Earl Grey Poached Pear Entremets

I realised I haven't made entremets & mousse cakes for a few months now.

Making delicate & pretty entremets is one of my passion in baking.

It feels amazing the moment I finish the decoration, take a photograph, then taste it, and of course to share the joy with you here.

Have you noticed whenever I make entremets I like to combine different flavours & ingredients?

The most recent one was poire vin blanc using white wine poached pears & caramel, then chocolate & passionfruit.

I'm lack of inspirations recently, instead I like to bake some simple & delicious snacks.

Last week I was craving for pear mousse cake & pear is certainly one of my favourite fruit.

 I decided to bake these earl grey poached pear entremets using the recipe of oolong & asian pear entremets.

It's simply delicious, the mousse is light yet fragrantly rich & the taste nicely balances with the rich chocolate brownie base.

Recipe (8" square):
Earl Grey Poached Pears

4 pears, peeled, cored & quartered

3 teabags earl grey tea

100 g granulated sugar

400 g water

In a saucepan, combine sugar & water, bring water to boil & stir until sugar dissolved.

Remove from heating, put in the pears & the teabags.

Leave to stand for at least 1 h.

Drain the pears & reserve the syrup.

Chocolate Brownie

2 eggs, separated

80 g sugar

100 g dark chocolate 72%

100 g salted butter

45 g plain flour

Preheat oven to 190C & line a parchment paper on a 8" square pan.

Melt chocolate & butter over simmering water, stir until smooth.

In a mixing bowl, whisk egg yolks with 20 g sugar until light & creamy, fold in the chocolate butter.

In another bowl, whisk egg whites with remaining sugar to soft peaks, fold in chocolate batter.

Sift in the flour, fold until combined.

Pour into the prepared pan & bake for 18-20 min.

Earl Grey Syrup

50 ml earl grey syrup

1/2 tbsp Grand Marnier

Combine all ingredients.

Earl Grey White Chocolate Mousse

3 egg yolks

350 g whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks

20 g sugar

120 g white chocolate, melted

10 g sheet gelatine, bloomed in cool water

200 ml milk

3 teabags earl grey tea

Combine teabags & milk in a saucepan, bring the milk to boil then keep it simmering for 3-5 min, remove teabags.

Add in the bloomed gelatine & stir until dissolved.

Add in melted chocolate & stir until smooth.

In a mixing bowl, whisk egg yolks with sugar over simmering water until pale & creamy.

Pour in the chocolate milk & stir until smooth.

Fold in the whipped cream until smooth.

Topping Jelly

150 ml pear earl grey syrup

2 tsp Grand Marnier

3 g sheet gelatine, bloomed

Combine all ingredients, heat using microwave & stir until gelatine is dissolved.

Assembling

Remove the brownie & place it at the bottom of a 8" square mousse ring.

Brush generous amount of earl grey syrup on the brownie.

Arrange the pears evenly on the brownie, reserve a few for decorations.

Pour in the earl grey mousse & refrigerate to set.

Pour the jelly on top & refrigerate to set.

Carefully remove the cake from the mousse ring, cut into 10 entremets & decorate with poached pears & chocolate pieces.