[Ad] 4 dessert recipes you can't resist for Christmas

After the celebration of Thanksgiving with a feast, Christmas is just around the corner. In honour of the holiday season, high-end serviced apartment brand Stanford Residences, together with Michelin-starred chef Piet Vandeputte, offered a special Michelin Chef Private Dessert Class at Stanford Residences Xu Hui - the second five-star luxury serviced apartment under the Stanford Residence brand. 25 domestic and foreign families living in Shanghai participated in this fun cooking activity.

With 15 years’ dessert making experience, Piet from Belgium has worked at several 3 star Michelin restaurants and was named as “Best Young Chef Prosper Montagne” by Club Prosper Montagne, an international and professional gourmet club.

During the two-day class, Piet showed guests how to make four authentic Western desserts: chocolate and dark cherry dessert, coconut pavlova, caramelised apple and almond dessert, frozen cream-cheese cake. All are easy to learn and easy to make, even those who know nothing about dessert making can pick it up soon.

Frozen cream-cheese cake

Step 1: Cream Chantilly

Ingredients: 95g blue cream

                    95g white cream

                    30g icing sugar

• Whip all the ingredients together and put in piping bags.

Step 2: Frozen cheesecake

Ingredients: 6 egg whites

                    6 egg yolks

                    150 sugar

                    1 teaspoon of salt

                    560 grams of soft cream cheese

                    400 grams of regular cream

• Whip the egg yolks with 100 grams of sugar to an even consistency, and then add the softened cream cheese in a separate bowl.

• Beat the egg whites with the remaining 50 grams of sugar until stiff peaks are forming, then add the liquid cream and the salt to the cream cheese mixture and slowly stir the egg white peaks through it all.

• Then pipe the mixture into steel or silicon molds and freeze until ready to serve.

Step 3: Presentation

• Decorate your cheesecake with the cream Chantilly and sprinkle almond, gingerbread crumble or any other ingredients in any creative styles as you wish.

Caramelised apple and almond dessert

Step 1: Caramelised apple

Ingredients: 2 oranges

                    172g sugar

                    40g water

                    1 lemon

                    Corn starch

                    6 apples

• Peel the apples and slice in nice even pieces, then caramelise them in the sugar, then add the orange peel and the orange juice and water and corn starch. Cool down.

Step 2: Almond crumble

Ingredients: 125g cake flour

                    120g sugar

                    118g soft butter

                    40g almond flour

                    1TSP salt

• Mix all the ingredients together in a mixer then slowly mix.

• Freeze overnight and finely grate, then bake on 175 degrees for 15 minutes.

Step 3: Financiers

Ingredients: 160g butter

                    60g cake flour

                    110g almond flour

                    180g egg white

                    0.5TSP salt

                    Vanilla

                    180g icing sugar

• Melt the butter until golden brown then cool down, meanwhile mix all the other ingredients in the mixer, then slowly add the browned butter over the mixture and put in piping bags and let it rest, ready for baking purposes.

Step 4: Presentation

• žDecorate your Financiers with the Caramelised Apple and Almond Crumble in any creative style as you wish.

Dark cherry dessert

Step 1: Flourless chocolate cake

Ingredients: 200g dark chocolate

                    250g butter

                    65g cocoa flour

                    170g sugar

                    4 large eggs

                    65g cake flour

• Slowly melt the dark chocolate together with the butter over a hot water bath.

• Beat the eggs with the sugar in the mixer on high speed.

• Add the flour in the melted butter and chocolate mix, then slowly add the mixture in the mixer on low speed and then add everything in a lined baking tray, bake for 25 minutes on 175 degrees.

• Cut.

Step 2: Dulce de Leche (caramelised milk)

Ingredients: 1 can of condensed milk (with sugar)

• Put the can in a cooking pot with a lid and boil for 2 hours, then add on ice.

Step 3: Chocolate crumble

Ingredients: 125g soft butter

                    120g sugar

                    125g cake flour

                    35g cocoa flour

                    1 TSP salt

• Mix all the ingredients together in a mixer then slowly mix, freeze overnight and finely grate, then bake on 175 degrees for 15 minutes.

Step 4: Dark cherry parfait

Ingredients: 220g dark cherry puree

                    5 egg yolk

                    125g sugar

                    12g gelatine

                    400g whipped cream

• Soak the 12 grams of gelatin in cold water.

• Slowly cook the dark cherry puree over medium heat.

• Beat the egg yolks with the sugar on medium speed.

• Add the gelatin in the hot puree, then add the puree while hot on the egg yolk mixture and continue beating until cold, then add the mixture over the whipped cream.

  
  

Step 5: Presentation

Decorate your chocolate cake with all the mixture in any creative style as you wish.

Coconut Pavlova

Step 1: Coulis (French raspberry sauce)

Ingredients: 125g raspberry puree

                    55g sugar

                    0.5 lemon juice

                    0.5 lemon skin

                    0.5 vanilla

• Add all ingredients together and cool down, put in piping bottle.

Step 2: Pavlova (dry Italian merengue)

Ingredients: 150g egg white

                    40g sugar

                    165g sugar

                    55g water

• Heat the sugar and the water in a boil until 130 degrees, then beat the egg whites with the sugar and until foamy peaks, then add the hot syrup into the whipped egg whites and let to cool down.

Step 3: Passion fruit custard

Ingredients:  2pcs passion fruit

                    100g milk

                    120g cream

                    Vanilla

                    Agar powder

                    5 egg yolk

                    70g sugar

• Prepare a classic custard.

 

Step 4: Rochers (coconut rocks)

Ingredients: 4 egg white (120g)

                    180g sugar

                    180g coconut flour

•  Add all ingredients together and start forming rochers.

Step 5: Presentation

Decorate your artwork with all the mixture in any creative style as you wish.

About Stanford Residences

Stanford (Shanghai) Hotel Management (Brand name - “Stanford Residences”) is a high-end serviced apartment brand established by the K. Wah Group in 2013. With the philosophy of “Where Enchanted Living Comes Together”, Stanford Residences is devoted to creating high quality apartments, buildings and environments.

Stanford Residences Jing An, located in the prosperous CBD of Jing’an Shanghai, is the first high-end serviced apartment project of the Stanford brand. It has 113 luxury apartments, boasting excellent geographic position and best living condition.

After the success of Stanford Residences Jing An, KWIH has continued its strict demand for remarkable quality and dedicated to creating another masterpiece – Stanford Residences Xu Hui luxurious and cozy residence at the heart of Shanghai city. It has 119 sets of apartments and shall be officially launched in the first half of 2017.