This is Halloween!
MEMENTO MORI
Halloween is upon us and for the scariest night of the year I want to introduce you to: Memento Mori.
The inspiration for this dessert comes from Paris, a romantic and gothic city at the same time, dreamy and melancholic.
While walking along the Seine I came across a work by Philippe Pasqua, “Skull with Butterflies”, an enormous skull on which butterflies are perching. I was particularly struck by it and, perhaps also thanks to the Parisian atmosphere, the idea came to me… Memento Mori.
This is a revisited “Black Forest” single-portion, composed of a cocoa sponge cake, a cherry jelly and a light mascarpone foam, accompanied by a cherry tuille, all made thanks to our silicone molds.
I'll leave you with the recipe now,
Happy Halloween.
Marco DeDonno
Light Mascarpone and Vanilla Foam
|
Ingredients |
Dosage per 1kg |
|
Milk |
130g |
|
Granulated sugar |
90g |
|
Vanilla beans |
qb |
|
Mascarpone |
280g |
|
Cream |
500g |
|
Gelatin sheets |
8g |
|
Waterfall |
45g |
In a saucepan, bring the milk to the boil with the granulated sugar and the vanilla pods to infuse. Pour in the gelatin sheets previously softened in water and emulsify. Pour everything onto the mascarpone and emulsify again. Place in the fridge overnight. The following day, work the mixture in a planetary mixer with a whisk and, once smooth, pour in the cream and whip well. Pour 250g of product into 18Ø rings before finishing the cake with the insert.
Fresh Cherry Jelly
|
Ingredients |
Dosage per 1kg |
|
Fresh cherry |
580g |
|
Granulated sugar |
145g |
|
Pectin 325 Nh 95 |
32g |
|
Granulated sugar |
40g |
|
Waterfall |
35g |
|
Gelatin sheets |
175g |
Pour the fresh fruit into a saucepan and bring to around 60°C, emulsify and bring to a boil and then add the previously mixed sugar and pectin mixture. Make sure that no lumps form. Bring back to the boil and leave to cook. The result should be similar to a jam. You can make sure that the product is ready by pouring a drop on the table to see the state of gelation.
Sponge cake Cocoa sheets
|
Ingredients |
Dosage per 1kg |
|
Egg yolks |
98g |
|
Whole egg |
267g |
|
Granulated sugar |
107g |
|
egg whites |
164g |
|
Granulated sugar |
107g |
|
Invert sugar |
53g |
|
W140 shortcrust pastry flour |
124g |
|
Cocoa 22-24 |
80g |
In a planetary mixer with a whisk, beat the egg yolk at medium speed with the sugar and slowly add the eggs, one at a time. When the mixture begins to become lighter, let it beat well. Separately, heat the egg white and inverted sugar and beat. Combine the two mixtures, pouring the whipped egg yolks into the egg whites, then sift the powders and add them to the mixture. Roll out into sheets of 0.6 – 0.8 cm thickness, in 60x40 pans. Bake in the oven at 180°C for 15 minutes.
Tulle
|
Ingredients |
Dose* |
|
Cherry puree |
30g |
|
Albumen |
30g |
|
Sugar |
10g |
|
Seed oil |
30g |
|
Salt |
4g |
Mix all the ingredients, let the mixture rest for 10 minutes and then pour into the silicone mold. Bake at 160°C for 10 minutes.
*the recommended dose allows the production of 10/15 tuilles.
Crunchy Chocolate Frosting
|
Ingredients |
Dose for 1 cake |
|
White chocolate |
350g |
|
Seed oil |
90g |
|
Cocoa butter |
410g |
Melt the chocolate at around 45°C and gradually pour in the cocoa butter melted at 30°C (if you want to obtain a whiter colour add some fat-soluble colouring) and the seed oil.
Assembly and plating
Temper the chocolate glaze and pour it into the mold as if you were creating the shell of a chocolate (beat well to remove air bubbles). Leave in the fridge for 5 minutes to crystallize. At this point add the mascarpone foam, a layer of cherry jelly and close with a chocolate sponge cake disk. Put in the blast chiller. Once the mono is unmolded you can move on to plating, in our case, for the decoration we used black cherries and red cocoa butter to create the "blood splashes".
Article written by: Benedetta Sticchi
Recipe and Photo: Marco De Donno