Here’s a recipe I’d been wanting to try for a little while. It’s the fraisier by Cyril Lignac and Benoit Couvrand, whose recipe appeared in the magazine Fou de pâtisserie. It isn’t a traditional fraisier but rather a strawberry and vanilla entremets, very indulgent and very fresh. It’s made up of a lemon génoise sponge, a strawberry compote and a vanilla whipped ganache, which brings a lot of indulgence to this dessert.
Even though the recipe for Cyril Lignac’s fraisier was revealed by the magazine, I still relied on the tips from Valérie of the blog C’est ma fournée, it’s quite useful to have feedback from someone who has already tested the recipe (especially as the magazine is known for all its blunders…).
For this entremets, I decided to get my paint sprayer out again to do a velvet spray finish. If you’re looking for more information on the subject, I can only advise you to go and read the article by Maxime from the blog Empreinte sucrée. Everything is very well explained there.
To get the same look as the chef, you’ll need to find an object such as a jar lid that will let you create a recess. I’m not going to lie to you, I struggled a bit to do it. I started the assembly until doubt crept in. I no longer knew which way round to put my lid (“the flat side, which way does it go? errr!” in short, I crashed!).
So I removed my lid (even though I’d already started piping my whipped ganache, otherwise it’s no fun) and looked for another object. I ended up taking a tart ring 2 cm high. But with no base, I had to improvise (I used cling film).
There were a few imperfections when unmoulding (due to the unexpected change of utensil) but once the strawberries were placed on top, you couldn’t see a thing.
In the end, it’s a delicious entremets, very fresh and at the same time full of indulgence, which I can only advise you to make. It’s strawberry season so let’s make the most of it 🙂
Ingredients & method
6 components · Full recipe
Vanilla whipped ganache (to start the day before)
Ingredients
- 170 g (6 oz) full-fat heavy cream
- 2 vanilla pods
- 95 g (3.4 oz) white chocolate
- 3.5 g (0.1 oz) gelatine
- 21 g (0.7 oz) water (to rehydrate the gelatine)
- 270 g (9.5 oz) full-fat heavy cream
Method
1
Rehydrate the gelatine in the water.
2
Place the white chocolate in a bowl and melt it gently in a bain-marie or microwave.
3
Heat the 170 g (6 oz) of cream with the split and scraped vanilla pods in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cover and leave to infuse for 15 minutes.
4
Remove the vanilla pods, then heat the cream again.
5
Off the heat, add the rehydrated gelatine and stir.
6
Pour one third of the cream over the white chocolate and mix with a spatula to create an emulsion. Then pour in a second third, then a third, to obtain a smooth, homogeneous mixture.
7
Add the 270 g (9.5 oz) of cold cream and mix again. Blend for a few seconds with a hand blender to fully homogenise the mixture.
Strawberry compote (to make the day before)
Ingredients
- 85 g (3 oz) strawberry purée
- 230 g (8.1 oz) strawberries
- 45 g (1.6 oz) sugar
- 10 g (0.4 oz) glucose syrup
- 2.5 g (0.1 oz) NH pectin
- 5 g (0.2 oz) lemon juice
Method
1
In a saucepan, combine the strawberry purée, the strawberries cut into pieces and the glucose syrup. Heat gently.
2
When the mixture is hot, add the sugar and NH pectin, previously well combined. Bring to the boil while stirring with a whisk and continue boiling for one minute.
3
Off the heat, add a dash of lemon juice and blend the mixture to obtain a compote (I blended it roughly).
Lemon sponge
Ingredients
- 100 g (3.5 oz) whole eggs
- 40 g (1.4 oz) egg yolks (2 yolks)
- 50 g (1.8 oz) sugar
- 5 g (0.2 oz) lemon zest
- 20 g (0.7 oz) flour
- 20 g (0.7 oz) cornstarch
- 15 g (0.5 oz) butter
- 70 g (2.5 oz) white chocolate (to coat the sponge)
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F.
2
Melt the butter in the microwave.
3
Mix the whole eggs and yolks with the sugar and lemon zest and warm over a bain-marie while whisking. Heat to 50–55°C / 131°F.
4
Remove from the heat and continue whisking in the stand mixer until the mixture cools (this takes several minutes).
5
Take two tablespoons of batter and mix them into the melted butter (this simply makes it easier to incorporate the butter afterwards).
6
Pour this mixture back into the remaining batter and fold in gently with a spatula.
7
Finally, fold in the sifted flour and cornstarch in 2 or 3 additions without deflating the mixture, using a gentle folding motion.
8
Pour the batter into a greased 20 cm (7.9 in) diameter ring.
9
Bake for about 15 minutes (until golden). The sponge should be lightly golden.
10
While the sponge is baking, melt the white chocolate in the microwave.
11
Once out of the oven, leave the sponge to cool on a wire rack, then remove the ring. Cut a 16 cm (6.3 in) diameter circle (to be done once the sponge has fully cooled) and keep a small piece of sponge for the decoration (the rest is perfectly fine to eat :P)
12
Using a pastry brush, spread a thin layer of white chocolate on one side of the sponge. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes, then repeat on the other side.
Assembly of the Cyril Lignac and Benoit Couvrand fraisier
Ingredients
- None
Method
1
Line the inside of a 18 cm (7.1 in) diameter ring with a strip of acetate (rhodoid), and cover the base with cling film.
2
To create the indentation, you can use the lid of a jar that you have washed and wrapped in cling film.
3
Place the lid inside the ring, slightly off-centre.
4
Whip the vanilla ganache with a hand mixer until it is not too firm. Transfer to a piping bag without a tip and fill the ring three-quarters full. Smooth with a small offset spatula, pushing the ganache up the sides for a clean finish.
5
Place the frozen strawberry insert on top, pressing lightly to bring the ganache up.
6
Pipe the remaining ganache on top, then place the sponge on top. Press gently and smooth with a spatula. Cover with cling film.
Velvet spray
Ingredients
- 140 g (4.9 oz) white chocolate
- 60 g (2.1 oz) cocoa butter
- red fat-soluble food colouring
Method
1
Melt the white chocolate and cocoa butter together in a bain-marie or microwave. Add the colouring and blend with a hand blender.
2
Strain, then pour the mixture into the reservoir of your spray gun (ideally using a smaller container, such as a jam jar, placed inside the larger reservoir).
3
Remove the entremet from the freezer, unmould it, remove the jar lid (it was not easy!) and place it on a wire rack. Make sure to protect your work area well.
Decoration
Ingredients
- 150 g (5.3 oz) fresh strawberries
- small pieces of sponge coloured green
- 3 sugar paste flowers
- neutral glaze
Method
1
Wash and halve the strawberries, then dust them with icing sugar to make them shine.
2
Arrange the strawberries neatly in the indentation created with the jar lid.
Gallery
