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DESSERTS
The word dessert came from the French term “desservir,” which means “to remove that which has been
served.” It is offered to guests after clearing everything on the table. The meaning has evolved, but the principle
has not. Once the entrée or last course has been cleared, the utensils and all glassware have been removed,
and the table has been “crumbed,” the dessert is served (Migoya, 2012).
Custards and Creams (Johnny’s Kitchen, 2022)
Custards and creams can be stand-alone desserts and the foundation of many cakes, tortes, pastries, and
frozen dessert preparations.
Custards
A custard is any liquid thickened by the coagulation of egg proteins. The proportion of the eggs to the other
ingredients in a mixture affects egg coagulation. Cream, milk, and sugar interrupt the formation of these bonds,
which slows down coagulation, so the mixture thickens into a creamy sauce or pudding. The consistency
depends on the ratio of eggs to liquid, whether whole eggs or yolks are used, and the type of liquid used. The
more eggs used, the thicker and richer the final product will be, and the richer the liquid (for example, cream
versus milk), the thicker the final product. Custards can be either stirred or baked.
A stirred custard is cooked on a stovetop in a saucepan or a double boiler. It must be stirred throughout cooking
to stabilize the eggs and prevent curdling. Curdling occurs when egg proteins are overheated and over-
coagulated, which forces any liquid trapped within the protein bonds to separate from the mixture. Below are
the most commonly used stirred custards in food service operations.
• Crème Anglaise /krehm ahng-gleyz/ (vanilla custard sauce) is made with egg yolks, sugar, and milk or
half-and-half (a blend of equal parts of cream and milk). It is usually flavored with vanilla but can also
be flavored with liqueur, chocolate, ground nuts, or extract. It is cooked until it reaches a nappé [na-
pey] consistency or coats the back of a spoon.
Vanilla custard sauce must be tempered because too much heat curdles the eggs. Tempering refers
to slowly adding hot liquid to eggs or other food items to raise their temperature gently and gradually
without causing them to curdle.
• Pastry cream is a stirred custard made with egg yolks, sugar, and milk thickened with starch. The starch
protects the egg yolks from curdling, so it must be boiled to gelatinize the starch and eliminate its raw
taste. Butter is added to enrich the pastry cream and soften its texture.
• Curd is made with eggs, sugar, butter, and fruit juice. It is a popular filling for tarts, cakes, tortes, and
sandwich cookies. It is usually flavored with an acid such as lemon juice because of the quantity of
sugar used to form the egg-and-butter emulsion.
• Sabayon /sah-bay-own/ is a foamy stirred custard sauce made by whipping eggs, sugar, and wine over
low heat. The egg proteins coagulate, thickening the mixture, while the whisking incorporates air to
make it light and fluffy.
A baked custard has the same principle as a stirred custard. It is a liquid thickened by the coagulation of egg
proteins. The only difference is the thickening occurs in the oven. It includes simple mixtures of whole eggs or
yolks, sugar, and milk. The types of baked custards are as follows:
• Crème caramel (flan) is an egg custard baked over a layer of caramelized sugar and inverted for service.
The caramelized sugar produces a golden-brown surface on the inverted custard and a thin caramel
sauce.
• Crème brûlée /krehm-broo-ley/ can be stirred or baked custard and usually cooked on a ramekin. The
stirred method is heavier, creamier, and softer than the baked counterpart. Unlike crème caramel, this
is not inverted or removed from the ramekin for service.
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• Cheesecake contains soft, fresh, smooth cheese, such as cream, ricotta, cottage, or farmer’s cheese. It
may be prepared without a crust or may have a base or sides of the short dough, cookie crumbs, ground
nuts, or spongecake. The filling can be dense and rich (made with cream cheese) or light and fluffy
(made with ricotta cheese).
• Bread pudding is a home-style dessert in which chunks of bread, flavorings, raisins, or other fruits are
mixed with an egg custard and baked. The result is somewhat of a cross between a cake and a pudding.
Creams
Creams include light, fluffy, or creamy-textured dessert items made with whipped egg whites or cream. Some
are thickened with gelatin (bavarian creams and chiffons), while others are softer and lighter (mousses and
crème chantilly). The following are the different types of creams:
• Crème chantilly is a simple heavy cream whipped to soft peaks flavored with sugar and vanilla. In
preparing this, the cream and equipment must be chilled as a cream that is too warm resists whipping
and can curdle. It is mainly used for garnishing pastry or dessert items.
• Bavarian cream is prepared by thickening the custard sauce with gelatin and folding in the whipped
cream. The product is then poured into a mold and chilled until firm enough to unmold and slice. It can
be flavored by adding chocolate, pureed fruit, chopped nuts, extracts, or liquors to the custard sauce
base.
• Chiffon is like Bavarian cream except that whipped egg whites are folded into the thickened base
instead of whipped cream. It is often used as a pie or a tart filling.
• Mousse is like a Bavarian or chiffon; it is lightened with whipped cream, egg whites, and egg yolks
cooked into a bombe mixture (pâte à bombe /pat-ah-bomb/), or all three (3). However, it is softer than
a Bavarian and is generally too soft to mold. It may also be served alone or as a filling in pies, cakes,
tortes, or pastry items.
Desserts
Fruit Desserts (Gisslen, 2021)
Fruit desserts are alternatives to rich cakes and pastries because they have less fat and fewer calories. Fruits
are important components of many cakes, pastries, and sauces. They are part of a plant that bears seeds and
are used in most sweet dishes.
A fruit dessert contains one (1) or more fruits as the main ingredient giving them a unique flavor and taste.
Here are the categories of fruit desserts:
• Compote is cooked fruits served in their cooking liquid. It is versatile because it can be sweetened and
seasoned, and fruit combinations are endless. The sweeteners used for this include light syrups, spiced
caramel, honey, or liqueur mixtures.
• Cobbler resembles a fruit pie made in large baking pans without a bottom crust.
• Crisp is like a cobbler but uses a streusel topping instead of a pastry crust.
• Betty is a dessert with alternate layers of rich cake crumbs and fruits.
Frozen Desserts (Labensky et al., 2020)
Frozen desserts include ice cream, sorbet, sherbet, and ice cream pies. These are desserts based on milk and
cream, fruit purées, and mousse frozen and consumed cold. Frozen desserts can be categorized according to
the freezing method used for preparing them, either still-frozen or churned.
Churn-frozen desserts may be made using non-dairy ingredients such as chocolate, fruit, or other flavorings
combined with sugar or dairy ingredients using milk or custard. Churning refers to the process of agitating or
stirring an ingredient vigorously. Churn-frozen desserts are unique in that the ice crystals that would form
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during freezing are reduced when the mixture is constantly churned during freezing. The churn motion breaks
up the crystals while adding air to the mixture, which causes the mixture to expand in volume and lighten.
The following are the popular frozen desserts under this category:
• Ice cream is a custard made with milk and/or cream and whole eggs or egg yolks churned during
freezing.
• Gelato is an Italian ice cream made with milk that has low milkfat content. It is denser than regular
ice cream because less air is incorporated during churning.
• Sorbet /sor-bay/ is a mixture of sugar, liqueurs, fruit juice, wine, or other churned flavorings. It can
be made with fresh, frozen, or canned fruit.
• Sherbet /shur-buht/ is identical to sorbet preparation, except milk is added to the mixture before
churning, which makes them richer than the latter and is better served at the end of a meal.
• Granita is made with fruit or other flavorings but less sugar than sorbet which produces a mixture
that freezes harder. It is frozen in a shallow stainless steel container instead of churned, then
scraped with a spoon or fork to obtain grainy flakes.
Still-frozen desserts are based on a bombe /bomb/ mixture, a mousse or a custard mixed with whipped cream
or meringue. The bombe mixture is made by stabilizing the whipped egg yolks with sugar syrup cooked to the
softball stage. Air in these desserts is incorporated by folding in relatively large amounts of whipped cream or
meringue. The air helps the mixture smooth, making these desserts feel less cold than ice cream when frozen.
Some of the popular desserts under this category include:
• Parfaits /par-fe/ are a serving of ice cream layered with sauce in tall, slender glasses. These also
refer to a mixture of whipped egg yolks in which whipped cream and flavorings are folded and
frozen.
• Soufflé glacés /soo-fley gla-sey/ are frozen mousse that are molded resembling baked soufflés.
• Frozen tortes and bombes are cakes filled with sorbet, ice cream, and parfait mixtures. These are
usually made using ring molds lined with cake, then layered with ice cream or parfait mixtures.
Frozen dessert, regardless of its kind, is best stored at -13C (8F) to -18C (0F) to prevent the formation of
large crystals.
References:
Brown, A.C. (2019). Understanding food: Principles and preparation (6th Ed.). Cengage
Johnny’s Kitchen (11 May 2022). Basic custards and creams. Retrieved 27 April 2022, from
https://www.johnnyskitchen.us/professional-cooking/basic-custards-and-creams.html.
Gisslen, W. (2016). Essentials of professional cooking (2nd Ed.). Wiley
Gisslen, W. (2021). Professional baking (8th ed.). Wiley
Labensky, S.R., Hause, A.M., & Martel, P.A. (2018). On cooking: A textbook of culinary fundamentals (6th Ed.).
Pearson
Labensky, S., Martel, P., and Van Damme, E. (2020). On baking: A textbook of baking and pastry fundamentals.
Pearson.
Migoya F.J. (2012) The elements of dessert. Wiley & Sons.
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