Firmament
The “Firmamento” cake is a dessert that I am particularly fond of. It marked, for me, the line between trying to create something almost perfect and succeeding.
Everyone likes chocolate, whether it is white, milk or gianduia, it never disappoints, but its true essence is to be found in what is almost its purest form: dark chocolate .
This cake takes anyone who tastes it on a journey into the world of dark chocolate, in particular, two single origins were chosen with a percentage of 78% and 81% cocoa mass respectively.
The inspiration for this dessert came from a phrase from the film “Interstellar” (Christopher Nolan, 2014).
“Once upon a time we would raise our gaze to the sky in wonder, feeling part of the firmament; now, instead, we lower our gaze, worried about being part of the sea of mud.”
I'll leave you with the recipe now,
Have a good trip.
Marco DeDonno
FIRMAMENT
Composition:
- Crunchy dark hazelnut praline
- Soft hazelnut and cocoa biscuit
- Creamy Dark Chocolate Uganda 78%
- Bagua 81% Dark Chocolate Mousse
Crunchy dark hazelnut praline
|
Ingredients |
Dose for 1 cake |
Dosage per 1kg |
Dosage 3 cakes Ø 18 |
|
Hazelnut praline |
70g |
588g |
210g |
|
Uganda Dark Chocolate |
40g |
338g |
120g |
|
Crunchy Flakes |
9g |
74g |
27g |
Temper the melted chocolate at 30.4°. Slightly heat the hazelnut praline and add to the chocolate. Add the refined crunchy flakes. Pour 120g of product into Ø16 rings. It is recommended to prepare the crunchy as the last preparation of the insert: cook the soft, pour the creamy, turn the insert upside down and pour the hazelnut crunchy.
Soft hazelnut and cocoa biscuit
|
Ingredients |
Dose for 1 cake |
Dosage per 1kg |
Dosage 3 cakes Ø 18 |
|
Butter |
16g |
138g |
48g |
|
Granulated sugar |
25g |
210g |
75g |
|
Egg |
6g |
56g |
18g |
|
Yolk |
9g |
80g |
27g |
|
Hazelnut flour |
31g |
260g |
93g |
|
Shortcrust pastry flour |
3g |
21g |
9g |
|
Cocoa 22-24 |
3g |
21g |
9g |
|
egg whites |
12g |
100g |
36g |
|
Sugar |
12g |
100g |
36g |
Premix the butter in ointment with sugar, egg yolk, eggs, hazelnut flour, shortcrust pastry flour and cocoa in this order. Whip the egg whites with the sugar in equal parts. Combine the two mixtures and pour 120g spirals into 16Ø circles. Cook at 175° for about 15 minutes with the valve half open.
Creamy Dark Chocolate Uganda 78%
|
Ingredients |
Dose for 1 cake |
Dosage per 1 kg |
Dosage 3 cakes Ø 18 |
|
Granulated sugar |
8g |
54g |
24g |
|
Yolk |
16g |
108g |
48g |
|
Whole milk |
40g |
270g |
120g |
|
Cream |
40g |
270g |
120g |
|
Gelatin sheets* |
2g |
8g |
6g |
|
H2O |
10g |
40g |
30g |
|
Uganda Dark Chocolate 78% |
36g |
243g |
108g |
Mix sugar and egg yolks, add milk and cream and bring to the heat. Cook the bavarois at around 81°, stop the cooking by adding the softened gelatin sheets and finally pour on the chocolate and emulsify. Leave to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge and pour 150g of product per cake into 16Ø rings.
*the gelatin sheets used in each recipe are at 200 degrees Bloom
Bagua Dark Chocolate Mousse 81%
|
Ingredients |
Dose for 1 cake |
Dosage per 1kg |
Dosage 3 cakes Ø 18 |
|
Milk |
36g |
104g |
108g |
|
Gelatin sheets |
3g |
8g |
9g |
|
H2O |
15g |
40g |
45g |
|
Bagua Dark Chocolate 81% |
127g |
365g |
380g |
|
Cream 35mg |
166g |
475g |
500g |
Bring the milk to around 60°. Melt the chocolate to around 35°. Add the melted gelatin to the milk and pour over the chocolate. Emulsify well. The mixture should be around 31°. Add the cream in several batches. Pour about 350g of product into 18Ø rings and add the insert (I personally prefer to assemble it in reverse).
Black mirror glaze
|
Ingredients |
Dosage for Dark Chocolate |
Dosage for White Chocolate |
|
H2O |
125g |
125g |
|
Granulated sugar |
300g |
300g |
|
Glucose |
300g |
300g |
|
Condensed milk |
200g |
200g |
|
Gelatin sheets |
20g |
23g |
|
H2O |
100g |
100g |
|
Diamond Dark Chocolate |
300g |
400g |
|
Black dye |
qb |
qb |
|
Gold dye |
qb |
qb |
To prepare the glaze, weigh the water, granulated sugar and glucose in a saucepan and bring to the boil (when the mixture reaches 60° I recommend adding the colouring, so that you can emulsify it by incorporating it better into our product). Once the mixture has reached the first boil, after a few seconds add the condensed milk and bring back to the boil, you will see that the mixture will tend to "foam", at this point remove it from the heat and add the gelatin sheets previously soaked in water and then emulsify again. Finally pour the mixture onto the chocolate and mix. At this point leave the glaze in the fridge overnight to rest. Use the glaze at around 37-55° maximum.
Cold neutral gelatin
|
Ingredients |
Dosage for Dark Chocolate |
|
H2O |
590g |
|
Granulated sugar |
570g |
|
Glucose |
140g |
|
Pectin NH |
20g |
|
Granulated sugar* |
90g |
|
Citric acid |
1g |
Bring the water, sugar and glucose to 40°, add the premixed pectin to the second sugars*. Once it has come to the boil, add the citric acid and leave on the heat for about 4 minutes. At this point you can either leave it transparent or add some colouring according to your needs. The effect of our cake is obtained by pouring the black icing first; then 2 strips of red icing are made first and 2 strips of blue icing after. Finally, our cold neutral gelatin is coloured black, or the base colour of our cake and brought to about 70-80°. Before the final spatula stroke on the cake, just pour the coloured gelatin onto the spatula. This way we will obtain a spider web effect that is not as clear as we are used to seeing, but which will act as a "transition" between the black background icing and the red and blue icing strips.
Article written by: Benedetta Sticchi
Recipe and Photo: Marco De Donno