Daring Bakers' Joconde Imprint

Thanks so much to all of you for sharing your favorite TV series :-) It is so nice to know a little bit more about your viewing favorites. Well, I could sort of deciding what series to go for next! Thanks again!

Meanwhile, I have to confess that I love love love this month's contest. Reminiscing one episode of my baking classes long time ago which included a lesson on joconde. Apparently it was not a great class, I would say or more like it was not a perfect joconde recipe that I got from the baking instructor. My imprint was never been clear and sharp like what I just did with recipe provided by Astheroshe. Thanks to her lesson with Chef John O. at The International Culinary School in Atlanta, Georgia USA!



I have had this imprint stencil sitting in my cupboard for the longest time and this challenge just gave me a chance to make good use of it. And while this month is a perfect month to bake everything that involves strawberries, I wouldn't skip any opportunity to include these beautiful fruits into my joconde mousse. Hope you will enjoy this Joconde Strawberry Mousse with me!

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.



JOCONDE STRAWBERRY MOUSSE
Makes two 8 inch mousse cakes



1. Joconde

a. Joconde Sponge
Yiels two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients:
- 85g almond flour/meal
- 75g confectioners' (icing) sugar
- 3 large eggs - about 150g
- 3 large egg whites - about 90g
- 10g white granulated sugar or superfine (caster) sugar
- 30g unsalted butter, melted

Method:
- In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.
- Sift almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, cake flour. (This can be done into your dirty egg white bowl)
- On medium speed, add the eggs a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light. (If using a stand mixer use blade attachment. If hand held a whisk attachment is fine, or by hand. )
- Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.
- Fold in melted butter.
- Reserve batter to be used later.



b. Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste
Yields two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients:
- 200g unsalted butter, softened
- 200g Confectioners' (icing) sugar
- 7 large egg whites - about 200g
- 220g cake flour
- Red coloring

Directions:
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)
- Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.
- Fold in sifted flour.
- Tint batter with coloring to desired color, if not making cocoa variation.
Preparing the Joconde- How to make the pattern:
- Spread a thin even layer of décor paste approximately 1/4 inch (5 millimeter) thick onto silicone baking mat with a spatula, or flat knife. Place mat on an upside down baking sheet. The upside down sheet makes spreading easier with no lip from the pan.
- Pattern the décor paste – Here is where you can be creative. Make horizontal /vertical lines (you can use a knife, spatula, cake/pastry comb). Squiggles with your fingers, zig zags, wood grains. Be creative whatever you have at home to make a design can be used. OR use a piping bag. Pipe letters, or polka dots, or a piped design. If you do not have a piping bag. Fill a ziplock bag and snip off corner for a homemade version of one.
- Slide the baking sheet with paste into the freezer. Freeze hard. Approx 15 minutes.
- Remove from freezer. Quickly pour the Joconde batter over the design. Spread evenly to completely cover the pattern of the Décor paste.
- Bake at 475ºF /250ºC until the joconde bounces back when slightly pressed, approx. 15 minutes. You can bake it as is on the upside down pan. Yes, it is a very quick bake, so watch carefully.
- Cool. Do not leave too long, or you will have difficulty removing it from mat.
- Flip cooled cake on to a powdered sugared parchment paper. Remove silpat. Cake should be right side up, and pattern showing! (The powdered sugar helps the cake from sticking when cutting.)



c. Preparing the Mold for entremets:
You can use any type of mold. I would suggest:
- Start with a large piece of parchment paper laid on a very flat baking sheet. Then a large piece of cling wrap over the parchment paper. Place a spring form pan ring, with the base removed, over the cling wrap and pull the cling wrap tightly up on the outside of the mold. Line the inside of the ring with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping top edge by ½ inch. CUT the parchment paper to the TOP OF THE MOLD. It will be easier to smooth the top of the cake.
- A biscuit cutter/ cookie cutter- using cling wrap pulled tightly as the base and the cling covering the outside of the mold, placed on a parchment lined very flat baking sheet. Line the inside with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping
- Cut PVC pipe from your local hardware store. Very cheap! These can be cut into any height you wish to make a mold. 2 to 3 inches is good. My store will cut them for me, ask an employee at your store. You can get several for matching individual desserts. Cling wrap and parchment line, as outlined above. 4.4 Glass Trifle bowl. You will not have a free standing dessert, but you will have a nice pattern to see your joconde for this layered dessert.

d. Preparing the Joconde for Molding:
- Trim the cake of any dark crispy edges. You should have a nice rectangle shape.
- Decide how thick you want your “Joconde wrapper”. Traditionally, it is ½ the height of your mold. This is done so more layers of the plated dessert can be shown. However, you can make it the full height.
- Once your height is measured, then you can cut the cake into equal strips, of height and length. (Use a very sharp paring knife and ruler.)
- Make sure your strips are cut cleanly and ends are cut perfectly straight. Press the cake strips inside of the mold, decorative side facing out. Once wrapped inside the mold, overlap your ends slightly. You want your Joconde to fit very tightly pressed up to the sides of the mold. Then gently push and press the ends to meet together to make a seamless cake. The cake is very flexible so you can push it into place. You can use more than one piece to “wrap “your mold, if one cut piece is not long enough.
- The mold is done, and ready to fill.



2. Strawberry Mousse Filling
Enough to fill two 8 inch mousse cakes

Ingredients:
- Strawberry halves > 590g
- Granulated sugar > 200g
- Boiled water > 200g
- Gelatine powder > 40g
- Water > 10 tbsp
- Whipped cream > 600g

Method:
- Combine strawberry halves, sugar, and water in a blender and blitz until fine. Set aside.
- Heat gelatine powder and water on double boiler until gelatine is totally dissolved. Cool a while until just warm.
- Mix strawberry mixture and whipped cream in a mixing bowl.
- Bring a small portion of strawberry cream mixture into the melted gelatine bowl. - Stir until well combined. Pour back into mixing bowl and combine thoroughly.
- Pour filling into the prepared molds.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- When cold, decorate as desired.