White vanilla – mascarpone – chocolate mousse cake with almond brittle and three layers

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 300 g almond(s) (leaves)
• 300 g sugar
• 12 tbsp water
• 300 g puff pastry
• 250 g dark chocolate coating
• 5 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 150 g sugar
• 200 g flour
• 50 g starch flour
• 50 g dark chocolate coating
• 50 g butter
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 200 g flour
• 50 g powdered sugar
• 100 g butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 pinch of salt
• 50 g dark chocolate coating
• Mascarpone
• 500 g vanilla sugar (Bourbon)
• 8 egg whites
• 5 egg yolks
• 500 g white chocolate coating
• 50 g vanilla sugar (Bourbon)
• 150 ml water

Instructions

Working time approx. 3 hours; Rest time approx. 12 hours; Total time approx. 15 hours

very powerful, but also very tasty

First, you should make the almond brittle. To do this, dissolve the sugar in the water in a saucepan over low heat. As soon as there are no more sugar crystals, bring the mixture to a boil and brush the edges of the pan with water as soon as it starts to boil. Now wait until the mixture turns golden brown and do not stir again, at most brush the edges with water again. In the meantime, line a surface of about 1m² with aluminum foil and lightly oil it. Once the desired brownness has been achieved, immediately remove the pan from the heat and quickly stir in the almond flakes. Immediately spread everything out on the aluminum foil. If the mixture has already set slightly, you can also use a rolling pin to help it along. The brittle sheet must then cool completely. Once it is cold, roughly chop everything in the food processor. It is best to try to create a grain of any size, from small brittle pieces to a fine powder. Then roll out two 28cm diameter bases from the puff pastry and bake at 200°C for around 6-8 minutes in a preheated oven. Prick the bases well with a fork beforehand to keep them a little flatter and prevent too many bubbles from forming. The bases should have shrunk to around 26cm in diameter after baking, but you may need to trim them a little more. Once the bases have cooled completely, coat one side and the edges with the dark chocolate coating (tempered first, of course). Once this side has set, coat the other side again. Combine the shortcrust pastry ingredients in a bowl and knead everything with a dough hook, then quickly press it into a ball with your hands. Wrap the cake in foil and chill for at least 1 hour. Then line the bottom of a 26cm baking tin with it and blind bake at 200°C with fan-assisted oven for 10-12 minutes, then again without baking sleeves until golden brown. To make the chocolate sponge, first melt the chocolate coating with the butter and cool slightly; it should be around 40°C. Then beat the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in a double boiler until foamy until all the sugar has dissolved. Now beat the mixture for about 8 minutes more, so that it cools down and the foam is nice and fine-pored. Mix the flour with the starch and cocoa powder, sift it onto the egg mixture, and carefully fold it in with a wooden spatula. Finally, add the chocolate coating and butter mixture in a thin stream and stir everything together again with a wooden spatula. Line the bottom of a 26cm tin with baking paper, pour in the mixture, and bake everything at 175°C with fan-assisted oven in a preheated oven for around 30-40 minutes. Remove from the tin and immediately turn out and allow to cool completely. Then remove from the tin and cut in half to create two bases. Melt the 50g of dark chocolate coating for the shortcrust pastry base and spread it on the base. Before the chocolate sets, place one of the two sponge cake bases on top and press down firmly. For the mascarpone mousse, dissolve the 50g of Bourboule vanilla sugar in the 150ml of water and then boil until softened. While the cake is cooking, beat the 8 egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form. With the mixer running, add the sugar mixture to the egg whites in a thin stream. Once everything is combined, continue stirring for a while so the mixture can cool slightly. Then let everything cool completely. Melt the white chocolate in a water bath and let it cool (temper to approximately 37°C). Now beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar in a water bath until thick and foamy, until all the sugar has dissolved. Beat the mascarpone (it should be at room temperature) until creamy, then fold in the egg yolk and sugar mixture, followed by the white chocolate, using a spatula. Then, gradually and carefully fold in the cooled meringue mixture. Take 1/4 of the mixture and chill, then fold in 500g of the almond brittle (reserve about 100g of the almond brittle for decoration). Now it’s time to layer the cake: First, the shortcrust pastry sheet with the sponge cake stuck to it. Place a cake ring around it and fill it with a good centimeter of mousse. Then place one of the puff pastry layers on top and press down lightly. If the puff pastry layers are very wavy, I recommend turning the wavy side toward the sponge side. Fill the mousse to a depth of about one centimeter and place the second puff pastry layer on top. Add another one-centimeter layer of mousse and finish with the second sponge layer. For the mousse filling, remember that each layer should make up about one-third of the total praline mousse mixture. The cake now needs to cool thoroughly, ideally overnight. Loosen the cake ring with a warm, wet knife and spread the remaining mousse (without the praline) all around the cake, then pipe a border around it using a large nozzle, as shown in the photo. Finally, sprinkle the reserved almond praline into the center of the cake and return it to the refrigerator until ready to serve. The mousse is also perfect as a standalone dessert; I had a little left over, so I enjoyed a small bowl of pure mousse.