Great British Menu ™
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Out of the Ashes
Nicholas soaks prunes in Madeira wine, booze, sugar.
Nicholas mixes a chocolate and coffee biscuit crumb.
Nicholas: "My dish is called "Out of the Ashes". It's inspired by Sir Christopher Wren, best known for his architecture from Wiltshire. The key thing that I'm drawing inspiration from is that he rebuilt 52 churches after the Great Fire of London. So I've tried to capture that sort of sense of smoke and fire. Well, I'm just making a bitter chocolate ash, if you like, with coffee and cocoa. And then we're going to have a dome dessert with brown butter and almond cake at the base, a bitter coffee mousse, a sort of smoked prune puree, milk ice cream (which you season with a bit of smoked sea salt) and then a miso butterscotch sauce."
Nicholas mixes egg yolks, caramelized honey and dark muscavado sugar for his coffee mousse, which will fill tempered chocolate domes.
Next, it's cake time for Nicholas.
Nicholas: "This is my spiced brown butter cake and it's got some madeira in it as well as some orange zest and loads of almonds."
Later ...
Most of Nicholas's dessert will sit inside a tempered caramelized white chocolate dome. A nod to Christopher Ren's most famous work, St. Paul's Cathedral.
Nicholas: "I'm just about to soak my almond and brown butter cakes in a very nice coffee and whiskey punch."
Simon Rogan: "So what goes in the center?"
Nicholas: "Madeira soaked prune puree in the middle."
Nicholas is onto his Madeira puree.
Nicholas: "So I just soaked some prunes in Madeira. I'm adding just a touch of smoked rapeseed oil. So quite intense of smoky flavor".
He adds cream to his coffee mousse.
Nicholas: "Really intense with coffee. And I've used the grounds of the coffee. It almost looks like vanilla, but it's not. It's the coffee."
He fills tempered chocolate domes with cake soaked in syrup and Madeira puree.
Nicholas: "There is a lot of sweetness in the dish. There's also savory, smoky flavor. It actually balances it out quite nicely."
Plating
Chocolate and coffee ash is added to a printed schematic of St. Paul's Cathedral.
A spiced butter sponge with Madeira purée and coffee mousse hidden inside. Tempered chocolate domes are placed in the center of the plans.
A rocher of milk ice cream sits on the chocolate and coffee ash. Whiskey and coffee cocktail is sprayed with whiskey scent.
Simon Rogan: "You're happy with the tempering of the chocolate then?"
Nicholas: "The texture is really good. And we definitely got a bit of a snap there."
Simon Rogan: "The texture of the coffee mousse, what you're after?"
Nicholas: "Yeah, I think it's delicious. It's just set.
Peers, tasting behind the scenes
"I've got a frozen lump in the middle of mine still."
Back in the judging room
Simon Rogan: "And you're happy with the amount of coffee that's in that?"
Nicholas: "I am really happy, actually."
Peers, tasting behind the scenes
I think they're very sophisticated flavors. It feels like a very grown up dessert."
Back in the judging room
Simon Rogan: "And the sponge?"
Nicholas: "I really like sponge. I gave it a good soak."
Peers, tasting behind the scenes
"The whiskey in the sponge is a little bit strong for me. I do wonder whether in a banquet setting, when you're serving so many people, whether it could divide the room quite a lot."
"Cor blimey. It really is strong. That whiskey. I feel a little heady."
Back in the judging room
Simon Rogan: "What would you score this dish then?"
Nicholas: "I would want a nine for it."
Final Judging
"Nicholas, for your dish 'Out of the Ashes'. Once again, great presentation. A real connection to the brief. The chocolate for me wasn't tempered to my liking. The coffee mousse as well for me had a bit too much coffee in it, and I wasn't really sure about the sponge either. I think it was a bit too soggy, and I wasn't a great fan of the strong whiskey flavor. This dish is quite challenging, and in a banquet setting, I think it could be quite divisive. There's a lot more lightness that needs to be introduced to this dessert to make it enjoyable and balanced."
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