Designer Desserts

Deliciously decadent and delightfully displayed

Words Yasmine Idriss Tannir
Photographs Hala Mufleh

 As a graphic designer, everything visual becomes a potential project for me. So when I discovered baking, I found, to my great delight, that it provides never-ending grounds for experimenting with the principles of design!  

Red Fruits Salad - Recipe below

• Colours look at their best when they contrast each other, e.g. black and white, black and red, red and green, white and green.
• Contrasting flavours tantalise the taste buds! e.g. chocolate and red berries, chocolate and vanilla, caramel and banana.

Now, all you need is some recipe ideas. For this presentation I have chosen a combination of 3 popular desserts: rice pudding (white and creamy), chocolate cream (dark and velvety) and a red fruit salad (colourful and tangy).

Presentation is just as important as taste. We eat with our eyes first after all. Here we have presented small portions of each dessert in a small shaffeh cup for a uniquely retro feel and presented them on a long plate. Guaranteed to satisfy even the fussiest of palates!
Sahtein!


Rice Pudding
1/2 a cup of pudding rice (or Arborio rice)
4 cups of full fat milk
1/2 a cup of granulated sugar
3 tablespoons orange blossom essence
1/4 teaspoon crushed mastic gum
1/4 of a cup of finely chopped pistachios to decorate
Place the rice with 1 cup of water in a pan over medium heat. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 10 min. Pour the milk over the rice and simmer for 45 more minutes, stirring from time to time. Add the sugar and stir continuously for 5 minutes (so the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan). Add the crushed mastic and the orange blossom. Give it one last mix and take off the heat. Pour in heatproof cups and decorate with chopped pistachios. Allow the rice pudding to cool before chilling in the fridge.

Chocolate Cream
248 ml of extra thick single cream
100grs of dark chocolate (min. 70% cocoa), broken up into pieces
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons caster sugar
1/2 a teaspoon of vanilla extract
Cocoa powder (or icing sugar)
Redcurrants to decorate

Pre-heat your oven to 140C. Gently heat the cream in a small heavy based pan until it almost boils. Take it off the heat and stir in the chocolate pieces until they melt. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks together with the sugar and vanilla extract, then add to the warm chocolate mixture. Mix well, sieve and pour into small cups.
Now here comes the tricky part! Place your cups in a deep roasting tin and fill the tin with boiling water to cover half the cups, and place in the oven. Cook in this ‘Bain Marie’ for 1 hour. When cooked and cooled, dust with cocoa powder or icing sugar and decorate with your choice of red berries.

Red Fruits Salad
1 punnet of strawberries (halved after washing)
1 punnet of blackberries
1 punnet of blueberries
1 punnet of redcurrants
1 tablespoon caster sugar
½ cup fresh fruit juice
sugar
 
Mix all the berries in a clean glass bowl (I like to keep the redcurrants’ stalks and stems). Add the caster sugar and fruit juice. Add sugar to sweeten to your liking. Mix, then pour into serving cups and chill in the fridge. Always remember to wipe the edge of the cups with a clean kitchen towel before serving.