These beautiful chocolate hazelnut mousse cakes or entremet are both pretty and delicious. You can't go wrong with the combination of chocolate and hazelnut.
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 entremet dessert.
Huh? Joconde imprime is a French baking term used to describe a decorative pattern that is baked into a soft sponge cake (joconde). The decorative cake is usually used to cover the outside of an entremet, a dessert filled with layers of cake, a Bavarian cream or a mousse.
The challenge was to make the decorative design and use it with any filling of choice.
I just love the combination of hazelnuts and chocolate. It's always the first chocolate I'll pick out of a box of chocolates! As I've mentioned before, I find Nutella irresistible. Who doesn't? So naturally, I chose to make a chocolate hazelnut mousse filling.
This mousse is super easy to make and is gelatin free! All you need is whipping cream and Nutella. To give it some extra oomph, I also added instant espresso and Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur). They are not a must have so you can get away with skipping them.
The bottom base is a thin layer of chocolate cake and the top finish is a ganache. The garnish is a salted hazelnut brittle mixed with cocoa nibs.
We were suppose to use the joconde paste and sponge cake recipe given to us in the challenge but it did not work out for me. So, I chose to use a slightly different recipe when I went to make my second attempt.
If you are going to try this using the recipe below, please know that you will need a recipe for chocolate cake. It is not included below but I used my dark chocolate cupcakes recipe.
So, how about it? Are you ready to whip up some of these for Valentine's Day?
Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Entremet
These beautiful chocolate hazelnut mousse cakes or entremet are both pretty and delicious. You can't go wrong with the combination of chocolate and hazelnut. (The paste and sponge recipes were adapted from Baker's Royale)
Ingredients
For the joconde decorating paste:
- 3 oz cake flour
- 1 ¼ oz cocoa powder
- 8 Tbs unsalted butter
- 4 oz powdered sugar sifted
- ½ cup egg whites
For the sponge joconde
- 2 oz almond flour
- 2 oz confectioners sugar
- 2 oz cake flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 yolk
- 2 egg whites
- 1 oz sugar
- 1 oz melted unsalted butter
For the chocolate hazelnut mousse
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso
- 1 Tbs water
- ¾ cup whipping cream
- Dash of Frangelico -optional
- ¼ cup nutella or chocolate hazelnut spread
For the ganache topping
- 4 oz heavy cream
- 4 oz chopped semi sweet chocolate
Instructions
For the joconde decorating paste and design
- Lay a Silpat (13x18 inch) or parchment paper on a baking sheet and set aside.
- Sift together the flour and cocoa powder and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment of your mixer.
- Slowly add the egg whites. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a small tip.
- Pipe a design onto the Silpat or parchment paper with your paste. (To make stripes as shown, pipe diagonal lines across the Silpat.)
- Freeze the baking sheet with the piped design while you make the sponge.
For the sponge joconde
- Stir the almond flour, confectioners sugar, and cake flour with the paddle attachment for a minute or two to aerate and mix.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping in between, for about five minutes. Add the yolk and stir until incorporated. Empty this mixture into a large bowl.
- With the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites and slowly add the sugar. Mix until soft peaks are formed.
- Fold half the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Stir in the melted butter and fold in the rest of the egg whites.
Final assembly of joconde:
- Remove the Silpat from the freezer and make sure the paste is very firm. Spread the joconde sponge batter quickly and evenly over the frozen design.
- Bake at 400 F for about 5-6 minutes or until the cake is a slight golden color and springs back to the touch.
- Sprinkle powdered sugar on the top (prevents sticking) and invert it onto a parchment lined pan. Carefully peel away the silpat after it has cooled some.
- Cut the cake into the desired size strip to fit around the perimeter of your mold. (I've used my mini cheesecake pan as molds)
For the chocolate cake base: (can be made ahead and frozen)
- Use the chocolate cake recipe from my dark chocolate cupcakes post but spread it into a half sheet pan instead of cupcakes. This makes more than enough for 12 servings so you can modify the recipe for a smaller pan or save the extra for another use.
- Using a cookie cutter or anything round, cut out small circles from the cake that fit inside the bottom of the mold.
For the chocolate hazelnut mousse
- Dissolve the espresso in the water and set aside. Whip the cream to soft peaks.
- Fold in the espresso and liquor. Fold in the nutella until even in color. Spoon it into your molds just to the top of the Joconde.
For the ganache topping
- Heat the cream until hot. Pour it over the chopped chocolate and stir with a whisk slowly until the ganache is smooth and silky.
- Pour it over the top of your desserts to fill the mold completely and let it set. Carefully remove from the mold.
Notes
- Enjoy it immediately. The joconde tends to dry out easily so it is best consumed on the same day.
- Make the paste first, decorate, then make the sponge. The sponge batter should be made just before you are about to bake so you don't lose any aeration.
- You can use anything for a mold - trifle bowl, cake ring, pvc pipe. It is easier to line the mold with plastic first if it is not a spring form pan or a mini cheesecake pan like I used.
- Leave room at the top of the mold to add a the ganache finish.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 entremetAmount Per Serving: Calories: 434Total Fat: 28gSaturated Fat: 16gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 115mgSodium: 57mgCarbohydrates: 40gFiber: 2gSugar: 27gProtein: 8g
This nutrition information is only an approximate provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. Information comes from Nutritionix, an automated nutrition calculator.
Soma says
Absolutely stunning!!!
Debbie says
These are absolutely beautiful, well done! For the challenge, I also made a chocolate hazelnut entremet and used nutella too! I'm a little jealous of yours though, they look so professional. I especially like your nougatine garnish - what a great touch!
Paula says
Beautiful food art! Very, very impressive what you did with this challenge.
Carine says
Your cake looks gorgeous. This recipe looks too hard for me to try...I don't dare..I will.....in the future, haha.
Tara says
Those are SOOOO full of win!! Good job!
Alt a says
You did an amazing job with this challenge. I'm definitely trying it again soon...and I love your flavor combos.
Cristina says
Wow! Congratulations on your DB Challenge. Your mini cakes look like edible bits of arts. Beautifully presented! :)
Beauty & the Feast says
Absolutely stunning!! These look fantastic...and delicious for sure!
Kulsum at JourneyKitchen says
I love love love ur creations Urvashee SO gorgeous~ Daring Baker's always scares me, I always think I want to join and than I see such gorgeous posts and know I can never match up :-)
erin says
I love the stripes!! So pretty! I saw this Joconde imprime challenge on another site as well and I just love it! It's so fun to see what people do with it.
sheryl says
Wow, I don't even know what to say about this dessert! So professional! I would be so proud to serve something like that.
Tin says
Is there anything i can substitute the almond flour with?
Dessarts says
I believe the almond flour helps with the flexibility of the cake. You can try a different nut flour or just replace it with more cake flour but you may get a less flexible cake.
Gracie says
Lovely!
mya says
hi, you've got such amazing talent! just looking at the photos and i can almost taste how decadent they are..
i was just wondering if you have video of how to assemble them? i want to surprise my mom on mother's day, and make these for.her..
thanks so much! and keep it up! :)
Emily says
Do you have the recipe for the salted hazelnut cocoa nib nougatine?
Glenis says
Would love to see a video on how to make this recipe (mini chocolate hazelnut dessert) I'm not sure how you put it together and would love a video on how to do it.
Rosalia says
This looks amazing but how do u measure ounces. I'm so confused. Also what is 1 1/4 oz mean
Urvashee says
1 and 1/4 ounce or 1.25 ounce
Rosalia says
I would like to try it
Lyn says
I made them yes it was very dry the next day so I froze them when they easy to handled
I removed them and sprayed them with simple syrup it was perfect and thawed very nicely it did not effect the taste at all I am now going to make them for a party on the 29 of July the only thing I could not make was the garnish can't find glocuse any where.what can I use it it's place just caramelised the sugar and adding the hazel nuts to it was not good no flavor and tasted like burnt sugar.
Tere Lopez says
I'm very impressed, I have actually made the true jacome, I did these in heart molds and use acetate with a design that I smeared the chocolate paste through then froze, just like you then baked with the real jacome however I love the idea that you just typed your own design that's impressive
tracie says
This dessert is beautiful! I would love to see a video of all the components & how they're put together.
Lisa says
I don’t understand how to add the stripes to the jaconde - can you explain?
Urvashee says
Hi Lisa,
I've updated some of the instructions in the recipe card. I hope that helps. Basically, you have to pipe the design (stripes or whatever you want) onto parchment paper or a Silpat that is on a baking sheet. Then, freeze the entire baking sheet to allow that batter design to become firm. The sponge batter will be spread over the design and the design should remain intact because it will be firm from being in the freezer.
Connie Cinnamon says
Your instructions are to put the cake around the perimeter of the mold - is that inside of the mold or outside of the mold?
Urvashee says
Inside