When you screw up, you provide screw-up- cake at work. Pretty obvious. Recently, I locked some colleagues in the staff room, so that’s definitely a screw up. So they got a proper autumn cake with pears and chocolate and just a dash of caramel.
PEAR MOUSSE CAKE WITH CHOCOLATE AND CARAMEL
10-12 servings
PRALINÉ:
50 G SUGAR
50 G ROASTED HAZELNUTS
50 G 66% DARK CHOCOLATE
1 PINCH OF SALT
Melt sugar in a small saucepan to a golden caramel.
Remove the pan from the heat and mix in the hazelnuts.
Pour the caramelized nuts out onto a piece of baking paper and let them cool off, sprinkle with salt.
Blend the nuts into a creamy mixture.
Melt the chocolate and fold it in.
Distribute the praline in a round silicone mold, 18 cm in diameter, and place the mold in the refrigerator.
CARAMEL MOUSSE:
1 GELATINE LEAF
15 G VALRHONA DULCEY CHOCOLATE
65 G SALTED CARAMEL
100 G HEAVY CREAM
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 5-10 minutes
Gently melt the chocolate together with the salted caramel.
Heat two tablespoons of whipped cream to the boiling point and melt the bloomed gelatine in it.
Stir the hot cream into the caramel chocolate.
Whip the remaining cream to soft peaks and fold it lightly into the caramel mixture.
Pour the mousse into a 11 cm silicone form, cover with household film and place it in the freezer for a few hours until the mousse is frozen.
PEAR MOUSSE:
400 G PEARS, CORED AND PEELED
300 G HEAVY CREAM
50 G SUGAR
4 SHEETS OF GELATIN LEAVES
JUICE OF 1 LEMON
1 TSP. VANILLA POWDER
30 G ICING SUGAR
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 5-10 minutes.
Cut the peeled pears into smaller pieces and cook them tender with sugar.
Set aside 40 g of then pear pieces in a separate bowl.
Blend the rest of the pears into a purée.
Add the lemon juice.
Squeeze the water out of the gelatin and stir it into the puree, until melted.
Blend again and place the purée in the fridge until the mixture is no warmer than your lille finger.
Whip cream, vanilla seed and flour to soft peaks.
Fold the whipped cream into the pear purée.
Pour the mousse into a 18 cm round silicone mold.
Add the pear pieces, you set aside, over of the mousse.
Remove the caramel mousse from its mold and lightly push it down into the mousse so that its top aligns with the pear mousse.
Place the praline disc on top and press it down to meld together with the mousse.
Cover the cake with cling film and place the mold in the freezer overnight.
CHOKOLADECREMEUX:
1/4 SHEET OF LEAF GELATINE
65 G DARK CHOCOLATE, 66%
1 EGG YOLK
10 G SUGAR
20 G WHOLE MILK
60 G HEAVY CREAM
Soak the gelatine in cold water for 10 minutes.
Whisk the egg yolk and sugar quickly together.
Finely chop the chocolate.
Heat the milk and cream slowly into a saucepan to just below boiling point, then whisk it into the egg yolk.
Pour the mixture back into the pan and heat it up to 83 degrees celsius, stirring all the time.
Press the hot cream through a mesh sieve to remove any lumps.
Squeeze the gelatine free of water and whisk it into the warm cream.
Pour the cream over the finely chopped chocolate and fold it all together into a shiny chocolate cream.
Blend the cream to make sure it is completely smooth and soft.
Add a tablespoon or two of the chocolate cream in to a 14 cm spiral form (tourbillon), press the cream well into the grooves of the spiral to avoid as many air bubbles as possible.
Pour the rest of the cream into the mold, knock it gently against the table, cover with cling film and let it set in the freezer overnight.
DECORATION:
WOOD SORREL
DULCEY CRUNCH PEARLS
SPRINKEL
Gently push the cake out of the mold and place it on the serving plate.
Push the spiral out of the mold and place it on top of the cake.
Allow the cake to thaw in the fridge for a couple of hours.
Decorate with fresh wood sorrel, dulcey pearls and sprinkles just before serving.