Move Over Willy Wonka, These Desserts Made With Topnotch Chocolate Do Not Disappoint

(SPOT.ph) We don't know about you but when we were kids, we dreamt and salivated over the delicious treats in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. It was a childhood dream to eat a bar of that creamy dark brown concoction. But as we got older and dare we say it, more culinary mature, the dream has shifted to not only eating a Willy Wonka bar but also creating desserts from them. But all that changed when we got the chance to try delectable chocolate treats from World Pastry Champion of the 2011 World Skills Competition, Chef Alexis Bouillet, and Grand Hyatt Manila's very own Pastry Chef Nicolas Vergnole. Grand Hyatt Manila held a Culinary Master Experience featuring these two masters at its most exclusive events place The Penthouse 66 and boy, they did not disappoint. 

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Here's what went down during Grand Hyatt Manila's Culinary Master Experience:

Both chefs Bouillet and Vergnole showed masterful skills and precision as they demonstrated how to make two chocolate desserts made from the French chocolate brand Cluizel.

The first dessert on deck was a chocolate choux pastry filled with a hazelnut and almond chocolate mixture topped with a chocolate chantilly cream. This sweet treat can be considered a complex French take on the Ferrero chocolate ball. However, unlike the Ferrero, the chocolate hazelnut filling of this choux pastry is creamier and has a more robust, more intense chocolate flavor. The real stunner in this dessert, however, is its texture. You have the chewy and flaky bite from the choux pastry, the crunch from the almonds and hazelnuts, and a smooth creamy-slides-down-your-throat silkiness from the chantilly cream. Anybody who is a fan of hazelnut chocolate would surely go gaga for this dessert. 

The second dessert was more complex to make as it required making a cocoa bowl from meringue and cocoa nibs. Meringue, in itself, is a difficult element to master given how technical it can get—a challenge that both chefs can easily overcome. The dessert is filled with chocolate-dipped puffed rice, a fruity and slightly tart chocolate cream, a scoop of cocoa nib ice cream, topped with chocolate foam, and dusted with cocoa powder. Compared to the first creation, this dinosaur egg-looking chocolate treat has a more intense and rich flavor. It's made with darker chocolate and has many cacao nibs included in the recipe, giving it a purer, darker chocolate taste. 

After each demonstration, two members of the crowd were given a chance to make the dessert for themselves, and let's just say even skilled chefs and expert foodies found the feat to be more challenging than expected. It just goes to show Chefs Alexis and Nicolas have pastry skills perfected to a tee as they made the process look so easy.

The desserts featured were still unnamed but have been teased to potentially be included in The Peak's weekly dessert menu. Guests were asked to provide feedback and let the chefs know which one they preferred, as this will be considered when selecting the final dessert to be added to The Peak's menu.  Our bet's on the Choux Pastry dessert.

Suffice to say, our curiosity was piqued, and we couldn't wait to find out which chocolate treat ultimately made the cut. Guess we'll have to dine at The Peak sometime in the future to find out. 

Grand Hyatt Manila is at 8th Avenue corner, 35th St, Taguig. For more information, visit Grand Hyatt Manila's website.