Back in March, I realised one of the dreams I’ve had since I started this blog. I got to visit Le Cordon Bleu London and attend an evening of cookery hosted there in collaboration with Lavazza and Great Italian Chefs. The evening included a cookery lesson from Michelin starred chef Roberto Petza from S’Apposentu in Sardinia, who was a complete hoot and a patisserie demo from Nicolas Houchet of Le Cordon Bleu.
The whole evening was amazing, after watching Nicolas prepare a dessert of iced soufflé with chocolate decorations and orange truffles on the side, I had to hot foot it out of there and dash back to Oxford on a coach, without getting to try the dessert! Sometimes living in Oxford is so annoying, it seems like all blogging events happen in our capital city. The team behind Great British Chefs and Great Italian Chefs had however included Nicolas’ recipe in the goody bag we were supplied with, I had to make these, just to know what they tasted like.
I got to meet a couple of other bloggers at the event, Sarah of Maison Cupcake was absolutely lovely and I paired up with Danny of Food Urchin to cook a Jerusalem artichoke dish with Lavazza coffee. I love Jerusalem artichokes, but honestly I’ve only ever mashed them with potato. I think after about 30 seconds of working with me, this became pretty apparent to Danny!
I love preparing patisserie and taking time over decorating a little slice of cake, however the plating up of a savoury dish is completely alien to me. Our bacon burnt a little (my fault), my edible flowers had wilted and by the time Danny had finished plating up, I’d eaten my dish! Roberto had a look at my finished dish and I think I saw a tear, but it was more sadness for the lost potential of the artichokes rather than my execution of the dish.
The second part of the evening involved the patisserie demonstration I mentioned earlier, along with a cream whipping race! I was in my element here as the discussion turned to sabayon, Italian meringue and acetate strips. The equipment was amazing, with Nicolas wielding quite possibly the largest balloon whisk I’d ever seen!
Now the iced soufflé is an amazing thing, it’s like a chilled mousse, light and airy with a blob of whipped cream on top and some chocolate covered coffee beans. I knew I had to make these, when I realised I had all of the ingredients and equipment needed (yes I do keep food grade acetate in my cupboards) as well as a free bag of coffee from Lavazza.
These would be great if catering for a lot of people, or you needed a dessert you can prepare in advance. These kept well in the fridge for a couple of days, I may have even had one of them for breakfast…
Here’s the recipe for the iced soufflés, you should definitely make these, I’m already thinking about all of the other possible flavours you could make. The finished soufflés should be dusted with cocoa powder, but I forgot, also I didn’t get soufflé all over the outside of the cup, my freezer is seriously powerful and that’s how cold the cup was!
Iced Coffee Souffles
Ingredients
- ***Coffee Sabayon***
- 6 Egg Yolks
- 100 g Caster Sugar
- 80 ml Water
- 20 g Lavazza Kafa Forest Ground Coffee or whatever ground coffee you have
- 6 g Gelatine Leaves approx 3 leaves
- 450 ml Whipping Cream
- ***Italian Meringue***
- 100 g Granulated Sugar
- 40 ml Water
- 3 Egg Whites
- ***To Garnish***
- 150 ml Whipping Cream
- 18 Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans
- Cocoa Powder for dusting
Instructions
- Wrap 6 cups with food grade acetate and seal with selotape, you make need to make two small snips to allow for the handle so you can slide the acetate half-way down the cup.
- To make the sabayon, beat the whipping cream until it forms soft peaks and reserve in the fridge.
- Place the gelatine in a bowl of cold water and leave to soften.
- Heat the water to 95 degrees Celsius and infuse the coffee in a small cafetiere for 10 minutes, then strain into a mug or bowl and set aside.
- Combine the eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk until pale and thick. Add the coffee and place over a bain marie, whisk until thick and creamy.
- Take the gelatine and squeeze out all of the excess water, add it to the egg mixture and whisk again until cool.
- For the Italian meringue, heat together the sugar and water in a saucepan until it reaches 118 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, whisk the egg whites in a very clean, dry bowl until they start to form soft peaks.
- Gradually pour the cooked sugar syrup onto the eggs whites, whisking continuously until the meringue is cool, smooth and glossy
- Gently mix the Italian meringue with the sabayon until evenly combined with no visible white lumps of meringue. Then fold through the whipped cream.
- Divide evenly between the cups and fill to the top of the acetate, smooth the tops with a palette knife. Transfer to the freezer and leave to set for at least 2 hours.
- To serve, whip the remaining cream to soft peak stage and remove the acetate from the cup, pipe whipped cream on top in a dome (so that it looks like coffee foam) dust with cocoa powder and garnish with chocolate coffee beans.
- Place in the fridge so the cream sets and leave them to thaw in the fridge for at least 30 mins before serving.
Attending Le Cordon Bleu was amazing, I’d absolutely love to study here, it’s a fantastic institution full of some incredibly knowledgeable teachers. Thanks very much to Great Italian Chefs, Le Cordon Bleu, Lavazza, Roberto Petza and Nicolas Houchet for such a fantastic evening.
Thanks for reading,
Angela
Jodie Dodd
So thrilled for you Angela, what a great experience! Lol, I’m a bit jealous and I’m not nearly as passionate about baking as you are! Your soufflés look wonderful and would make a really great summer time dessert. Wonder if you can make caramel flavored soufflés?
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Yes you probably could do something with caramel, but you wouldn’t want to deflate the souffle too much. I’m not sure how you’d do it, I’ll have to think about it. It was a fantastic experience Jodie, I loved it. x
Maggie Henry
Dream come true! The evening sounds amazing and absolutely lovely! I’m turning pea green and you got to eat it too! This is bon my bucket list to try and my ja that I planted last fall are up and blooming well.
PatisserieMakesPerfect
It was fantastic Maggie – I loved it.
You have to try this recipe, you’ll love it.
Maggie Henry
I intend to! I’ll let you know how it goes.
Maggie Henry
Wait …what is food grade acetate and that tape? 0h flail why does this have to be so challenging? !?.
PatisserieMakesPerfect
selotape is just a brand, maybe you call it sticky tape? The food grade acetate, is strips of acetate that is safe to use with food. You could use siliconised baking parchment and fold it over double and use that to extend the height of the cup. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Maggie Henry
Should have visited my kids when they lived over there for a couple of years!
nicole (thespicetrain.com)
This sounds absolutely amazing, what a fun experience! You’ve inspired me now, I’ll look for cooking classes around here (although I would love to take a trip to London…will buy a lottery ticket too! :))
PatisserieMakesPerfect
It’s so delicious Nicole and Le Cordon Bleu is a fantastic experience, I’m sure they have schools worldwide. You’d love London too, there’s lot of camera shops 🙂
Pang
It surely sounds like a fun experience, Angela. I would have been intimidated by the fancy dishes you described, though I am quite certain yours came out great, too, despite everything that happened. Btw, I love this dessert, and I am going to try making it when I have a big party 🙂 Thanks for the recipe, lady.
PatisserieMakesPerfect
It’s a great dessert Pang – I’m sure your guests will love it. It’s so easy to make and it looks seriously impressive. x
Valerie ILoveCakes
I can’t wait to try these ! I’d love to study at Le Cordon Bleu ♥
patisseriemakesperfect
It was amazing Valerie – you’d love Le Cordon Bleu!
PatisserieMakesPerfect
You’d have loved Le Cordon Bleu – especially with your skills! <3
PatisserieMakesPerfect
I did only have one for breakfast. I was very restrained and actually only made 4 of these and not 6 as the recipe recommends as there were only two of us to eat them. Le Cordon Bleu was amazing, the people, the facilities! I was in awe. x
rebecca beesley
sounds like you had a really special day. This recipe looks amazing too! x
PatisserieMakesPerfect
It was fabulous Rebecca, I had a great time and the recipe is amazing and so simple! x
Hannah Hossack-Lodge
Lucky you! That sounds like a really fun event 🙂 The souffles look delicious, I am not a big coffee drinker (can’t do without my tea though!) but I do really like coffee flavoured desserts so I would love these 🙂
PatisserieMakesPerfect
Oh Hannah, I am a coffee fiend, although I have just started to drink tea in the last few weeks, so I am a bit of a convert. It was such a fun event and I thoroughly recommend the souffles if you like coffee desserts, they are so light and airy.
Sarah Trivuncic
Such a simple but classy dessert! I was dead impressed. Really great to meet you and hope we get another opportunity to spend time together again soon!
PatisserieMakesPerfect
It’s amazing isn’t it Sarah. I was so impressed too, at first I was dubious about the souffle element, but this is like a really posh mousse! It would be lovely to meet up again and have a good chat!