Crémeux


It has been busy lately, not so much about work, but life in general. Work has been great, my boss has been really generous to me in many ways (he is the best boss ever!), no more long hours and weekend work. M is back in the States, it has been a month now, the longest period he's been here this year and hopefully will stay that way and we've been spending lots of time together. It is difficult to find a free weekend, they are pretty much booked for either wedding, graduation, art festival, more wedding, birthdays, gathering with friends, coworkers, many things. It is a good thing that we can celebrate many events in life. Weather has been perfect in many ways and when we have a weekend to spare, we've been doing long walks in the beautiful Standford campus every weekend, playing Wii games. Baking has been fun too (except that I wish I have more time for this) and many cakes have been made in the busy kitchen, and many more. I can't complain much.


One of my brother's birthday was a few weeks ago (I have 6 older brothers). We don't usually have big celebration for birthdays, we would usually do birthday dinner, but nothing fancy. One thing for sure, there's always cake.


I did nothing too fancy this time, but I've been dying to use one the molds I bought 2 years ago or something (yup, I tend to go on a baking shopping spree and will forget about them). I decided to make one of the cakes from one of my favorite cake site, cakechef. I have been eager to make many of their cakes but there is not enough time for all that. I chose a simpler one this time, and with no directions provided, I think it is a safe bet.


This original recipe has almond genoise, white chocolate yogurt mousse, and mascarpone mousse. I think it will be too creamy, and so I decided to put a thin of raspberry layer in the middle to give it a little bright note. I used two layers of thin almond joconde and soaked it in kirsch syrup instead of making their almond genoise. I had most of the components available anyway.


Overall, I think it is a very light and summery cake.It is not too complicated to make but still has that "oohhs and aahhs" effect and we definitely enjoyed it.

Cremeux

Almond joconde, see recipe here minus the pistachio paste
Kirsch soaking syrup, see recipe here

Raspberry Garniture, see recipe here

White Chocolate and Yogurt Mousse
300g white chocolate
300g whole milk yogurt, at room temperature
8g gelatin leaf (I used 2 tsp. powdered gelatin, soaked in a bit of cold water, and melted in a microwave for a few seconds)
450g heavy whipping cream
  • Melt white chocolate in double boiler 
  • Add the yogurt and the melted gelatin, mix well
  • Meanwhile, whisk the cream till soft peak, then fold it in into the white chocolate mixture
Mascarpone Mousse
250g mascarpone cheese
300g heavy whipping cream, whipped to soft peak
20g Amaretto (I didn't use this, substitute with Grand Marnier, Kirsch, Cointreau, or other fruit brandy)
4g gelatin leaf (I used 1 tsp. powdered gelatin, soaked in a bit of cold water, and melted in a microwave for a few seconds)
    Pate a Bombe:
    40g egg yolks
    70g sugar
    30g water
  • Make pate a bombe by boiling the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring it to 245F. 
  • Put the egg yolk in a mixer bowl, when the sugar almost reaches the temperature, start whisking the yolk.
  • Pour the sugar syrup into the egg yolk with the mixer still running and continue whisking until it becomes thick and pale
    Note: I used a different method to make pate a bombe than the one stated in the recipe. The recipe suggested to whisk the yolk, sugar and water on a double boiler until it reaches 86C and continue whisking in the mixer
  • Add the melted gelatin, liqueur, and mascarpone cheese
  • Lastly, fold in the whipped cream
To Assemble:
  • Brush the almond joconde with Kirsch simple syrup
  • Spread the mascarpone mousse over the joconde
  • Place the second joconde on top, brush with syrup, and spread the raspberry garniture over it
  • Pour the white chocolate mousse on top and smooth it out
  • Refrigerate.

17 comments:

Tamara said...

beautiful cake!!


www.ave-dulcis.blogspot.com

Irene said...

Wow, the cake looks so delicious and impressive too! I'm also about to attempt a mousse based strawberry cake and was looking around to see how to substitute 8g of gelatine leaves with powdered ones. Looks like yours came out well so I'll also use the same measurements as yours. Thank you so much! It'll be so useful- I was panicking for a good solid hour!

Bertha said...

Irene: I've never actually used gelatine leaf because I have to buy it online. I've always used gelatine powder which is readily available everywhere. But I think I am going to try it soon :)

Anonymous said...

The cake looks wonderful! I was wondering, how do you make the 'dip' at the top of the cake?
Thanks ;D

Bertha said...

Anonymous: thanks! it is the shape of the mold that has the dip on the top

Anonymous said...

Beautiful cake!
The links for Kirsch soaking syrup and raspberry garniture doesn’t work can you please fix it?

Bertha said...

Ah thanks! fixed it already

Anonymous said...

All your entremets are so beautiful it really inspires me to bake I’m interested in learning how to make entremets and before starting to make entremets, I must be able to get my basics right, which include things like joconde, creme anglaise, bavaroise do you know any book that teaches you the basic ingredients in French?

Thanks =)

Bertha said...

I don't own many books in French. Hidemi Sugino's book is in French and Japanese. Other than that, I have Pierre Herme book in French but it assumes you know the basic already.

Sorry if that doesn't help much

Anonymous said...

What I meant is can you please recommend me a book that teaches you the basic ingredients in french but in English like teaches you the basic step to make joconde, creme anglaise, bavaroise and all that to make entremets because I need to learn the basic first then I can make entremets.

Thanks

Bertha said...

Hmm... Pierre Herme's book "The Dessert Book" and the chocolate version is a good start. I don't own that many cookbooks, so I might not suggest the best one out there

Anonymous said...

Hey Bertha,
Thank you for your recommendation!
Do you know where I can purchase Desserts by Pierre Herme and Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme because on amazon is too expensive?

Thanks =)

Bertha said...

I'm sorry, I don't own many books. I bought Pierre Herme's dessert book for about $30 or less I think and I just saw that they had the used one for less than $30. Good luck!

Unknown said...

Hi the kirsch soaking syrup where is that on the remake of ambroisie? Thank you!

Is it the "Sirop d'imbibage"?
20g 30°B Sugar Syrup
15g water
15g eau-de-vie de framboise

Bertha said...

Teresa: Yes, I always use that recipt for simple syrup. just change the liqueur depending on the cake flavor

Unknown said...

Hi I was wondering what other recipes use eau de vie framboise? (As I would hate to never use it again) also where can you purchase it? Thank you!

Bertha said...

Most fruity cake (especially with raspberries in it can use framboise).
I think I bought mine from Bevmo. If you are not planning to use much of it, I would suggest using other liqueur you already have or just omit it all together.

It is pricey and you only need a few tablespoons at a time. I often used Kirsch too (if you have that). but if not, you can just omit it from the recipe. if you still want a bit of raspberry flavor, you can add a little bit of raspberry extract (which is much cheaper)