Outside the shell.

📷 Nicholas Forte.

Guest Written By Chef Nicholas Forte.

• Mango
• Coconut
• White Chocolate.
• Pistachio Flour

I like to think of every dessert as a piece of art. I’ve always been obsessed with realism, in making something look so real it doesn’t look edible. Although the books tell you to focus on flavors and then plate design after, I find the most joy in doing it the opposite way. In creating “Outside the Shell”, I wanted to replicate the appearance and textures of an egg into a dessert. The ingredients are minimal and include only a thin white chocolate “egg shell” cracked into pieces and spread on the plate. Next is a light fluffy coconut to resemble the white of an egg. Last is a sauce of mango and passion fruit covering a smooth mango cremeux. This is of course to resemble the most satisfying part of eating an egg, the runny yolk. To add the last detail of the dish, finish with a pinch of pistachio flour to replicate the pepper.

I started 8 years ago as a cake designer. This is where I fell in love with the artistic side of pastry. After a few years of working in restaurants, I decided to go to The French Pastry School in Chicago to learn the art of French Pastry. Following school, I was fortunate enough to land a job at Joel Robuchon, one of the most prestigious restaurants in the world. After two years of working as a pastry sous chef at Joel Robuchon, I decided to venture off into the hotel business and accepted a job as the sous chef of the Encore in Boston.