Constructing chocolate building blocks

A few images of the construction of our chocolate building blocks, they are back in store due to huge demand.

Flavours are Raspberry (Red), Lime (Green), Mango (Yellow) and Blackberry (Blue), all of the blocks have been topped off with the appropriate jellies and finished with our signature chocolate velvet spray.

Matheus, one of our senior chefs, is pictured putting the finishing touches to these desserts which are sold as a minimum block of four. For more information on these fun cakes and details on how to order please see our party cakes range by clicking here.

A couple of new desserts available now at Sweet Studio

Summer is in full swing here at the Studio and Christmas and New Year seems so long ago now, we have been working hard to create some special desserts for your summer entertaining.

Stone fruit have been sensational this year and to celebrate we have come up with a double peach and wild strawberry cake paired with our ever popular and versatile pistachio cake.
The sketch above shows the construction of the slice with moist pistachio sponge as a base and rose petal and strawberry jam is then applied before a layer of yoghurt sponge. Both of the sponges have our home made marzipan incorporated and the aroma when baking is amazing.

We try make this dessert in the smallest size batches as possible to ensure that the pastry kitchen has a regular supply of amazing baking smells for us to pump out into the retail area.

The yoghurt sponge is topped off with a luscious white peach set cream and then we puncture the cream with domes of blood peach & peach schnapps mousse. This is all then topped off with a silky smooth wild strawberry and white chocolate mousse and rippled for effect before finishing with our white chocolate velvet spray. The cake is then portioned and topped off with some strawberry clay and a peach and wild strawberry macaroon.

The sec on new dessert that seems to be very popular in the short time it has appeared in our cabinet is our Pineapple, Mango & Chocolate dessert. We are blessed here in Australia with the best of both worlds especially in Victoria in the summer as we have an abundant supply of berries, stone fruit and other summer treats. We also have the supply of exotic fruits from Queensland which include, unbelievable mangoes, pineapples and bananas.

This dessert highlights the exotic varieties of fruits using mango, pineapple and pairing them with coconut and chocolate.

I have discovered a really cool trick a while ago concerning preparation of pineapples. I have found that when making my spiced pineapple jam it is easier for the pineapple chunks to break down in the pan if the fruit has been frozen first. This technique has also brought about a surprising and versatile by product. After the pineapple has been cut into chunks it is placed into a non metallic container and frozen down in the deep freeze for a minimum of 24 hours. After this time it is removed from the freezer and placed into the fridge to defrost, this usually takes 36 hours depending on the quantity of pineapple flesh (I do around 25 pineapples at a time). A huge amount of clear pineapple liquor then appears from the defrosting fruit and I have to say it is an amazing ingredient to work with. The juice is very clear and has a great flavour to it, quite strong. I use the juice to make pineapple cream and jellies which garnish the dessert above. The construction of the dessert is as follows:
Coconut Sponge
Spiced Pineapple Jam
Mango Mousse
Quenelle Chocolate Mousse 64%
Burnt Pineapple Cream
Mango Curd
White Chocolate Velvet Spray
Pineapple Jelly
Chocolate Eyelashes
Mango Jelly Spheres
Fresh As. Freeze Dried Pineapple Chunks

We are working on more delicious desserts and now starting to test recipes for our dessert dinners in March as part of the Melbourne Food & Wine festival http://www.burchandpurchese.blogspot.com/2012/01/book-now-for-exclusive-dessert.html which is getting very close now. Hopefully you can stop by and have a sample of our desserts if you are on Chapel Street. See you soon, Darren

Book Now!! For an exclusive dessert degustation at Sweet Studio

We are very pleased to announce two very special dates for your diary. As part of this years 20th Melbourne Food & Wine Festival we are holding an exclusive dessert degustation dinner here at Sweet Studio on consecutive nights.

The night includes four of my newest dessert creations, matching champagnes from Gosset and a few surprises along the way. The studio will be reconfigured to allow seating in our kitchen with full view of myself and my team creating and plating some special dishes. We will be using fresh, seasonal ingredients and modern techniques that fuse "science with sweetness" and the menu will run from less sweet creations to a fuller dessert experience towards the end.

The night is intended to be informal, educational, fun and of course the most enjoyable food experience of the festival.

Number are limited to 40 per night and we encourage you to book early as quite a few seats have already been sold for both nights.

More information on this event can be found at the Melbourne Food & Wine page http://www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au/event/2873 but enquiries and bookings should be emailed to events@burchandpurchese.com with 'Sweet Revolution' in the header, alternatively you can call our direct line on 03 9827 7060

Dates: Monday 12th March & Tuesday 13th March 2012

Venue: Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio, 647 Chapel Street, South Yarra, Melbourne 3141

Price: $160 pp inclusive

Time: 8.30 pm until late

Dietary: Please note that due to the nature of the dishes created for these evenings, strict vegetarians or vegans cannot be catered for. Gluten free dishes can be created if we are notified at the time of the booking.

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you at Sweet Studio on one of these very special evenings.

Darren

Gas.tron.o.mad Magazine Issue 7

The latest issue of the excellent food publication Gas.tron.o.mad dropped into my inbox last week. It's free to view and you can subscribe to have the issues delivered to you when they are made available. I will be publishing links to the previous issues later on in this blog but for now here is issue 7.

Note: I do not have any affiliation with this company, I just enjoy reading and I wanted to share.

New Interactive Foodpairing Tree: Avocado

Here is another interactive tree this time focusing on 'Raw Avocado' as the ingredient of which you can match flavours. This tree and the data attached inspired our popular Avocado, mint, apple and cucumber dish available in at Sweet Studio. Have a look at the tree and see how we came to this conclusion.

New Interactive FoodPairing Tree: CUSTARD APPLE

Starting this year I will be uploading interactive FoodPairing trees from our friends at foodpairing in Belgium. As you may be aware I have been using this very helpful tool for some of my dessert and dish constructions. I am very happy to announce that I will be holding classes at Sweet Studio later on this year focusing on foodpairing and the possibilities in cuisine of using this tool. For now have a look at the ingredient matches for Custard Apple and start your own unique combinations. 

Cool video of Chef Jordi Roca presenting 3 of his desserts on Masterchef UK

Being from the UK I have been watching Masterchef for most of my life, it was no surprise when the phenomenon caught on over here in Australia (although the format was a bit different at the time). My parents back home keep me up to date with the UK version and I had to search for this piece of video when she mentioned Jordi Roca from El Cellar de Can Roca was on making some of his desserts. I have been lucky enough to have sampled all three and I can tell you they are amazing. 

REOPENING UPDATE - REVISED

Sorry! Whoops, we are now not reopening this Friday (06.01.12)!! A few unexpected jobs have come up for us since our post yesterday and because we are a small team we have decided to delay our opening to THURSDAY 12th JANUARY. We are sorry for anyone who was planning to visit but we promise to make it up to you xx

See you next week, and thanks - Darren & the team

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of our friends

Well the holiday season is now over and the doors to my Sweet Studio are reopening to the public this Friday (06.01.12). We will be running a limited cake cabinet for a couple of days as I try to get some new ideas and flavours together. I hope you all had a fantastic time over Christmas and I wish all friends of Burch & Purchese a Happy and healthy 2012.

This year is shaping up to be a very exciting time for myself and my team with the following events already in the pipeline:

• We will be holding dessert degustation dinners at Sweet Studio during certain times of the year, each with a theme or special surprise so keep an eye on this blog, twitter and Facebook for updates.
• A sell out Masterclass during the biggest Melbourne Food & Wine Festival yet
• The publication late in the year of a new book with some of the recipes, tip and tricks from Sweet Studio
• A complete redesign and new look of this blog with more interaction, recipes, photographs and stories
• Reworking of classic recipes and desserts in a new range of desserts in store, look our for new eclairs and choux - could be the next BIG thing?

All this and lots more, so while I get back to the kitchen to prepare for our reopening I hope you will keep an eye on this page and tell your friends about us.

See you all soon at Sweet Studio and have a Happy New Year!!