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Uwe so sweet!

Planning for the world’s largest dessert buffet began three months ago, with guidelines set by Chef Uwe on what is expected from potential partners. Chef Uwe Micheel is the president of the Emirates Culinary Guild and director of kitchens at the Radisson SAS, Deira.

Next, the team created a list of countries and chose which countries each partner would take on.

There will be, on average, 50 desserts from each country, doubling up on some such as Germany and England, and reducing the number for countries that aren’t sugar-high nations. The total number of desserts planned is 2009.

The most challenging part for Chef Uwe was finding the partners. In fact, he is still searching for a few more. “We will go through with it as is and I am confident we will break the record, but a few more partners would be good,” he says.

The event brings together over 200 pastry chefs from around 40 different hotels. Part of the thrill of events such as this for Chef Uwe is the teamwork. He explains; “usually we are competing with each other every day for guests for our hotels but on that day [February 13] we will all be working together to achieve one thing for our city, for Dubai.”

The most important agenda for Chef Uwe is food safety. “We must remember that at the end of the day, the food is to be consumed so it must be up to standard,” he says.

Preparation of the desserts will start the day before the buffet. In each hotel, four or five chefs will work on their assigned confections. It will take them about ten hours to make the desserts. That’s approximately 2,000 combined man-hours in less than 48 hours. Desserts will be transported in refrigerated cooling trucks to the event.

The only regret Chef Uwe has is that the presentation of the desserts will not be at their finest, as they will be using disposable dishware which he feels lessens the visual effect.

Chef Uwe has already achieved numerous culinary world records, including that for the world’s largest cake, babaganouche bowl and, most recently, biryani bowl.

After so many awards, this attempt still gives Chef Uwe a sugar-rush. “It’s still [thrilling] because everything is different. Whenever you achieve something, it is special.”

At the Radisson SAS, Deira, I was given a taste of some of the desserts we can expect to see, courtesy of pastry chef Thomas Gomes. The opera cake, one of Uwe’s favourites, is a delectable sensation of the perfect balance of chocolate sponginess and buttercream. My favourite, the nutty sponge cake with camel-milk mousse and passionfruit jelly dessert, enchants your mouth with its light playfulness as the jelly bounces around in your mouth creating a mouth-watering sensation. This dessert and the German cheesecake will be available at the event.

The attempt to create the world’s biggest desert buffet will be held at Uptown Mirdiff between 6 and 8pm. Tickets will be sold to no more than 1,000 people, after which whatever is left will be open to the public. Chef Uwe predicts there will be a lot more than 1,000 people eating from this magnificent smorgasbord.

citytime@emirates.net.ae