Blackberry, coconut and hibiscus flowers mousse cake

Instructions

Gluten-free marzipan, coconut and barberries sponge biscuit 

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C, ventilation mode. Grease a 32,5 x 32,5 cm silicone swiss roll mat (Silikomart tapis roulade) and place it on a baking tray.
2. To make the Beurre Noisette (brown butter), boil the butter (85 g) in a saucepan until it becomes a golden-brown color (about 6-7 minutes). When it is ready, you should also notice a nutty aroma. Strain through a cheesecloth into a bowl and set aside to cool down to 40-45 ̊C at room temperature.
3. Place the desiccated coconut in a skillet. Toast over low-medium heat, stirring frequently, until the flakes begin to brown. Remove the skillet from the heat and continue to cook, stirring regularly, so that the residual heat of the pan finish to cook the coconut. Spread the toasted coconut onto a baking tray with silicone baking mat or parchment paper and place in the freezer for faster cooling.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment add chopped marzipan, eggs, almonds butter, coconut puree and salt and beat on medium speed to obtain a smooth and even batter.
5. Add sifted potato starch, followed by the cooled and toasted coconut and beat on medium-low speed. Once well-incorporated, add slowly and to wire the cooled Beurre Noisette and beat. Once the butter is well-incorporated and the batter is smooth, add barberries and beat for few seconds, just until barberries are evenly distributed.
6. Whip the egg whites until they become foamy and frothy. When a light, soft foam is formed, add in the coconut sugar in 3 times. Once all the sugar is added, whip until obtain a shiny and thick meringue.
7. Gently incorporate the meringue into the batter with a scooping-and-folding motion. This method will prevent the air in the meringue from deflating and so, the sponge biscuit will rise in the oven and will be light and fluffy.
8. Pour the batter into the greased silicone mat and spread it out evenly with a palette knife, so that it is level with the top of the mat (I mean, 1 cm high, as the height of the silicone mat). The batter will cover only halfway the silicone mat.
   Bake for 15 minutes, until the sponge biscuit is puffed, golden in color and soft and slightly springy to touch.
9. Remove from the oven and cover immediately with clingfilm to keep the sponge biscuit from drying out and to preserve the moisture. Allow to cool completely before cutting a circle with a Ø16 cm stainless steel cake ring.
   I suggest to put the sponge biscuit in the freezer for 1h before cutting. In this way it will be cold but not fully frozen and you can cut it without ruining it.
   Wrap the sponge biscuit with clingfilm and store in the freezer until needed.

Gluten-free Almond Inspiration and coconut croustillant

1. Melt Almond Inspiration couverture in the microwave to 45°C. Add both praline paste and cashews butter and stir well with a rubber spatula until obtain a smooth and evenly mixture. Add granola and transfer into a small mixer grinder. Pulse to break up any large granola chunks and to obtain a grainy, evenly mixture.
2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place on top a Ø16 cm stainless steel cake ring. Spread the croustillant into the ring, ensuring to make an evenly layer of about 2-3 mm thick. Lift up the ring and freeze until it is firmed.
   Once the croustillant is frozen, remove the sponge biscuit from the freezer and place it on top of the croustillant (with the bottom side of the sponge biscuit touching the crunchier side of the croustillant). Wrap with clingfilm and freeze until the assemblage of the cake.

Gluten-free coconut granola (for the croustillant)

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C, ventilation mode. Line a baking tray with silicone mat or parchment paper.
2. In a bowl combine together the first 6 ingredients and mix with a spoon.
3. In a saucepan combine all the wet ingredients (maple syrup, molasses, cashews butter and vanilla extract) and heat on medium-low heat without boiling, just to obtain a fluid and homogeneous mixture.
4. Add to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until it all comes together and is very sticky.
5. Spread out evenly flat onto the prepared tray about 0,5 cm thick. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the granola is golden and almost dried.
6. Remove the granola from the oven and let it cool down while it crisps up. Store the granola in an airtight glass jar at room temperature and away from light.

Vanilla hazelnut praliné 60% (for the croustillant)

1. Preheat the oven to 160°C, ventilation mode. Line a baking tray with silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Arrange hazelnuts and almonds on the tray. Place the scraped vanilla beans on top of the nuts. Toast until golden brown and fragrant, about 15 minutes.
2. In the meantime, make a dry caramel: place a saucepan over low-medium heat, add a little Demerara sugar and wait until it is fully dissolved. No stirring at this point.
   Demerara is an unrefined sugar with a natural blond color so it is very important not to leave it on the heat too long, otherwise it will become dark and bitter.
   Once the sugar is melted, add the leftover sugar in 2 intervals and stir with a rubber spatula at each addition to combine together the caramelized sugar with the unmelted sugar. The addition of new sugar lowers the temperature of caramel without burning it.
3. Once the sugar is completely melted, pour it over the toasted nuts and the dried vanilla beans. Let them cool at room temperature.
4. Once the caramel is hardened, place both nuts and vanilla beans into a food processor. Add salt and grind to a powder. Place your hand on the bowl and as soon as it starts to warm, place the mixture into the freezer. Be careful to not overheat the praline paste, otherwise it gets bitter. The praline paste should not exceed 40°C.
   Continue to grind the mixture until you achieve a fluid and homogeneous paste, using the freezer as required.
5. Once the paste is finely ground and almost smooth, place the praline paste in an airtight container and store it at room temperature and away from the light. If stored for an extended period the oil may separate from the solids. Ensure you mix it well before using.
   It is difficult to create a completely smooth paste with a food processor, a stone grinder will give you a really fine smooth praline.

Hibiscus flowers brew (for the confit)

1. In a saucepan heat water until it's lukewarm. Do not bring to boil otherwise the hibiscus flowers will release a bitter aftertaste.
2. Once water is lukewarm, add dried hibiscus flowers and let to infuse for 15 minutes. Strain through a sieve and weigh the brew to obtain 50 g. It will serve for the confit.

Blackberry and hibiscus flowers confit

1. In a saucepan combine together blackberry puree, hibiscus flowers brew and honey and heat to 40°C.
2. In the meantime, in a small bowl mix together sugar and pectin NH. Add this mix into the liquids when they're 40°C, stirring constantly with a fine whisk to let the mix of sugar-pectin NH dissolve into the liquids. Bring to boil and cook for around 1 minute to medium heat, stirring continuously with the whisk. The pectin NH is activated at the temperature of 70°C, so it's very important to bring the mixture to boil.
3. Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the lemon juice and stir through.
4. Pour the confit into a Ø16 cm round cake mould, about 5 mm thick. Freeze for about 1-2h.

Coconut and Almond Inspiration namelaka

1. Place the desiccated coconut in a skillet. Toast over low-medium heat, stirring frequently, until the flakes begin to brown. Remove the skillet from the heat and continue to cook, stirring regularly, so that the residual heat of the pan finish to cook the coconut. The toasted coconut really adds depth and brings out a lovely nuttiness that adds great flavor to the namelaka.
2. Heat 160 g heavy cream in a saucepan or in the microwave, until it is lukewarm (40°C) and pour it into a bowl. Add the toasted desiccated coconut, cover with clingfilm and place the bowl in the fridge for 2h, to let the coconut infuse the cream.
   Strain the heavy cream through a sieve to discard the coconut and weigh it again to obtain 128 g. If it weighs less than 128 g, add extra heavy cream till obtaining 128 g.
3. Soak the gelatin sheets in cold water.
4. Melt the Almond Inspiration couverture in the microwave to 45°C.
5. Heat together coconut puree and honey in the microwave without boiling, then add the soaked gelatin sheets and stir with a spatula until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
6. Add the hot coconut puree to the melted couverture in two times, stirring vigorously with a rubber spatula in a circular pattern to obtain a smooth cream.
7. Transfer the cream into a mixing glass and emulsify with a hand blender to stabilize the emulsion and to make the cream even more smooth and homogeneous.
8. Add slowly and to wire the cold and coconut-flavored heavy cream, blending contemporarily with the mixer, without adding air bubbles.
9. Pour the namelaka into a Ø16 cm round cake mould, about 1 cm thick. Freeze for about 1-2h.

Blackberry and hibiscus flowers mousse

1. Heat 400 g heavy cream to 40°C and pour over the dried hibiscus flowers, previously placed into a bowl. Cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge for 2h to let hibiscus flowers infuse the heavy cream.
   Strain the flavored heavy cream through a cheese cloth, squeezing out as much heavy cream (and flavor) as you can. Weigh the strained heavy cream to obtain 400 g. If it weighs less than 400 g, add extra heavy cream till obtaining 400 g. Store the hibiscus-flavored heavy cream in the fridge.
2. Soak the gelatin sheets in cold water.
3. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave to 45°C. Heat the blackberry puree in the microwave without boiling (45-50°C), then add the soaked gelatin sheets and stir through with a rubber spatula until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
4. Pour the blackberry puree in three times over the melted chocolate and stir vigorously with a spatula to obtain a smooth ganache.
5. Pour the ganache into a measuring cup or mixing glass and mix with the hand blender to obtain the best and most silky smooth consistency. Allow the ganache to cool down to 35-40°C.
6. Semi-whip the cold and hibiscus-flavored heavy cream until it forms soft peaks. Check the temperature of the blackberry ganache: when it is 35-40°C add it to the semi-whipped cream in three times, folding gently with a rubber spatula in order to obtain a light, smooth and shiny mousse.
7. Pour a little of mousse into the DOT Ø20 cm mould from Silikomart. Use a teaspoon to spread the mousse up the sides of mould to eliminate any air bubbles and to avoid whitespace. Set inside the namelaka insert and press it gently and slightly down so that it is almost submerged in the mousse. Cover the namelaka with other mousse, ensuring to leave a gap for the confit.
   Place the confit on top of the mousse and press it gently and slightly down, so that it is almost submerged in the mousse. Cover the confit with other mousse, ensuring to leave a gap for both the sponge biscuit and the croustillant.
   Place the sponge biscuit-croustillant insert on top of the mousse and press it gently down until the croustillant is level with the top of the mould.
8. Remove any excess mousse with a small palette knife and freeze for about 3-4h in a domestic freezer or about 1-2h in a blast freezer.

Hibiscus flowers mirror glaze (white chocolate based and natural-colored) 

1. Make the hibiscus flowers brew as described above in the step for "Hibiscus flowers brew".
2. Soak the gelatin sheets in cold water (50 g) for at least 10 minutes.
3. Melt the white chocolate in the microwave to 45°C and pour into a mixing glass.
4. Heat hibiscus flowers brew (92 g), caster sugar, trehalose sugar and glucose syrup in a saucepan to 104°C.
5. Remove from the heat and pour over the melted chocolate. Emulsify with a hand blender without adding air bubbles and in order to obtain a smooth and shiny glaze.
6. Heat the Absolu Cristal in the microwave to 65°C and add into the glaze, followed by the drained gelatin sheets (add only the gelatin sheets and not the soaked water). Emulsify once more without adding air bubbles. Finally add natural food colorings and emulsify once again.
7. Pass the glaze through a sieve and pour into a baking dish. Cover with clingfilm pressed on top of the glaze and chill in the fridge for at least 12h or overnight.
8. Heat the glaze in the microwave to 45°C then pour into a mixing glass and emulsify with the hand blender, ensuring the blade is submerged in the glaze and not showing, to avoid air bubbles. If you directly melt the glaze to 32-35°C, it will not be shiny and glossy.
   Place cling film on the surface of the glaze and cool it to 32-35°C. You can put the glaze in the fridge or take it at room temperature.
9. In the meantime, cover the working surface with two sheets of clingfilm, slightly overlapping. They will serve to collect the excess glaze. Place on a 14 cm metal ring.
10. Once the glaze is 32-35°C, remove the entremet from the freezer and unmould. Place the entremet on top of the metal ring. Remove any condensation from the entremet by rubbing it with your hand. Ensure you work quickly and use the glaze immediately. Place a second 14 cm metal ring on top of the entremet, inside the cavity. This ring prevents the glaze from seeping inside the cavity of the entremet.
    Pour the glaze over the entremet, between the top ring and the entremet and allow the glaze to drip over the clingfilm sheets.
11. When the glaze stops dripping, gently lift up the top ring, then remove any excess glaze from the base of the entremet with a small sharp knife. Place the finished cake onto a plate and place in the fridge.

Assembly and decoration

1. Temper Ivoire 35% white chocolate purple colored, following the method you prefer. I use the tabling method. The tempering curve you need to follow is: 45°C (melting) - 26/27°C (cooling) - 28/29°C (the temperature of usage).
2. Make the flexible chocolate band as described here. You need a Ø22 cm cake ring and an acetate strip of 3 cm high and long enough to wrap the cake ring entirely.
3. Wrap the flexible chocolate band around the cake.
4. Make the thin chocolate "crescents" as described here.
5. Garnish the central cavity of the mousse cake with fresh blackberries and complete the decoration with thin crescents and edible flowers.