Calvin’s Hub

To read Part 1, click here.

Ok so we went to this Secrets of the Masters taping featuring Chef Andreas Gillar who’s expertise is with pastries.

He had to create four dishes (pastries) and each one took a really long time to prepare but it was well worth the wait.

May I now present, his masterpieces.

Le Macau Cake

This is a mousse cake unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. He made it with three layers of chocolate sponge cake, a layer of vanilla jelly, a layer of crushed almonds and two layers of chocolate ganache.

That’s a grand total of 6 layers! When he started pouring the dark chocolate on top of the cake our mouths were literally watering.

It was unbelievable how much effort is put into creating this cake. I’m not particular with nuts but the layer of finely crushed almonds really worked for me.

Green Tea Cake

The next cake also took quite a while to do. It is made up of three layers of green tea flavored sponge cake, 2 layers of green tea flavored buttercream, 3 layers of vanilla cream and a chocolate ganache in the middle. The cake was again coated with chocolate ganache but he used an airbrush to add an additional coating of green tea mist.

The slices served to us is coated with chocolate instead of the green tea mist but it was still delicious! The green tea is not overpowering and it provides the cake some neutrality to counteract the sweetness of the vanilla and buttercream.

Dinner break

After the second cake it’s almost 7:30PM and the director called for a dinner break for the technical staff and the host. They provided some sandwiches for the audience but I head to the canteen to eat instead.

At this point some of the audiences are already tired and had left the studio. Before the start of the 3rd cake, we had to rearrange and fill up some empty seats up front.

Soybean Cheesecake

This is not your ordinary cheesecake. In fact it looks like a cheesecake but made with soybean cream instead. Chef used a sponge cake as its base and topped it with diced fruits (dragon fruit, mango, strawberry, kiwi, etc.) glazed in apricot jam. He wrapped the side of the cake with a thin strip of orange-colored meringue.

I love the taste of soymilk so I enjoyed this cake. It’s not too sweet but the ones we got only have half a strawberry as a topping. I was looking forward to eating those assorted fruits.

Panna Cotta infused with Lemon Grass

The last dish didn’t take too long to do. Thank goodness. It’s a typical vanilla panna cotta with raspberry topping but with a base of pistachio sponge cake and a layer of lemon grass.

I love panna cottas and despite all those sweet food being fed to us I was still able to enjoy this one. It’s a nice dessert after a good meal. The lemon grass brings a minty freshness to your mouth.

Closing time

After the last dish we were ready to go home. After Issa had a short chat with the chef, the rest of his helpers were called out in front. We did some final clapping for the tape and it was a wrap.

We didn’t bother much with photo op with the chef because it was already 10:30 PM. It was a long five and half-hour taping and I was feeling lightheaded already with the sugar rush. I pity the post-prod video editor who needs to trim the whole episode down to 40 minutes.

Forgive the close-up photos, we were asked to eat immediately after we get our food so I had to be quick in taking a picture of it.

If you watch the show on July 19, you might just see us on TV. Oh and I would like to thank Anna’s brother Peewee for inviting us to the show.

Secrets of the Masters is shown every Sunday at around 7:30PM on QTV.

You might also be interested in:

• Calvin’s trip to a taping of Secrets of the Masters Part 1
• Catch me on Secrets of the Masters tonight
• Calvin’s Hub has successfully migrated
• Calvin’s Hub will be taking a short break

Filed under: Food, Movies and TV