Sorry, kids. That's no way to live. Change needed to happen... and, fortunately, it did. I applied for a few different pastry positions around the city with the intent on making a progressive move. I wanted to work for a hotel with higher standards and quality of work as well as get myself off of the night shift. After a lengthy interview process (5 interviews total and a meeting where I worked with the team and made/presented a plated dessert), I found my new home at the Four Seasons Chicago. I have been there nearly three months now and I'm happy to say that my job and my passion are back in sync.
There have been many different elements of the baking and pastry world that are completely modern, extremely classy and very professional. I feel like I am learning and experiencing some incredible things and I want to share them... so, there may be random pictures that I post or brief descriptions of things I've been working on, but I hope you'll find it as fascinating as I do.
To start things off right, let me show you a few pictures of some of the desserts I've worked on over the past few months. I must give a disclaimer, however, that the concepts of these desserts, much of the plating style and flavor pairing didn't come from me, although I am the one who put the presentation together for these pictures and many of the components were prepared by me. That all being said, I work with a fantastic, talented group of people who are pure genius in the kitchen. Without any more delay...
S'more Dessert
(with smoked chocolate gel, graham cracker cookie, house-made marshmallows, cotton candy)
Carrot Cake
(with pineapple curd, coconut brittle and carrot sorbet)
Celebration Plates
The kitchen gets at least a dozen orders a night asking for celebration desserts - we always serve a piece of flourless chocolate cake, though the plating presentation always varies depending on who is plating it and what we are feeling at the time... for this plate, I felt like doing a more modern presentation...
...While this is more generic.
Christmas Eve Dessert
(This is the dessert we served for a prix fixe on Christmas Eve - a dark chocolate cheesecake with citrus gel and fruit segments, coffee spheres (which should be an post in itself...), caramalized white chocolate disc, chocolate mousse)
New Years Eve Dessert
(Also a prix fixe - a dark chocolate cake with chocolate sauce, dehydrated chocolate sponge cake, coconut gel and foam, coconut-lime sorbet (quenelle'd) and black mint) This one was pretty intense to plate, but stunning once finished.
Mass plating for a banquet event
Tiramisu Bombe
(with chocolate and coffee sauce, chocolate covered coffee beans, sugared coffee grounds, chocolate shavings, and lady finger garnish)
German Chocolate Cake
(aka My first cake at Four Seasons)
(This is a bit of a collaboration/learning/humbling experience, which I may elaborate more on later... To my slight chagrin, both my pastry chef and I worked on this cake)
Emi's First Birthday Cake
(This is one that I did at home for a close friend of Scott's - in between semesters at school and a brief slow time at work, I actually had time to do some personal work at home. All of the fondant is homemade and for some reason, I thought a white teddy bear sounded adorable. This is what happens when the only request is 'avoid pink, preferably purple'.)
That's about it for now - as you can see, things have been busy but it has been such an incredible experience so far. I'm looking forward to starting a new journey in my pastry career (and I hope that I'll do better at keeping you posted on it all).
Until next time!
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