Marcducobu

The success story of

Waterloo, a lively town just south of brussels, famous from the history books as being the site of napoleon’s fi nal battle and the inspiration for a famous abba song. people here live the good life, shopping and sampling tastes. it is here that Marc ducobu opened a patisserie without much ado. Marc ducobu, proud owner of a wide variety of chocolate awards. Talented participantin various prestigious competitions such ascoupe du Monde in Lyon, Turin and phoenix,prosper Montagné and Mandarin napoleon.Mark is a defender of pure products such as (debic) cream, butter, fruit and chocolate, and implements this policy in his company.

7

Visit & Create

How would you yourself describe your career?“i had the good luck during my training that i was encouraged to take internships at major firms. after that, i started working with ‘old hands’ at Wittamer and debailleul, Lucas in Merchtem and axel sachem. over a period of fifteen years, i learnt many styles and working methods, sufficient to set up my own business. you do not need a fortune to start up for yourself. second-hand equipment for the shop and the studio and doing the renovation work yourself helps keep costs down. The advantage of not taking over an existing bakery is that you can immediately put your own stamp on the style of the business you want to establish, including the selling prices. if you take over an existing firm, you are tied to the habits of the clients of the business.”

Waterloo“This town is home to a diverse international population, since we are just to the south of brussels. residents are happy to be pampered with good products, there are many restaurants and caterers in Waterloo but surprisingly few patisseries. This is a public that is open to innovation, and knows what is on offer in the world. here, i can present tastes such as yuzu in macaroons or cake.”

Open-plan KitchenWe have been in these new premises since 2009. an open-plan kitchen was a conscious choice. i wanted to change the image of the baker working in a cellar or a dark kitchen. There is a lot of light here and you can see the pastry chefs at work. sometimes, i invite curious clients to watch them from up close. by involving the clients you are working on a positive image. They can see that everything is fresh and that the team has a positive atmosphere. This engenders trust. also the offering of cooking and baking programmes on TV improves the image, especially among young people. That is clear.”

Identikit

Marc Ducobu: °1971, Brussels

Training: ceria-brussels traditional

pastry chef training and ice cream making,

specialisation: sugar work and chocolate.

Internships and experience: Wittamer, espagne;

debailleul in brussels; au Vatel,

Mont royal, nile hilton; cairo;

conrad hotel, brussels.

8 | debic Magazine

Visit & Create

Macaroons“Macaroons are an important part of our offering. hip natural colours, light and fresh fillings, small packages: everything to convey a youthful image. The younger generation prefer to buy a bag or box of macaroons rather than a classic ballotin of pralines. The media also play a role in this. in every magazine you see articles saying that macaroons are on the way back. recently we started collaborating with a local beekeeper, who is the exclusive supplier of our honey.”

Communication“as a patisserie in these times, it is our task to give a lot of information on the ingredients, about avoiding the use of artificial flavourings, aromas, preservatives, and making use instead of natural colouring agents. We emphasise that we work with professional staff and that we put two tastes into a single macaroon. in this way, the clients know that they are getting value for their money. We tell them that we work with a low-fat cream (cream 35% instead of cream with 40% or 42% fat content), we use 40 g of sugar per litre of whipped cream instead of 150 g as is the case at some patisseries. i see it as our task to inform the clients about new legislation, concerning colouring agents, for example. With all this technical information the clients can more easily understand our pricing. We pay a lot of attention, therefore, also to our website: promotional videos, professional photography, promoting the business and mentioning the competitions i have won.”

Taste and ingredients“our philosophy is to promote taste and ingredients as the most important features. We make our own topping jelly, we infuse the milk with vanilla pods before we boil this with crème patissière, we make the hazelnut praline ourselves, and all the apple sauce and jams are according to our own recipes. it sounds exaggerated but our people provide input on these things, and they feel involved. This is the strength of our business. everything has to be right. Merely finishing a cake with gold leaf will not automatically make it a delicious cake.”

New style of patisserie?“Today we see a different style of patisserie: fewer mousses and bavarois, more crèmes, crème brulée, cream rice, cremeux etc, i.e. richer fillings. a small cake must weigh around 90 to 100 g. Therefore, we have replaced the mousse rings with a height of 4 cm with rings of 3.5 cm. in this way, we achieve a higher profit margin per recipe without the clients getting less value for their money. The price per person is € 3.60. With this pricing, we achieve our gross margin. i fear that a price rise is on the way due to the fluctuating prices of sugar, chocolate and cream.”

“Our task asa pastry chef is

to communicate closely concerningthe ingredients.”

9

Tips for Christmas and the New Year“at the beginning of october, we always present the winter programme to our clients, with new tastes and combinations. i only use these tastes in the christmas cakes so that the clients know the taste when they place an order. They are not faced with (unwelcome) surprises. at the beginning of december, we always organise a tasting evening. The immediate result of this is around one hundred orders. by communicating with the clients, you can feel and hear what their favourite tastes are, and their wishes.”

Tips for the younger generation“if you have the passion, go for it. open your ears and your eyes. More than ever before, everything is more readily available, via the internet, books and internships. and don’t hide behind a 38-hour working week. bakery schools should pay more attention to pointing this out to young people. product knowledge too is relatively underdeveloped. knowledge of commodities is not taken very seriously. no one seems to know what type of vanilla is suited to crèmes or to baking. Which apricots are delicious and when they are in season. What apple is best for making apple sauce, etc.”

“We have to continue to meet our costs without compromising quality. i foresee a rise in sales through the internet. We receive orders regularly via the internet. it is now a question of getting the logistics and production right.”

10 | debic Magazine

Visit & Create

Compositionbuild up the entremet in reverse order on a plastic sheet. begin by placing half of the chocolate mousse in the ring. place the frozen raspberry coulis and then the raspberry crémeux in the chocolate mousse and cover this with a layer of chocolate biscuit. pour the rest of the mousse on top and seal it with a baked wafer of shortcrust pastry. place in the freezer until it becomes solid.

Finishremove from the mould and cover with the glaçage. decoration of the patisserie.

VersaillesShortcrust pastry, raspberry crémeux, raspberry coulis, Noir de Noir chocolate mousse

Ingredientsrecipe for 1 cake

of 18 cm Ø / 3.5cm high

Chocolate biscuit without flour420 g egg white

225 g sugar

325 g egg yolk

10 g almond powder

10 g sugar

25 g cocoa powder

Shortcrust pastry2 g salt

60 g icing sugar

120 g debic cake gold

10 g egg

15 g almond powder

15 g sugar

200 g flour

Noir de Noir chocolate mousse 90 g sugar

15 ml water

100 g egg yolk

50 g egg

500 ml debic cream 35%

300 g dark chocolate 56%

Raspberry coulis200 g raspberry purèe

10 ml sugar syrup 1:1

10 ml raspberry liqueur

4,5 g gelatine

Raspberry crémeux 25 ml milk

25 ml debic cream 35%

20 g egg yolk

5 g sugar

75 g raspberry purée

3 g gelatine

Glaçage200 ml debic cream 35%

100 g milk chocolate 38%

230 g dark chocolate 70%

6 g gelatine

200 g neutral jelly

10 ml red colouring agent

Chocolate biscuit without flourbeat the egg white with the sugar,mix in the egg yolks. using a spatula, mix in the almond powder with the sugar and the cocoa powder. spread out on a baking tray (60/40) and bake at 185 °c for 8 minutes.

Shortcrust pastryMix the ingredients in this sequence. store in the fridge. roll out to 3mm thickness and bake: 180 °c / 11 minutes.

Noir de Noir chocolate mousse boil the sugar with the water and pour onto the egg–egg yolk mixture. stir at 85 °c and beat to form a sabayon.heat the 100 g of cream and mix with the chocolate to form a ganache. Mix the sabayon with the ganache. Whisk the remaining cream mix and stir with a spatula.

Raspberry coulisheat the raspberry purée with the syrup and the liqueur. add the soaked gelatine, mix and pour out in circles of 16 cm Ø. freeze.

Raspberry crémeux With the milk, cream, sugar and egg yolk, prepare an anglaise (85 °c). using a pointed sieve, pour the soaked and melted gelatine onto the raspberry purée. Mix. pour out in circles of 16 cm Ø and freeze.

Glaçageheat the cream, pour onto the chocolate and add the soaked gelatine. Mix to a smooth ganache. Mix in the neutral clear jelly with the red colouring agent.

11