Lunar New Year Classes at Shermay's: MOD CHINOISERIE - From Petits Fours to Plated Desserts

I'll be teaching a demo class specially planned for Lunar New Year at Shermay's Cooking School on 12 January 2008 (Saturday), 13 January 2008 (Sunday), 26 January 2008 (Saturday) and 27 January 2008 (Sunday) - the January schedule has all the necessary booking details. For all inquiries, please call the school at +65 6479 8442 or email shermaycs@yahoo.com.sg


I'm a huge fan of the Japanese-French style of pâtisserie, and the recipes for this class very much take inspiration from that exquisite hybrid. Quintessentially oriental ingredients re-imagined by French pastry technique to produce what, for lack of a better term, I like to think of as mod Chinoiserie. Each of the 4 Chinese-inspired petits fours can be served or gifted as is, or used as the core component of a plated dessert, a grand finale to a dinner party, when paired with the various bonus recipes for delicious accompaniments. Designed like a modular system of building blocks, I really hope the various ideas presented will illustrate how a seemingly elaborate composed/plated dessert can be tackled with confidence and ease once broken down or thought of in terms of its various component parts, parts coming together to create a whole greater than the sum of.

The 4 petits fours are:

Jasmine Tea Macaron

Filled with a white chocolate (Valrhona Ivoire) ganache delicately perfumed with jasmine tea.

Mandarin Orange Friand

Ground almonds and a puree of gently poached mandarins ensure a treat that's incredibly moist and intensely citrusy.

Sesame Financier

The classic caramelized butter (beurre noisette) flavour of a financier is given an unusual twist with the addition with toasted sesame oil, which gloriously underscores the deeply nutty aromas.

Almond Shortbread

Very rich, very short and very melt-in-the-mouth buttery.

The bonus recipes for accompaniments include:

Jasmine Tea Panna Cotta, barely set and ultra creamy, to pair with the Jasmine Tea Macaron.

Star Anise Mousse, with its exotic liquorice-like flavour, goes with the Mandarin Orange Friand.

Milk Chocolate Chantilly, based on Valrhona Tanariva 33%, sets off the caramelly, butterscotchy notes of the Sesame Financier thanks to this Grand Cru chocolate's distinctive flavour profile.

Lychee & Rose Sorbet, a very special scoop made from very readily available ingredients, is fabulous accompanied by the Almond Shortbread.

A flavour pairing chart and plating diagrams round out the recipe pack, and will hopefully lay bare the logic behind composing plated desserts based on complementary flavours and textures.