Today, I’m sharing with you a new recipe that I really enjoyed making for my sweetheart and his work colleagues. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to taste this dessert as a whole, but I know it was a huge hit and that’s enough for me! ^^ So it’s a fig, vanilla and walnut Fantastik made up of a pâte sucrée and an almond sponge, on which sits a fig jelly. On top, there’s a walnut whipped ganache and a vanilla and honey whipped ganache, fresh figs, a walnut streusel and caramelised walnuts. It’s a dessert inspired by our famous Christophe Michalak.
For those who don’t know Christophe Michalak (no no, I won’t judge you!!), you should know that the Fantastik is his signature cake. It’s a shop-style cake, somewhere between a tart and an entremets, but which can be plated to order as in restaurants. It allows the techniques of classic pastry to be expressed with the making of a 20 cm diameter tart base, the piping technique with pastry cream, mascarpone or chantilly, and the plating with all sorts of ingredients such as fruit, chocolate, herbs… Fantastiks are therefore cakes created with the products of the moment, seasonal fruit only, or chocolate, caramel, etc… Tempted, eh?
The recipe is a little long, but don’t be scared, you just need to get a bit organised and make this dessert in several stages. In fact, I first made some fig, vanilla and honey macarons and I had a lot of fig jelly and vanilla ganache left over. And since I wanted to make a cake for my sweetheart’s colleagues, who’d been asking me for one for ages (!!), I racked my brains a bit to find a dessert that would let me use both the fig and the vanilla. And I felt like making a Fantastik! Then I came across, somewhat by chance, the recipe for the fig and walnut Fantastik from la cuisine de Fadila. There it was, I’d just found the extra, seasonal ingredient for my dessert: the walnut! So I took her recipe and made some changes to it (the fig jelly, the almond sponge without figs inside, and a vanilla ganache in addition to the walnut ganache).
For example, you can:
- D-3 (or earlier): make the walnut paste and the caramelised walnuts
- D-2: make the fig jelly
- D-1: prepare the ganaches
- D-day: make the pâte sucrée, the almond sponge and do the assembly
Ingredients & preparation
9 components · Full recipe
Caramelised Walnuts (can be made ahead)
Ingredients
- 30 g (1.1 oz) walnuts
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
Preparation
1
In a frying pan, quickly toast the walnuts, then add the maple syrup.
2
Stir until the walnuts are caramelised.
3
Tip the walnuts onto a sheet of baking paper, separate them well and leave to cool.
Walnut Paste (can be made ahead)
Ingredients
- 50 g (1.8 oz) walnut halves
Preparation
1
Preheat the oven to 120°C / 250°F.
2
Spread the walnut halves on a sheet of baking paper and bake for 40 minutes.
3
Leave the walnuts to cool.
4
Place them in a small food processor and blitz in short pulses, scraping down the sides regularly. The paste should be smooth and slightly runny, with a thin layer of oil forming on the surface.
5
Transfer the walnut paste to a jar and store in the fridge.
Fig Jelly (make the day before)
Ingredients
- 250 g (8.8 oz) white figs
- ½ lemon
- 60 g (2.1 oz) sugar
- ½ level teaspoon agar-agar
Preparation
1
Wash and clean the figs thoroughly.
2
Blitz the fruit finely, skin and all, with the lemon juice to obtain a smooth fig purée.
3
In a saucepan, heat the fig purée with the sugar. Once the purée is hot enough, add the agar-agar and bring to the boil for at least 1 minute, stirring continuously.
4
Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool. Cover with cling film pressed directly onto the surface and refrigerate until the next day.
Whipped Vanilla and Honey Ganache (make the day before)
Ingredients
- 25 g (0.9 oz) white chocolate
- 12.5 g (0.4 oz) full-fat liquid cream
- ¼ vanilla pod
- 37.5 g (1.3 oz) very cold full-fat liquid cream
- 4 g (0.1 oz) maquis honey
Preparation
1
In a small saucepan, heat the 12.5 g (0.4 oz) of cream with the honey and the vanilla seeds. Stir until combined and bring just to the boil.
2
While the cream heats, break the white chocolate into pieces in a heatproof bowl (you can melt it slightly in a bain-marie or in the microwave).
3
As soon as the cream begins to simmer, pour it over the white chocolate and cover for 2 minutes. Stir to melt the chocolate and achieve a smooth, homogeneous mixture.
4
Add the remaining well-chilled cream and stir to combine.
5
Cover with cling film pressed directly onto the surface and refrigerate for a few hours, or ideally overnight.
Whipped Walnut Ganache (make the day before)
Ingredients
- 25 g (0.9 oz) walnut paste
- 50 g (1.8 oz) white chocolate
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 125 g (4.4 oz) full-fat liquid cream
Preparation
1
In a small saucepan, heat the cream with the honey. Stir until combined and bring just to the boil.
2
While the cream heats, break the white chocolate into pieces in a heatproof bowl and melt it in the microwave.
3
Add the walnut paste and stir with a spatula.
4
As soon as the cream begins to simmer, pour it over the white chocolate and walnut paste mixture and stir until smooth and homogeneous.
5
Add the remaining well-chilled cream and stir to combine.
6
Add the well-chilled liquid cream.
7
Cover with cling film pressed directly onto the surface and refrigerate for a few hours, or ideally overnight.
Sweet Pastry
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz) plain flour
- 50 g (1.8 oz) butter
- 20 g (0.7 oz) beaten egg
- 40 g (1.4 oz) icing sugar
- 1 g (0 oz) salt
Preparation
1
Preheat the oven to 150°C / 300°F.
2
Beat the butter and icing sugar together until creamed.
3
Add the beaten egg, flour and salt. Mix quickly without overworking the dough.
4
Shape into a ball and briefly smear the dough with the heel of your hand.
5
Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
6
Once chilled, remove the pastry and roll it out with a rolling pin.
7
Cut out a 20 cm (7.9 in) circle using a pastry ring.
8
Place the pastry on a sheet of baking paper, dock it with a fork, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
9
Remove from the fridge and bake for 15 minutes.
Almond Sponge
Ingredients
- 70 g (2.5 oz) ground almonds
- 70 g (2.5 oz) egg whites
- 45 g (1.6 oz) egg yolks
- 70 g (2.5 oz) sugar (35 g (1.2 oz) + 35 g (1.2 oz))
Preparation
1
In a bowl, whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.
2
In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and fluffy.
3
Fold in the ground almonds, then the whipped egg whites.
4
Pour this mixture over the pre-baked sweet pastry base and spread evenly.
5
Bake at 170°C / 340°F for 40 minutes.
6
Leave the sponge to cool on a wire rack, then carefully remove the pastry ring.
Walnut Streusel
Ingredients
- 10 g (0.4 oz) butter
- 10 g (0.4 oz) light brown sugar
- 10 g (0.4 oz) ground walnuts
- 10 g (0.4 oz) plain flour
Preparation
1
While the sponge is in the oven, prepare the walnut streusel.
2
In a bowl, mix the softened butter and sugar together.
3
Add the ground walnuts (a few walnuts finely blitzed), then the flour. Work the dough with your fingertips, then shape it into a ball.
4
Wrap in cling film and refrigerate until needed.
5
Remove the walnut streusel from the fridge and break it into small pieces, placing them on a sheet of baking paper.
6
Bake at 170°C / 340°F for 25 minutes.
Assembly
Ingredients
- None
Preparation
1
Place the whisk attachments of your electric mixer in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
2
Remove the vanilla ganache from the fridge and whip it like a whipped cream until thicker and creamy. Transfer half to a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and the other half to a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Keep both bags in the fridge.
3
Do the same with the walnut ganache. Transfer half to a piping bag fitted with a large plain nozzle and the other half to a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle. Keep both bags in the fridge.
4
Slice the figs into thin strips and brush with glaze to prevent oxidation.
5
Using a spatula or large spoon, spread three-quarters of the fig jelly over the almond sponge.
6
Begin decorating by alternating between the whipped vanilla ganache and the whipped walnut ganache, switching nozzle each time for purely aesthetic reasons.
7
Gently arrange the fig slices, walnut streusel and finally the caramelised walnuts on top.
8
Using the remaining fig jelly in a piping bag, pipe a little jelly into the gaps across the tart.
9
Refrigerate.
10
The next day, stir the fig jelly to loosen it and transfer it to a piping bag.
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