My Baby’s 1st Birthday Cake – the inside of the Entremet Cake
My youngest is now a one year old, running around the house opening draws and pulling things out of the pantry cupboard. I wanted his first cake to be special – not just in looks but in taste. He had never had chocolate, lollies or cake before so this was a big day.
The cake I chose was really an entremet with chocolate mousse, vanilla sponge, creme brulee, strawberry sauce, choc brownie base and feuillete for the crisp layer.
My hubby often tells the kids when life gives you broken eggs – make an omelet. This cake gave me an opportunity to demonstrate that! I made a strawberry mousse version of this cake well ahead of time, it was frozen on a cake board waiting to be decorated. Then one of my older boys accidentally left the outside freezer ajar. The next morning I discovered an unfrozen mousse cake with the now soggy things on top of it that had pushed it all out of shape.
The creme brulee, cake and strawberry sauce parts were still frozen so I scraped off the outside layer of strawberry mousse and gave it to my older boys for brekki! We then put the middle back in the freezer and later that day I made the choc orange mousse, which tasted much better anyway.
You can see the outside of the cake here.
The Cake Recipe:
Strawberry Sauce Recipe
2 Punnets or 500g (17.64 ounces) or 3 1/3 cups strawberries
1 Tbsp or 13g (0.46 ounces) sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour through a fine sieve into a saucepan and discard seeds. Heat over medium heat until boiling, simmer until it reaches the desired thickness. To test the consistency place a teaspoon full on a plate and allow to cool, it needs to be thick like ice cream topping and not watery.
Pour into a small flat round container or bowl and freeze
Creme Brulee Recipe
1 1/2 cups or 357mL (12.07 fluid ounces) cream (35% fat)
1/4 cup or 54g (1.9 ounces) sugar
one vanilla bean/pod
4 egg yolks or 60g (2.12 ounces)
Preheat oven to 150C (302 degrees Fahrenheit)
Bring the cream, sugar and vanilla bean (cut in half lengthways and scrape out seeds – put seeds and whole bean into cream) to the boil. Take off the heat and let the flavour infuse for 15 minutes. Pour through a strainer. Whisk egg yolks, slowly add the cream mixture, whisking continuously.
Pour into a dish that is ovenproof and the desired shape – I used a round cake tine that was slightly smaller than the container that I was using for the finished cake. Place the dish into a large oven dish with water in it – make sure that the water comes up the outside of the dish to at least the same level as that brulee is on the inside. If you do not do this the brulee will overheat and split – this is where the egg coagulates into little lumps a bit like scrambled egg floating in the oil from the cream. Ensure that you do not get any water in the brulee. I find it easiest the put the whole thing in the oven and then top up the water in the baking dish from a jug.
Bake for approx 25 minutes – depending on the size of you bowl or until it is set but still jiggly in the middle. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely then push frozen strawberry sauce disc into the centre, cover with plastic wrap and freeze.
Vanilla Cake Recipe
I used white wings dreamy vanilla cupcake mix and baked it in a round cake tin. Remove from tin and allow to cool. Cut an even layer, cover in plastic wrap and then freeze.
Chocolate Orange Mousse Recipe
2 teaspoon powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons water
200g (7.05 ounces) dark chocolate with orange oil, (I used one terrys chocolate orange and the rest dark chocolate)
66 millilitres (2.23 fluid ounces) or 1/4 cup plus 1tsp cream 35% fat
2 large egg yolks or 30g (1.06 ounces)
10g (0.35 ounces) or 2 tsp white sugar
300 millilitres (10.14 fluid ounces) or 1 1/4 cup cream 35% fat
Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a small bowl and set aside. Break the chocolate into small pieces. In the microwave or a very small saucepan, bring the 66ml cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate has melted and set aside. If the chocolate is not quite all melted microwave for 10 seconds and stir, repeat as needed.
In a heatproof bowl set over simmering water (not touching the bottom of the bowl), whisk together the egg yolk and sugar until hot and no longer grainy. Add the softened gelatin and whisk until well-blended and smooth. Take the bowl off the heat and whisk in the chocolate ganache and 300ml cream until well-blended.
Pour some into the base of your tall round container, add your strawberry sauce and creme brulee disc. Spread with a thin layer of mousse, add the cake and then pour over the rest of your mousse almost to the top. Leave room for the feutillete and brownie layers.
Feuillete Recipe / Gavotte Recipe
The crunch in this crispy layer comes from an ingredient which is called gavottes in French. Gavottes are lace-thin crepes. They are very expensive to buy outside of France, so you can make your own using this recipe. Or you can substitute them for rice bubbles, crushed wafers or crushed fortune cookies. But none of them taste quite as good as the real thing, so go on give it a go.
To make 2.1oz (59.53 grams) / 60g (2.12 ounces) of gavottes (lace crepes)
1/3 cup or 83 millilitres (2.81 fluid ounces) milk 4% fat
2 tsp or 8g (0.28 ounces) unsalted butter
1/3 cup less 2tsp or 35g (1.23 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp or 15g (0.53 ounces) beaten egg
1 tsp white sugar
½ tsp vegetable oil
1. Heat the milk and butter together until butter is completely melted. Remove from the heat.
2. Sift flour into milk-butter mixture while beating, add egg and granulated sugar. Make sure there are no lumps.
3. Grease a baking sheet and spread batter thinly over it (pour some onto one end and tip baking sheet to spread it out).
4. Bake at 220°C (428 degrees Fahrenheit) (430°F (221.11 degrees Celsius)) for a few minutes until the crepe is golden and crispy. Let cool. Place in an air-tight container until ready to use.
5. Melt dark chocolate (see this video in keeping in temper) and mix through the gavottes until they are coated. Press onto the top of your frozen mousse to make a flat even layer.
(original source for gavottes recipe stickygooeycreamychewy.com)
Choc Brownie Recipe
Choc Brownie Post – make sure you watch the food fight video!
Cut the brownie to the size of the container that your entremet is in and place in the top of the container.
Twelve hours before you want to eat it take it out of the freezer and turn out onto a cake board or plate (you will need to sit the container in warm water for 30 seconds to loosen the mousse from the sides). Cover with fondant or chocolate mirror glaze.
My Cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.
dear Ann, I just love your videos and all the wonderful food that you make. I am all the way from South Africa. I so wished I could be there to see you in action and I would love to be able to make such goodies like you. I love the way you explain and make different things.
thank you very much. I entered the completion of the mixer, I so wished I had got one cause they are so expensive this side.
once again thank you.
keep well, please don’t forget to keep doing the good work.
so true
Your website and YouTube channel are both so amazing. You put so much effort and work behind it all… thank you. 🙂