When it comes to desserts, presentation and quality are keys to profit

“I think the expectations of the average punter when it comes to quality today have just gone through the roof. Going back to the start of my career, a croissant was a croissant and most people didn’t even know what that was – now they’re asking whether you’re making them with French butter! The trend is definitely towards better and better quality.”

That’s the word from Josh Cochrane, Executive Pastry Chef at Melbourne’s prestigious RACV City Club. Josh and his team are dedicated to showcasing fabulous cakes, pastries and desserts both within the club and in its adjoining Le Petit Gateau patisserie, whose shopfront is open to the public.

The extensive range is always changing – “we change our show cakes almost monthly, we’ve got something different each week, and each chef puts their own specials out to get feedback from customers. We all have taste tests and offer our opinions, tweak recipes and work on them. What we’re delivering isn’t classic – it’s more like the modern styles that the rock star chefs of Paris are creating!”

Presentation standards have risen in past decade

Le Petit Gateau has been open for 20 years and Josh has worked there in two separate stints, racking up eight years in total – he started off as chef de partie under Pierrick Boyer, moved overseas then came back later to take over Pierrick’s former position of executive pastry chef. Next door to the shopfront is the RACV club’s central pastry kitchen – “we service the whole venue from there, so we’re serving not only the public, but members and their guests and the club’s functions market,” Josh explains. “That’s a broad range of clientele from the one kitchen – which makes it a fantastic environment for young pastry chefs and apprentices to come through. They get exposure to everything from dessert staples to showpieces.

“There’s only a handful of kitchens in Melbourne who do this sort of thing, so it’s really a wonderful place to work especially as a young chef. When I think back 20 years ago, I was just coming out of my apprenticeship and back then there were probably two really good patisseries in Melbourne – then Le Petit Gateau opened and I was just blown away by the quality. Since then we’ve seen so many places open up boasting really high quality – we’re so lucky today that we’ve got a really good pool of talented pastry chefs in Melbourne. 

“The standard of presentation in particular has really risen over the past decade, and I think social media platforms like Instagram have had a lot to do with that. You can see what the top chefs are doing, you don’t have to spend $150 on their cookbook to look at their recipes or what products they’re using. I think it has also pushed a lot of people to compete and we all benefit from that because it raises the bar.

“Now when we release our special of the week, we’re building it with an eye for its Instagram appeal – nice bright colours, fresh flowers to garnish; you can almost put any flavours you want in there and people will buy it, which I disagree with in a way because they’re almost going for the visual appeal more than the taste. Obviously for me flavour is first and foremost because you’re buying it to eat it – but the fact is people eat with their eyes first and that’s never been truer than it is today. Now we’ll release our specials for the day or the week, and some people will buy it on its look without even asking what’s in it!”

Examples include croissants with laminated coloured dough – “once it’s baked it remains pretty colourful and they’re great sellers, so we try to chop and change them fairly regularly. Currently we’ve got green tea custard with uzu croissants on the meu, which is a very contemporary flavour profile and they’re selling very well.

They were originally a one-off – I was playing around with a few flavours and we made a couple of dozen which we put out in the shop, and the next day we had all these customers come back wanting more, so we knew we were onto a good thing! Now we bake them fresh every day. We’re also offering chocolate and raspberry croissants, which is a bit more traditional, but we’ll be changing that around soon – now that stone fruits have come into season I’m keen to try something with them!

“Macarons are also a great favourite which have colours that really pop. They went through a big hype a couple of years back and have become a staple – we have a number of different varieties, they’re just delicious, customers love them and they’re also ideal for garnishing our extra large cakes.”

“With the club in particular, we lean towards an older clientele, so it’s not surprising there’s still a big demand for the classics – tiramisu, lemon tart are always popular – and sometimes we will try to modify the recipes somewhat, make a modern version and we’ll be super happy with it, but some members will always prefer the old-style presentation. You need to cater to your clientele, but we’re lucky that within the club there are four different restaurants, each with their own different style and customer base. For example, the club’s member’s dining area tends to be a little more classical, whereas Sojourn, which has just opened up, is really cool, innovative, showstopping desserts – we have the best of all worlds really.”

Locally sourced produce resonates with customers

The key focus for Josh and his team right now is to use more local produce and highlight that in their desserts. "Seasonality is always important but we’re more committed than ever to local suppliers. Four or five years ago we were using fruit purees from France and fruit grown in Malaysia, but then you start thinking about how many food miles are on them. Now we’re trying to find local suppliers and producers, or even in the case of purees producing them ourselves rather than buying them in. We want to use more locally sourced, Victorian produce when we can get it, and tailor our menus to that. It’s also a selling point with the customers which we’re keen to promote on the menus. Everyone’s concerned about sustainability and knowing the food miles that are on some products, people are a lot more conscious about it. If you can advertise that your strawberries are from down the road or your honey is locally harvested, it’s something that resonates with your customers.” 

With the summer months now upon us, Josh is looking at adding more seasonal items to the lineup, but despite the constant desire for innovation there are some staples which are permanently there to stay. “I think back around year two, one of the chefs, Olivier, created the brownie passionfruit gateau, and try as we might we can’t take it off the menu because customers love it – when you look at the sales results it’s still such a strong seller. And that’s because it’s such a great recipe and presentation.”