A plated dessert for Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day allows us to celebrate friendship and love with our family, friends, or partners. Some might find this day “commercial,” but I believe the essence of dedicating a day to love and friendship is to emphasize how much we appreciate the people in our support networks and our lives.

I like starting this celebration with a special breakfast, and given I am into baked goods, I thought…what about a special breakfast or brunch dessert?

I recently completed my “plated dessert” module at Escoffier. Do you know what a plated dessert is? You have most probably seen and tried them many times at restaurants; you just did not know that is what they are called in the pastry world.

If you think of art as a form of expression of creativity and craft, then think of plated desserts as the ultimate expression of the culinary art of pastry making. The whole idea is to give your main dessert (main item as it is called) a boost by complementing it with sauces, garnishes, different décor, and flavor items that will enhance the way your dessert looks and tastes.

Our menu for today’s special Valentine’s breakfast dessert includes our grand Strawberry-Lemon Scones, over an “infinite love” sauces combination of Anglaise Cream and Strawberry Coulis, joined by our heart-shaped Almond Tuile Cookies, our magenta Coral Tuile Cookies, and Rosewater Chantilly Cream.

I loved giving a twist to a pastry item like a scone with a plated dessert. It made me go out of my comfort zone, but it came out very well.

Some important production notes:

• Scones: Do not use frozen fruit. Even if you thaw it and dry it (even using the oven for it), it does not come out as well as buy dehydrated or freeze-dried fruit. I had a tough time combining my strawberries into the dough that I thought I would have to start again. I managed to have an excellent result, but it was a challenge.

• Anglaise cream: As with any baked custards, always, always, always stay on top of your pot on the stove and stir frequently. Otherwise, you bear the risk of curdling, and you will have to start all over again (as it happened to me!). Use a thermometer until your cream reaches 180 degrees F and the cream fills the back of a spoon without dripping. Before I forget, please strain your cream once done and put your bowl over an iced water bowl to cool it rapidly. The results will be a soft and velvety delicious cream that you can use for many other desserts.

• Rosewater Chantilly Cream. Rosewater gives a delicious flavor and delicate aroma to desserts but is careful. It might be a bit strong and overpower other flavors. For this recipe, for 200 g of heavy cream, I only used one drop of rose water emulsion, and I still felt that when combined with the rest of the items, it had a strong effect.

• When doing plated desserts, work on your design ahead of time. This is important because, as I said, the objective is to complement your primary item and enhance its presence and flavor. Therefore, you do not want to add too many flavors around it or have flavors that do not combine well with others. In addition, the visual part of it needs to be planned as well. So, bring your pencil and notebook and draw a couple of designs. You can always change, but the designs give you good guidelines.

• My personal choice of flavors and décor: Given scones are typically enjoyed with butter and jam, I thought the anglaise cream mixed with the strawberry coulis could combine well, and they did! As mentioned before, I believe the rose water was a bit strong, but I did want it as part of the equation. It was just too good not to be included. The almond and coral Tuile cookies added elegance and fun simultaneously.

Do you think the mission is accomplished? Once I took the first bite with everything combined, all I could say was…. WOW, the mix of delicate honeyed, rose-strawberry flavors, joined with the crunchiness of the scones and décor, plus the soft and velvety mouthfeel of the sauces and cream gave this dessert that special something I wanted for a holiday like Valentine’s.

While making multiple recipes and then assembling each item as a main plated dessert may seem exhausting, the key is in your planning and organization.

Finally, putting each piece in its place is only comparable to the feeling of a painter's final strokes on their masterpiece or a sculptor bringing their work to life. The result is a plated dessert with not only a delicious blend of flavors but with enough dedication that tells your loved ones how much you love them. Happy Valentine's Day!