Edible Adornments

THE ART OF DECORATING Desserts

Customers eat with their eyes, and it’s often that last dish of the evening that will keep resonating with them: dessert. Some simple garnishing tricks can go a long way to help create that memorable meal your customers will keep coming back for.

Agarnish can be just an addon whose main purpose is decoration; however, carefully selected garnishes have other functions too.

This decorative item can add important flavour, texture, and functional elements to the plating of the dessert, and can enhance the enjoyment of the dish.

Garnishes can solve the problem of serving a frozen component (ice cream or sorbet, for example) as part of a plated dessert. If a scoop of ice cream is placed directly onto the plate, it will start melting immediately, marring the presentation.

If that scoop is placed onto an item, such as a cookie base, it will slow down the rate of melting, making it easier to serve, and allowing the customer to enjoy and appreciate the effort spent on presentation.

Some favourite dessert decorations include: TUILES

Tuiles are a thin paste of egg white, sugar, flour and almond which is spread into shape. These thin cookies can be shaped in numerous ways: with a stencil, spread onto a silicone baking sheet; combed; piped; or spread onto a textured flexible baking mat and then shaped while still warm.

BRANDY SNAP OR LACE/GLASS BISCUITS

A mixture of sugar, butter, flour, and golden syrup is baked on a wellgreased or silicon covered tray to create brandy snap.

The mixture will spread broadly to form a web like structure and needs to sit for a long time to cool before being shaped as it cools.

Glass biscuits are similar to brandy snaps but made with liquid glucose rather than golden syrup.

CHOCOLATE

This classic garnish has many different applications like chocolate curls, fans, and cigarettes, formed by spreading a thin layer of tempered chocolate onto a marble slab and then shaping once partially set.

Chocolate can also be piped into shapes, mixed with nuts and poured to form bark, or mixed with cream and used for spherification to create chocolate caviar.

CHEESE

Want to make your mark with desserts that cater to those who love a mix of salt and sweet? Try cheese as a dessert garnish.

Sprinkle grated hard cheese carefully onto a baking sheet and bake until crisp, approximately 5 to 10 minutes at 175°C. The pieces can be broken into shards when cool.

SPRINKLING SOME STYLE FOR GRAM-WORTHY CAKES

GoBake is a manufacturer and wholesaler of bakery and cake supplies, brands, and creative solutions to retail and commercial markets.

GoBake products can be found in leading supermarkets, specialty retailers, food distributors and are used by the greatest cake artists, bakers, food manufacturers and brands from throughout New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific.

A third-generation, family-owned, Kiwi company founded in 1964, GoBake’s commitment is to provide variety and value, keeping things fun and easy whilst educating and inspiring you to create amazing things.

Nostalgia has become the major trend for all things food and beverage. Sparked by the COVID pandemic, consumers wanted comforting flavours that reminded them of growing up and what’s more childish (in the absolute best way) than 100s and 1000s sprinkles!?

The classic rainbow decorations may seem like a blast from the past but used in the right way they can amplify your baked goods to trendy treats stylish enough to go viral on social media.

GoBake have a huge range of products including everything you’ll need for making, baking and decorating cakes, cupcakes, cookies, desserts, treats and more.

The company also love creating amazing solutions for some of the best brands in the industry including private label and custom made retail and commercial products. GoBake supply leading supermarkets, specialty retail chains, in-store bakeries, food manufacturers and brands, food distributors and more with a variety of creative solutions designed specifically to their needs.

GoBake love their products and know you will too so if you’re interested, please visit www.gobake.co.nz

GARNISHES FROM THE GARDEN: A Guide to Edible Flowers

Not only do flowers brighten up any space, but research has found that flowers can have a long-term positive effect on mood, and as a decoration, edible flowers can add that extra wow factor to your dish.

Evidence of flowers being used in cooking and as garnishes can be found as far back as Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, with the first recorded mention of edible flowers in 140 B.C. In the Victorian era, candied violets were used to decorate desserts, and fresh flowers have long been used to decorate cakes.

Bakers, pastry chefs and chocolatiers have started to take a shine to using edible flowers in more of their creations, adding an extra hit of colour naturally, and giving products a ‘back to nature’ vibe that can’t be replicated with sugar and sprinkles. Edible flowers can bring that extra zest to savoury meals as well.

VIOLAS AND PANSIES

Violas and pansies are one of the most popular edible flower varieties, known for their delicate flavour and perfume, as well as their vibrant colours and sweet ‘faces’. Ideally, they should be picked for use when they have just opened and can be placed in cold water to help them swell before using to decorate cakes or to scatter in a salad. They can also be dried, pressed, or crystallised by brushing with egg white and sprinkling caster sugar before leaving to dry.

DAISIES

Often considered a weed, the delicate daisy evokes a feeling of summer. They can be added to salads, used to decorate cakes and pastries, and if you find the full flower too pungent, the petals can be used – like natures sprinkles!

LAVENDER

Lavender is an extremely versatile flower/herb for culinary purposes. While the lavender flowers and leaves can be used fresh, the buds and stems can be used dried. Its flavour and aroma are very distinctive and can be very strong (it’s related to mint and rosemary, so this is unsurprising), but used in the right amounts, it can create a taste sensation – particularly when used in sweets.

CALENDULA (MARIGOLD)

Calendula has been referred to unflatteringly as ‘poor man’s saffron’, which is quite unfair for such a vibrant and useful flower. It is said to taste like saffron when sautéed with olive oil and have a mildly sweet and spicy flavour profile. Petals can be sprinkled on soups, pasta, rice dishes, or baked sweets.

NASTURTIUMS

Nasturtiums are one flower you might be used to using in salads. Not just an eye-catching addition the garden, the entire winding, trailing part of the plant that is above ground is edible. With their peppery aroma, the bright blooms, which range from yellow, to orange to a bright red they are a colourful addition to make any dish pop, plus the buds can be pickled and used like capers.

ROSES

You may be familiar with using rosewater, or rose essence, but rose petals – both fresh and dried – can be used to enhance many desserts.

HIBISCUS/ROSELLA

Nothing screams tropical like the sight of a hibiscus flower in full bloom, so the fact that they have many applications in food means that you can serve up a slice of the tropics to your customers, wherever you are. The hibiscus can be used to add colour, flavour, and aroma to many desserts, as well as being popular in teas and cocktails.

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