Despite the looming bikini season and imminent beach holidays, when Gü puddings invite you to create your very own dessert, you don’t turn them down. Or at least, we didn’t.
And so it was that we headed off one sunny Spring evening to Noble foods, where we were met by head chef Frederick Ponnavoy and his two sous chefs, Jerome and Alessandra. With no time to waste – chocolate waits for no woman! – aprons were tied and we swiftly got down to the far-from-arduous task of coming up with a Beauty and the Dirt Dessert to be entered into the Gü 10th Anniversary competition.
The competition offers Gü Facebook fans the chance to invent their very own personal Gü pudding with the winning entry being created for sale nationwide, and the winner taking home a cut of the profits! What are you waiting for?
Having recently discovered, and formed an addiction to, salted caramel chocolate our dessert took the form of a salted caramel base topped with a chocolate souffle. Simple. Well, for a professional chef maybe, but I’m no baking pro, so with a little assistance (luckily I was paired with Frederick) I got to work creating the caramel. Browning off sugar, adding a little water, gently re-heating and then adding salt to taste.
Setting the caramel aside to cool, we started on our souffle.
Placing egg whites into a mixer, I was then handed a Bosch heat gyn, which I was then instructed to use to heat the bowl – basically a fancy alternative to whisking eggs in a bowl over a heated pan of water. Wielding a blazing power tool had not been on my cake-baking agenda but I have to say it made the entire process a hell of a lot quicker – not to mention more fun – and I discovered it is actually how dessert companies go about creating their puds en mass.
With egg whites ready, risen and fluffy, I then folded in dark, melted chocolate.
Then came the fun part. I was handed yet another tool, this time a sauce gun. Ramekins were lined up, and with the sauce gun caramel-loaded, 20g of the gorgeously gooey sauce was funnelled into the base. Following this – and here comes the scary bit – the souffle mixture was placed into a piping bag before being oh-so-gently squeezed on top of the caramel base. I never quite got the hang of this, soft souffle sped out too fast or far too messy. But before the perfectionist in me had a moment to suggest otherwise the ramekins were popped into the oven to bake. A little more caramel was then injected into the centre of the pudding as soon as it came out of the oven. And then all that was left was the patient wait until we could dig in.
Irrelevant of the taste test (yes, we’re biased but they were wickedly delicious) this was an amazing experience. Not only are the Gü chefs talented, they’re also passionate about their desserts. Yes, believe it or not, even more passionate that we are.
So passionate in fact that the lovely people at Gü are creating five of these limited edition Beauty and the Dirt x Gü Salted Caramel Chocolate Souffles for you to win.
Simply answer the following question correctly to be in with a chance of winning; [competition_677]
T&Cs: Beauty and the Dirt x Gü Salted Caramel Chocolate Souffles can only be delivered to winners within London. Any winners outside of London will be sent Gu vouchers as an alternative prize.