Queen of pastries

She comes from a family of businessmen, so treading the culinary path wasn’t an easy task for her. But a deep passion for baking and a persevering spirit made her fearlessly choose the career she had always dreamt of pursuing. Meet Elaine Young, a pastry chef from Australia, who’s now in namooru consulting for the Bliss Group.

Born to Chinese parents in the Philippines, Elaine grew up loving cakes and baking. Her entrepreneurial streak was witnessed by those around her when she was still a kid.  “I would bake cakes and pastries and have my own little business selling brownies and  cookies. But when I was going to university, I wanted to go to culinary school, but my parents didn’t allow me to. So I went to business school and majored in marketing.”

Post that, she worked for a consumer goods company, although it was fun, Elaine knew deep down that she wasn’t passionate about it. After a year, she decided to go to  culinary school and this time, she convinced her parents that she would start a business when she finished her school “I majored in pastry and as a student, I was blessed to be working with a lot of passionate people. I was very active in school and representing my school in various competitions. I got selected to do an apprenticeship overseas and all the training helped me develop and start my own business. I started a wedding cake studio and was doing cakes for events, five stars hotels etc and was also consulting for food companies,” reminisces Elaine.

Despite all this, she wanted to explore more and grow as a chef. She was keen on travelling and seeing the world. Elaine got lucky when she got an opportunity to work as a pastry chef in Melbourne and she relocated to Australia permanently. “After a few years, I decided to have my own consulting practice and now I have different clients, predominantly from the Asia Pacific region. I help them be innovative and trendy. I develop new menus and products for different companies. I also do staff training and help them in scaling up their operations,” shares Elaine, adding, “Earlier, my specialty was chocolate, but as a consultant I have a wide scope which ranges from doing cakes and pastries.”
Having  visited Benglauru over six times in the past year, she now calls the city her second home! “An auto driver told us to try the dosa at this small place near my hotel. I also love the curries here. I dig the desserts, especially the peda. I’ve been inspired by the flavours used here – from the garam masala to the cardamom.”

Yogurt Panna Cotta

• 1/2 tsp. powdered gelatine (200 bloom strength)
• 10 gm chilled water
• 220 gm cream
• 1/2 each vanilla bean
• 27gm caster sugar
• 210 gm unsweetened Greek style yogurt

Method: Combine the powdered gelatine and chilled water in a small bowl. Stir the mixture until the gelatine is well hydrated. Set this aside. Split the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds out. Add this to the cream including the pods. Tip the sugar into the cream and cook the mixture to a gentle simmer (around 70 C). Add hydrated gelatine and stir till dissolved. Remove vanilla pods. Pour half cream on to the yogurt and mix with a whisk. Add rest of the cream and stir until well combined. Transfer the mixture into a spouted container. Pour in serving glasses and chill for three hours. Top with poached spiced plums just before serving.