Graham Hornigold at Great British Chefs Cook School

Another multi textured dessert was up next. Rhubarb crumble and custard took on an amazingly delicate and decadent look. The desserts were served with crème diplomat and a white chocolate filled with a liquid custard.

Not too heavy or sweet, they had that sharp, cleansing quality that Graham’s desserts at Hakkasan are known for. Graham said “People tend to over-order in our restaurants and the food in main courses and starters has a lot of strong flavours. We have to look to sharper elements or unexpected ingredients to attain salivation rather than relying on sweetness.”

Finally, Graham’s team had saved the best until last with an amazing display of the making of their signature Tarte Tatin. You might think there were no surprises to a Tarte Tatin. How can you give the classic French dish of caramelised apples and pastry a “wow factor”?

Daniel Pearse revealed a gadget from Korea that looked a little like one of the vegetable spiralizers we see on Saturday Kitchen. However, rather than produce thin ribbons, he used the spiralizer to create a huge strip of apple “lasagne” from each single apple. Our bloggers couldn’t get enough of this and took to Twitter and Instagram immediately to express their delight. “Brilliant”, “I need this machine in my life”, “Game changer”, “Magical” were just some of the comments.

Once cooked there were more “oohs” and “aahs” as the multi layered dessert looked simply incredible. Plated with vanilla ice cream and a buttery crumble, this was dessert perfectly rounded off an entertaining and educational evening. We’d like to thank Graham, Daniel and Juan for generously sharing their skills, and Ros and her team at Cookery School for being brilliantly helpful behind the scenes. Last but certainly not least, a big thanks to all of the food bloggers who came along to make our first Great British Chefs Cook School a night of friendly fun.

Watch this space for more details of next school. In the meantime you can download a special e-book of Graham Hornigold’s recipes from Great British Chefs Cook School here.