Almond Inspiration and blackberry tart

Procedimento

Almond sablée

1. Mix butter, icing sugar, salt, lemon zest and vanilla powder in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until the mixture becomes creamy and smooth. For plastic butter I mean the moldable butter. It is neither too much cold (from fridge) nor too much soft (spreadable). To obtain a plastic butter, hit it with a rolling pin until you can bend the butter with your hands.
2. Add the whole almonds flour (to obtain it, grind 20 g of whole almonds with a mini mixer grinder until obtain a slightly fine powder) and the eggs and mix until combined. Finally add the flour.
3. Once the pastry has come together, press into a neat flat square and cover in plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.
4. Line a baking tray with perforated silicone mat and a greased 20x20x2cm perforated tart frame.
5. Roll out the sablée to a thickness of 3/4mm and line the tart frame. Prick the pastry all over with a fork, put in the fridge for 15 min or in the freezer for 30 min. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 160°C (ventilation mode).
6. Bake the tart for about 15 minutes until golden brown, then take out of the oven and dust it with cocoa butter powder (Mycryo) to prevent moisture from the creams.

Almonds praline paste 60%

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C, convection mode. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or silicone baking mat and distribuite the coarsely chopped almonds. Put in the oven for 8-10 min to toast.
2. Heat the sugar in a saucepan until it melts and caramelizes, then pour over the toasted nuts and set aside to cool down and harden.
3. Break in large chops the caramelized nuts and place into a food processor. Add the salt and mix until obtain a creamy paste. Be careful to not overheat the praline paste, otherwise it gets bitter.
4. Weigh 130 g of praline paste for the croustillant and store the leftover praline paste into an airtight container, away from the light and to room temperature.

Almond Inspiration and almonds praline paste croustillant

1. Melt the Almond inspiration couverture to 45°C and combine with the almonds praline paste.
2. Grind slightly the crunchy cereals with a mini mixer grinder to break up any large chunks, then add in the almonds mixture and combine well.
3. Spread the crunch on the base of the almond sablée with a palette knife about 2-3 mm thick. Store in the fridge.

Blackberry confit

1. Combine acacia honey, fresh blackberries and blackberries puree in a saucepan and heat to 40°C.
2. In a small bowl mix together with a fine whisk caster sugar and pectin NH, then add to the mix of honey and blackberries when it is 40°C. Bring to boil and cook for 1 minute.
3. Transfer the blackberry confit into a bowl and cover it with clingfilm pressed on top of it. Place in the fridge for at least 1h to set and harden.
4. Spread the confit evenly over the croustillant by using a small palette knife and place in the fridge.

Almond and Dulcey 32% chocolate namelaka

1. Soak the gelatin sheets in cold water.
2. Melt the Dulcey chocolate in the microwave to 45°C then add in the almonds cream and combine well with a spatula.
3. Heat the milk with glucose syrup in the microwave without boiling and add in the soaked gelatin sheets.
4. Pour the hot milk over the melted Dulcey chocolate in three times, stirring with a spatula in a circular pattern to obtain a smooth cream.
5. Pour the cream into a measuring cup and emulsify with the hand blender, without adding air bubbles and to obtain the best and most silky smooth consistency. Add slowly the cold heavy cream, mixing with the hand blender.
6. Pour the namelaka over the blackberry confit to cover it and place in the fridge overnight.

Thin sheet of tempered Dulcey 32% caramelized white chocolate

1. Preface: the tart that you see here has not the thin sheet of tempered Dulcey chocolate on the bottom of the Almond Inspiration mousse. But, once the mousse was glazed, I had difficulty in placing it on the top of the almond namelaka. So, I redid the tart by adding a thin square sheet of tempered Dulcey chocolate on the base of the Almond Inspiration mousse and it was just easier to move the mousse over the tart. And in this way, you will add another agreeable crispy element to the tart. Ensure to make the chocolate sheet very thin. If it was too thick, it will be difficult to cut the tart without ruining the layers below the chocolate sheet.
2. Temper Dulcey chocolate by the seeding or tabling method. I always use the second method. When working with Dulcey, heat it to 45°C and cool to 26-27°C, and once tempered work with it at 28-29°C.
3. Pour ⅔ of the chocolate onto a marble pastry board or a cooling table and move it around with a large metal scraper and a palette knife. Once cooled (26-27°C), return it to the bowl to combine the chocolate that’s at 26-27°C with the chocolate retained at 45°C. This will bring the Dulcey to working temperature (28-29°C). In short, the tempered Dulcey is added to the untempered Dulcey and mixed in thoroughly, until the temperature of the chocolate is completely uniform. If the temperature is still too high, a small quantity of the chocolate must be reprocessed on the cooling table or stone surface until the temperature reaches 28-29°C. If the temperature is slightly lower, heat it in the microwave for a few seconds until the temperature reaches 28-29°C.
4. Pour a line of Dulcey chocolate on one edge of the sheet (on the left side, for example). Place another guitar sheet on top and use a teflon rolling pin or a PVC pipe to roll out the chocolate to the other end of the sheet (on the right side, for example). Roll out the chocolate in a thin and even layer. Allow it to set for a moment, then cut out a 15x15 cm square with a stainless steel frame. Allow to set completely at room temperature.
5. For the Dulcey chocolate plaquette decor, spread another thin layer between two guitar sheets and allow it to set for a moment, then make some geometric shapes using the tip of a small knife. Roll the sheet around a larger PVC pipe (8 cm wide) and secure with plastic wrap. Allow to set. Peel the guitar sheets off the garnishes and store them in an opaque airtight container at room temperature and out of the light.

Basic custard cream (for the Almond Inspiration mousse)

To create the anglaise, heat the milk in a saucepan. In a bowl mix together the egg yolks with the caster sugar. Pour the hot milk over the egg yolks in three times, mix with a whisk and then return the mixture to the same saucepan. Heat this to 82-85°C, stirring continuously with a spatula, then strain and set aside.

Almond Inspiration mousse

1. Soak the gelatin sheets in cold water. Weight 100 g of custard cream and add the gelatin sheets. Melt the Almond Inspiration couverture to 45°C.
2. Pour the anglaise over the melted couverture, in three times, stirring with a spatula just to obtain a velvety, glossy cream.
3. Pour the cream into a mixing glass or a measuring cup and mix with the hand blender to obtain the best and most silky smooth consistency. Pour the cream in a bowl and cool down to 35-40°C.
4. Semi-whip the heavy cream and fold it into the lukewarm almond cream.
5. Transfer the mousse to a disposable piping bag and cut a tip off the end. Pipe the mousse into the square shaped silicone mould (17x17cm), included in the kit. Carefully insert the thin sheet of tempered Dulcey chocolate and freeze for at least 2h.

Almond Inspiration mirror glaze

1. Soak the gelatin sheets in 35 g cold water for at least 10 min. Melt the Almond Inspiration couverture with the cocoa butter to 45°C and pour into a measuring cup or mixing glass.
2. Heat the 75 g water, caster sugar and glucose syrup in a saucepan to 104°C.
3. Remove from the heat and add in the sweetened condensed milk and the soaked gelatin sheets and stir with a spatula.
4. Pour over the melted couverture-cocoa butter and emulsify with the hand blender, without adding air.
5. Bring to boil the Absolu Cristal with 25 g water, add into the almond glaze and emulsify once again.
6. Cover with clingfilm pressed on top of the glaze and put in the fridge for 12h or overnight.
7. Heat the glaze in microwave until the edges start to melt. Emulsify with the hand blender, so that the centre begins to melt too. Keep the blade of the hand blender on the bottom of the mixing glass, to avoid air.
8. Once the glaze is 32-34°C, cover the frozen almond mousse. Place them over the cake and put in the fridge.
9. Set the frozen mousse square on a 14 cm cake ring with a mat or plate or a pair of clingfilm sheets underneath, to collect the excess glaze. Once the glaze is 32-24°C, pour it over the mousse. When the glaze stops dripping, remove any excess glaze from the base with a small sharp knife. Place the mousse on top of the almond namelaka by using a palette knife and place in the fridge. The excess glaze can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 weeks or freezer for 2 months and re-heated and adjusted with water if needed.

Assembly and decoration

1. Place the fresh blackberries around the Almond Inspiration mousse and decorate them with Dulcey 32% chocolate crispy pearls and pansies.
2. Dust the tempered Dulcey chocolate plaquette with the edible gold dust by using a brush and place it on the top right side of the mousse.