The first layer is a thin soft chocolate cake fol-lowed by layers of dark, milk and white chocolate mousse. For complexity, Irby adds a bit of espresso to the dark chocolate mousse and a hint of almond to the white chocolate. Increasingly, balance is brought to chocolate by way of combination desserts that have two or more elements on the plate. Pastry chefs take advantage of the practice by creating dessert samplers, also known as a col-lage, flight or study. The assortment includes different sweets, from cakes to cookies, connected by a theme.
Chocolate is among the most popular.
This allows them to have more than one experience. Usually, Coady will combine smaller portions of the menu for her sampler, which may include chocolate hazelnut pyramid, white chocolate lemon napoleon and a dark chocolate tuile. Fresh raspberries, raspberry powder and molded choco-late are among the choices. You don't want the flavors to get muddled. German-born Markus Bohr, recently appointed pastry chef of The Phoenician in Scottsdale, says one of the most significant changes in chocolate has been its point of origin.