F&N Spearheads In Inspiring Future Chefs To Raise Standards Of Culinary Excellence Through Teaming Up With Taylor’s University

15 June 2016 – Amidst a large room filled with the aroma of freshly baked entremets (a multi-layered mousse-based cake with complementary flavours and varying textural contrasts), 24 students huddled in pairs raced against time to contend for the coveted title of Entremet Maestro at the F&N Bake Off Challenge at Taylor’s University recently.

Organised by F&N in collaboration with Taylor’s University School of Hospitality, Tourism & Culinary Arts for the first time, the challenge was launched with the aim to support future chefs in creating unique treasured taste moments and raising standards of culinary excellence.

Ms. Eileen Chan, Senior Marketing Manager of F&N Dairies said, “F&N is thrilled to be providing a platform for a fun and innovative way to create excitement for culinary students! From this challenge alone, the students already demonstrated finesse in the application of F&N Full Cream Sweetened Condensed and Evaporated Creamer in their creations. We envision the F&N brand as a learning and resource centre; we are committed to impart knowledge to inspire and nurture young talented chefs to become leaders of the culinary world.”

Food Recipe Specialists of F&N Mr. Alric Tong added, “As an alumnus of Taylor’s University myself, we hope that the Bake Off Challenge will enrich the learning experience of university students – this is something I wished we had more of during my time with Taylor’s. We chose entremet as the theme because this cake is known to be the ultimate challenge amongst modern pastry chefs. Through F&N Full Cream Sweetened Condensed and Evaporated Creamer’s ability to blend exquisite flavours together, it was a perfect opportunity for the students to create a symphony of local-meets-west relish, with Malaysia’s highly complex and diverse culinary influences.”

After 4 hours of intense baking, the judges, Mr. Alric Tong, Chef Lecturers of Taylor’s University, Mr. Karamvir Singh Godrei, Ms. Patma Ghani, Ms. Najihah Salwana and Winner of the Celebrity MasterChef Malaysia Season 1, Chef Dato’ Fazley were all smiles as they watched the students bring in their entremets.

Sharing on the collective feedback from the judges, Alric added, “We were very impressed with the diverse presentation styles and flavours conceived by the students; varying from a curry flavoured base to a “cendol” and cheese layer combination. Most Malaysians know only of sweetened condensed and evaporated creamer in beverage application, but now the young chefs who will represent the future of food have a chance to experience the versatility of F&N products in the pastry kitchen. As the perfect baking companion, F&N helped to stimulate creative ideas among culinary students and take their recipe to another level.”

The students’ creations were judged according to workspace organization, culinary skill, presentation, and most importantly taste. Melinda and Monica from Team ‘The Apron’ achieved the highest average score and emerged as the Champion with their ‘Bamboo Village’ entremets. Their winning creation was layered with pandan mousse and apple walnut cake, a coconut textured base and a beautiful white chocolate glaze topped with honeycomb and meringue.

“This came as a pleasant surprise to us because there were so many talented participants! We used the F&N evaporated creamer with our pandan mousse and jelly, and F&N sweetened condensed creamer for the glazing. Not only did it enhance the flavour of the entremet layers, it made the glaze much shinier and stabilized too”, both ladies gleamed in excitement as they walked away with RM 2,000 cash prize, trophies and a set of culinary knives.

1st runners up were Adrian Chua and Tang Yong Jie from ‘Team Nuts’ with their unique combination of an almond and curry based entremet. ‘The Secret Garden of Eden’, a delight to both sight and taste of the judges, meanwhile secured Mah Jing Yi and Kuan Su Wern of ‘Team Sumi’ the 2nd runner-up position. They walked away with RM 1,000 and RM 600 cash prize, trophies and culinary knife set respectively. 9 finalist teams each brought home RM 200 in cash prize and an unforgettable pastry making experience as well.

“F&N Bake Off Challenge with Taylor’s University this year is just the beginning, and we look forward to building a long-term relationship through treasured taste moments with even more culinary students as we are constantly finding new ways to connect and inspire Malaysians from different generations,” Eileen concluded.

The winning cake by Melinda and Monica Augustin from ‘Team Apron’, a perfectly executed ‘Bamboo Village’ entremet which was enriched by F&N Full Cream Sweetened Condensed Milk.

For more information on F&N’s Sweetened Condensed and Evaporated Creamer and F&N Bake Off Challenge, please visit www.fndairies.com.