Tiramisu Entremet

I've been lazy. After all those hectic days of non-stop baking, I've finally gotten the chance to take a day off. Then I got super lazy and just wanted to catch up on doing..well, nothing really. Just resting hehe. During this time, I actually went through my pictures and realized that I haven't blogged about SO MANY things yet :s I think there's easily about ten types of things I should be blogging about. One by one I guess >.<

I'm not entirely sure if these cakes would be considered an entremet but since the previous posts were titled as such, I figured I would call these "Panda cakes" the same too hehe. I remember eating the absolute BEST tiramisu I have ever tasted in my whole life. And I've tried A LOT of tiramisus (what's the plural form? :s). The best I've probably ever tasted was when I was still living in Singapore. My family and I would used to travel down to Orchard Road often and my dad's favorite place to eat would be somewhere inside the Hyatt Hotel. We would frequent the Mezza9 upstairs or the French restaurant, Peter's Place, downstairs. Yes, I was still a child and I probably shouldn't be eating a cake filled with alcohol, but I did. Peter's Place, I remembered, served such delicious tiramisu, everyone would be fighting for it. I still remember the feeling I had when I first tasted it. It was total heaven. It's been years since then and I'm not entirely sure if the place still exists or if their tiramisu is still the same, but the tiramisu will always hold a place in my heart <3 as cheesy as it sounds. 

One thing I probably disliked about making tiramisu would probably be the fact that Mascarpone cheese is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. Especially in Indonesia. I swear, just 250g of that stuff can cover my meal expenses for 2 days :s Luckily though, I found out that you can actually just make Mascarpone cheese at home! Especially since it's not really a cheese, I guess. Let me just say, the homemade version is absolutely wonderful. I think it's even better than store-bought, mostly because I have a feeling that the Indonesia-made Mascarpone isn't the real thing :( I found the recipe from Baking Obsession, and was so happy with the results!

Another important feature of a good tiramisu would be a good soaking syrup. I always find the flavor of the tiramisu sold outside to be a bit bland. It always seems to be missing a bit of the bitter coffee taste and the sweetness of the liquor. In my recipes, I tend to add just a bit more coffee, and a bit more liquor to enhance the flavor hehe. The type of coffee I use for my tiramisu kind of varies. Sometimes I use classics like Nescafe, other times maybe the famous Japanese brand UCC, and sometimes I even grind my own coffee beans. Of course, using instant coffee granules will have a better effect compared to grinding your own coffee beans but sometimes, it's quite hard to find instant coffee stocked in my home full of coffee-holics. To be honest, I know that the most typical type of liquor used in tiramisu would either be Kahlua or Marsala. For me, I usually tend to use brandy for almost everything I bake. To me, brandy fits well with chocolate, coffee, cream, and just about anything really. 

As part of the previous posts, these mousse cakes were requested to be made into the shapes of Pandas. When I was designing these, I was completely frustrated by the fact that I had no idea how to make Panda eyes haha. No matter how I looked at it, my pandas would look like they have googly eyes or something. Eventually, I just settled for the "small white dot on black" and I'm quite content with it. The inside of these Pandas hold a small layer of chocolate joconde, soaked with coffee liquor syrup. The rest is, of course, Mascarpone mousse. The mousse is then place on top of another chocolate joconde, also soaked with the same coffee syrup. Again, since this was an order that was requested with the other two flavors, the chocolate joconde remains the same as with the previous posts. 

PS. When I was trying to figure out the packaging for these mousse cakes, I stumbled upon some old packaging I had when I used to make muffins. I decided to see if they could be used and luckily enough, they were a perfect fit! I placed the cakes inside and closed the lid, and I realized..my cakes look like TINY UFOs. So adorable! I couldn't help but laugh at how they looked. Below is a look into how many of these I had to make for just ONE order >.< Imagine hand making every single detail hahaha I lost count on how many I've made over the last month already :s

Tiramisu Entremet

~Chocolate Joconde~
Source: Cake Chef


~Coffee Liquor Soaking Syrup~

120 g      sugar
120 mL    water
2 ½ tsp    instant coffee 
3    tbsp  brandy

1.   Melt coffee granules in a little bit of water, until it forms a paste
2.   Bring sugar and water to a boil and remove from heat
3.   Add coffee into the syrup and let cool completely
4.   Add brandy and mix

~Homemade Mascarpone Cheese~

*Made the day before*
Adapted from Baking Obsession

500 mL 36% whipping cream
1    tbsp lemon juice

1.   Place cream in a double boiler, on medium-low heat, and heat until 88 C (about 15 mins)
2.   Add lemon juice into the mixture and continue to heat, stirring gently until it curdles slightly
3.   Continue to heat and stir until the mixture resembles a  well-done crème anglaise. As you stir, a few clear whey 
      streaks can be seen
4.   Remove mixture from heat and let cool for about 20 mins
5.   Line a sieve with a few layers of dampened cheesecloth and place over a bowl
6.   Transfer mixture into the lined sieve (do not squeeze or press the surface of the cream)
7.   When completely cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate, in the sieve, overnight or up to 24 hours. 

~Mascarpone Mousse~

30 g   water
2       egg yolks
45 g   sugar
1       gelatin leaf
120 g Mascarpone Cheese
90 g   heavy whipping cream

1.   Bloom gelatin leaf in water
2.   Place egg yolks, water, and sugar over a double boiler. 
3.   Heat mixture until 74 degrees C
4.   Add in gelatin leaf and mix evenly to ensure the gelatin has melted
5.   Whisk in the Mascarpone cheese into the mixture
6.   Whip heavy cream into soft peaks
7.   Fold whipped cream into the Mascarpone cheese mixture

~Assembly~
1.   Prepare 3 cm half hemisphere molds
2.   Pour mousse into half of the mold
3.   Cut out 2 cm circles from the chocolate joconde, brush on coffee liquor syrup, and place on top of mousse
4.   Cover joconde with more mousse, until the mold is fully filled
5.   Place molds into freezer and leave till firm
6.   Cut out 3 cm rounds of the chocolate joconde base, brush on coffee liquor syrup
7.   Remove mousse from their molds carefully and place onto the joconde base
8.   Decorate to recreate panda face.

Enjoy the last design of these cute mousse cakes! <3 

Love,

Natalie