Tobacco cream, fennel, cranberry; Pliable ganache & teas; Vanilla ice cream, sesame, coffee

Three desserts shown together. Foreground to background: Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Ganache, and Layered Gelee

Component one of "Three Desserts"

Quenelle of vanilla ice cream atop a sesame tuile and dusted with nescafe freeze dried coffee. Paired with another tuile and a garnish of lavender air.

Component two of "Three Desserts"

4 Teas and Chocolate Ganache

Pliable chocolate ganache recipe from Alex Stupak of wd~50, which he developed at Alinea. The use of agar-agar is what makes the ganache stretchy/twistable.

I wanted a tea component, so I made four of them. From bottom to top: rooibos tea, lemongrass tea, rose hip & hibiscus tea, and lavender tea.

I included pistachios for salt & crunch.

Ok, so...chocolate...it was awesome. 'nuff said. The teas added a nice herbal component, but the flavor needs to be concentrated more. They were nicely paired with the chocolate, though. Chocolate ruled them all on the palate, so that needs to be tamed some how.

Component three of "Three Desserts"

Layered gelee & Tobacco

First layer is gelee of home made cranberry juice. Second layer is home made fennel juice. Third is tobacco cream I made, adapated from Alinea, but instead of a gelee I made a whipped cream out of it. Topped with lime zest

This was the best of the three. The flavors were surprising, harmonious, and together made something better than the individual components.