Black Forest gateau with vanilla and kirsch

An individual Black Forest gateau with vanilla: cocoa sponge, morello cherry confit and a kirsch cream scented with Perle de vanille, crowned with vanilla mascarpone Chantilly and a long dark chocolate curl.
 

Baking: 13 min

Products used:

Individual Black Forest gateau with vanilla Chantilly, cherry and dark chocolate curl

Cocoa sponge

Ingredients

  • 178 g egg yolks
  • 105 g caster sugar
  • 189 g egg whites
  • 76 g caster sugar
  • 38 g plain flour
  • 37 g potato starch
  • 31 g cocoa powder
  • 86 g lukewarm butter
  • 10 g invert sugar

Making the sponge

  1. Melt the butter with the invert sugar. Leave to cool.
  2. Whisk the egg yolks with the caster sugar.
  3. Whisk the egg whites, adding the caster sugar a little at a time.
  4. When the yolks reach the ribbon stage and the whites are softly whipped, start combining them.
  5. Fold the whites and yolks together with a spatula, then add the flour, potato starch and cocoa.
  6. Add a portion of this mixture to the butter and whisk until smooth.
  7. Fold this back into the sponge mixture and keep folding gently.

Spreading and baking the sponge

  1. Spread thinly on a baking tray lined with a silicone mat.
  2. Bake at 180 °C for 13 minutes.
  3. Keep chilled until needed.

Kirsch and vanilla cream

Crème pâtissière

Ingredients
  • 70 g milk
  • 25 g whipping cream (35% fat)
  • 20 g caster sugar
  • 9.2 g starch
  • 15 g egg yolks
  • 5 g butter
  • 0.5 g Perle de vanille
Method
  1. Heat the milk and cream.
  2. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale, then add the starch. Whisk well.
  3. Pour the hot, strained milk over the mixture while whisking, then return it to the saucepan.
  4. Cook over a medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened (boil for 1 minute to activate the starch).

Kirsch cream

Ingredients
  • 100 g crème pâtissière
  • 25 g kirsch
  • 5 g leaf gelatine (200 Bloom)
  • 250 g whipped cream
  • 1.5 g vanilla powder
Method
  1. Off the heat, add the butter, the gelatine (soaked beforehand in a bowl of water), the kirsch and the Perle de vanille, and whisk until smooth.
  2. Cover with cling film touching the surface and chill to 4 °C. Add the whipped cream with the vanilla powder and whisk vigorously until fully combined.
  3. Use straight away, while the cream is still supple, to assemble the entremet.

Morello cherry and cherry confit

Ingredients

  • 200 g morello cherry purée
  • 30 g caster sugar
  • 3 g NH pectin
  • 10 g glucose syrup
  • 3 g lemon juice
  • 90 g whole stoned cherries, drained and cut into 2 or 3 pieces

Method

  1. In a saucepan, heat the morello cherry purée and glucose syrup to 40 °C, stirring regularly.
  2. Dry-mix the caster sugar and NH pectin (always combine the sugar and NH pectin before adding them to prevent lumps), then sprinkle into the hot purée, whisking vigorously.
  3. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly, and boil for 1 minute to fully activate the pectin. Off the heat, add the lemon juice.
  4. Blend immediately with a stick blender for 1 to 2 minutes to obtain a perfectly smooth, glossy gel with no lumps or air bubbles (tilt the container while blending).
  5. Transfer to a shallow tray, cover with cling film touching the surface and leave to cool at room temperature, then in the fridge until it reaches 20–25 °C. The gel should be set yet still supple under the whisk.
  6. Loosen the gel with a whisk to smooth it slightly, then gently fold in the whole stoned cherries, drained and cut into 2 or 3 pieces, using a spatula and lifting the mixture to spread the pieces evenly without crushing them.
  7. Use this confit to assemble the Black Forest gateau.

Kirsch soaking syrup

Ingredients

  • 100 g cherry purée
  • 10 g kirsch

Method

  1. Mix and set aside until assembly.

Dark chocolate curls

Ingredients

  • Dark couverture chocolate: as required

Tempering dark chocolate by tabling

  1. Melt the dark couverture chocolate to 50–55 °C to fully melt all the crystals.
  2. Temper using the tabling method (ideal for this kind of work on a tray).
  3. Pour two thirds of the melted chocolate onto a marble worktop (or a cold stainless steel tray).
  4. Work it with a palette knife and scraper, spreading it out and drawing it back continuously until it thickens slightly and reaches 28–29 °C.
  5. Stir this tabled chocolate back into the remaining third kept over the bain-marie, mixing well until smooth.
  6. The final temperature should be 31–32 °C for dark chocolate.
  7. Checkpoint: dip the tip of a knife into the chocolate; it should set matt and snap within 3 to 5 minutes at room temperature, with no white streaks (bloom).

Shaping the curls

  1. Using an offset palette knife, spread the tempered chocolate thinly over a clean, slightly warm stainless steel tray (not cold, to avoid crystallisation that is too fast and brittle), in a thin, even layer along the whole length of the tray.
  2. Leave to partially crystallise for a few minutes at room temperature: the chocolate should be set on the surface but still slightly supple to the touch (neither liquid nor fully hard). This is the key moment to work it without it breaking.
  3. Using a scraper, push and roll the chocolate into long, even curls, keeping a constant angle and steady pressure along the whole stroke.
  4. Keep the curls chilled (not frozen) on a tray, without stacking them, until decorating.

Vanilla Chantilly

Ingredients

  • 300 g whipping cream (35% fat)
  • 100 g mascarpone
  • 40 g icing sugar
  • 1 g Perle de vanille

Method

  1. In the well-chilled bowl of an electric mixer, whip all the ingredients until the cream holds its shape without being overwhipped.

Assembly & finishing

Assembly the day before

  1. In 5 cm diameter cylindrical silicone moulds, place a first disc of cocoa sponge in the base and brush it generously with the soaking syrup.
  2. Pipe or pour in an even layer of kirsch cream, then spread a layer of cherry confit over it, levelling carefully at each stage with an offset palette knife for clean, even layers.
  3. Add another layer of cream, then close with the second disc of cocoa sponge, soaked beforehand.
  4. Smooth the surface, cover with cling film touching the surface and leave to set in the freezer.
  5. From the remaining sheet of cocoa sponge, cut even strips slightly taller than the finished entremet, for lining the sides, and keep chilled.

Finishing on the day

  1. Carefully turn out the individual entremets and leave to thaw completely in the fridge. Wrap each entremet with a strip of cocoa sponge, making sure the join fits precisely.
  2. Whip the Chantilly to the desired texture, then pipe it as a dome or peak on top of the entremet using a piping bag fitted with an 18 mm plain nozzle. Finish with a veil of sifted cocoa powder, a cherry and a rolled chocolate curl.