with fruit fi llings.
"When you make your own
jam with sugar and fruit, reduce it
completely," he recommends. "If you
have too much water left, it will mold."
Invest in a brix refractometer to
measure the brix, or sugar content
of an aqueous solution, in your fruit
reduction. Pfeiffer recommends
reducing your jam to 60-62 brix.
"Let it cool to 89° F before piping
into the chocolate mold," he says.
"Then keep it overnight in a chocolate
room."
As you fi ll your chocolate molds,
tap the mold gently on your work
table to allow for settling. If you overfi
ll, Pfeiffer recommends placing a
sheet of parchment paper or plastic
wrap on top to take care of the
excess. Once fi lled, your chocolates
need to go into a chocolate room
overnight before you add a fi nal layer
of chocolate on top the next day.
The ideal storage temperature
for chocolate is between 59°F to
63°F, with a humidity that is less
than 50%. Chocolate easily absorbs
aroma and should be stored separately
from other foods, especially
those with strong aromas such as
herbs, spices, onions, garlic, and
meat. For this reason, dark, white,
and milk chocolates are carefully
and tightly wrapped, so as to avoid
absorbing moisture and other
foreign elements.
SEPTEMBER 14 | PANADERIA
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bake - September 2014

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