Thursday, October 30, 2008

Mogador, j'adore!

In contrast to the Charlotte, the Mogador practical delivered a more masculine aspect to my patisserie lessons. At least in visual presentation. It was a bit like James Bond on a plate! Whereas Charlotte was undoubtedly feminine in appearance, the Mogador came out looking dark & handsome...cutting a simple, dashing figure in a red smoking jacket.

The cake consists of rich chocolate mousse atop a raspberry-imbibed chocolate sponge layer, garnished with raspberry jam and minimal flourish. So the complementary flavors and colors are beautiful to look at and to taste, especially with a cup of black coffee.

I've made chocolate mousse before, albeit using a different technique than I learned last night. This mousse involved making a bombe, which is essentially whipped egg yolks that are sterilized with a cooked sugar syrup, then combined with the chocolate and whipping cream to make the finished mousse. Temperatures are imperative to achieving a finished result that is smooth and airy. If the bombe that is combined with the whipped cream is too hot, then the mixture will deplete in volume. If the chocolate is too cold, then the mixture will become grainy.

It had been a long day at school, including a written exam, so I was tired but I managed to get through the class without too many issues. Thankfully my mousse did not come out grainy, which was my biggest concern since it was a cold evening in Paris and the chocolate was setting quickly during our practical. However I had some issues with the jam! My goodness, all of my utensils, work surface, etc seemed to feel so sticky by the end of the class from the raspberry jam that was used to fill and glaze the cake. Even surfaces that showed no jam traces still felt sticky...yuck!

I vowed to myself that when making this cake at home I would use fresh raspberries or a tangy raspberry coulis for the interior, and keep the jam just for the finishing glaze. Otherwise it gets just a bit too sweet, not to mention a bit messy to deal with during the preparation phases.

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