Wedding Plated Desserts

For the last  wedding of the  season, I made these assortment of mini desserts. The couple decided on doing a plated dessert instead of having a wedding cake on their big day. I like the idea of offering guests a variety of desserts in one plate. It gives them a chance to indulge on different flavors without having to leave their seats.

Lemon Tartlet

A local Thai company hosted a dinner party for their employees at the resort. As expected I whipped up the treats for the event. This lemon tartlet in particular was the guests' favorite. Having known the locals' eating preferences, it came as a surprise to me to hear that this was well received by guests.

Learning How To Make Desserts In Bulk

For the past 18 months, I have learned to master the skill of making desserts in big quantities. It wasn't easy having to do everything without help from anyone. I learned it the hard way. My experiences, both good and bad, have boost my productivity thus helping me achieve a good work performance.

When I started, I remember quite a number of instances when I found myself irritated after discovering that I miscalculated. I had to redo things that set me back. Well, it's only for a few minutes but I get anxious when I am behind schedule. And for someone who works alone, time is valuable and making a mistake is a no-no. It still happens when I work with projects that are new and intimidating. I can't really avoid it. But through these times, I learned to take notes of even the minute details, evaluate my mistake and  do some careful planning.

Simply Irresistible Dessert

Panna cotta is a delightful dessert perfect for any occasion. It's one of the many popular desserts we have on our Sunday brunch menu at the resort. This simple and easy to make recipe can be prepared  in no time. Seriously. All it requires is heating the milk and cream with sugar and vanilla seeds. Add the softened gelatine and voila! You get a great tasting treat!

Wedding Treats

I must admit I've been slow these days. Other than keeping up with the guests' demands, I'd been spending a lot of time planning for the treats I made for a colleague's wedding in May. I'm friends with the groom so I offered to make the couple's wedding cake but the bride preferred having a dessert table at the wedding.Well, I said dessert table it is. I got the list and pictures of the desserts they wanted and  they requested for them to be nice and colorful. The idea was to have treats that would remind the couple and their guests about summer picnics back in their home country in England.

Mango Panna Cotta

It's mango season again. It's a good time to take advantage of the fruit's abundance. We have been serving desserts made with mangoes since its' season began.  This dessert  in particular is well received by our guests.

Mango panna cotta is served only at brunch. Since my day off is Saturday, I don't get the chance to make it.  After attending brunch, one family was smitten with this dessert. This week they requested I make them mango panna cotta in bigger portions. Here is my version.

Selection Of Mini Tarts

My, oh my. What a busy week! I did a lot of stuff for the wedding. From the cake to the dessert selection. I squeezed them all in 2 days. At the end of the week, I was physically exhausted. (I still am) I made everything from scratch. Imagine that! These miniature tarts were part of the dessert menu for the wedding party.

The wedding group was kind of big, around fifty people. I could have outsourced the pastry shell for the mini tarts but raising a purchase request must be done a day in advanced, even more if ordering new product. I didn't want things to get complicated so I made my own pastry cases. I only had two 12-hole mini tart pans. I needed fifty. And boy, lining the holes with the sweet pastry dough seemed forever. My fingers got tired when I was only halfway through. I was bored to death.

Coconut Pie

This young coconut pie used custard base. If you like coconut and egg custard combo, then this is for you. It was easy to whip up.The only process I didn't enjoy was scraping the flesh out of the shell which took ages to finish. Not to mention the time it took to scrape it open. So yeah it took a while. But once I got passed the scraping,  the next procedures were quick.

Some coconut had rock solid meat that I had to discard as I only wanted the smooth, jelly flesh.  I did a triple recipe so you could imagine the amount of coconut called for.

Baileys Chocolate Mousse

This rich and creamy chocolate mousse spiked with Baileys Irish Cream  is fantastic. I added  more of the liquor  for improved taste and  made it a  perfect dessert for our Christmas brunch. I made it with  twenty percent bitter chocolate and eighty percent sweetened dark chocolate, freshly brewed espresso, whipped cream, icing sugar and Baileys Irish Cream. Simply irresistible! I only had a couple spoonful as I was afraid of getting a spinning sensation. Some would think it's just a little amount. I don't drink because of religious purposes so that small portion would be enough to get me drunk - for real.

Limoncello Mousse

It's hard to believe after making a lot of stuff  last Friday, I managed to make dessert for Sunday brunch and go home right on time. (Well, I went to work earlier than my usual start time so I could get everything ready). Two staff who usually do dessert for the event  took their holiday at the same time leaving the job to me and  the demi chef de partie. Like me, she also had things lined up for the day but we had to cover for the ladies. So here's one of the three mini dessert I made for brunch. Limoncello Mousse, a sweet concoction with a mild citrusy kick.

Apricot Tart

The main kitchen hands down any excess of its supply to the bakery.Lucky me! A recent surplus was a huge can of apricot. I have used it to make Danish pastries but there's more left. I have to finish it before it goes off. I dislike wastage. I hate seeing food get thrown away. To reduce the cost, I find ways to minimize  bakery's expenses. A smart way   is to make something which serves dual purpose.  I made two tarts. I cooked twice the amount of pastry cream so I could use the other half as my base for apricot tart.

Daily Turndown Desserts

Two weeks after I started with my new job, a new duty was assigned to me. Make turndown desserts daily for the resort's guests. I'm  new in the hospitality industry. When I joined the resort, I had no concept of what kind of services the resorts/hotels offer guests. I had seen staff make small desserts in glass a couple weeks back. All I heard from them was they were making turndown for guests but I  failed to inquire more.I was in my adjustment period at the time so I didn't bother much. My focus was more on getting my bread and pastries right because it was during the taste test period.. When the task was handed to me, I  did some research. It was then when I fully understood the idea of turndown service.

What is turndown service? In the hospitality industry, turndown service refers to the practice of staff entering a guest's room and re-arranging the bed linen of the bed in the room to the state it was before the guest slept in it. An item of confectionery such as a chocolate^[1] or a mint^[2] is typically left on top of a pillow in the bed that has been "turned down".

Some hotels have more elaborate turndown services, such as bed-time stories for children and cocktails served to young couples.^[3]  Source: WIKI

That's it. I like the idea of someone preparing my bed for me before I crash :).  Getting a confectionery is not a big deal for me. Anyway, here's some of my miniature desserts.

Getting the hang of making fruit tarts

I had no basic knowledge of  fruit tart before going to pastry school. I learned making it from scratch during my basic course at the culinary school.  I dealt with it apprehensively. From making the pastry crust to arranging the fruit on top, I felt overwhelmingly scared. I think it was because I wanted to have a nice looking fruit tart to present to the chef at practical but my tart fell short of his expectations most of the times. Whenever he saw my being unhappy with the result and grading, he would tap my shoulder and say I'd be able to make perfect fruit tarts eventually. But ONLY if I practice often.

My Valentine's Day Creations

The hotel's restaurant was booked for Valentine's Day celebrations. There were meetings and huge gatherings scheduled this week. Each kitchen staff was assigned to a specific task.  I was asked to make desserts for ala carte dining and individual cakes to be sold at the restaurant's bar. Since the colors red and pink represent Valentine's Day, I opted for strawberry mousse cake and black forest cake with cherry filling on top. I was also requested to make fruit tarts for Valentine's day dinner.

Mandarin Oriental at Siam Paragon

On the day  I met my French friend I was scheduled to go to China Town to see if I could find a "princess" figurine to put on KC's cake. I thought of cancelling my trip so I could talk more with my friend but lunch was rather quick. I looked at my watch and saw that I had plenty of time to kill before dusk. When we paid our bills, I told him about my plan to go to the baking ingredients/equipment shop. He wanted to go. So off we went.

We checked  the shops I was familiar with for the "princess" figurine but to no avail. After hours of walking we decided to go to Siam Paragon for a late dessert. We walked around a bit. Many shops were busy. When we passed by Mandarin Oriental Shop and saw that it was quiet, we went in.

Lemon Tart

When I was still a student at Le Cordon Bleu, I dreaded the day when I had to make tarts. Almost everytime I did it in practical , my teacher had always something to say about my tart shell. It was either too thin, thick or uneven. He reminded me to practice more at home. I did but I still couldn't get the hang of it. When I learned that making a tart shell was part of the final exam, I panicked. I only had a couple of weeks to master it. So instead of practising 2 times a week, I made it a habit to make a tart shell every night before going to sleep. My hardwork paid a price. I passed my tartshell exam:-)


Now that I'm working, making tarts has become one of the things I enjoy the most. Since I decide about the menu, I serve 3 different tarts in a week. Here's one that has become popular among my customers.

To make the tart shell, you need:

1 2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup icing sugar
2 egg yolks
vanilla extract

Sift the flour and icing sugar together.
Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add the eggyolk and mix with a spoon.
Lastly, add vanilla. Mix to make a soft dough.
Knead for a bit to have nice smooth dough.
Chill for at least half an hour.
In a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry until it is 2.5 mm thick.
Line a round aluminum tart tin. Trim off the excess.
Prick the base with fork. Chill.
Bake at 170 degrees C for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Chill.