It turns out that petits fours are extremely difficult to make, at least when you're a) incompetent and b) tired. Or, so I discovered when I made them as part of my fancy-pants valentine's day meal. Also, it is extremely difficult to pipe straight lines of chocolate icing onto a napoleon when your piping bag has ripped, and you're forced to use paper cones instead. Just for reference, since it's not obvious what I made, these are two kinds of truffles (Valrhona chocolate, covered in cocoa and in roasted almonds), and mini-napoleons, the making of which counts as one of the grand debacles of my cooking career to date.
To make up for these, I present some sweets I had on my last visit to Paris, a few weeks ago.
6 comments:
They look pretty good from a far, no? Did you like them? Better, did your girlfriend like them?
My girlfriend definitely liked them, yes! And they were still pretty nice, but it was just a disaster making them. Imagine spilled icing sugar at 2 in the morning!
Sounds like me last night making chocolate mousse. I spilled a full bowl of 300 grams of whipped cream all over my kitchen. Not a pretty sight.
Question for the closest thing I know to an expert: what do you think would be the ideal pastry for a wedding dessert? (I don't like the huge tiered cakes.)
Ach, PG, that's a really hard question. To start with, I completely agree with you as to tiered wedding cakes. Come to think of it, I have never eaten one other than out of obligation. Speaking personally, I would probably propose either sachertorte or Opera - more dense chocolate, less awful American buttercream. I would also be tempted by something financier like, which is to say based on almond flour. But let me think more.
Thanks for the initial suggestions. I love pastries but am lousy with names -- I don't think the caterer will appreciate descriptions like, "The one with lots of layers and cream in between, but do you think that will be too crumbly and messy? Does it keep well? Would it be boxable for people to take away if they're too full for dessert right then but would like a snack before bed?"
I think bridezillas are made by the slow eradication of common sense under a thousand tiny pointless decisions: the mental equivalent of Chinese water torture.
Post a Comment