He Pelai restaurant (Hotel Catalonia Ramblas) launched a few weeks ago some creative pastry days in which he offered six desserts prepared by its pastry chef Claudio Ilundayn specially designed for the occasion and with a associated pairing. A paragon of originality that, beyond this initiative, can be seen and enjoyed every day of the year in this establishment because Ilundayn is a sweet crack. That’s why we asked for a few Tricks to turn our homemade desserts into something fun and creative.
“Think first about your favorite dessert, how you make it regularly, the ingredients, the preparations necessary to make it, the flavors and textures it has, and from there play with all this to make it different. Make a chocolate crunch or grate chocolate over the creams, mix in the coffee sponge cakes and the crunchies, use coffee or cream ice cream, play with the presentation… Surprise and have fun,” recommends the pastry chef.
Play with textures and flavors
“It’s about thinking, basically, what ingredients your dessert has: a sponge cake, a cream, a cocoa zest, a crunchy… And seeing if the flavor that corresponds to the sponge cake can be transferred to the cream, if the crunchiness is “You can make it creamier if you turn the plating around and place the flavor that was on top in another texture below… It’s about having fun, but with one premise: that when you try it, it continues to remind you of the original dessert.”
Change the presentation
“How do you present the dessert regularly? Is it flat, is it elongated? For example, you can give it height with different layers or make some kind of little mountain with a surprise of the same flavor in the middle so that there is also an element of surprise. The tableware It is also important: choose a plate with textures or one that completely contrasts with the dessert so that it stands out and enhances it visually. You have to see which plate fits that dessert or adjust that dessert to a plate you have… or. even present it on different plates! And it is not necessary to arrange it in the center: use the sides, play with the spaces of the plate…”.
Use fruit sauces, vanilla, chocolate…
“If, for example, you want to make a Red Velvet, which traditionally has a Red Velvet sponge cake with a cheese cream, you can add a raspberry or white chocolate sauce, something that gives it more life, more color, and which will also help the game of plate design.
Bet on the crispy ones
“Using crunchy ones means adding an element of surprise to a preparation that wouldn’t normally include it. But you have to see which one would go well. In the case of a ‘carrot cake’, for example, it could be a crunchy carrot cake; it’s about something that is related to the dessert but that normally would not be found with that texture in that same dessert.
Slightly alters flavors
“Your brain recognizes flavors, so you can play with the flavors in your head and bring them to the plate. It’s the surprise component. Herbs, spices to combine with jellies, mousses or chocolates… I use a lot of salty ingredients to mix them with sweets. For example, you can make a dessert with a strawberry sauce that incorporates red pepper, infuse a white chocolate sauce or cream with thyme, add salt or rosemary to the chocolate… It’s about adding surprise touches that They slightly alter the flavors but maintain the essence of the dessert. Look at the example of tiramisu with its sponge cake, its mascarpone cream, the coffee or liquor you use to hydrate it and the cocoa to cover it: make the coffee sponge cake, hydrate it with some syrup. coffee to enhance the flavor, and prepare a mascarpone cream and another whipped cream with amaretto liqueur and cocoa.
