If you’ve always wanted to create spectacular desserts or get to grips with the finer points of patisserie the new venture from Aoife Noonan offers the chance to learn.
The renowned pastry chef is launching a series of online classes that will help you master everything from chocolate truffles and macarons to patisserie treats and special occasion desserts.
It’s fair to say you’ll be learning from one of the best too. Noonan has worked in some of the top kitchens around the country and was head pastry chef in the two Michelin starred Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin for four years. She also picked up the FOOD&WINE Pastry Chef of the Year award in 2018.
Currently studying for a masters in food, nutrition and health at UCD, Noonan has decided to leave the professional kitchens for now and is instead going to focus on teaching (alongside special patisserie projects).
She’s no stranger to sharing her skills either, having run regular patisserie masterclasses at the Dublin Cookery School in Blackrock and given cookery demonstrations at a number of food festivals around the country.
The new venture will see Noonan offer a range of bespoke online cookery classes covering all sorts of topics. “After over a decade in fine dining kitchens, demonstrations, and masterclasses, I wanted to blend my experience and love of teaching with my own personality and put my creative stamp on something new and exciting,” she told FOOD&WINE.
“I get such fulfilment and joy from passing on my knowledge to others, and before I ever worked in professional kitchens I had considered teaching as a career, so I feel like it was something I was destined to do for a while.”
She describes her classes as “warm, interactive, and accessible” with a range of options to suit everyone regardless of their skillset. If you’re a complete newbie, worry not. Not only is there a patisserie for beginners course, it’s the course Noonan herself is most excited about. “It’s a four-week course designed to master the basics and fundamentals of high-end patisserie, from pastry and chocolate work to plated desserts and decorating techniques,” she explains.
Along with the courses, Noonan will have a limited edition patisserie creation available to purchase each month. Everything kicks off in July, with the first of the online classes and patisserie featuring ‘A Celebration of Chocolate’ theme to tie in with World Chocolate Day on 7 July.
The first two-hour cookery class will show participants how to make salted caramel dark chocolate truffles, black forest panna cotta, and almond and apricot mendiants. Priced at €65, the Valrhona chocolate and other hard to find ingredients are included in the cost, while participants will need to source their own core ingredients like flour, sugar and butter themselves.
The first patisserie release is a chocolate entremet layer cake, which will be followed in August by a box of four canelés de Bordeaux, a traditional bite-sized pastry. Future courses include cake basics, a macaron masterclass, special occasion desserts, and the four-week patisserie for beginners. Customised group sessions are also available.
For further info see aoifenoonan.com
