Apple milk tea entremet

I've not made any entremets for some time now and my hands were just itching to have a go at it. I think perhaps I was just a little too ambitious cos my project turned out to be a nine-components (!) entremet that wrecked havoc in my now tiny kitchen...

 Apple milk tea entremet

 Baked apple liquor

I bought a bottle of baked apple liquor last year and have been saving it for special uses (read - baking). I've only used it a handful of times so far now, and I thought that it would be good to use it in place of the Calvados required for the recipe as I didn't have any Calvados on hand.

 Walnut nougatine

I didn't exactly like the decor of the original entremet shown in the book, and was thinking of how I should "spruce" it up. I wanted something crunchy to provide a bit of a textural difference, and I decided to adapt Evan's recipe of sesame nougatine by using diced walnuts instead as walnuts and apples are complementary flavours. It was probably the best part of the dessert cos the nougatine was really really good!

 Black tea leaves

I think I'm improving in making the cake layers moist by sufficiently soaking the cake layers in enough syrup. I'd recommend upping the apple jam layer (already modified below) to make the apple taste more apparant.
And I think I'm also getting the hang of whipping chantilly cream to soft peaks without overwhipping. :)

The lady finger sponge was soooooo good dipped into the milk tea syrup (but it was really sweet) as the milk tea taste was super strong - almost like a strong cuppa local teh. The sweet taste was neutralised when combined with the rest of the cake though.

The only thing I disliked about the cake was probably the mousse (which was the biggest component of the cake, come to think about it). First of all, I was having problems with my gelatine leaves, they just wouldn't dissolve properly and second, the mousse didn't have a milk tea taste at all. I suggest perhaps either upping the tea leaves used, or reducing the brandy used.

Apple milk tea entremet (adapted from 名师亲自指导超人气甜点)
(makes eight 2.5" small cakes)

Black tea cake
77g egg yolks
33g sugar
87g egg whites
40g sugar
67g cake flour
1.5g black tea powder
20g full cream milk
30g butter

Sift the cake flour and black tea powder in a bowl and whisk to combine.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar on high speed till thick.
In a seperate bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites on high speed, gradually adding in the sugar and beat till a thick meringue forms
Heat the milk and butter in a saucepan till hot. Fold in half the meringue into the beaten yolks mixture, followed by the flour mixture. Fold in the remaining meringue, followed by the hot milk and butter mixture and mix well to combine.
Pour into prepared greased baking sheet and bake 7-12 minutes at 210C.

Apple jam
150g homemade apple jam
4.5g baked apple liquor

Combine jam and liquor in a bowl.

30°B sugar syrup imbibage A
40g syrup (made by boiling 32.5g sugar and 25ml water together), cooled and measure out 40g)
36g water
6g baked apple liquor

Mix the above ingredients in a bowl.

Lady finger cake
18g egg yolks
10g sugar
drops of vanilla essence
32g egg whites
18g sugar
28g cake flour

Add the vanilla essence and sugar to the yolks and beat till foamy, then thick.
In a seperate bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites on high speed, gradually adding in the sugar and beat till a thick meringue forms.
Fold half the egg whites into the beaten yolks, sift in the flour and mix to combine. Fold in the remaining egg whites and mix thoroughly.
 Pour into prepared grease baking sheet and bake 5-10 minutes at 220C.
Cool, then using a 3cm x 2cm cutter, cut out small rounds of cake and set aside.

Milk tea syrup
25g milk
50ml water
3g black tea
23g sugar
1.5g light rum

Heat the milk and water, then add in the black tea and stir to combine. Remove from heat, stir to infuse. Sift the tea leaves out, warm the mixture again then add in the sugar and stir to dissolve. Remove from heat, add the rum and leave to cool.

Milk tea mousse
120g milk
13g black tea
27 egg yolks
14g sugar
7g gelatin leaves (soaked in cold water)
7g brandy
7g apple liquor
20g egg white
27g sugar
7g water
65g 47% cream
65g 35% cream

Heat the milk to just boiling, remove from heat and add in the black tea. Stir to infuse. Sift the tea leaves out and reheat the milk tea.
Place the yolks in a medium bowl, slowly add the sugar and beat well to combine. Gradually pour in the warmed milk tea, stirring constantly to prevent the yolks from cooking. Pour back into saucepan and warm till 85C.
Remove saucepan from heat, add in the softened gelatin and stir to mix. Cool in an ice bath.
Add in the brandy and apple liqour and stir to mix.
Make the italian meringue. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan, and heat till 120C. Beat the egg whites till foamy, add in the heated sugar syrup and whip till thick meringue forms. Cool in fridge till 10C.
Whip the creams till soft peak before mixing in the cooled italian meringue. Fold this mixture into the cooled custard mixture.

Vanilla chantilly cream
133g whipping cream
13g vanilla sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Whip till soft peaks. Set aside.

Glaze
100g mirror glaze
7.5g apple liquor
8g black tea

Combine the above in a bowl, whisk to mix. Set aside.

Walnut nougatine (adapted from Evan from Evan's Kitchen Ramblings)
25g glucose syrup
5ml water
65g unsalted butter
75g sugar
50g finely diced walnuts
pinch of fine sea salt

Melt glucose syrup on low heat, then add in water, butter and salt. When completely melted, add sugar and heat till it boils.
Remove from heat and stir in diced walnuts and mix well. Quickly pour mixture on baking paper on a baking tray, then put another baking paper on top and roll thinly.
Chill in fridge until set with another baking tray on top of it, remove top baking tray and sheet and bake on 170C for 10-15 mins until bubbles appear. leave to cool and break into pieces.

Assemble
Using ring molds, cut out rounds of black tea cake (2 per cake).  Brush the 30°B sugar syrup imbibage A on the cakes generously, spread a layer of apple jam on half of the cakes and cover with the other half of the cakes.
Place sandwiched black tea cake rounds into the bottom of the ring molds. Brush the remaining 30°B sugar syrup imbibage A on the top of the cakes.
Pipe a small amount of chantilly cream into the middle of the cakes.
Dip the lady finger rounds into the milk tea syrup and place onto middle of the cakes. Pipe a little of the chantilly cream onto the lady finger rounds. Pour the milk tea mousse over and level straight with a spatula. Chill for several hours.
Garnish with glaze, walnut nougatine and gold foil.