Sunday, June 27, 2010


   
 This is the first challenge of Daring Bakers I post -and the most modified one- since I was supposed to excecute a pavlova recipe. Having trouble making a worthy cocoa meringue and being no fan of crunchy -and overwhelmingly sweet- baked egg whites,I used the mouthwatering and really easy making  mascarpone mousse ( which is also quite fatty...) in an orange scented torte. Replacing bitter chocolate with plain couverture, I also combined this filling with respberry gelee in a tart, which resulted really well and I'll  probanly post it later. 


              Olive oil cake
              100gr                      couverture
              50gr                       olive oil
              3                            egg yolks
              3                            egg whites
              50gr                       granulated sugar
              25gr                       flour
              1                            orange (zest)


            Mascarpone chocolate mousse
            265ml                       mascarpone, softened at room temperature
            241ml                       heavy cream
            173gr                       chocolate 72%
            2Tbs                         Grand Marnier


             Baked meringues
           60gr                          egg whites
           60gr                          granulated sugar
           60gr                          powdered sugar
           1                              orange (zest)


          Silky ganache
          148gr                         semisweet chocolate
          125ml                        heavy cream
          39gr                          sugar
          39gr                          corn syrup or glucose
          39gr                          butter
          1,5 Tbs                      Grand Marnier


As in every torte, start preparing the cake base. In a bain marie melt chocolate with olive oil and whip the egg whites to meringue. Whisk the egg yolks -which must have at least 25C temperature- in melted chocolate and fold in half of the meringue. Lumps may remain. Then add orange zest and the rest of meringue. Shift in the flour while folding the mixture -gently and avoiding deflating-, until homogenized. Place dough in a 20cm-diametre ring or a 20x24cm rectangle form ,covered with foil on bottom, and bake in a preheated oven at 180C (air) for 15min. Let the cake cool.
Continue with the mousse warming half of the cream. Melt with the hot cream the chopped chocolate and use the microwave to completely homogenise if necessary. Set aside to cool. Add rest of the cream and Grand Marnier to the mascarpone and mix at medium speed for a few seconds until soft peeks form. At low speed incorporate the thick ganache and start assembling the cake.
If using a ring and the cake has gained enough volume, cut two equal layers. Keeping the form to support the sides, fill with mousse and refrigerate or freeze untill set. If willing a rectangular one with changeable dimentions, cut the cake into two 20x12cm pieces and assemble similarly in a 20x12 size. For the meringues, whip the egg whites with caster sugar at medium speed until stiff peeks form and fold in the icing sugar with zest. Use a piping bag to make sticks and pellets on parchment paper and bake at 110C for about an hour. At last, prepare the ganache warming cream with sugar and corn syrup. Melt with the hot mixture the chocolate and butter, add Grand Mrnier, whisk until smooth and let cool untill soft but not runny. Spread a layer of it on top of the torte, freeze and pipe the rest of it in preferable shapes. Garnish with meringues.            

10 comments:

  1. Welcome to the Daring Kitchen and congratulations on your 1st challenge.

    I just love your olive oil cake and your final version deserves to be in a cookbook it is so professional looking. Love your piping skills and the small tear shaped pav on top. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

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  2. Hi! Love what you've done with the challenge,, looks very interesting :) Well done on your first challenge!

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  3. You cake looks delicious, Im saving the recipe.

    hugs

    ana

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  4. Wow that looks wonderful and a great adaptation !

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  5. love the presentation of your pav challenge. mousse looks scrumptious.

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  6. This looks delicious!! It's almost like an incredibly indulgent brownie! Gorgeous execution as well! Great job on this challenge!

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  7. Very beautifully done! Great job on your first challenge :)

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  8. Beautiful and very creative version!

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  9. I love your twist on the recipe. It looks fantastic!

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  10. Welcome to Daring Bakers' Challenge! Your pavlova version is so tempting. I believe it tastes delicious and that silky ganache layer is so sinful :-)

    Sawadee from Bangkok,
    Kris

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