Australia's best pastry chef will help to banish your dessert disasters for good.
For some, baking is a breeze. Pillowy scones and perfect pie crust is just another date with the oven. But for the rest of us, baking is a struggle through complicated directions, misbehaving ingredients and recipes that never quite work out. The trick, says one of Australia's best pastry chefs, is just to follow 10 simple steps.
Jaci Koludrovic, a self-confessed sweet tooth, is the dessert queen behind the revered creations served at the Icebergs Group. "I just felt like the pastry side seemed more precise and structured," she admits of her interest in the sweeter side of the kitchen, "you often got to work by yourself and had more creative freedom. Plus I love all things sweet," she admits.
To follow in Koludrovic's footsteps (well, we're not making any promises), her top 10 suggestions for preventing dessert-based disasters are as follows:
1. Make sure all your ingredients are at the correct temperature.2. Convert everything to weight ahead of baking. It makes it much easier then having cups and jugs all over the bench.3. Read your recipe thoroughly, several times. And follow the method.4. Prep what you can the day before. This will help to prevent some stress.5. Don't be afraid to freeze things like cake or ganache if you have excess. If they are stored correctly they will keep.6. Stick to seasonal produce when its at its best and build your dessert around that.7. Don't overcomplicate things. Pick your show stopper and keep everything else simple.8. Use the correct size baking tin or the mould that the recipe is asking for.9. Check your oven temperature, especially if you don't use it often or aren't familiar with its hot spots.10. Use good quality chocolate. It makes the world of difference!
Feeling trumped by what exactly to cook? When in doubt stick to roulade, says Koludrovic who admits it's her fail-safe dessert. "The simple contrast of cake and cream cannot be beaten. Plus its best made in advance so leaves more free time to enjoy yourself and less time to stress."
