A Remake of Ambroisie

This is the latest cake I made. I decided to post this first instead of the previous ones because I had the pictures ready to go for this post.

So I was in my team's staff meeting a few weeks ago, and all of a sudden, I was wondering about my teammates birthday. To me, birthday is important and I would feel bad if someone had a birthday I didn't know about. The least I could do is to congratulate them. Well, after asking around, we all found out that there are 3 May's babies within less than a week from each other, it was my boss' and two of my teammates'. So I decided to make them a cake.

9" and 6" version

Chocolate is always a safe bet, and when I thought of what chocolate cake I wanted to make, I remember this cake. As you would have probably guessed, for those of you who are a fan of Mr. Sugino, you would probably immediately recognize this cake. This is his most famous cake that won him a pastry championship back then and it is also the cover of his book. I made this cake once before, here, for my coworker, and I thought it tasted amazing despite the number of components this cake has, also this is got to be one of the longest cake (time-wise) I've ever made. Besides, I've been wanting to remake this cake since I didn't get to taste it so much last time.

I was out of pistachio paste and was thinking of ordering online from my usual supplier, but it will take about 7 business days total and it would be too late. So I browsed for another alternative, Amazon, and found this Sevarome pistachio paste. I have heard so much about this paste and the only thing blocking me from getting it in the past, is the price. With the shipping, it costs me well over $85 for 1kg of the paste (yikes!). It took a lot of deliberation for me to finally hit the "Submit Order" button. It hurts a little, but also excited at the same time.

The paste is different than the other pistachio pastes I used in the past. This one has no oil on the top and dryer, and it is really green and very aromatic too. When I made the pistachio mousse, it was definitely a lot stronger (and greener) compared to the one I made before, but I was not complaining. This cake took me about 5 nights to finish. Don't be intimidated by it, it is a lot of components, and the ingredients can be quite pricey too, but it is so worth it at the end. I started out with making the almond joconde, pistachio joconde, and the rest. I was out of regular pectin and had to use pectin NH for the raspberry garniture, and it was very thick that I had to mix it with some water so that it is spreadable. I strained my raspberry garniture because I've never liked having raspberry seeds stuck in between my teeth.

This is also my first time trying to assemble the cake upside down (the top side first, then flip the whole thing) and it went smoothly. I was happy with the result.

I doubled and tripled some of the measurement so that it was enough to make a 9" round cake and four individual 3" cake (3 for the birthday people and one for the bf, who is yet still in Korea). I had enough leftover to make another 6" one for people at home. The cake was very well-received and you can definitely taste the pistachio flavor this time stronger than before.

I now have so much leftover for pistachio and chocolate joconde, stay tuned to see more of Mr. Sugino's rendition soon.

Note: the recipe below is based on my understanding of how to make each component as it is in Japanese (while the ingredients are in French). It might be slightly different from what the book says but it works for me.

 Ambroisie
 by Hidemi Sugino. Taken from Le gout authentique retrouve

Chocolate Joconde (Biscuit Joconde au Chocolat)

70g almond powder
70g powdered sugar
70g egg yolks
30g egg whites
55g cake flour
20g cocoa powder
25g unsalted butter, melted
French Meringue:
130g egg whites
45g sugar

• Sift together the cake flour and the cocoa powder. Set aside.
• Combine the almond powder, powdered sugar, egg yolks, and 30g egg whites together and whisk until thick and pale
• On a separate clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy and add the sugar a little at a time until it form firm peak
• Fold some of the meringue into the yolk mixture to lighten it.
• Add in the sifted flour mixture, and fold well.
• Fold in the melted butter
• Fold in the rest of the meringue
• Spread the batter into half-sheet pan (you might end up with less volume if you overmix the batter and might want to use 9x13" pan)
• Bake in the oven at 230C for 5-6 minutes

Pistachio Joconde (Biscuit aux Pistaches)

90g almond paste 50%
38g pistachio paste
45g whole egg
40g egg yolks
25g egg whites
45g cornstarch
20g unsalted butter, melted
French Meringue:
80g egg whites
50g sugar

•  Mix the almond paste and the pistachio paste together in a mixer bowl
• Add the whole egg, egg yolks, and egg whites and beat until thick and pale
• Make french meringue in a separate bowl (see the chocolate joconde instruction)
• Mix some meringue into the batter, fold well
• Add the sifted cornstarch, fold well
• Add the melted batter
• Lastly, fold in the rest of the  meringue
• Spread the batter into half-sheet pan (you might end up with less volume if you overmix the batter and might want to use 9x13" pan)
• Bake in the oven at 230C for 5-6 minutes

Raspberry Jam (Framboise pepins)
35g sugar
20g glucose
8g water
100g fresh or frozen raspberries
4g pectin mixed with 23g sugar
6g lemon juice

• Bring the sugar, glucose, and water to a boil in a saucepan
• Mix the raspberries in and continue to boil
• Mix in the pectin-sugar and boil until raspberry has broken down and soft
• Cool in an icebath and add the lemon juice
• Refrigerate until needed
• The recipe called for 50g of this jam

 30°B Sugar Syrup
20g sugar
15g water


Boil together and let cool

Sirop d'imbibage
20g  30°B Sugar Syrup
15g water
15g eau-de-vie de framboise

Mix all the ingredients together

Dark Chocolate Mousse (Mousse au Chocolat Noir)Make this before you are ready to assemble the cake

440g heavy cream, whipped to soft peak. Refrigerate until ready
Pate a bombe:
      60g whipping cream
      50g sugar
      100g egg yolks
200g 66% dark chocolate, melted and let cool

• Make pate a bombe by boiling the 60g of heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan 
• Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks 
• Pour the hot xream mixture into the egg yolk with the mixer still running and keep whisking until it is thick and fluffy
• Pour this mixture into the cooled melted chocolate, fold well
• Fold in some of the whipped cream to lighten it, then pour half of it into the whipped cream, fold in well.
• Pour the last half of the chocolate mixture into the whipped cream and fold.

Note:

•  When I made the pate a bombe the first time, I brought the mixture to 245F (softball stage) before pouring it into the egg yolks (the classic pate a bombe mixture) and the resulting pate a bombe is thick and fluffy quickly.
  This time, I just boil the cream and pour it in. The resulting pate a bombe is thinner and takes a lot longer to get thick (although not as thick as the classic preparation).
  I am not sure which one Mr. Sugino uses as I can't understand Japanese, but both works fine.

Pistachio Mousse (Mousse a la pistache)
130g heavy whipping cream, whip until soft peak and refrigerate until ready
20g pistachio paste
70g milk
1/10 vanilla bean seeds
40g egg yolks
15g sugar
2g gelatin leaf, softened in a cold water

• Make creme anglaise by boiling the milk, pistachio paste, and vanilla bean in a pot
• Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl
• Temper the yolks with the boiled cream and return it back to the pot under a low heat
• Keep stirring until the temperature register 84C
• Take it off the heat and strain (to avoid some scrambled eggs)
• Add the softened gelatin and stir until it melts
• Let cool in an icebath
• Fold in the whipped cream
• Pour the mixture into 18cm baking frame or baking pan that has been lined with plastic wrap, overhanging on the side (for easy removal)

Chocolate Glaze (Glaçage au Chocolat)Make this the last after the cake is completely frozen and you are ready to glaze.

150g water
250g sugar
100g cocoa powder
150g heavy cream
15g gelatin leaves, soften in cold water

• Combine the water, sugar and cocoa powder in a saucepan and bring it to boil
• Add the heavy cream and bring back to boil
• Take it off the heat and strain
• Mix the gelatin in and stir until completely melted
• Let cool while occasionally stirring to keep the surface to harden and make it smooth

Assembly

• Cut out the pistachio joconde to 18cm square, brush one side with the sirop imbibage and place it on top of the pistachio mousse, brushed side down. Then brush the other side with the syrup.
  Freeze
• Once frozen, take it out of the freezer and spread 50g of framboise pepins on top
• Using a cookie cutter or fondant cutter, cut circles with diameter slightly smaller than the cake ring you will use. (I use 2.5" cookie cutter and 3" cake ring)
• Cut the chocolate joconde using the same size of cookie cutter.
• Assemble top-side down. Line a baking pan with acetate sheet and place the 3" cake rings (or any size of rings you want) on top.
• Pipe some chocolate mousse at the bottom, then place the pistachio mousse-raspberry cut out on top (raspberry side on the top)
• Spread some more thin layer of mousse, then lastly place the chocolate joconde circle on top
• Freeze until frozen and flip the cake onto a wire rack with baking sheet underneath (to catch the drips when glazing)
• Once the chocolate glaze is almost at room temperature (slightly warm but still pourable), pour the glaze on top of the cake and smooth it with spatula
• Refrigerate overnight and decorate