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Helen Vass – Crème de la Crème

with Helen Vass

Skill level: Intermediate

HD Lessons: 11

Decorating time: 1 day

Lesson Details

Highlights

Here, we've carefully selected the key parts from the entire tutorial and condensed it into an 8 min long video. More than enough to get you started without taking up too much of your time.

1. Making the mousse

Helen shares her recipe for making the most delicious and light chocolate mousse. You will see that with mousse, temperature is everything and with pastry work precision is a must.

If you don't have a thermometer we suggest that a worth investment might be a digital probe thermometer.

2. Making the mirror glaze

Here we learn how to make a delicious mirror glaze and once again accuracy is key. Helen uses quite an expensive hand blender which is fantastic, but any electric blender you have available in the kitchen should do the trick.

Helen tends to use plastic containers when working with chocolate as they don't retain the heat quite the same that the glass ones do. Thus allowing you more control over your temperatures.

3. Pouring the glaze

Helen now pours the glaze over the mousse as well as a pre-ganached cake.

4. Finishing touches

In this lesson, Helen and Paul start to decorate the mousse with pieces of decorated tempered chocolate which is covered in one of the later lessons. Paul has a nice chat with Helen and we learn a little more about her background with some great ideas and tips along the way.

5. Making tempered chocolate

Making tempered chocolate can be quite scary as well as messy but Helen keeps us right and calmly shows us how to get it perfect every time with minimal fuss…and of course it tastes fantastic.

6. Bringing out the chocolate

Now it's time to bring the chocolate out and see the results. Just look at how shiny it is! Remember and be careful when popping the shapes out as the chocolate is very thin and delicate.

7. Making the macaroons pt 1

You will be surprised just how easy this is to make and believe us when we say just how incredibly tasty they are once they are done. These are seriously moreish and sure to make you popular at any party.

8. Making the macaroons pt 2

Now we see them out of the oven and it's time to now fill them with the lovely flavoured ganache.

9. Making the macaroons pt 3

In this lesson, Paul joins Helen for a nice chat as well as to help decorate the macaroons using some lovely dusts applied with a thin fan brush. The results are just wonderful!

10. Pro lesson

Paul now offers you some fresh ideas on how you can use Helen's three tutorials.

Course Overview

Helen Vass - Creme de la Creme

The Great British Bake Off is one of the most popular cooking shows on television. So as you can imagine, we were very excited to get Helen Vass into the studio to do a tutorial. If only you could taste the beautiful treats she made (although as soon as the cameras stopped rolling they were all gone, we just couldn't resist.)

Helen Vass is an award-winning pastry chef based in Glasgow, Scotland and runs her own patisserie & consultancy business - Dulce by Helen Vass. She was part of the winning team of BBC2's Great British Bake Off Creme de la Creme and has a very impressive resume which you can read about here.

Helen also has a real treat for you!! As this week you are getting 3 tutorials instead of 1! Firstly, you will learn how to make the most delicate chocolate mousse covered in delicious mirror chocolate glaze. Secondly, Helen will show you how to make your very own tempered chocolate. This will include making both delicate decorative chocolate as well as thick flavoured bars. Then lastly you will learn how to make ganache filled macaroons!

With these three new skills on top of your cake decorating you will be the swiss army knife among cake decorators. Come and join Helen and make some beautiful tasty treats!

The Tutor

Helen Vass

Helen Vass is an award winning pastry chef based in Glasgow, Scotland and runs her own patisserie & consultancy business, Dulce by Helen Vass. Helen was the winner of the Callebaut Patissereie Chef of the Year 2017 award at the CIS (Catering in Scotland) Excellence awards and was a finalist in the same category in 2016. Furthermore, she also won the Dessert Gold Medal for her work at the Scottish Food Awards & Academy in May 2017. She was the former head pastry chef of 2AA rosette restaurant, Number 16, on Glasgow's Byres Road for nearly 2 years. In May 2016, Helen was part of the winning team of BBC2'sBake Off Creme de la Creme along with team captain, Mark Tilling and team mate, Samantha Rain. Helen previously worked in Pastelería Escribà in Barcelona. This role took her out to Singapore to work at Marina Bay Sands on the worlds first theatrical event, Fantasía by Escribà. She also worked at the 5* hotel, Blythswood Square, in Glasgow. Every day is a school day in the kitchen and Helen is always seeking to learn new skills and has done stages in the kitchens of World Champion Pastry Chef, Jordi Bordas and Barcelona baker, Daniel Jorda. Furthermore, Helen has done pastry courses with the following chefs in both the UK and overseas.

Jordi Bordas, 2011 World Champion pastry chef, Coupe du mon Lyon
Mark Tilling, World Chocolate Master (UK)
David Gil & Enric Monzronis, Tickets Restaurant Barcelona
Antonio Bachour, St Regis Miami & Bachour Bakery
Melissa Coppel, Las Vegas
Miquel Guarro, Chocolate Academy Barelona
Martin Lippo, Vakuum, Barcelona
Hans Ovando, World Chocolate Master (Spain)