Schokinag Chocolate Salutes The Real World Pastry Chefs

Schokinag Chocolate North America is excited to announce the winners of Pastry Chef Recognition Event that highlights incredibly talented, hard working pastry chefs.

Polly Schoonmaker
Baker and Owner of Polly's Cakes - Hood River, OR
$500 Winner
Winning Recipe: Whimsy™ Cake

Tip or Trick

When working with Schokinag, I make sure to melt it slowly over a steaming water bath, stirring occasionally. For instance, in my chocolate mousse recipe, I like to place the butter in the bowl first, then the Schokinag Chocolate, so there is a buffer of substance between the chocolate and team heat coming from the water bath. This lessens the chance of any burning.

Why I Like Working with Schokinag Chocolate

I've done numerous chocolate tastings and I prefer the way Schokinag tastes and dissolves on the tongue. Its texture is silky when melted and it incorporates well with other ingredients. The aroma is pleasing - rich and gentle. The Semi-Sweet Dark Couverture Chocolate Chips are an especially versatile chocolate product.

Biography, Position, & Company Information

Polly Schoonmaker's first degree is in Art History from the University of Oregon '85. Impressionist paintings and pastry cases have occupied the same place in her mind for years. After graduating from college, Polly moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to work as a chef. But the sketch book she kept of what cakes could look like loomed larger over time and she eventually moved to New York to study at the renowned Peter Kump's New York Cooking School.

In 1993, Polly moved back to Portland, Oregon to form Polly's Cakes. Her cakes have been featured in several wedding books, as well as in Conde Nast's Bride's Magazine, Food & Wine, Pastry Art and Design and Vogue. Television appearances include the NBC Today Show and Bobby Flay's Food Nation on the Food Network. The demand for her work, particularly her breathtaking Whimsy™ Cake designs, has grown so much that Polly often finds herself on an airplane with one of her cakes as a traveling mate. With a new store front located in Hood River, just one hour east of Portland, Polly runs her artisan-style business with the help of two assistants.

Makes a 3-Tier Cake (2 layers each of 6", 9" and 12" pans)

Melt chocolate in double boiler over simmering water. Beat butter and sugar together for 5 minutes. Add eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Add melted chocolate. Sift dry ingredients and add althernately with the sour cream to butter/chocolate mixture. Scrape sides of bowl after each addition. Pour vanilla and water slowly into the batter at low speed. Batter will be very thin. Pour into lined pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes or until cake pulls away from sides of pans (time will vary due to different sized pans.)

Makes plenty to fill the 6", 9" and 12" three-tiered layer cake

Melt chocolate pieces and butter in a bowl over simmering water; cool. Combine egg yolks, sugar, coffee and simple syrup in Kitchen Aid bowl over simmering water. Beat with hand whip until thick; remove from heat and beat with whip on high speed until thick and cooled. Beat cream until it holds its shape. Fold yolk mixture into chocolate. Fold cream into chocolate mixture.

For simple syrup, place 2 cups water and 2 cups sugar in a pot. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve sugar. Take off heat and let cool. Store in refrigerator.

Makes enough to frost a three-tiered 6", 9" and 12" layered cake

Beat butter with paddle attachment until lightened in color, very creamy and fluffed. In another mixing bowl, combine egg whites and sugar and whisk over bain-marie until hot to the touch and melted. Remove from heat and immediately whisk in mixer on high speed until cool, very stiff and satiny (about 10-15 minutes). Slow mixer down and add whipped butter, little by little. Scrape bowl down occasionally. Add vanilla and mix to incorporate.

Place couverture chips in a clean, dry bowl. Bring a bain-marie to a boil and remove from heat. Place the bowl of chocolate over the bain-marie and stir the chocolate often to melt evenly. Remove the bowl and stir to cool slightly. Stir in corn syrup thoroughly and scrape paste from the bowl. Allow paste to cool and harden. Re-knead like bread dough to use as molding chocolate for acorn tops. It tends to be fairly firm when cool so just knead a little at a time or as needed. Lasts unkneaded about one month.

Christopher Shields
Banquet Sous Chef at Rolling Green Country Club - Arlington Heights, IL
$300 Winner
Winning Recipe: Chocolate Macadamia Nut Bread Pudding with Chocolate Rum Anglaise

Tip or Trick

N/A

Why I Like Working with Schokinag Chocolate

N/A

Biography, Position, & Company Information

I am currently the Banquet Sous Chef at Rolling Green Country Club in Arlington Heights, IL.

Cut up leftover brioche, dinner rolls, sweet rolls and crusty bread into uniform squares. Once cubed, place on a sheet pan and toast. This will dry out the bread allowing it to soak up more of the cream mixture. Cool completely. (For bread cube quantity, you need approximately 1 1/2 times the volume of the pan in which you are baking the bread pudding)

In a large stainless steel bowl, whisk the eggs, vanilla, salt and sugar until sugar is fully dissolved. Then stir in the heavy whipping cream and half & half. Mix the chocolate chips and dried bread cubes together. Pour the entire cream mixture over bread & chocolate chip mixture. Gently fold cream mixture to wet all of the bread cubes. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate the bread/cream mixture. Stir every 3 hours until bread cubes completely soak up the cream mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 2" hotel pan with cooking spray prior to putting the bread mixture in. Cover with aluminum foil. Place the pan in a bain-marie to prevent eggs from cooking too quickly. After one hour, remove foil and continue cooking until the top of the bread forms a crispy crust.

Whisk all ingredients together until well incorporated and strain mixture. In a stainless steel pan, cook over medium low heat and stir until mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon. (This is a basic creme anglaise sauce and it's difficult to say how long it takes). Once the mixture is finished, add chocolate. Allow the chocolate to sit in the hot anglaise for one minute then whisk until smooth and the chocolate is completely melted. Add rum. Place the chocolate rum anglaise in a stainless steel bowl and place this bowl over ice. Stir until mixture is completely cooled.

By now, the bread pudding has cooled a little and has set up. Roast and chop 1 cup of macadamia nuts for garnish.

On a plate, place some anglaise and a cut portion of warm bread pudding. Drizzle with additional crème anglaise and sprinkle with macadamia nuts as desired.