Thursday, December 29, 2011

Poached pears with chocolate and its caramel sauce

Poached pears are a delicious classic. Combined with chocolate, caramel, slivered almonds and pistachios, they are exquisite. Always use ripe but firm pears. If you can find Louise Bonne pears, they are one of the best suited for this recipe because they remain firm and melting at the same time.

Ingredients for 10 poached pears

10 Louise Bonne pears, firm but ripe

Decoration
Grilled slivered almonds and pistachios

Vanilla and cinnamon syrup
3 vanilla beans
3 cinnamon sticks
1.2 L water
450 g sugar

Caramel sauce
160 g sugar
70 g butter
20 cl boiling heavy whipping cream

Dark chocolate icing
200 g boiling heavy whipping cream
30 g honey
180 g chocolate 67% cacao
1 tablespoon oil


Method

Vanilla and cinnamon syrup
- Combine the water, sugar, scraped vanilla beans et cinnamon sticks and bring to a boil in a large pot over high heat, stirring from time to time. Let it boil for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, peel your pears and rub them with lemon juice to prevent discoloring.
- Delicately add the pears in the syrup and let them poach to a mere simmer for 20 minutes, turning them regularly.
- Remove the pears with a skimmer, allow them to cool on a cooling rack placed over a dish and chill them in the refrigerator.

Caramel sauce
- On medium heat, caramelize the sugar.
- Once brown, remove the pan and add the boiling cream, be careful because it will bubble up.
- Put the pan back over medium heat and stir 2 to 3 minutes to allow the caramel blocks to melt.
- Remove the pan and add the butter.
- Pour the caramel in 10 small glasses and chill in the refrigerator. You will heat them up in the microwave before serving the pears.

Dark chocolate icing
- Break your chocolate bar into small pieces in a mixing bowl.
- Bring the cream and honey to a boil and pour it on the chocolate.
- Allow the chocolate to melt, blend and add the oil.
- Let it cool to room temperature.
- Pour the chocolate on the whole pears. Do it twice.
- Put the pears back in the refrigerator and decorate at the very last minute.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Chestnut mousse and chocolate cream cake with mascarpone-flavored whipped cream

I made this cake for Christmas eve with a mousse that will remind you of Nestle's Marronsuis... only much better. To tone it down, use freshly made mascarpone-flavored whipped cream and don't hesitate to use a lot of it because it is so good.

Ingredients for a 10x3 cake

Decoration
Mascarpone-flavored whipped cream
200 g mascarpone
45 g sugar
230 g cold heavy whipping cream

Vanilla syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
70 g mineral water
50 g sugar
 
Sponge cake
80 g egg yolk
160 g egg white
120 g all-purpose flour
120 g sugar
Confectioner's sugar

Chestnut spread mousse
300 g chestnut spread
250 g chestnut spread
42 g sugar
24 g mineral water
72 g egg yolk
30 g mineral water
15 g brown rum
3.5 gelatin sheets Dr. Oetker (7 g)
330 g cold heavy whipping cream
150 g fragments of marrons glacés (optional)

Chocolate cream
125 g whole milk
30 g sugar
45 g egg yolk
170 g chocolate 48% cacao
80 g chocolate 67% cacao
180 g cold heavy whipping cream


Method

Mascarpone-flavored whipped cream
- Whip together the whipping cream, the sugar and the mascarpone until stiff.
- Put the whipped cream in a pastry bag with a smooth decorating tip.

Vanilla syrup
- Mix together all the ingredients in warm water to allow the sugar to dissolve.
- Put aside.

Sponge cake
- Preheat the oven to 390°F.
- Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks in a stand mixer (Cuisinart or KitchenAid) on high speed.
- Add the sugar little by little until the egg whites are very firm.
- Beat the yolks with a fork and add them to the egg whites. Whisk for 5 seconds on slow speed.
- Add the sifted flour and fold delicately with a spatula.
- Take a pastry bag with a smooth decorating tip (1 cm wide) and make two 10.5-inch biscuits on wax paper. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar and bake for 10 minutes.
- Let it cool on a cooling rack then cut one of the two biscuits with a 9-inch ring.

Chestnut spread mousse
- Hydrate the gelatin in cold water.
- Mix 30 g of water with 300 g of chestnut spread.
- Whip the egg yolks with an electric mixer on high speed.
- Boil the 24 g of water with the sugar to 239°F, pour immediately on the yolks and beat until it cools to room temperature.
- Heat the rum over medium heat and add the gelatin to melt it.
- Add the rum to the chestnut spread, and then add the yolks.
- Whip the cream and fold it gently in the mixture.
- Add the fragments.
- Put a 9-inch ring over the widest biscuit, soak it and pour 4cm of mousse.
- Slather 250 g of chestnut spread on the back of the other biscuit, place it in the ring and pour a thin layer of mousse.
- Put it in the freezer for about an hour.

Chocolate cream 
- Put both chocolates in a mixing bowl.
- Boil the milk.
- Beat together the egg yolks and the sugar without whitening or frothing.
- Pour in 1/3 of boiling milk, beat, add the rest and beat.
- Put the custard back in the pan and cook over low heat to 180°F stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.
- Immediately pour over the chocolate, blend with a hand mixer and cool to 86°F.
- Whip the cream and fold it gently in the chocolate cream.
- Cut the biscuit before removing the 9-inch ring and pour a thin layer of chocolate cream into the 10-inch.
- Freeze it at least for two hours.

Decorate with the mascarpone-flavored whipped cream on the whole cake.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Bordelais canelés

Cannelés are a specialty from Bordeaux, a city in south-west France. Traditionally, cannelés are baked in tinned copper molds (that you can find at www.surlatable.com) but they are extremely expensive. There exists some in aluminum or in silicone but results may vary. When you take your cannelés out of the oven, they must be crunchy and caramelized on the outside and soft on the inside. You can perfectly use silicone molds, I do, but buy really good ones and you will be able to achieve the perfect cannelé.

Ingredients for 10 big cannelés
 
Canelé batter (make it the day before)
250 g whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean
25 g butter, room temperature
125 g sugar
40 g egg yolk
30 g egg white
1 teaspoon brown rum
60 g all-purpose flour
1 dash of salt

Method

Canelés
- Split the vanilla bean in two and scrape the seeds into the milk. Bring to a boil and let it infuse 5 to 10 min.
- Meanwhile, soften the butter in a bain-marie.
- Remove the butter form the heat and add the ingredient in this specific order, mixing in between each addition:
- Sugar, eggs, sifted flour, salt and brown rum.
- Remove the vanilla bean and pour the hot milk in the mixture.
- Leave it aside in the fridge for a minimum of 12 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 465°F.
- Grease your molds with butter, even the silicone ones.
- Fill them to 3/4.
- Bake them for 10 minutes then lower the oven temperature to 355°F and bake 45 to 55 minutes.
- Let them cool on a cooling rack and eat them at room temperature or cold the same day.

New York cheesecake, vanilla-flavored cheese cream mousse and raspberry coulis

The real New York Cheesecake revisited! I added over this creamy recipe a layer of vanilla-flavored cream cheese mousse that melts in your mouth and some raspberry coulis.

Ingredients for an 8x3 ring
Crust
100 g graham crackers
50 g butter
20 g sugar
25 g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon mineral water

Cheesecake
750 g Philadelphia cream cheese
220 g sugar
1 vanilla bean
90 g egg white
100 g egg yolk
12 g all-purpose flour
125 g
cold heavy whipping cream

Raspberry coulis
70 g raspberry puree
14 g sugar
2 g lemon juice

Vanilla-flavored cream cheese mousse
80 g Kiri
1 vanilla bean
150 g cold heavy whipping cream
20 g confectioner's sugar

Method

Crust
- Mix all the ingredients together in a stand mixer (Cuisinart or KitchenAid) using the flat mixing paddle on low speed so as to obtain homogenous dough.
- Spread and press in the ring placed over wax paper.

Cheesecake
- Preheat the oven to 355°F.
- Smooth the cream cheese and add the other ingredients in the given order, mixing in between each addition:
- Sugar, vanilla seeds, flour, eggs, and heavy whipping cream.
- Butter the inside of the ring and pour in the mixture over the crust.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes.
- Turn off the oven and let the cheesecake inside for 30 more minutes.
- Let it cool before removing the ring and chill in the refrigerator.

Raspberry coulis
- Blend your fresh raspberries, pass them through a strainer and add in the sugar and lemon juice.

Vanilla-flavored cream cheese mousse
- Smooth the Kiri, split your vanilla bean in two and add the scraped seeds.
- Whip the heavy cream and sugar and fold it gently in the Kiri.

Friday, December 23, 2011

My very own Schuss cake recipe

The Schuss cake is one of the crown jewels of a famous French cooking school: Lenôtre. I took several recipes we can find on the Internet and I built my very own recipe with fresh raspberries and organic vanilla beans from Madagascar. Its unique taste will surprise your senses.

Ingredients for a 10x3 cake

Decoration
250 g fresh raspberries

Whipped cream
150 g cold heavy whipping cream
30 g sugar
Vanilla

Raspberry jelly
300 g raspberry puree
108 g sugar
24 g inverted sugar (optional)
4.25 gelatin sheets Dr. Oetker (8.5 g)

Vanilla syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
70 g mineral water
50 g sugar

Sponge cake
80 g egg yolk
160 g egg white
120 g all-purpose flour
120 g sugar
Confectioners' sugar

Vanilla quark mousse
1.5 vanilla beans
7 gelatin sheets Dr. Oetker (14 g)
43 g mineral water
85 g egg yolk
128 g sugar
425 g quark 30% fat (you can replace it by unsalted cottage cheese)
510 g cold heavy whipping cream


Method

Raspberry jelly
- Hydrate the gelatin in cold water.
- Blend your fresh raspberries, pass them through a strainer into a pan.
- Slowly heat to 104°F stirring with a spatula.
- Add sugar and inverted sugar, then the gelatin melted in the microwave without boiling.
- Pour in a 9-inch silicone mold and freeze it.

Whipped cream
- Whip together the whipping cream, the sugar and the vanilla until stiff.
- Put the whipped cream in a pastry bag with the decorating tip of your choosing.

Vanilla syrup
- Mix together all the ingredients in warm water to allow the sugar to dissolve.
- Put aside.

Sponge cake
- Preheat the oven to 390°F.
- Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks in a stand mixer (Cuisinart or KitchenAid) on high speed.
- Add the sugar little by little until the egg whites are very firm.
- Beat the yolks with a fork and add them to the egg whites. Whisk for 5 seconds on slow speed.
- Add the sifted flour and fold delicately with a spatula.
- Take a pastry bag with a smooth decorating tip (1 cm wide) and make two 10.5-inch biscuits on wax paper. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and bake for 10 minutes.
- Let it cool on a cooling rack then cut the biscuits with a 9-inch ring.

Vanilla quark mousse
- Hydrate the gelatin in cold water.
- Split the vanilla bean in two and scrape the seeds into the quark.
- Whip the egg yolks with an electric mixer on high speed.
- Boil the water with the sugar to 244°F, pour immediately on the yolks and beat until it cools to room temperature.
- Melt the gelatin in the microwave without boiling and add in the quark mixture.
- Add to the yolks.
- Whip the cream and fold it gently in the vanilla cream.


ASSEMBLY (without filling)
- Put a biscuit on a cake cardboard and soak it with half the syrup.
- Pour some mousse, add the frozen jelly and cover with more mousse.
- Put the other biscuit, soak it with the rest of the syrup and pour the rest of the mousse.
- Freeze it at least two hours.
- Remove the ring.
- Decorate with the whipped cream and the fresh raspberries.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Strawberry mousse cake

Let me introduce another creation of mine: the strawberry mousse cake. Light and fresh with its homemade sponge cake; you can also add another flavor to your cake: vanilla or lemon. It is very easy to make and will be even better if you use fresh charlotte strawberries.

Ingredients for a 10x3 cake

Decoration

Whipped cream
300 g cold heavy whipping cream
60 g sugar
Vanilla

1 kg fresh strawberries shared between puree, syrup, filling and decoration.
Slivered almonds

Optional filling

- Light vanilla cream
82 g whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean
23 g egg yolk
23 g sugar
8 g cornstarch
8 g butter
0.5 gelatin sheet Dr. Oetker (1 g)
83 g cold heavy whipping cream

- Lemon zabaglione
45 g egg yolk
40 g sugar
3/4 lemon zest
40 g lemon juice
105 g cold heavy whipping cream
1.5 gelatin sheets Dr. Oetker (3 g)

Strawberry syrup
100 g strawberry puree
50 g mineral water
50 g sugar
Lemon juice

Sponge cake
80 g egg yolk
160 g egg white
120 g all-purpose flour
120 g sugar
Confectioners' sugar

Strawberry quark mousse
150 g strawberry puree
40 g sugar
9.5 gelatin sheets Dr. Oetker (19 g)
43 g mineral water
85 g egg yolk
165 g sugar
425 g quark 30% fat (you can replace it by unsalted cottage cheese)
510 g cold heavy whipping cream
Sugar


Method

Whipped cream
- Whip together the whipping cream, the sugar and the vanilla until stiff.
- Put the whipped cream in a pastry bag with the decorating tip of your choosing.

Strawberry syrup
- Mix together all the ingredients in warm water to allow the sugar to dissolve.
- Put aside.

Sponge cake
- Preheat the oven to 390°F.
- Whisk the egg whites to soft peaks in a stand mixer (Cuisinart or KitchenAid) on high speed.
- Add the sugar little by little until the egg whites are very firm.
- Beat the yolks with a fork and add them to the egg whites. Whisk for 5 seconds on slow speed.
- Add the sifted flour and fold delicately with a spatula.
- Take a pastry bag with a smooth decorating tip (1 cm wide) and make two 10.5-inch biscuits on wax paper. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar and bake for 10 minutes.
- Let it cool on a cooling rack then cut the biscuits with a 9-inch ring.

Fillings

- Light vanilla cream
- Split the vanilla bean in two and scrape the seeds into the milk. Bring to a boil and let it infuse 15 to 20 min.
- Hydrate the gelatin in cold water.
- Meanwhile, beat together the yolks, the sugar and the cornstarch without whitening or frothing.
- Boil the milk again and pour 1/3 into the eggs, blend, add in the rest and blend.
- Put it back into the pan by pouring it through a strainer and beat over high heat until it thickens.
- Remove the pan and add the butter.
- Cool it rapidly stirring the whole time so as to prevent the cream from drying.
- Once it is cool, whip the cream and fold it gently in the pastry cream.
- Pour the cream over the first soaked biscuit in a 9-inch wide ring. Cut in half some fresh strawberries and put everything in the fridge.

- Lemon zabaglione
- Hydrate the gelatin in cold water.
- Whip together the yolks, the sugar and the lemon zest.
- Add the lemon juice and poach in a bain-marie to 158°F.
- Then whip with a hand mixer on medium speed until cool.
- Melt the gelatin in the microwave without boiling and add it in, then the whipped cream.
- Pour the zabaglione over the first soaked biscuit in a 9-inch wide ring. Cut in half some fresh strawberries and put everything in the freezer.

Strawberry quark mousse
- Hydrate the gelatin in cold water.
- Whip the egg yolks with an electric mixer on high speed.
- Boil the water with the sugar to 244°F, pour immediately on the yolks and beat until it cools to room temperature.
- Blend the quark, the strawberry puree and 40 g of sugar.
- Melt the gelatin in the microwave without boiling and add in the strawberry mixture.
- Add to the yolks.
- Whip the cream and fold it gently in the strawberry cream.

ASSEMBLY (without filling)
- Put a biscuit on a cake cardboard and soak it with half the syrup.
- Pour some mousse, add strawberries cut in half, sprinkle with sugar and cover with more mousse.
- Put the other biscuit, soak it with the rest of the syrup and pour the rest of the mousse.
- Freeze it at least two hours.
- Remove the ring.
- Decorate with the whipped cream and the remaining strawberries.