Brésilienne

This is the first time I've tried to test the recipe from the book 素材より素材らしく―杉野英実の菓子 (Le Goût Authentique Retrouvé by Hidemi Sugino) my friend bought it for me from Japan in September.

I've tried to make Pomme d'Eve but the recipe wasn't his, I might give it a try sometimes. 

Evan from Evan's Kitchen Ramblings has tried many desserts, all of them look gorgeous.

The recipe I chose to give a closure to 2011 was Brésilienne.

A truly elegant dessert consists of coffee mousse, caramel mousse & coffee joconde biscuit.

I have to say I didn't do a perfect job to make the entremets look like the photos from the book.

I didn't have the right mousse rings & I did make a mess with the first cake when I spread the glazing on top.

So, I gave up with the glazing part...

I think the taste is the most important.

First of all, this cake is definitely not for people with a sweet tooth, if you're coffee lover, you'll fall in love with it.

When eating the coffee mousse alone, it's quite bitter.

But the sweetness is enhanced by the caramel mousse & the coffee joconde.

I personally think the Cognac syrup for the joconde is a must as it adds a sophisticated note to the cake.

 Thank you for joining me in my journey of baking this year.

Wishing you all the best the coming year.

Recipe (make five 3" x 3" or ten 1.5" x 3" entremets):

from Le Goût Authentique Retrouvé by Hidemi Sugino

Sirop à 30°B / Simple syrup

130 g sugar

100 g water

In a saucepan, bring the sugar & water to boil.

When all sugar crystals have dissolved, pour into a sterile jar & let cool.

Keep the extra in the refrigerator after use.

Biscuit joconde sans beurre au café (9" square)

25 g ground almond

25 g icing sugar

20 g egg yolks

15 g egg whites

2 g instant coffee (mix with 1 tsp of hot water)

23 g plain flour

Meringue

50 g egg whites

30 g caster sugar

Combine icing sugar & ground almonds in a bowl.

Add in egg yolks & egg whites, whisk until thick & fluffy.

Fold in flour.

To make the meringue, whisk egg whites & caster sugar together until stiff peaks then fold into the yolk mixture.

Fold in coffee.

Spread a thin layer of mixture on the baking tray lined with baking paper with spatula.

Bake in a preheated oven at 230C for 6-7 mins until golden.

Sirop d'imbibage

30 g sirop à 30°B

1 tbsp Cognac

1 tbsp water

Mix all ingredients & set aside.

Mousse au café

135 g whipping cream, whipped up

2 g sheet gelatine, bloom in cold water

12.5 g Cognac

Crème anglaise au café

60 g milk

10 g instant coffee

30 g egg yolks

20 g caster sugar

To make crème anglaise au café, whisk egg yolks & sugar in a saucepan, bring milk & coffee to boil in another saucepan then slowly whisk it into the yolk mixture.

Whisk the yolk mixture while heating over low heat until 82-85C.

Remove from heating & stir in the gelatine.

After cooling, mix in the Cognac.

Fold in the whipped cream.

Mousse au caramel

Crème caramel

75 g whipping cream

1/10 vanilla pod, split & seeded

43 g granulated sugar

25 g glucose

Pâte à bombe

30 g egg yolks

25 g sirop à 30°B

135 g whipping cream, whipped up

4 g sheet gelatine, bloom in cold water

1 tsp Cognac

To make crème caramel, warm whipping cream & vanilla.

In a saucepan, combine sugar & glucose, heat over low heat & caramelise, carefully stir in vanilla cream, then stir in Cognac.

Sift through to remove vanilla pod then stir in gelatine.

To make pâte à bombe, bring the syrup to boil then add slowly to egg yolks with stirring.

Fold pâte à bombe into creme caramel, fold in whipped cream.

Decoration

Coffee extract

Nappage (or apricot glaze)

Assembling

Cut the joconde into 3" square & place at the bottom of the mousse ring, Soak with syrup then pipe in the coffee mousse until half the height of the mousse ring.

Place another joconde on top & soak with syrup.

Pipe in the caramel mousse, freeze until firm.

Brush with coffee extract & cover the top with nappage/apricot glaze.

Remove from the rings & serve.