Number Cake-Style Entremet (Chocolate, Pecan and Toasted Vanilla)

This recipe is the result of a collaboration with Valrhona; I’m particularly proud to be one of their ambassadors this year. For this recipe, the theme to follow was “birthday”. And when it comes to a birthday cake, I spontaneously think of a number cake. The thing is, I didn’t want to make “just” a number cake (if you’re interested, I have a delicious chocolate and gianduja recipe).

So I made a number cake-style entremets with chocolate, pecan and roasted vanilla flavours. An explosion of flavour and indulgence!

This entremets is made up of a soft pecan sponge, a pecan crunchy layer, a pecan praline, a roasted vanilla crémeux (I’ll tell you about it right after), a Caraïbes dark chocolate mousse, a dark chocolate velvet coating, a Jivara milk chocolate whipped ganache and lots of lovely little decorations 🙂

What is roasted vanilla?

I discovered roasted vanilla thanks to a recipe by chef Aymeric Pinard last Christmas (a 100% vanilla Yule log). I’d never heard of it before and yet it’s very simple to do. You just take a nice vanilla pod (a whole one, I should say) and roast it in the oven at 160°C for about twenty minutes. Once cooled, all you have to do is blend it to get a powder (for that I use my bamix with its little bowl called the processor, fitted with the powder disc, it’s super handy).

The flavours of roasted vanilla are completely different. It has nothing to do with infusing vanilla (infusion will develop the aromas of the vanilla). Roasted vanilla has fuller-bodied, woody notes, reminiscent of the caramelised and chocolatey side of the vanilla pod (I used Norohy’s Madagascar vanilla). I recommend you give it a try, it’s really very interesting.

How do I get my whipped ganache right?

To begin with, a ganache is a mixture of cream (or sometimes milk) and chocolate that is emulsified, which gives a smooth and glossy ganache.

The difference between ganache and whipped ganache lies in the proportions of chocolate and cream. Whipped ganache contains much more liquid cream (a large part of the cream is added cold). It needs to be prepared the day before so it can rest in the fridge overnight. The next day, you just whip it like a chantilly cream. This gives a mousse-like texture, lighter than a classic ganache.Here are a few tips for getting it right:

• It may sound silly, but to make a whipped ganache, you’ll need to use cream with a minimum of 30% fat.
• Don’t heat all of the liquid cream (only 1/3). Liquid cream that has been heated will have more trouble whipping (it’s not impossible, but let’s put all the odds in our favour :P).
• Melt the chocolate (or chop it very finely) then pour the hot cream over in 3 additions to get a perfect emulsion. To do this, use a spatula and mix from the centre; you’ll see a core forming, which means the emulsion is coming together properly.
• The whipped ganache must rest in the fridge for several hours (I recommend preparing it the day before for the next day). You need to give the chocolate time to crystallise, it’s very important.
• You can put the bowl and whisks of the mixer in the fridge for 30 minutes before starting (I don’t do it, but it can be a good idea when it’s hot).
• Don’t whip the ganache too quickly, there’s no point. Don’t take your eyes off it because it can go very fast, and if you whip it for too long, it will split.

Which mould should I use?

To make this number cake-style entremets, I used a silicone mould kindly lent to me by Kim, a pastry-chef friend (by the way, if you’re around Montmorency (95), you should know she makes pastries to order. You can take a look at her Instagram page to see her creations). The mould is quite tall (6 cm high), which lets you play with textures. I think number moulds are easy to find on the Internet, but if you don’t have one and don’t want to invest in a new mould, you can just as well make this dessert in a 22 cm diameter, 4.5 cm high entremets ring.