30 May 2011

Event Information: Starlight Foundation 5 Chefs Dinner Melbourne

We are extremely proud to have been asked to participate in this years prestigious 'Five Chefs' Dinner at the Grand Hyatt in Melbourne. The event is organised by the Starlight Children's Foundation of Australia as a means to raise funds for this important charity. This years dinner will be held on 16th June and we are honoured to be included in an amazing chef line up.


Chefs Line Up 2011

Dan Hunter - Royal Mail Hotel
http://www.royalmail.com.au/Pages/Food___Wine/People.aspx

Frank Camora - Movida
http://www.movida.com.au/

Shane Delia - Maha
http://www.shanedelia.com.au/

Jason Camillo - Grand Hyatt Melbourne
http://fivechefs.org.au/?page_id=224

Ian recently cooked for and attended a special preview of the menu for a selection of food media as a launch to the event. The food was spectacular and you can read a review of the lunch here on respected blogger Melbourne Gastronomes page:

http://www.melbournegastronome.com/2011/05/starlight-five-chefs-gala-dinner-2011.html

The dessert we have devised is fairly simple in execution to cope with 500 diners but complex in flavour profile, we have opted for a clean finish to a beautifully balanced meal. We are preparing a white chocolate mousse with yoghurt sponge and spiced pineapple with a pineapple & Vietnamese mint Jelly. An image of this can be found on the blog link above but we will take pictures on the night.
We are looking forward immensely to this dinner and hope that our dessert and auction prize on the night goes some way to helping those who need it.

http://fivechefs.org.au/?page_id=104

26 May 2011

We Have A New Website! Visit www.burchandpurchese.com


Quick update, we are pleased to announce that we have a new website up and running. It features cake images from our current range plus pdf downloads of our product range and cake menu. It also has a link to  our You Tube page, Facebook & Twitter plus essential info on Sweet Studio. We will still be continuing with this blog for more in depth information on events etc but we will load the web page regularly with details on our upcoming cooking classes and other exciting stuff. Thanks to Robert Foster on his work, he can be contacted via his blog http://refactored.com.au/blog or through his Twitter page Robert Foster http://twitter.com/#!/robertjf72 Thanks to all for your continued support, the Sweet Studio is going from strength to strength and we are close to announcing some more exciting news in the near future, but for now we hope to see you at 647 Chapel Street sometime. Ian & Darren

16 May 2011

Event Summary: Food For Thought - National Stroke Foundation



We were fortunate and honoured to have been asked a while ago to present the dessert course at the National Stroke Foundation's annual fundraising dinner, 'Food For Thought'. This event occurred last week and we were in the company of some talented chef's and saw some amazing food being prepared for around 250 guests who were there. The night was to raise awareness and funds for such a worthy cause and we were happy to donate our services and hope that we helped in a small way to improving a sad situation. Our course which were prepared and presented on stage was in the same vein as one of our cakes in our collection. We made a 60% Kendari Chocolate Mousse infused with Tonka bean this had a liquid caramelised pear centre and was velvet sprayed and finished with a hazelnut crumb, chocolate twigs and pear jelly as well as our version of 'Nutella'. The service went smoothly and the feedback was great so thanks to all that attended and enjoyed. Some generous guests also 'won' an exclusive afternoon tea experience for four people at Sweet Studio worth $500 in the live auction for charity. We can't wait until we whip up something spectacular for these people and we will let you know how it goes. If successful we may start a weekly afternoon tea experience at Sweet Studio for our customers so watch this space. We will leave you now with the menu and links to the respective other chefs involved of whom it was an immense pleasure to work with.

National Stroke Foundation - http://www.foodforthoughtmelbourne.com.au/

MENU

'Old school eggs'                                                      
Scott Pickett, The Point
http://www.thepointalbertpark.com.au/restaurant/chefprofile.php


Superfood Salad, quinoa, Mt Vikos feta, avocado & broccoli                                                
Nathan Johnson, The Millswyn
http://www.themillswyn.com.au/


King Salmon, verbena, cucumber, cauliflower  
Michael Fox, Cecconi's Cantina
http://www.cecconis.com/


Roasted chestnut gnocchi, black leek, mussels, prawns & shellfish oil
Riccardo Momesso, Sarti
http://www.sartirestaurant.com.au/


Wagyu Wellington, wild mushrooms & truffle jus
Mathew Macartney, Chateau Yering
http://www.chateauyering.com.au/dining-chef.asp

Sweet Studio Cake Cabinet: Mango, Toffee, Almond, Chocolate & B&P Spice Blend



This is the second in a new series highlighting the offerings in our cake range, we are committed to providing the details of all of our creations in order for us to quickly convey to our customers the intricacies of the cakes on offer. Again we have produced an individual version of a larger cake so that you could purchase a couple for an intimate gathering or invest in a larger one for a dinner party of 8 people. This post focuses on our Mango, Toffee, Almond, Chocolate & Spice creation. It has lots of interesting texture contrasts and flavours (not least our special spice blend) and is finished in our signature chocolate velvet spray.

The components are as follows: (bottom to top)

  • Almond 'Drunken' Sponge
  • B&P Special Spice Blend Syrup
  • Mango Mosaic Jelly
  • Spiced Toffee Cream
  • Crunchy Spiced Kendari 60% Chocolate Wafer
  • 60/40 Smooth Chocolate Mousse (Nayarit Milk 37% & Kendari Dark 60%)
  • Chocolate Velvet Spray Finish
  • Almond Microwave Sponge Dehydrated and Sprayed In Chocolate
  • Phial Mango Streusel
  • Phial Spiced Syrup
This cake is perfect for the cold weather already upon us here in Melbourne with the spice blend particularly seductive and warming. We prefer to blend our own spices in order for us to achieve the absolute precision in the taste of our creations. We have created two general use spice blends, a Garam Masala and a Christmas spice which we will be retailing very soon in the studio as part of our 'Pimp up your pud range'.

We hope that if you live in the Melbourne area that you can come down and see us and we look forward to providing you with a real chocolate treat for your next dinner party or gathering. 

05 May 2011

Sweet Studio Cake Cabinet: Coconut, Passionfruit, Ginger & Mint



This post is the first in a series of spotlights on some of our most popular desserts in our cake collection. Things have been pretty hectic since the opening of our studio a couple of weeks ago and we have been receiving loads of great feedback on our range. One of the cakes that has really caught our customers eye is our Coconut, Passionfruit, Ginger and Mint creation, it is texturally enticing and the presence of four bold flavours really works together. As always with our creations there are multi layers of components which all come together to make a whole.

The components are as follows: (bottom to top)

  • Salted Oat & Ginger Crumb
  • Passionfruit Curd
  • Coconut Caviar
  • Passionfruit Jelly
  • Coconut Mousse 
  • Crunchy White Chocolate (Chocovic Jaina 31%) & Mint Wafer
  • Coconut Mousse
  • Brilliant White Velvet Spray
  • Mint Chocolate Blush
  • Ginger Macaroon With Passionfruit Curd
  • Mint Jelly
  • White Chocolate 'Coconut'
Our cakes are presented in two sizes, large 18cm (8 persons) or individual, this is the same with the entire range and we also retail some of the individual components and ice creams and sorbets to complement so that you can 'pimp up your pud' at home. What we mean by this is that you can recreate quality restaurant style plate ups at home to really impress your dinner party guests. 

We really are enjoying life in our new home and our creative juices are flowing, we will run with the current cake range for a while but we are working on some new techniques and flavour combinations for the future ranges. We will highlight all of the cakes in the cabinet to record our work and allow you the reader to be fully up to date when you visit the Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio.