Sweet Decadenze

Attended a workshop conducted by Pastry Chef Hannah Wong of The Patissier at Shermay’s yesterday afternoon.  There was no hands-on; it was just a demo and food tasting session.

On the whole, it was a rather hectic session, with Hannah rushing to complete all 3 cake recipes:- Tiramisu, Chocolate Fudge and Pavlova.  I was barely coping with both watching the demo and writing notes on the provided recipes at the same time.

The class was so popular there was hardly room for walking after almost everyone turned up punctually.  And when seated, shoulders were touching shoulders, to say the least.  A conservative estimate - at least 35 attendees.

Watching Hannah do her stuff was a great learning experience.  She did some of her ‘moves’ so effortlessly one would think piping ladyfingers of equal size or spreading batter to a uniform 1.5 cm is literally a piece of cake.  Anyone who has done quite a bit of baking would know otherwise.

- The Patissier’s Pavlova, usually not available unless there are special orders -

I love the tiramisu; it was really fabulous!  I’m not really a chocolate person, so the chocolate fudge cake didn’t really appeal to me.  As for the pavlova, sweet is probably the only word I can use to describe it.  When I have the time, I will definitely try out all 3 recipes, with the tiramisu as top priority, of course.

Throughout the whole workshop, I was resisting the temptation to buy a pack of Valrhona Caraibe (66% cocoa content), a silpat and some ramekins.  And I’m glad to announce that I was able to walk out empty-handed, save for the recipes.  Quite a feat for me, considering that I’d never walked out of Shermay’s without buying any single item before.