Anatomy of a Dessert – The Chefs’ Forum Interviews Franciane Tartari

Brazilian pastry chef Franciane Tartari created a special dessert for The Chefs’ Forum 10th Anniversary lunch in Edinburgh on Monday. She talked to editor Chandos Elletson about bringing the flavours of Brazil to an updated rum baba utilising the Silikomart Curveflex SF164 mould for the baba and Curveflex Truffles mould for the sorbet.

Franciane has just been accepted into the World Masterchefs Society (spanning 54 countries) and this dessert was absolute endorsement of such a prestigious accolade.

Daniel Ayton, Senior Vice President of the World Masterchefs society is a real fan of Franciane’s work he said

“I’ve known Franciane for over a decade and judged internationally with her across Europe. To be awarded this accolade, chefs need to have demonstrated quality craftsmanship and culinary excellence.  The medal that she was awarded The Culinary Order of Merit and to my mind this is wholly deserved and I am proud to have Franciane as a member of the World Masterchefs Society to help us in our mission to continually advance the culinary arts.”

Franciane really enjoyed cooking with the students from Edinburgh College and West Lothian College at Edinburgh’s iconic Caledonian Hotel – She really enjoyed teaching new pastry skills to the students and was really impressed with the way they all rolled up their sleeves and worked brilliantly as a team, she said

“I was thrilled when Catherine asked me to create a dessert for the lunch at The Waldorf Astoria  – The Caledonian on Monday. I wanted to bring the flavours of Latin America with me and the best way to do that, I thought, was to make a rum baba except infuse it with the flavours of pina colada – Brazilian rum and pineapple.

“One thing I knew, thought, was that I couldn’t make the baba dessert in the traditional way – it would have been to large and too rich. So, I worked with a special mold to make half spheres and these were arranged on the plate with spheres of coconut sorbet and a rum syrup made with pineapple purée.

“Getting the balance between richness and size was my main focus. There were also contrasting flavours like a coconut Chantilly and a pineapple, chilli and vanilla compote. Finally, the whole dish was pulled together by a hot passion fruit tequila consommé.

“The dessert was a fitting end to the meal and was very well-received. I had such great help from the students in the kitchen and from the hotel. It was a great occasion. Plus, the new moulds from Mitchell & Cooper were great!”

To find out more about the fantastic range of pastry moulds on offer by Mitchell & Cooper visit www.mitchellcooper.co.uk