Chocolate, Coffee and Tonka Bean Entremet (Comme un air d’Opéra)
I promised you the recipe for my reinvented opéra, and here it is! It’s thanks to this dessert that I was selected to take part in the Défi Pâtissier organised by chef Christophe Roussel in La Baule. Thanks to you too, because you needed enough votes to be among the top 10. My dessert was selected, along with 4 others, for the final, which took place on 22 October. But I’ll tell you more about that exceptional weekend in a future post 🙂
Reinventing a dessert as classic as the Opéra isn’t easy. At least, not for me. I’m not very comfortable with “creations” and for now, I like to reproduce chefs’ desserts or “favourite” recipes found online. Even though I sometimes make a few adjustments and try a few things (I’m thinking in particular of the basil bavarois in one of my latest desserts), I still need some guidance.
I imagined this Opéra recipe for days and days, sketches in hand. The joconde sponge (the traditional sponge for this dessert) would be hazelnut, the chocolate ganache would come with Guérande fleur de sel (a compulsory element on the day of the challenge), and I would replace the coffee buttercream with a coffee whipped ganache (less heavy, I think). For the shape, I was already picturing the chocolate disc on which balls of whipped ganache would sit. But I also wanted to bring another flavour to this dessert: tonka bean, and another texture: a crémeux. As for the plating, it was decided on the spot. Improvisation has its upsides too ^^
What the jury liked was the “trompe-l’oeil” aspect at first glance. Many people thought it was a tartlet, whereas it’s actually the joconde sponge that goes around the dessert. Visually, it went down well, and the chef could really see this dessert in his shop (what an honour!). When cut, the different layers and textures were visible, it was clean and neat, and that went down well too. During the challenge, I unfortunately had a heavy hand with the tonka bean (sorry Mercotte :P) but I made a mistake I hadn’t made at home: grating a little extra tonka bean before chilling (so I didn’t strain that additional quantity). The problem is that tonka bean develops its aromas in the cold. Oops. At home, you could barely taste the tonka.
With the quantities given, you should have enough to make 6 individual desserts (tested and approved! I won’t tell you how many times :P). I tried to make sure there wasn’t too much waste (we were also judged on respect for the products, and nothing was to be wasted). You should normally have a little tonka crémeux and some tuiles left over (but it’s hard to reduce the recipe further). Speaking of tuiles, by the way, I’m giving you a recipe recommended by a blogger and pastry-making friend, Anne from Escale gourmande. The tuiles I made at the beginning (the ones you can see in the photos) frankly weren’t great. This new recipe is brilliant!
Ingredients & Method
8 components · Full recipe
Hazelnut Joconde Sponge
- 90 g (3.2 oz) icing sugar
- 90 g (3.2 oz) ground hazelnuts
- 24 g (0.8 oz) flour
- 123 g (4.3 oz) whole eggs
- 82 g (2.9 oz) egg whites
- 16 g (0.6 oz) caster sugar
- 3.3 g (0.1 oz) hazelnut oil
- 16 g (0.6 oz) coffee extract
- 2 pinches fleur de sel
Cuts: 6 large discs · 6 small discs · 6 strips (2.5 cm (1 in) high)
Preheat the oven to 180 °C. In a bowl, whisk together the icing sugar, ground hazelnuts, flour, fleur de sel and whole eggs.
Whip the egg whites with the caster sugar to stiff peaks. Fold the hazelnut oil and coffee extract into the first mixture, then gently fold in the whipped whites.
Spread onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, watching carefully.
Once the sponge has cooled, cut out the large and small discs, as well as the rectangular strips to line the sides of the assembly rings.
Chocolate Coating
- 70 g (2.5 oz) dark chocolate
- 6 g (0.2 oz) neutral oil
Melt the chocolate over low heat, add the oil and stir with a spatula.
Brush all 12 sponge discs with the chocolate coating. Leave to set in the refrigerator.
Dark Chocolate Ganache
- 100 g (3.5 oz) 66% dark chocolate
- 120 g (4.2 oz) whipping cream
- 20 g (0.7 oz) invert sugar
- Guérande fleur de sel
Heat the cream and invert sugar. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie.
Pour the cream over the chocolate in 3 additions to create an emulsion. The ganache should be smooth and glossy.
Add a pinch of Guérande fleur de sel. Cover with cling film directly on the surface, refrigerate until a spreadable consistency is reached. Transfer to a piping bag.
Whipped Coffee Ganache
- 53 g (1.9 oz) white chocolate
- 100 g (3.5 oz) + 150 g (5.3 oz) whipping cream
- 10 g (0.4 oz) honey
- 10 g (0.4 oz) glucose
- 30 g (1.1 oz) coffee beans
- 3 g (0.1 oz) instant coffee
Melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie. Heat 100 g (3.5 oz) of cream with the honey, glucose, coffee beans and instant coffee.
As soon as it simmers, strain through a fine sieve and pour over the chocolate in 3 additions, stirring with a spatula. Add the 150 g (5.3 oz) cold cream.
Cover with cling film directly on the surface and refrigerate. At assembly time: whip gradually until a firm, smooth cream is achieved.
Tonka Bean Cremeux
- 50 g (1.8 oz) whole milk
- 67 g (2.4 oz) whipping cream
- 1 tonka bean, grated
- 17 g (0.6 oz) egg yolks
- 10 g (0.4 oz) sugar
- 57 g (2 oz) white chocolate
- 1.3 g (0 oz) powdered gelatine
- 8 g (0.3 oz) cold water
Bloom the gelatine in cold water for 10 minutes. Melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie.
Heat the milk, cream and grated tonka bean. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale, add the cream mixture and cook like a crème anglaise to 85 °C.
Off the heat, add the gelatine. Pour over the white chocolate and emulsify. Cool over an ice bath, strain through a chinois, cover with cling film directly on the surface. Refrigerate, then transfer to a piping bag.
Coffee & Hazelnut Tuiles
- 60 g (2.1 oz) sugar + 1 g (0 oz) pectin
- 50 g (1.8 oz) butter
- 20 g (0.7 oz) glucose
- 4 g (0.1 oz) water
- 6 g (0.2 oz) instant coffee
- 40 g (1.4 oz) crushed hazelnuts
- Guérande fleur de sel
Preheat the oven to 170 °C. Heat the butter, glucose, water and instant coffee in a saucepan.
Mix the sugar and pectin, add to the saucepan and bring to the boil.
Add the crushed hazelnuts and fleur de sel. Bake, watching carefully. Leave to cool slightly before removing the tuiles.
Coffee Soaking Syrup & Chocolate Discs
- 50 g (1.8 oz) sugar
- 50 g (1.8 oz) water
- Coffee extract (to taste)
- Dark couverture chocolate (as needed)
Bring the water and sugar to the boil. Off the heat, add coffee extract to taste. Set aside.
Temper the chocolate: melt to 50–55 °C, lower to 28–29 °C over an ice bath, then raise back to 31–32 °C over warm water.
Pour the chocolate onto a guitar sheet, cover with a second sheet and roll out to an even thickness.
When the chocolate begins to set, cut out circles the same size as the assembly rings. Leave to set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Assembly & Plating
- Cacao nibs
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Coffee tuiles
- Dark chocolate ganache
- Tempered chocolate discs
Line each ring with a strip of acetate. Place the soaked sponge strips inside, soaked side facing inward. Press firmly.
Place the large chocolate-coated sponge disc at the base (chocolate side down). Soak generously with the coffee syrup. Do the same with the small discs.
Pipe the chocolate ganache creating a well in the centre. Pipe the tonka bean cremeux into the well. Place the soaked small sponge disc on top, pressing down to level. Smooth to the rim with the back of a spoon. Refrigerate.
Unmould the entremets and remove the acetate. Gradually whip the coffee ganache until firm and smooth.
Place a quenelle of whipped ganache on each entremet, then carefully lay a chocolate disc on top.
Pipe the coffee ganache in small even dots. Alternate with small dots of chocolate ganache and tonka bean cremeux. Dust with cocoa powder and scatter cacao nibs. Crown with a coffee tuile.
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