Dee's Divine Delights: Rose, Pistachio & Honey Entremet

Hey all!! Hope you all remember this post if mine that I had submitted for Fondbites Bake Along's Bake It Perfect contest. Guess what? I got selected as the First Runner Up in the contest!! Yippeee!! Never expected to win it.. I'm sooo happy. It's a lot of firsts for me- my first entry into a competition, first time I came up with my own flavor combos, first time I won a contest (well, almost :D ) and first attempt making an Entremet :) For the Finals, each participant had to make an Entremet, with flavour combinations of our own. I’m so excited to have been a part of this!! A big thanks to Subhashini for all of this :)

So coming to my entry, What exactly is an entremet? According to Wikipedia- an entremet is a multi-layered mousse-based cake with various complementary flavors. I myself became familiar with this French dessert only about an year ago, but this is the first time I’m making one. And I should say, I am very proud of myself to have pulled it off. Whether I win or not, doesn’t matter. I loved the end result of this awesome challenge :)

Ok, so for this Entremet I made 5 elements:

1. Saffron flavoured Sponge Cake

2. Pistachio Mousse

3. Rose (Gulkand) Bavarian Cream

4. Honey Glaze

5. Honey Syrup

This entremet is arranged preferably in a cake ring and consists of a sponge cake base soaked in Honey syrup. The pistachio mousse is set separately and placed on it. After which the rose Bavarian cream is poured on top and set in the fridge and topped off with the honey glaze. I made the Pistachio mousse the 1^st day and let it set overnight. On the 2^nd day, I went ahead with the rest of the recipe. Just a point to remember-The mousse should be set in cake rings that are smaller than the size of your final dessert. I don’t have cake rings, so I have made entremets of various sizes using a few of my cookie cutters and in a small 6inch cake pan with a removable base, lined with acetate sheets. You can also set it in various sizes of cutters if you prefer or don’t own cake rings. Let’s get on with it then..

INGREDIENTS and METHOD

Pistachio Mousse:

Milk – ½ Cup

Egg Yolks – 2

Sugar – 60g

Gelatin- 1 Tblsp

Water- 2 Tblsp

Heavy Cream/Whipping Cream – 1 cup

Pistachio Paste – 60g (Recipe given below)

Pistachio Essence/ Green colour – a few drops (optional)

Method:

{In a mixer/food processor whiz together 30g toasted pistachio along with 15g sugar until they blend together. Keep grinding and one point the nuts will start oozing out oil and will become sticky. Add a Tsp of any flavorless oil and grind until you have a paste- Pic 1}

Take 2 Tblsp of water in a sauce pan and sprinkle the gelatin and set aside for a few minutes to let it bloom. [Pic 2]
Add the egg yolks and sugar and whisk it in. Stir in the milk. [Pic 3,4]
Cook this mixture on the stove in low heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. This will take around 5-7 mins. Do not at any cost, leave the saucepan unattended on the stove top. The egg will cook and form lumps in the custard.
Whisk in the prepared pistachio paste and mix well. Let it cool. [Pic 5,6]
Once the mixture is lukewarm, whisk in a few drops of Pistachio essence/ green food color, if required. The pistachio paste will give a nice pastel shade to the mix, but I wanted a deeper hue, so I used Pistachio essence which was green in color. [Pic 7,8]
Take the heavy cream in the bowl of your stand mixer or alternatively you can use your hand held beater and beat the cream in a steel bowl chilled in the refrigerator. [Pic 9]
Beat the cream and whip it up to form soft peaks. [Pic 10]
Gently but steadily, fold the whipped cream into the cooled pistachio custard base until well combined. [Pic 11,12]
Pour this mixture into small cake rings and set it in the fridge, preferably overnight.

Saffron Sponge Cake:

Recipe adapted from: IronWhisk

Sugar- 180g

All Purpose Flour- 130g

Corn Flour- 20g

Baking Powder- 10g

Eggs (whisked very lightly)- 200g (about 4 eggs)

Flavourless Oil- 70g

Milk- 100g

A pinch of Saffron

Method:

Heat the milk a bit and sprinkle the Saffron strands and let it soak in it until the milk comes back to room temperature. [Pic 1,2]
Preheat your oven to 180*C and line a jelly pan or a swiss roll pan with baking paper.
In a bowl beat the flours, sugar baking powder, oil and eggs on high speed for about 5-6 mins. [Pic 3,4]
Add the saffron infused milk and beat in medium speed for 2 mins. [Pic 5]
Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for 10-15 mins or until lightly browned. It took 15 mins in my oven. [Pic 6,7]
Let it cool.

**Prepare the following three components just before using**

Rose Bavarian Cream:

Recipe adapted from: The Sweet Spot

Egg Yolks- 2

Sugar- 20g

Milk- ½ Cup (125ml)

Gulkand (Rose Jam)- 1.5 Tbsp

Heavy Cream/Whipping Cream- 250g

Gelatin- 10g

Rose Essence/Pink Food Color – a few drops (optional)

Method:

In a saucepan, heat the milk along with the Gulkand. Immediately after it comes to a boil, switch off the stove and let it sit for a while. Strain the milk and heat it again if required, we want the milk warm, neither hot nor lukewarm. Dissolve the sugar in the milk.
In a bowl whisk the egg yolks lightly. Gradually pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking constantly.
Transfer this back into the saucepan, and heat the mixture in low heat until thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
Soak the gelatin in a tablespoon of water and melt it in the microwave. Stir it into the custard and mix well.
Stir in the rose essence or pink food coloring if required. The gulkand doesn’t really give a pink color, so if you wish you can add coloring. It’s purely optional. Bring it to room temperature in a ice bath.
Whip up the Heavy cream to soft peaks in a bowl chilled in the refrigerator or in the bowl of your stand mixer.
Fold whipped cream into the cooled custard or if you are running low on time, you can cool the custard in an ice bath and fold in the cream.

Honey Syrup:

Pure Honey- 2 Tblsp

Water – 2 Tblsp

Method:

Heat the honey and water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil and keep it on heat for 2 mins. Switch the stove off and let it cool to room temp.

Honey Glaze:

Pure Honey – 2 Tblsp

Water – 1+1 Tblsp

Gelatine- 1 Tsp

Method:

Sprinkle the gelatine in 1 Tblsp of water and set aside for a couple of mins. Let it bloom and then melt it in the microwave.

Mix the honey and 1 Tblsp of water. Add the melted gelatine and mix well.

ASSEMBLY:

With your Cake rings, cut the sponge cakes into the desired size. These cake rings have to be bigger than the ones used for setting the Pistachio mousse. [Pic 1]
Place the cake rings on a pan lined with baking paper/ acetate sheet/ silicone mat. [Pic 2]
Place the cut sponge cake inside the ring. Brush generously with the Honey Syrup. [Pic 3]
Take the pistachio mousse from the fridge, unmould, and place it in the centre of the cake ring. [Pic 4]
Now, pour the Rose Bavarian Cream around & on top of the mousse and level the cake ring. [Pic 5,6]
Set this in the freezer for 4 hours or overnight in the fridge. If keeping it in the fridge, make the Honey Glaze only the next day. [Pic 7]
Once set, make the Honey Glaze and pour it on top and spread quickly as the glaze will set almost immediately since the whole dessert will be cold. [Pic 8]
Keep it back in the fridge for 15 mins.
Carefully unmould and serve immediately, chilled. You can garnish it with crushed pistachios for crunchiness.

My verdict- The gulkand gives such a subtle yet lingering rose flavour to the Bavarian cream and combined with the whipped cream, it’s so soft and light! The pistachio mousse just blew my taste buds, I loved it. Maybe the addition of the pistachio essence took it to the next level. The honey syrup soaked sponge cake brought the whole thing together. Though not a unique combination in Indian sweets, I am glad it worked sooo well in a French dessert.

The procedure may seem long but if planned well, it can be executed easily without any hassle. Will I make this again? Yes!! Hopefully I will get some cake rings to form even sized desserts ;) Here are all my beauties...