chocolate tuile joconde cake with caramelized fig

This is only my second time doing a practical midterm. The first was the challah bread I did for the breads class midterm. This time around it was for Advanced Pastries class and we basically could make anything we wanted but no cookies, pies or tarts. So I chose to combine a couple of recipes together. I used a Black Cocoa tuile paste, which is a really thick batter. So thick that you can scrape of some of the batter to make pretty designs. The Black cocoa which is now my favorite ingredient smells and tastes like an oreo cookie! It really was an accident on how I used the black cocoa. I actually was opting more for just regular cocoa powder but I saw this black cocoa in the pantry and I was like "Sweet. That would make an awesome contrast with the color of the joconde base." So after I put designs on the tuile batter I froze it whlie I prepared everything else. Next, I made the joconde base which is an almond cake batter. I poured that over the top of the frozen tuile paste and baked it off. Since it was such a thin layer of cake (1/8 in thick) I decided I should layer it ontop of each other inbetween chantilly cream. The caramelized figs I messed up on a little bit. The caramel didn't work well with me. It's suppose to have a long tail of caramel that hardens as it dries so that the fig has an extra long stem almost. It was a fun recipe and it look less time that I thought that it would.

All these recipes are from The Professional Pastry Chef by Bo Friberg

RIBBON-PATTERN DECORATED SPONGE SHEETS

Chocolate Tuile Decorating Paste 8 oz

Joconde Sponge Base ½ recipe
1. Spread chocolate tuile paste evenly over 1 full size silpat, covering them completely about 1/16th inch thick.
2. Remove half of the paste in straight, crosswise or diagonal lines along the length of the silpat with a decorating comb.
3. Lift silpat by edges out of the sheet pan and set on top of an inverted sheet pan and freeze till firm
4. Spread batter evenly over tuile batter and bake at 400-450 degrees F for 4 minutes or until sponge color changes slightly.
5. Dust flour lightly on top of sponge and invert onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper and buttered sides of pan.

CHOCOLATE TUILE DECORATING PASTE

Butter, unsalted, room temperature 4 oz
Powdered sugar, sifted 4 oz
Egg whites, room temperature ½ C
Vanilla extract ½ ts
Bread flour, sifted 3 oz
Unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted 1 ¼ oz

1. Sift cocoa powder and bread flour together
2. Sift powdered sugar and cream with butter in mixer with paddle attachment.
3. Add egg whites, 1-2 at a time. Scrape and evenly mix after each addition.
4. Add vanilla extract then the flour and cocoa powder mixture until just combined. Don’t overmix.

JOCONDE SPONGE BASE II
Blanched almonds, finely ground/almond meal 3 oz
Powdered sugar 2 oz
Bread flour 1 oz
Whole eggs 3
Egg yolk 1
Egg whites 2
Granulated sugar 1 oz
Melted unsalted butter 1 oz

1. Place almond meal, powdered sugar and bread flour into mixing bowl and mix in eggs with paddle attachment for 5 minutes on high. Scrape sides regularly.
2. Add egg yolks, till combined on medium speed. Set aside
3. Whip egg whites with sugar to hold a soft shape. (soft peak)
4. Fold half of egg whites into egg yolk mixture. Stir in melted butter and then fold in the rest of the egg whites. Spread out on top of Chocolate tuile decorated baking sheet.

CARAMEL DIPPED FIGS

Chianti wine 2 ½ C
Granulated sugar 2 oz
Figs, whole 15

1. Combine Chianti and granulated sugar in saucepan large enough to hold figs. Allow liquid to come to a boil and then lower heat to simmer and add figs.
2. Poach 5 minutes, remove figs with slotted spoon onto a baking sheet lined sheet pan.
3. Keep boiling poaching liquid till reduced to thick syrup. Let cool off heat.
4. Skewer each fig through the side and hold skewers at edge of counter with a heavy object so the figs and skewer stick out of the counter.
5. Line floor under figs with baking paper.
6. Dip each fig into caramelized liquid and place back securely on counter.
7. Let cool till caramel sets.
8. Snip off tail of caramel to desired length and remove each fig with latex gloved hand to prevent finger prints on the figs.