12 layer chocolate gateau

[Beastwars]

OK, 12 components, but still...

This cake is Halal, meaning Vegetarian butter was used (Countrylife is good)

All sponges were baked in a pyrex, greased baking pan

Components

Cocoa Glitter
Milk Chocolate
Dark Chocolate Mousse
White Chocolate Mousse
Flourless Chocolate Sponge
Chocolate Orange Chantilly
Cocoa Caracas Sponge
White Chocolate Ganache
Raspberry Puree
Saffron Dark Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate Sponge
Nougat
Praline Milk Chocolate

Ingredients

Milk Chocolate:

500g Amedei Incontro 32%

Dark Chocolate Mousse

70g Valrhona Alpaco 66%
2 egg yolks
1 egg white
30ml UHT double cream
200g golden caster sugar
2g liquid glucose
100g water
Small pinch smoked salt
Beurre Noisette (from 50g butter)

White Chocolate Mousse

50g Amedei Toscano White
2 egg yolks
1 egg white
30ml UHT double cream
200g golden caster sugar
2g liquid glucose
100g water
Small pinch smoked salt
Beurre Noisette (from 50g butter)

Flourless Chocolate Sponge

35g Michel Cluziel Concepcion
2 egg yolks
20g golden caster sugar
30g caster sugar
5g Valrhona cocoa powder
2 egg whites
Pinch salt

Soaking syrup

100g orange juice
50g fructose
Chocolate Orange Chantilly

100g Michel Cluziel Mangaro Lait
40g orange juice

Cocoa Caracas Sponge

10g butter
15g plain flour
10g nougat
10g chocolate sponge crumbs
1 egg yolk
12g marzipan
7g golden caster sugar
Pinch salt
2 egg whites
25g caster sugar
5g cocoa powder

White Chocolate Ganache

50g Amedei Toscano White
Pinch smoked salt
30g butter
50g UHT double cream

Raspberry Puree

500g fresh raspberries
50g fructose
10g rose water

Saffron Dark Chocolate Ganache

50g Amedei Chauo
50g UHT double cream
Pinch salt
2g saffron

Chocolate Sponge

3 yolks
3 whites
80g self-raising flour
50g arrowroot
20g cocoa powder
75g beurre noisette
75g Trex
30ml water
75g unrefined caster sugar
75g refined caster sugar
2g cream of tarter
30g milk

Nougat

105g caster sugar
30g Orange Blossom Honey
25g water
30g liquid glucose
1 egg white

Praline Milk Chocolate

100g Amedei Gianduja
50g hazelnuts
30g water
100g golden caster sugar
Pinch smoked salt

Marzipan

100g golden caster sugar
150g roast almonds
1 egg white
30g icing sugar

Method

Milk Chocolate

Bring 300g of the chocolate to 53C
Remove from the heat and add the remaining chocolate
Bring the temperature down to 28C
Hold for a few minutes
Raise the temperature to 32C

The chocolate is now ready for use

Dark Chocolate Mousse

Melt the chocolate gently in a bain marie
Combine the glucose, water, salt and sugar
Heat gently, stirring till the sugar dissolves
Heat to 170C
Melt the butter and heat over medium heat till it stops sizzling
Pass the butter through kitchen paper or J-cloth
Whisk the eggs in a bain marie
Still whisking, slowly trickle in the beurre noisette
Slowly trickle in half the salted caramel, whisking continuously
Continue to whisk until the eggs are thick, pale, and glossy
Whip the cream to soft peaks
Beat the egg whites on full speed with an electric whisk until thick and frothy
Beating on medium speed, trickle in the remaining caramel
Beat until soft peaks form
Fold the egg yolks and chocolate together
Fold the chocolate yolks into the cream
Fold the chocolate cream into the meringue
The mousse is ready to be used

White Chocolate Mousse

Melt the chocolate gently in a bain marie
Combine the glucose, water, salt and sugar
Heat gently, stirring till the sugar dissolves
Heat to 170C
Melt the butter and heat over medium heat till it stops sizzling
Pass the butter through kitchen paper or J-cloth
Whisk the eggs in a bain marie
Still whisking, slowly trickle in the beurre noisette
Slowly trickle in half the salted caramel, whisking continuously
Continue to whisk until the eggs are thick, pale, and glossy
Whip the cream to soft peaks
Beat the egg whites on full speed with an electric whisk until thick and frothy
Beating on medium speed, trickle in the remaining caramel
Beat until soft peaks form
Fold the egg yolks and chocolate together
Fold the chocolate yolks into the cream
Fold the chocolate cream into the meringue
The mousse is ready to be used

Flourless Chocolate Sponge

Melt the chocolate in a bain marie
Beat the yolks and golden sugar till thick and pale
Combine the cocoa powder and whites
Whisk on full speed till frothy
Whisk in the sugar
Reduce speed to low and whisk for 10 minutes
Beat the chocolate, salt and yolks together
Fold the chocolate mix into the meringue
Bake for 20 minutes at 160C

Soaking Syrup

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan
Heat gently, stirring to dissolve the sugar

Chocolate Orange Chantilly

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan
Heat gently, stirring, till the chocolate is melted
Pour into a bowl set over a larger bowl of ice water
Whisk furiously with a balloon whisk for 20 minutes,
or until the chocolate sets to a crème chantilly consistency

Cocoa Caracas Sponge

Make a beurre noisette from the butter
Whisk the yolks, golden sugar, marzipan, and salt
Make a stiff meringue from the whites and caster sugar
Beat 1/3 of the meringue into the yolks
Fold the remaining meringue into the yolks
Fold in the flour, nougat, cake crumbs and melted butter
Bake for 15 minutes at 170C

White Chocolate Ganache

Combine the cream and butter in a saucepan
Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally
Pour over the chocolate and salt
Stir together
Leave at room temperature for 24 hours
Place in a piping bag
Refrigerate until ready to use

Raspberry Puree

Combine all ingredients
Place in a large, heatproof bowl
Cover with clingfilm
Place over simmering water
Leave for 4 hours, checking the water occasionally
Place the raspberries and their juice
in a muslin-lined sieve set over a bowl
Place in the fridge overnight to collect all the liquid
Pour the liquid into a heavy-based pan
Reduce to 50ml

Saffron Chocolate Ganache

Infuse the saffron in the cream for 6 hours
Bring to the boil
Pour over the salt and chocolate
Stir together
Leave at room temperature for 24 hours
Place in a piping bag
Refrigerate until use

Chocolate Sponge

Sift together the starches (flour, cocoa, and arrowroot)
Make the beurre noisette and mix with the Trex
Whisk the yolks, golden sugar and water in a bain marie
Slowly trickle in the melted fats
Whisk until thick and pale
Using an electric paddle, beat the yolks and starches together
Add the milk and beat on full speed for 30 seconds
Add the salt and beat on lowest speed for 10 minutes
Add the tartar to the whites
Whisk the whites till frothy
Whisk in the caster sugar
Whisk on low speed for 10 minutes
Beat 1/3 of the meringue into the cake mix
Fold in the remaining meringue
Bake for 20 minutes at 180C

Nougat

Boil the sugar and water together
At 107C, add the honey and glucose
Boil to 137C
Beat the whites till soft peaks form
Beat in the syrup to form a stiff meringue
Place in a shallow container lined with rice paper
Cover with rice paper and weigh with a heavy board
Refrigerate overnight to set
Discard the rice paper
Transfer to an airtight container
Freeze till use

Marzipan (for the Caracas)

Grind the almonds to a powder
Boil the sugar and water to 118C
Remove from the heat
Mix in the almonds
Lightly beat the white
Stir into the almond syrup
Return to a gentle heat
Stir constantly for 2 minutes
Remove from the heat
Beat with an electric paddle on low speed
Add icing sugar to smoothen the consistency
Knead on a clean surface, dusted with icing sugar
Wrap in clingfilm
Refrigerate till use

Praline Milk Chocolate

Temper the chocolate, as for the coating
Roast the hazelnuts at 160C till fragrant
Remove and discard the skins
Boil the sugar, salt, and water to 170C
Remove from the heat
Mix in the hazelnuts
Pour onto a shallow baking tray
Leave to cool and set
Blitz to a fine powder
Stir into the tempered chocolate
Pour onto a sheet of non-stick parchment
Place another sheet on top
Roll as thinly as possible with a rolling pin
Refrigerate overnight to set

Assembly

Cut a 80mm x 200mm rectangle of praline chocolate
Trim the 3 sponges to 500m x 250mm x 5mm
Spread the nougat thinly over the praline chocolate
Position the chocolate sponge on top
Pipe the white ganache down one side of the sponge
Pipe the dark ganache down the other side
Spread the puree between the ganaches
Place the caracas sponge on top
Spread the chantilly over the caracas
Place the flourless sponge on the chantilly
Pour the soaking syrup over the flourless sponge
Spread the white chocolate mousse over the sponge
Freeze for 6 hours, to set the mousse
Spread the dark mousse over the white mousse
Freeze for a further 6 hours
Trim the cake to ensure equal diameter
Pour the tempered chocolate over the cake
Sift the cocoa glitter over the cake
Refrigerate to set the chocolate

[livius drusus]

Liquid glucose? Beurre noisette? Twelve layers? Something tells me you didn't get this from allrecipes.com. Have you ever actually made this cake yourself?

[Beastwars]

Yep.

Took several months of baking and consuming different components to get each one, and the combination, right.

Once that was done, it took about 3 days (accounting for a 'fuck it, I'm not spending all day in the kitchen' attitude) to make.

[S.Vashti]

Where do you live, may I ask? A lot of the ingredients are completely unfamiliar:

beurre noisette
Trex
unrefined caster sugar
Cocoa Glitter
Amedei Incontro
Valrhona Alpaco
UHT double cream
golden caster sugar
liquid glucose

Is liquid glucose just sugar water?

[Beastwars]

England.

beurre noisette - Butter browned until the milk solids are cooked out

Trex - Solid vegetable fat, used for aeration purposes

unrefined caster sugar - Does not dissolve as well as refined sugar, but has a slight molasses note

Cocoa Glitter - Cocoa powder without the bitterness

Amedei Incontro - Chocolate (Italian)

Valrhona Alpaco - Chocolate (French)

UHT double cream - Heat treated double cream. More stable than normal, and has a better set in ganaches

golden caster sugar - Unrefined caster sugar

liquid glucose - Glucose, along with fructose, make up sucrose (table sugar). Fructose is found in fruits, and is 1.33 times sweeter than sucrose, whilst glucose is .66 as sweet as sucrose. Glucose retards crystallisation in syrups.

[S.Vashti]

Thanks, that "beurre noisette" reminds me of the time I found out that bechamel is just plain old white sauce. We just "brown" butter in the recipes I've seen, to give it that slightly nutty flavor (and strain out the solids, of course)

Caster sugar is just a type of grains size of cane sugar, with the grains being midway between powdered sugar and table sugar (called superfine in the US)

Sort of like orange pekoe tea refers to the grade of the tea, not it's flavor.

So that is interesting. I don't think I've ever seen liquid glucose in stores here. Nor Cocoa Glitter - is that a brand name, like Trex is?

[Beastwars]

You can find Cocoa Glitter online. I'm not sure what the US site would be, though.

It isn't a brand name.

Sugar equivalents:

US - Confectioners
UK - Icing

US - Superfine
UK - Caster

Beyond here, it gets difficult. In the UK, we have granulated sugar, which is about twice the size of caster sugar, but I understand you have quite a few grades of crystalline sugar

[S.Vashti]

I did try looking Cocoa Glitter up online, and got a bunch of cosmetic sites. Which is why I asked if it was perhaps a brand name.

Icing sugar is confectioners sugar? Neat. All this helps me interpret some of the recipes I see online.

[Beastwars]

Ingredients Edible Glitters products from Infusions 4 Chefs

[Gonzo]

Pictures?

[Beastwars]

I am afraid I only took one picture, and it doesn't do the cake justice.

See, I wanted the whole thing to fit in the mouth, so I made the final product 2 inches tall.

Hence, each layer is about a quarter of a centimetre thick, on average.

[S.Vashti]

A macro lens should solve that dilemma.

[Beastwars]

OK, as much as I don't like the image, I uploaded it (and a few other gems).




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