Friday, March 18, 2011

Hidemi Sugino's B-Caraibe

This is my first attempt at using a recipe from Hidemi Sugino's book, Le Goût Authentique Retrouvé.
 Hidemi Sugino's B-Caraibe
 Citrusy zest and confit; Leftovers

There were plenty of leftover ingredients as a 7" square ring was used (the biggest I have on hand). A 8" or 9" ring would be better to use up all the materials, if not, you could always use some 2.5" mousse rings like I did to make individual portions. 


 The tale of the unripe bananas...

One day before our baking date, I drove out to the mart, just to get bananas for the entremet. Alas, all the bananas were green in colour, thus I drove out to the nearby wet market as I thought that the fruit seller there would be bound to have bunches of bananas of varying ripeness. What a disappointment, it was the same story over at the wet market fruit stall. In the end, I bought the "ripest" green bunch there and head home. My helper suggested ways to help ripen the bananas quickly - we wrapped the bananas in a plastic bag, then with a cloth, and place it in a warm place overnight. 

It did worked, but only slightly. So, for the entremet, we used sorta-starting-to-ripe bananas, and I wished that I had gotten the bananas earlier cos really, bananas taste best when they are at their peak (browny browny bananas...). But I was in Batam over the weekend and thus, couldn't get the bananas till I came home. Be sure to plan ahead and get your bananas in advance if you're planning to make this. I reckon there should be a difference to the final product...

"Wow!", was what I might say the cake was. The joconde was perfect, the best I've ever eaten. I normally just sprinkle syrup sparingly over the cake layers and it would always turn out dry. Not anymore! I learnt something new.

And I'm now officially a orange-chocolate combo fan. I never was one, cos I rarely eat anything orange-chocolatey. But sneaking a lick of the orange chocolate that we made (dark chocolate plus orange zest), I was hooked. The banana sauce was alrights, I thought that it was still a tad sour (sigh, my fault). The vanilla chantilly cream was so fluffy light soft. Yums.

Even my dad thought that it was good, he said the sweetness level was just right for him. And how apt! Cos after my first mouthful, my first thought was that it would be perfect for my dad cos it was not overtly sweet. And it was also rare that he ate a second piece (the next day) cos he normally only ever eats one piece of whatever I make (maybe it's also cos I only always offer it once haha). I can't wait to try out more of Hidemi's recipes...

B-Caraibe (adapted from Hidemi Sugino's Le Goût Authentique Retrouvé)
(makes a 7" square cake - sliced into 14 individual portions, and 4 2.5" individual rings)

Biscuit Joconde
100g almond meal
100g icing sugar
90g cake flour
80g egg yolks
60g egg whites
200g egg whites
120g granulated sugar

Combine almond meal and icing sugar in a large bowl. Add the yolks and whites (80g) and beat till thick and fluffy. Add the flour and beat to combine. Set aside.
In another big bowl, whip the egg whites (200g), gradually add the sugar in when foamy stage and continue beating till stiff peaks form.
Slowly fold the beaten egg whites into the almond meal mixture and mix till there are no white streaks.
Pour into two trays, spread it out evenly using a scraper and bake at 230°C for 5-6 minutes. Cool.

Soaking Syrup
65g sugar
50g water
60g rum

Mix the sugar and water in a saucepan over the stove and cook till sugar dissolves. Remove from heat, leave to cool before adding the rum.

Orange Confit
100g sugar
100g water
zest of 2 medium oranges

Heat water and sugar in a saucepan. Add the zest and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat, cool and store in container.

Chocolate Chantilly cream
250g whipping cream
150g orange chocolate (we used a mix of dark and milk chocolate, and freshly grated zest from one orange)
25g orange confit

Melt the chocolate in a microwave for a few minutes, stirring every 20 seconds. Add the orange zest (if using). Set aside to cool slightly.
Whip the cream till soft peaks, gradually fold into melted chocolate. Add in the orange confit and fold together.

Banana Sauce
475g banana puree (we used fresh bananas)
25g lemon juice
10g gelatin sheets
35g caster sugar
10g rum

Combine banana and lemon juice together in a saucepan, blend together using a hand blender. Add in the sugar and place on stove. Cook over low heat till thicken. Remove from heat, add the presoaked gelatin sheets and whisk to mix. Add the rum and stir to mix.

Vanilla Chantilly cream
266g whipping cream
26g vanilla sugar
a drop of vanilla bean paste

Combine above all in a mixing bowl, whip till soft peaks form.

Chocolate decoration
35g dark chocolate
4g vegetable oil

Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Stir in vegetable oil.

Glaze
100g mirror glaze
7.5g rum

Combine both in a small bowl and stir to combine.

Assemble
1. Cut out three 7" square pieces from the two trays of cooled joconde. Place one piece into the ring mold and brush rum syrup liberally on it.
2. Pour the chocolate orange chantilly cream into the ring and smooth flat. Place second piece of cake above the chocolate layer and press down to remove any empty spaces in between the layers. Brush with rum syrup.
3. Pour the banana sauce into the ring, place third piece of cake on top of it. Brush with rum syrup.
4. Pour the vanilla chantilly cream into the ring. Use a scraper, smoothen out the top so that the layer is even. Refrigerate to chill. (we stuck it in the freezer)
5. Brush the chocolate over the top, freeze for 10 minutes before pouring the glaze over.
6. Unmold and slice into individual portions. Decorate with gold foil if desired.
7. If making 2.5" small cakes, repeat with above steps.

31 comments:

  1. OMG i nv expected u to blog so fast!!! i was still thinking when i'll see yr entry coz u must hv alot of backlogs esp those brunch ones hahaha. sigh yr pics damn nice can, yr other half of the cake had nicer brush strokes, and the glaze was clearer. my pics turned out sucky lor, wait til u see mine. btw, the glaze shd be mirror gel, not neutral glaze :)

    haha now that u post this 1st, i shall just copy & paste the recipe on my blog. can right? :p anyway u said the cake wasn't dry, u felt it was just nice? i tot its abit dry so nx time i will soak it generously with syrup. you'll do that too nx time? i tot u like cakes that aren't generously soaked.

    shall we make another entremet together? its really fun baking with u coz u know yr stuff and we hv the same interest in multi-component cakes :)

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  2. Another gorgeous confection! I wish I could eat what either you or Evan baked. I'd be in dessert heaven! I'd like to try some of these beautiful layered small desserts (is this considered an entremet?) sometime. Just lovely.

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  3. haha actually with all my frenzied postings these few mths, i dont really hv much backlogs, in fact i post stuff i bake within the mth nowadays. ^^ dining pics mostly all done, i don go out eat much except for brunch haha. really? i tot the glaze was even. anw did u have trouble slicing? i did for some parts, cos the choc on top was thicker, so it cracked!!! when i sliced thru it. :( okays! edited thx for pointing it out!

    copy lor, aft all i photocopied the book from u haha. i like moist cakes, just tt i din know hw to achieve it, i always thought was the recipe, and not soaking syrup proportions. nw i know...heh.

    yup, sure! but it'll be hard to find another common flavour we both don mind haha. and nt anytime soon cos i need to adjust with work. (:

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  4. haha, i guessed as much. you're blogging so often these days just that i nv tot you'll blog abt this so quickly :) i didnt really hv any trouble slicing but the 1st slice i went to heat the knife so the choc decor sort of melted n smudged onto the vanilla layer. ugly. subsequently i just slice like that and ya the choc did break but it wasnt that bad coz maybe the part i sliced wasnt the thickest part of the choc. yrs look amazing lor. my glaze wasnt v obvious in the pic, not sure why.

    actually we shd hv made more syrup that day but its like we always make too much so i tot maybe 100ml shd b enough. anyway i really didnt think we might not be able to agree on the nx one haha, im quite interested in all his recipes! i know u dont like pistachio & mint rite? what else do u not like? lol and yea not asking u to bake together soon la, u starting work soon. all the best for yr new job!

    im craving this cake again haha! what did yr friends say? did they like it?

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  5. This is sensational...just gorgeous!

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  6. thx! yups, these are entremets! haha i also wish i can eat whatever delicious cupcake concoctions u always seem to come up with...^^

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  7. heh i hv a list of entremets i wanna make! hidemi's ones? hmmm, the bresilienne, fruit rouges, pomme de eve and sous bois? but u've made the fruit rouges, and u don like apples haha. ah shit. can trouble u bring his book again? i might wanna photocopy more LOL. my friend only commented, "oh there's banana in it rights? it's the jelly like-thing right." -.-"

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  8. wah u super not shy lor, can ask me to bring the book again. what do i get in return if i do? haha

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  9. haha u donno meh i nt shy one. heh. ^^ what do u want then? i also cant offer much haha.

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  10. Wow, your skills are getting better and better! I've been searching for this recipe but didn't manage to find it...your rendition is gorgeous (love the gold foil) and looks very delicious indeed!

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  11. BEAUTIFUL! thts all comes to my mind seeing this. I could never attempt making this because I'm sure I would fail miserably. You are so talented!

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  12. It looks scrumptiously pretty. Nom nom nom... I don't eat much orange choco as well = )

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  13. i can't seems to find any gelatin sheets. can i use granules gelatin instead? if can how much should i use? really hope you could tell me. I wanna make this for father's day. by the way can i know what is  mirror glaze? :) thanks in advance. 

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  14. hey so sorry for the late reply. im sure u can replace with granules gelatin but im not really sure the proportion to sub - perhaps google it? mirror glaze is sort of like the glaze u use on top of cakes - that "thin layer of shine". anw i bought a bottle of mirror glaze in the local baking supplies (phoon huat).

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  15. this looks amazing...ive been wanting to try my hand at making entremets for awhile now...but,
    I still don't have the time/guts/equipment to try my hand at it..Yours look SO perfect. inspiring.

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  16. i hope u certainly do try your hand at entremets. i stumbled upon this arena by chance and has nv regretted my journey so far. :)

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  17. Hi, I'm from Italy. I saw you on Pinterest. You're great! I have no words

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  18. Its great...This is just what i was thinking. I love it :) Thanks for sharing the  Easy Food Recipes :)

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  19. HI Michelle,

    this is amazing! May I know how do I purchase the book? I can't read japanese and amazon.cojp stated that books are not to be mailed out of Japan.:(

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  20. hi are u local? if u are, u can check out Kino. if not, im nt too sure where you can order them from. perhaps the amazon.jp is outta stock thats why it doesn't ship out?

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  21. is there any way I can make the mirror glaze? :(

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  22. Why does mine didn't look as beautiful as yours? hehe But it tasted really good though! Thanks for the recipe!

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  23. hmmm what matters most is the taste isn't it? hee.

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  24. Making this atm. will let you know how it goes. I baked the layers in 3 8 x8 pans and they're really thick (like one inch) so I think I'll have to cut them

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  25. Was delicious. Thanks!

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  26. Hello Michelle, for the joconde recipe above, may I know what size baking trays did you use? Is it 40cm x 30cm (i.e. the standard oven trays)?

    Thank you, May

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  27. hi May, so sorry but I can't recall what size baking tray I used...but it does seem to be so. I'll be sure to note down the measurements for future bakes!

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  28. Hi Michelle, where can i purchase Hidemi's Book??

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  29. hi Audrey, i'm not sure cos i dont have the book myself. there's only the jap and french version avail (no eng, how sad). perhaps you can try kino? or amazon?

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  30. we share the same name! :)
    can i just ask about the assembly part (coz yours looked soooo pretty, i dont wanna mess up mine hehe)
    so do we first put the square joconde into a ring mold? wouldnt the mold be too large for the cake then? and won't the cream spill out when we spread it out?
    *sorry if it's such a stupid question, i'm only learning to bake >< thanks so much for your help :)*

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