candied

Made in several stages, this cake is another successful choise for this month's DB challenge. Not only it can be prepared without ice cream maker since parfait is used, but it retains a relatively soft texture and tends less to melt. Although I usually prefer fruit ice creams and sorbets, my flavor combination for this recipe was white, bittersweet chocolate and praline.

Chocolate spongecake

62gr cake flour

18gr cocoa powder

65gr sugar

60gr water

2Tbs olive oil

3 egg yolks

4 egg whites

as preferred vanilla

White chocolate chantilly

158gr white chocolate

190gr heavy cream

Chocolate parfait

100gr couverture, melted in bain marie

3 egg yolks

75gr granulated sugar

25gr water

15gr honey

250gr heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

Praline parfait

67gr hazelnuts

33gr granulated sugar

30gr couverture

55gr egg whites

60gr honey

20gr glucose

380gr heavy cream

For a start, prepare the white chocolate chantilly. Melt the chocolate in a bain marie and set aside untill slightly warm. Whip the cream to soft peaks, fold it in and refrigerate untill set. For the spongecake, shift flour and cocoa powder together .Beat the egg yolks with 15gr of sugar until pale and gradually pour in the fluid ingredients. Add the flour mixture and whisk to combine. With the rest of the sugar whip the egg whites to meringue and fold it gently into the rest of the batter. Spread it on a 25x35cm surface covered with parchment paper and bake at a preheated oven to 180C for about 13min. Carefully seperate the cake from the paper and when its temperature has dropped, spread the white mousse on its surface. Use the paper on bottom to tightly roll the filled spongecake and hold it with paper clips to avoid loosening. Keep that way in fridge and freeze before cutting.

Continue with the chocolate parfait by boiling water and sugar. Simultaneously whip the egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer.When the syrup has reached 120C, stir in and dissolve the honey. Pour the hot syrup like a string into the yolks and keed whipping until the mixture has puffed and cooled. Then incorporate the melted chocolate with a spatula, fold in the wphipped cream and keep the parfait in fridge untill the cake base is ready.

To prepare the base, cover the bottom of a 20x16cm pan with food membrane and place roll slices on top. Fill half of it with the chocolate parfait and freeze. Meanwhile, make the praline parfait. In a non-stick pan caramelize sugar untill brown and add the hazelnuts (preferably warm). When all the nuts are covered in caramel, remove from the heat, let cool on a piece of parchment paper and use a blender to completely mash the nuts into a homogenous pulp. Warm 30gr of the cream, melt the couverture with it and incorporate in the praline. Whip the rest of the heavy cream to soft peaks and keep in the fridge. Boil honey with glucose and start whipping the egg whites in a bowl of a stand mixer. When the syrup has reached 120C pour it in a string to the whites and keep whipping on high and then medium speed until the meringue has cooled and forms stiff peaks. To finish, fold meringue into the praline mixture and add the smooth chantilly. Pour this mousse on top of chocolate praline and freeze until hard. When set, unmold the cake, remove the plastic cover and use remaining parfait-mousse for garnish.