A Study In Dessert: Pumpkin Roulade

Inspiration: I wanted to do a dessert that reminded me of fall while avoiding the now-ubiquitous flavor of pumpkin pie spice.

Elements: pumpkin cake, mascarpone-pear cream, poached pears, cranberry gel, brown butter gelato, honey sesame tuile

Concept: I started with a pumpkin cake that is flavored with olive oil, lemon zest, and cinnamon. The flavor is boldly pumpkin but not overwhelming and pairs beautifully with a mascarpone-pear Bavarian cream. My initial plan was to pickle the pear to provide some much-needed acidity but once I added the cranberry gel, I opted to poach the pear for a fresh, fruity dimension. The brown butter gelato adds a nutty counterpart to the sweet cream and pumpkin cake. I used a sesame tuile because the composition needed a crunchy element although I wanted to avoid the usual pecan/walnut/food pairing.

Flavor Pairings: pumpkin-pear-cranberry

Comments: I loved this dessert—its flavors and its presentation reminded me of fall; however, it landed on the cutting room floor for a variety of reasons. Criticisms ranged from “too much cream, not enough pear” to “needs more cake” and “sesame too strong”. I plan to revise this composition by using brown butter sorbet (instead of a gelato) to reduce the creamy element, remove the pear from the filling, tone down the tuile, and poach the cranberries to keep the presentation natural in its appearance. Back to the drawing board.