“Joconde imprime is a decorative design baked into a light sponge cake providing an elegant finish to desserts/torts/entremets/ formed in ring molds. A joconde batter is used because it bakes into a moist, flexible cake. The cake batter may be tinted or marbleized for a further decorative effect.”
“Entremets is an ornate dessert with many different layers of cake and pastry creams in a mold, usually served cold.”
When Joconde and Entrement come together, they mean a delicate and sophisticated cake that I wasnt prepare to make (in terms of technical skills and pastry equipment that I have in my kitchen). Couple days before I found out the theme of this month's DBs challenge, I had been admiring at pictures of Pierre Herme's "Elysee" which he created during his time at Fauchon. I found its simple and perfectly straight chocolate brown and cream white stripy pattern utterly elegant. I like things with simple patterns and usually with two tones. My second thought was..... some expensive professional equipments must be used. Thanks to this challenge, I was very surprised to know that a plastic “comb” could do the effect! I need to get one next time when I visit a big city. But for the challenge, I used a chopstick!
This was the first cake that I had to come up with a combination of flavours and fillings. It gave me a couple of sleepless night just thinking about how I could actually achieve the structure that I wanted with the limited pastry tools that I have - a small ring! I guess that was sufficient! The look was disappointing, but the flavours were very very very good!
While Matcha and chestnut are a popular combination of flavours in Japan and other Asian countries, it might first sound weird. I like to taste the Matcha, but Matcha alone is quite harsh... it needs to pair with something that also adds another dimension to the flavour. I was happy with the matcha and chestnut pairing, but it seems a bit "ordinary". So I added a drop of secret ingredient and the magic happened. It was in such a harmony with the matcha and chestnut pairs. Maybe three isnt a crowd all the time!
For my Matcha and Chestnut Mousse recipe:
This makes 3 to 4 small ramekins.
Ingredients:
1 egg white
1 egg york
100g double cream
6g geletine
100g tinned chestnut puree
10 to 15g of matcha (mild/strong)
80g milk
sugar and boiled water specified below
Optional ingredients:
For Matcha mousse:
The "secret" ingredient for the matcha mousse is a drop of "Pandan" paste. Its very fragrant. I will definitely pair it with other matcha desserts again and again. It is not that they are both green, but I think "Pandan" really compliment matcha. Its sweetness neutralises the harshness/bitterness in matcha, as well as adding some harmony to it.
For Chestnut mousse:
Adding a few drops of rum when mixing the chestnut puree and sugar together.
To make the Mousse base:
1) Whip 1 egg white to foamy and gradually added 15g of granulated sugar, then whip to glossy peaks.
2) Whip 1 egg yolk and 15g granulated sugar together over a bowl/pan of hot water until double in volume and appear pale yellow.
3) Whip 100ml double cream with 30g granulated sugar to soft peaks. Do not overwhipped.
To make the Chestnut Mousse
1) Mix 100g tinned chestnut puree and 15g granulated/caster sugar until combine and no big lumpy chestnut.
2) Sprinkle 3g of powdered gelatin over 15g of hot water, mix well and added into the chestnut mixture. Mix.
3) Added half of the egg yolk batter and mix gently.
4) Incorporate half of the egg white and half of the whipped cream.
5) Spoon into individual moulds/containers and leave them in the fridge to form the bottom mousse layer.
To make the Matcha Mousse
1) Boil 80g milk.
2) Dissolved 10g Matcha in 10g/15g 80C water to get the intense green colour and release the best flavour from matcha.
3) Repeat step 2 to 4 above and spoon the mousse on top of the chestnut mousse.
4) Keep in the fridge for the mousse to set.
Things that I will do differently next time:
1) Make sure the joconde imprint are filled with batter so that it wouldn't make tiny "gaps/holes" on the print.
2) Will not line the interior of the ring, as the parchment paper makes the circle imperfect and wrinkled up.
3) Do the gelee top while the cake is still inside the ring... the gelee top are so fragile to handle and i think it could be done once the mousse layers are set. It was silly to do it on a separate plate and tried to transfer it onto the top of the cake.
4) The gelee was way tooo strong!
5) Line the ring first before putting the bottom in. The bottom should not be visible!
After the picture, I licked the bowl clean!
At work, I've been mistyping "pairs" as "paris" and "receipts" as "recipes". I also promised the pay officer i would send her all my "recipes".
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