Not just for vegetables: Using your combi-steamer for desserts

Steaming is a useful cooking technique that can help to preserve the health benefits and integrity of your fresh produce, not to mention their appearance. However, if your business has invested in one of Convotherm’s combi-steamers, have you explored its potential for creating equally as delicious sweet treats?

Puddings, flans and pastries all lie within the realm of possibility for steamed desserts, and allow for delicious, moist textures your customers will love. Let’s take a look at some classic steamed dessert recipes to use as a base for your staff to experiment with in your own kitchen.

Cheese Cake

Simple and yet popular year round, a dense cheesecake packed with flavour is a true favourite. Whether you’re a cafe looking to add some in-house baked goods to your menu, or you’re a restaurant wanting to try a new twist on a classic, you’ll be glad to hear that your combi-steamer is adept at creating delectable tarts and cakes.

Steam your cheesecake at 145 degrees C, for 25-30 minutes, and match with ice cream, creme fraiche and your choice of sauces or toppings. Add some intrigue with lime, balsamic, basil or spirits such as whisky.

Creme Caramel 

This classic French dessert makes for a familiar addition to any dessert list. An upside down custard dish, creme caramel has also been claimed throughout history by the Spanish in the form of the flan, while the English have also staked their claim in its creation.

To recreate the perfect creme caramel takes little preparation, and is a quick and easy dish to prepare. Fill the moulds with your eggs, milk, cream, sugar and vanilla mixture as well as your caramel sauce and steam at 80 degrees Celsius for 15-25 minutes.

For a twist on the traditional recipe, pair the rich flavours with assorted berries or ice cream. You can also try infusing the creme caramel itself with aromatic flavours such as orange or rose.

Use your Convotherm combi-steamer to create creme caramel.

Fruitcake

Whenever the festive season looms, it is the perfect opportunity to introduce some Yuletide inspiration to your menu. The humble fruitcake has a long and illustrious history that reaches back to Ancient Rome, where the Romans would throw nuts, raisins and pomegranate seeds together for an energy-packed snack. However, the cake would only take more of a recognisable form in the Middle Ages, with later spin-offs including German stollen bread and Italian panforte.

You can use your combi-steamer to ‘pre-steam’ the fruitcake mixture, before using the hot air setting to bake the cake at 165 degrees C for 25-35 minutes. Of course, it is also possible to only use steam to cook a fruitcake, but it can several hours to achieve this.

Why buy your Convotherm oven with Moffat?

At Moffat, we are experts at helping our customers to find the best commercial kitchen equipment to suit their business. Whether you choose the Mini series to suit a space-poor setup, or the touch screen panel combi-steamers, we can offer professional installation services.

As part of our post-sales service, our team can also provide staff training and 24/7 customer service, to help keep your establishment running as smooth as can be. You can even lodge service bookings online, to arrange for our service personnel to help maintain your equipment.

In addition, should any of your appliances, including your combi-steamer oven, ever need repairs, Moffat is here to help get your kitchen back up and running as soon as possible, with access to a comprehensive catalogue of spare parts. You can learn more about Convotherm here, or contact Moffat to find out what we can do for you.