Samurai Delicatessen

Monday, February 27, 2006

Crispy and Creamy Rice Treat

Continuing down my list of desserts from the Greenspan/Herme books, I made the Crispy and Creamy Rice Treat, from the first Desserts book. This has a small cake base made from ladyfinger batter. The base is sprinkled with a layer of toasted hazelnuts and broken Nestle crunch bars. Above that is a layer of a creamy, cinnamony arborio rice mixed with creme anglaise and whipped cream, set with a little gelatin. On top is a layer of thick chocolate creme anglaise, and some caramelized rice crispies.

Friday, February 24, 2006

Faubourg Pave

I decided to make the Faubourg Pave again, one of my favorites from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme. The recipe includes a cocoa loaf, which is split in thirds, brushed with a caramel syrup, and filled with a very butter-rich caramel ganache. This time I filled it with the caramel ganache, as usual, but finished it with the glaze, which I made according to Herme's recipe. Both the ganache and the glaze were made using Valrhona 61%, which is what I have at the moment. Luckily for me, I had some left-over chocolate sauce from making the glaze, and I found that it makes an amazing hot chocolate.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Golden Pearl Brownie Cake

This was made from a recipe in Desserts by Pierre Herme. This has a brownie base made with (Valrhona) Le Noir Gastronomie, on top of which is a creamy layer similar to creme chiboust -- its vanilla pastry cream flavored with cognac, lightened with whipped cream, and set with a little bit of gelatin. On top of that is a thin layer of pastry cream (my deviation from the recipe) and a layer of vanilla bean clear glaze. Sprinkled in the middle and on top are some golden raisins soaked in a Cognac syrup.