Week 6 Crême Brûlée

The first time I tried creme brûlée was last year in a mall in Kuala Lumpur. It had a layer of burnt sugar on the top where you crack it open by knocking the spoon into it and then there is the silky soft custard inside. It was so delicious! That was when I fell in love with it. 

 On week 6 the menu had Créme Brûlée. I was so excited! I am finally going to get my hands on the blow torch! hahaha..... but the sad thing was the recipe for the egg custard doesn't involve any baking. We had to whisk the egg mixture over bain marie (i.e. over a pot of simmering water). My arm nearly fell off from whisking non stop for what felt like almost forever!! We had to whisk it until it is sabayon stage, which is also known as ribbon stage. This is when you draw a figure 8 with the whisk and the figure 8 can still be seen on the mixture. When the mixture reaches this stage, we pour it into the ramekins and refrigerate for a few hours to set. 

My first créme brûlée. 

 Haha... I know, the plate decoration is too simple. I will get better next time.

We also got to play with Sugar!! We made spun sugar. It was so much fun. We melted the sugar to 165C, just as it was starting to turn brown on the sides. Then we took it off the heat and let it cool lightly. Then we had 2 prongs which were wrapped with aluminium foils and had the chopping board resting on half of it and the other half was hanging over the edge of the work bench. We placed aluminium foils on the floor so that when the sugar drips it will fall on the foil. 

Then we made webs by swinging 2 forks that was dipped in the sugar syrup. It was done very quickly and then gathered to form a ball. Then it sets. It was so beautiful. 

Ah, now it looks a little prettier with the spun sugar.

We also made chocolate mousse. Yes! more whisking. Just keep whisking! The menu for the day should have been "whisk everything dessert". 

Chocolate mousse with brandy snaps.

The brandy snaps were fun to make but a little too sweet for my liking.  The sauces on the plate are caramel sauce and anglaise sauce. Making the caramel sauce was exciting, it was fun to see how the sugar spat when i poured the cream into it. I was a little scared when i poured the cream in but at the same time I felt excited to see the reaction. 

Sticky dates pudding with brown sauce and double cream. 

The sticky date was a little undercooked but it was still edible. But look at the presentation. Isn't it beautiful? Well, that's because the trainer showed us how to cut the strawberry for this one.