My wife Flavia made delicious chocolate profiteroles, which we decorated and served with strawberries. Absolutely fantastic! There was very little time for shooting, as we didn't have external flash or softbox and the night was approaching rapidly so we needed to finish the shoot ultra fast. Total shooting time some 10 min and editing 15-20 min. It took much more to bake the cake and serve nicely-close to couple of hours (though it can go faster if you've done it before, which we didn't).
For those interested there is a recipe here:
Ingredients
For the choux pastry - 200ml/7fl oz cold water - 4 tsp caster sugar - 85g/3oz unsalted butter , plus extra for greasing - 115g/4oz plain flour - pinch salt - 3 medium free-range eggs , beaten
For the cream filling - 600ml/1 pint double cream - 1 orange , zest only
For the chocolate sauce - 100ml cream - 2 tsp honey - 200g/7oz good-quality dark chocolate , broken into pieces
Method 1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Place a small roasting tin in the bottom of the oven to heat. 2. For the choux pastry, place the water, sugar and butter into a large saucepan. Heat gently until the butter has melted. 3. Turn up the heat, then quickly pour in the flour and salt all in one go. 4. Remove from the heat and beat the mixture vigorously until a smooth paste is formed. Once the mixture comes away from the side of the pan, transfer to a large bowl and leave to cool for 10-15 minutes. 5. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, until the mixture is smooth and glossy and has a soft dropping consistency - you may not need it all. 6. Lightly grease a large baking sheet. Using a piping bag and plain 1cm/½in nozzle, pipe the mixture into small balls in lines across the baking sheet. Gently rub the top of each ball with a wet finger - this helps to make a crisper top. 7. Place the baking sheet into the oven. Before closing the oven door, pour half a cup of water into the roasting tin at the bottom of the oven, then quickly shut the door. This helps to create more steam in the oven and make the pastry rise better. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden-brown - if the profiteroles are too pale they will become soggy when cool. 8. Remove from the oven and turn the oven off. Prick the base of each profiterole with a skewer. Place back onto the baking sheet with the hole in the base facing upwards and return to the oven for five minutes. The warm air from the oven helps to dry out the middle of the profiteroles. 9. For the filling, lightly whip the cream with the orange zest until soft peaks form. When the profiteroles are cold, use a piping bag to pipe the cream into the profiteroles. 10. For the chocolate sauce, place the cream into a small saucepan and add the chocolate and the honey. Heat gently, steering until smooth and well combined. 11. To serve, place the stuffed profiteroles into a large serving dish and pour over the chocolate sauce and eventually strawberries. Serve hot or cold.
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Mmmmmmm fresh strawberries with chocolate sauce? *note to self, go try that* reminds me of the last foodie challenge, a Dessert one, where my entry was very like this :-)
Great stuff! Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Nice basic composition that highlights the food. Although there does seem to be a bit of a blue color cast.
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