FUTURE PROOF

A new wave of nuanced Asian flavours is revolutionising dessert, says Shannon Harley.

OVER THE PAST decade, we have seen the concept of dessert dramatically change, eschewing tradition for a course where chefs can flirt with different textures and flavours. Dan Hunter served us parsnip mousse at Brae, while Jo Barrett (Oakridge) and Analiese Gregory (Franklin) thrilled us with silky potato-skin cream and salted-caramel potato tart, respectively.

Thus, with a sweet finish no longer dominating diners’ psyches, we have moved into the next-gen of dessert. This has given rise to an era of Asian-inflected ingredients that add a new flavour dimension, making dessert an anytime occasion.

You’ll have seen matcha, the herbaceous, umami powdered green tea, in everything from Cho Cho San’s soft-serve cones to croissants at Melbourne’s LuxBite (where

kaya – Malaysian coconut jam – and citrussy yuzu also star) and Gontran Cherrier’s Tokyo outpost. Meanwhile, Black Star Pastry’s Japanese Black Forest rif fs on the Euro classic with hojicha (roasted green tea) sponge, ume (Japanese plum) in place of cherries, and umeshu ( ume liqueur) cream.

‘Mr Cronut’ Dominique Ansel flavours his Breton cake kouign-amann with kokuto, an Okinawan black sugar that adds an almost savoury caramelised richness; and pastry chef Yuji Oikubo, who runs Sydney’s Pinto, uses kinako (soybean flour) in his strawberry shortcake for an extra-fluffy sponge, which you can enjoy with a purple taro latte.

“Everyone has gone bananas for the Filipino taro ube because the colour is so intense,” says food writer Yasmin Newman, whose two books – The Desserts of New

York and 7000 Islands: A Food Portrait of the Philippines – make her a canny authority. “Pastry chefs have cottoned on to it and now you can find it in everything from soft serve to cheesecakes.”