Relais Desserts - Les Buches de Noel 2014

Yesterday was the grand degustation of the 2014 Christmas büche de Noël cakes - a tasting of the 26 winners of the Relais Desserts competition of Pastry chefs worldwide.

It was held at the newly opened Peninsula Hotel on 19, Avenue Kléber 75008

Very grand setting indeed.

There were lots of traditional logs (büche) looking almost trompe l'eoil(fool the eye). A log by Spanish chef Miguel Moreno composed of praline mousseline, vanilla and coulis of apricot.

Do not put these very lifelike intensely chocolatey cakes in your fireplace svp! This luscious log is by Parisian Laurent Duchene.

'Burying the hatchet' as we know it is not a French custom. Quite the opposite. The French adore their hatchets at Xmas time, preferably in gold leaf and edible. This stunner is by Laurent Le Daniel - Rennes. The faux wood rings is a winner no? Inside milk chocolate and creme de pamplemousse!? Plus crunchy noisettes(hazelnuts).

I loved the Autumnal look of this büche by Marc Ducobu of Waterloo. A büche is classically a roulade or rolled genoise cake with flavored fillings. This one has forest fruits with a touch of violette and creme de marron confit.

A very lush and elaborate affair by chef Lionel Raux of Bayonne. Speculoos crust, vanilla cream, hazelnuts and a heart of caramel sauce. We decided we must taste this one.

How it works. The cakes on display are left untouched. You tell the waiter your choices and he goes into the kitchen for cut tastes. Some clever chefs made individual versions of their cakes like Raux did here. 

Unfortunately I forgot my special Kyocera pastry knife. What was I thinking? A girl should never leave home without her pastry knife! Enfin a mess cutaway view. Yes that is a cream puff or choux sitting on top filled with more hazelnut cream. I brought Lindsey Tramuta of Lost in Cheeseland to the tasting. She picked this one out. 

.Our second plate of tastes.

Here's the witty giant size version of the little bear made of ice cream on the plate. Created by Relais Desserts President Frederic Cassel of Fontainebleau. Inside: vanilla ice cream, hazelnut crumble, caramelized pecans and salted caramel. YUM

Back in the kitchen Cassel's top pastry chef Norbert takes me into the Aladdin's cave where the cakes are chilling. I would have happily stayed there to study the cakes further...

Now that I've studied the guide booklet they gave us I could use a second visit to sample some cakes I overlooked.

Better yet maybe at next year's event I can help out in the kitchen collecting crumbs?

The inside cutaways look very different from the outside büche de Noël. They are constructed like architecture, layer by layer. Flavor on top of flavor. Contrasting texture upon texture.

Another plate of samples (not ours).

Parisian Chocolatier Jean-Paul Hévin created a Christmas ball-shaped dessert not the traditional log. You lift off the dark chocolate dome to find a giant macaron filled with dark chocolate ganache flavored with red wine. There's a slice on the plate above.

I fell for this Yuzu and apple combination by Joël Baud of Besançon - very light and delicate. I'm partial to fruity desserts admittedly. 

Another beauty. Love the color and playfulness of the design. By Lyonnaise chef Sebastian Bouillet. Inside pain d'epice, dark chocolate and apricots Bergeron. I'm drooling as I type...

Granny Smith apple, plus vanilla and almond by Alban Guilmet of Caen. I've only shown you 9 of the 26 buches. And to think I only tasted 6 or 7. This is tragic. I need a second go-round surely no?

Of course the chefs were tasting too along with press and bloggers.

Here's Lindsey chatting with Pierre Hermé who won an award for his gorgeous Fetish Ispahan book this year.

Do download the Free Relais Desserts app. There could be a member pastry chef around the corner you didn't know about. This will give you the scoop.

The Relais publishes a handsome quarterly journal in French, English and Spanish and it's free in members pastry shops. This issue was focused on what else? On the delights of French regional candies. That's why you should get the latest Paris Sketch Letter sent to you to keep on top of all things French.

The annual tasting ends with an awards ceremony. Pastry chef of Restaurant Lassere Claire Heiztler won as best chef this year. Take a look at last year's buche de Noel event here. Only in Paris do you get to eat Christmas cake TWO times a year. Isn't La Rentrée a wonderful thing! A triumphant day all around.
Bravo French pastry chefs!

La Vanille

Choux a la crème vanille - but It's a choux a la the vert, framboise by Laurent Duchene.

Where ever did the expression 'plain vanilla' come from?

There is absolutely nothing 'plain' about vanilla. I was given two pods to paint at Frederic Cassels. That's PODS not beans please.

I didn't know vanilla pods come from orchids. How plain is that?

Europeans first discovered vanilla in Mexico when Cortez offered them unsweetened cocoa with added the black pod or tlilxot chitl.to temper the bitterness. Mexico held the monopoly on vanilla cultivation until the 19th century because of the local Melipona bees used for pollination. Vanilla didn't arrive in France until 1812 and then was used only for decorative purposes. Not till 1836, a Belgian botanist, Charles Morren discovered by chance the process of artificial pollination. A t the same time a slave on Reunion Island crushed a vanilla flower in his hand and a few days later it turned into a pod. This simple manual method is still used today. Each orchid flower is pollinated by hand one by one. Who knew vanilla required as complex a process as wine or chocolate to grow and develop. More information here. 

There were quite a few vanilla suppliers at the Salon du Chocolat.

As usual I got sucked in and bought a glass tube of 10 Bourbon Madagascar pods(10 euros) though I don't bake at all, from Tahitian Vanille du Tahiti.

And I bought a Balsamic-vanilla spray vinaigre which I can actually use, though not this intriguing jar of dehydrated seeds. Must remember to take up baking soon with all these gorgeous ingredients offered.

The absolute Mecca for Vanilla is Epices Roellinger at 51 bis, rue Sainte-Anne 75002. There are two other shops in Brittany.

A whole floor is devoted to a treasure trove of rare vanilla pods.

I must go back and find out more.

The newest issue #10 of Relais Desserts is devoted to La Vanille to pique my curiosity even further. Many of the recipes are and the cover are by MOF pastry chef Laurent Duchene. Late yesterday I went out on a mission to the 13th arr. 2, rue Wurtz.

Searching for vanilla infused desserts though everything looked supremely tempting.

Safe and sound at home after surviving rush hour chrush. I must try to set out earlier on these missions.

I did forget to notice Duchene's baba au rhum graced the new issue's cover...hmmm.

Inside Relais Desserts this smashing photo by photographer Laurent Fau of a mille feuille sitting on a bed of vanilla pods.

If you have the free Relais Desserts app you can see if your local patissiere is a member and run pick up a copy of the latest (free)fabulous issue. And if you bake you're set up for the holidays: glace vanilla et soupe de fruits exotiques, Riz a l'imperatrice, cake vanille, choux a la crème, and crème brulee.  

Meanwhile I'll head back to Laurent Duchene for the baba and to Epices Roellinger for further vanille investigations.

What I ate at Relais Desserts Noel 2013

Yesterday was the grand tasting of Christmas buche de Noel for 2013 by the Relais Desserts at Hotel Le Royal Monceau.

24 top pastry chefs of France offered a sneak preview of what's to come in December!
 

President of the Relais Desserts, Frederic Cassel, Fontainebleau was of course onboard to greet and meet.
 

His buche de Noel 'Etienne le Renne' is full of hazelnut and pistachio ice cream...miam
 

Arnaud Larher's 'Buche Louise' is a cheese cake inside with passion fruit and a strawberry coating.
 

'Del Lago' by Jean-Philippe Darcis of Bruxelles is...crunchy hazelnuts, cocoa from Del Lago plus, plus.
 

I loved the concept of Joel Baud's 'Blanche Neige' (Snow White) with a squiggle of blood in the snow unless I'm mistaken - mousse of white chocolate, red currents, coulis of framboise.
 

Jean-Paul Hevin can be depended upon to surprise - a chocolate cage encasing dark chocolate and passion fruit - 'Best of Passion'

I loved the crazy textures of this buche though the chef preferred I shoot it from the side...

Another mad creation, this one by Dalloyau's Yann Brys called 'Blanc et Merveilles' with meringue and bergamot, milk chocolate of Madagascar and macaron crunch on the sides.

So pretty, Laurent Duchene's 'Forest Noir' looks appropriately like a sled and full of gelee de griottes plus cremeux chocolat noir.

Silhouettes! My favorite graphic, line Richard Seve's buche. Inside - chocolat gianduja and baba au rhum with yellow raisins.
 

This Mondrian looking buche is called 'Puits Rouge' by Jeff Oberweis of Luxemburg and full of red fruits.

Well it's impossible to show every Relais Desserts buche much as I'd like to...

But not to be missed Pierre Herme's witty take off on the original classic chocolate log was intensely chocolatey with mousse, ganache and biscuit macaron all chocolate all the way.

The gentleman behind the red buche is Herme's photographer, Laurent Fau, creator of all those lush photos in his books, newsletter and little brochures that come inside the macaron boxes. Don't forget that all the Relais Desserts pastry chefs generously participate in the annual charity event, Jour du Macaron, created by Pierre Herme.
 

You might well wonder how we got to taste all these delightful creations? I've been starving myself for weeks (unsuccessfully) in preparation for this event ticking off the days on the calendar.
 

The waiters took our orders and then returned with plates to taste.
 

Clever Frederic Cassel served his delish hazelnut ice cream in a little glass bowl, while the others were served up in slices. It would have been nice to have little flags identifying each but that's perhaps too much to ask...

My date, candy man, Georges Marques of Le Bonbon au Palais. Naturally we shared bites of this and that.
 

As did everyone else including these fashion editors.
 

Awards were handed out to the best pastry book of the year, the best chef (Christophe Michelek). Then we downed pink Champagne and savory snacks.

Last but not least exquisite mini Paris-Brests filled with pistachio cream and Ispahan creamy 'puffs' all designed from Hotel Royale Monceau. You can imagine I'm in major recovery today but well prepared for the coming Christmas season.

Big Merci to Relais Desserts!