3rd Annual Tyler Florence Low Country Celebration – Inn at Palmetto Bluff

I’m definitely getting old.  Every month seems to fly by quicker than the last.  I can’t believe November is over, Thanksgiving has passed and I haven’t even made one posting the entire month!  Next thing we know it will be Christmas…after all, only 26 more days to go!

It has been a great fall season.  I have to offer up my thanks to the many many people that have joined me for classes not only during October and November but all year long.  Even with the economic slow-down  I’m happy to say that October lived up to its reputation for being my busiest month! 

Last weekend I once again had the opportunity to be a guest chef at the 3rd annual “Tyler Florence Low Country Celebration” held at the Inn at Palmetto Bluff in Bluffton, SC.  I was lucky to be a part of the very first festival in 2007 hosted by Tyler Florence of the Food Network and sponsored by Coastal Living magazine.  The event is a multi-day festival featuring block party style gatherings, a Saturday food festival featuring chefs from the southeast and many other weekend activities.

Miniature Pecan Praline Angel Food Cakes

For my sampling item this year I once again reverted to the pecan praline angel food cake that I served the first year of the festival.  It’s the dessert featured in my most popular class which focuses on the cuisine and cultural influences of the Low Country region.  I love doing desserts for these types of events because so few chefs ever focus on dessert it makes it easy to stand out!  Plus, the other benefit is that you can arrive with all of your preparation (or most) of it done and only need to serve and chat with the guests.  Much better than lugging lots of equipment and then trying to keep it cooked up fast enough for crowds and yet keep it from getting cold when the crowds start to wane.  Five hundred guests were expected for the Saturday festival so I opted to make 350 individual miniature angel food cakes.  The reality of these gatherings is that not everyone will sample everything and of course there are usually fewer people that actually show than were anticipated. 

You haven’t had fun until you’ve baked 350 individual pecan praline cakes!  Actually it’s not bad…just a bit tedious as I opt to use fresh eggs rather than egg whites from a carton.  I do the class so often that a couple years back I tried bulk egg whites thinking it would speed up my prep.  Unfortunately my experience was that they took MUCH longer to whip to the firmness necessary and just wasn’t viable for the timing in class.

Voila….216 individually separated egg whites later (plus a few more for those that weren’t able to successfully avoid collaboration with the egg yolks) and lots of whipping,  the cakes were ready for glazing!

The weather was beautiful, they actually sold 600 tickets for the event and I didn’t return with a single cake!

Topping it all off was the opportunity to meet and talk with current Top Chef finalist, Kevin Gillespie  who was there from his restaurant Woodfire Grill in Atlanta!

Chef Darin Sehnert with Top Chef Season 6 finalist Chef Kevin Gillespie