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Food Illusions

Eggs on Toast Edible Dish Sponge “Beer” Apple Jelly Bacon Shortbread Cookies
 Pound cake modeling chocolate “Grilled Cheese”
1/5

Eggs on Toast

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Difficulty
Hard
Prep time
15 minutes
Total time
30 minutes
Yield
20

Ingredients

  • 6g calcium lactate
  • 200g mango juice
  • 5g sodium alginate
  • 1L water
  • 100g mascarpone
  • 100g heavy cream
  • 25g powdered sugar, sifted
  • 20 slices pound cake, toasted

Instructions

  1. Blend sodium alginate and water. Let sit for 30 minutes in the fridge to clear up.
  2. Blend calcium lactate with mango juice. Pour into dome molds and freeze.
  3. Once frozen, dip into the sodium alginate solution, leave until a skin forms around the liquid. Rinse popping sphere off in clear water. Store spherified liquid in water.
  4. Mix mascarpone, heavy cream, and powdered sugar until homogenous.
  5. Spread onto a slice of toasted pound cake. Top with mango sphere and enjoy!
2/5

Edible Dish Sponge

Difficulty
Easy

Ingredients

  • 4 egg whites
  • 70g Sugar
  • 4g corn starch
  • 10g sugar
  • 4g Vanilla extract
  • 60g milk
  • 40g oil
  • 74g cake flour
  • Yellow food coloring, as needed
  • Green food coloring, as needed
  • For foam: 1 egg white & 25g sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325F. Grease and line 9”x13” cake pan with parchment paper.
  2. Whip whites, 70g sugar and cornstarch to stiff peak meringue.
  3. In a separate bowl combine yolks, 10g sugar, & vanilla.
  4. Stir in milk and oil into yolk mixture. Sift in cake flour mix until homogenous.
  5. Fold in meringue ⅓ at a time.
  6. Dye ¼ of the batter a vibrant green. Dye the remaining ¾ of the batter yellow.
  7. Spread green batter into pan evenly. Bake for 5 min.
  8. Pour over yellow batter, spread, and bake for another 20 minutes until done.
  9. Allow cake to cool, then trim off edges, and cut into sponge size pieces.
  10. Whip egg white with sugar until foamy and dollop onto sponge as “soap”
3/5

“Beer” Apple Jelly

Difficulty
Easy
Prep time
15 minutes
Total time
1 hour 15 minutes
Yield
2 large beer glasses

Ingredients

  • 1L apple juice
  • 3 packs gelatin powder (2tbsp + 1.5 tsp)

Instructions

  1. Bloom gelatin powder in ¼ cup of apple juice liquid. Heat in the microwave to melt.
  2. Add gelatin juice mixture to remaining apple juice and whip on high speed with beaters to incorporate and create “beer foam”
  3. Pour into beer glasses and spoon over foam. Chill in the refrigerator until set completely, at least one hour.
4/5

Bacon Shortbread Cookies

Difficulty
Easy
Prep time
30 min.
Total time
1 hour
Yield
3 dozen

Ingredients

  • 1 pound 4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Wilton Burgundy gel food color
  • Wilton Brown gel food color
  • Liquid red food color

Instructions

  1. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and mix again until well incorporated.
  2. Add the vanilla extract and mix again.
  3. Add 2 cups of the flour, and the salt, and mix on low speed until a dough forms. Add the remianing 2 cups of flour and mix again on low speed until a very stiff dough forms.
  4. Divide the dough into 4 even portions. Place one portion back in the mixing bowl and add some of the burgundy and brown gel food color. Mix well. Add food color as needed to create a dark brownish-red color; add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time if the dough gets too sticky to handle; set aside.
  5. Tint a second portion of dough in the same way, but use less of each food color so that it is slightly lighter than the previous batch.
  6. Tint a third portion of dough with a small amount of brown food color and a few drops of liquid red food color to create a light pinkish-brown color.
  7. Leave the fourth portion of dough untinted.
  8. Flatten 3/4 of the untinted dough into a rough rectangular shape, about 1/2 inch thick. Flatten and stack the two lighter colors of dough alternately on top. Add the remaining untinted portion in random pieces on top (this creates another “fat streak” in the dough”). Finally, add the darkest portion of dough.
  9. Chill the dough in the refrigerator until firm, about 2 hours.
  10. Preheat the oven to 350F. Place wooden spoons with long handles or wooden dowels onto 2 sheet pans, and line with parchment paper.
  11. Slice the shortbread dough into long even rashers, about 1/4-inch thick. Carefully transfer them to the cookie sheets. And press to create a wavy bacon pattern. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies turn golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until they are firm enough to move to a wire cooling rack. When the cookies are completely cooled, transfer them to an airtight container.
5/5

Pound cake modeling chocolate “Grilled Cheese”

Difficulty
Easy
Prep time
20 minutes
Total time
35 minutes
Yield
10 servings

Ingredients

  • 8oz white chocolate, melted
  • 3 oz corn syrup
  • Orange food coloring
  • 10 pound cake slices

Instructions

  1. Add corn syrup to melted white chocolate and mix until chocolate begins to seize and form a dough. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
  2. Knead again until dough comes together and mix in orange food coloring to mimic American cheese color.
  3. Roll out the modeling chocolate thin and cut into squares. Sandwich between 2 slices of pound cake and sear on a pan like a real grilled cheese.
  4. Once both sides of the “sandwich” are golden brown and toasty it’s ready!