Carrot half-entremet?

Studying food tech for GCSE and A levels really gave me an excuse to polish up and try out different recipes I wanted to. Most of which I would have to make changes to because I would have to look at the nutritional aspect of the product as well -it was such. a pain in the neck! xD I would spend hours researching on the internet for inspiration because food tech was probably the only time I get to bake (my home oven is so big that it wastes so much gas when I bake so I would always bake several things at once or just not bake at all so less gas is wasted). Today's post is about one of my design ideas which I 'recreated' from a drama called Zettai Kareshi/Absolute Boyfriend. The main character, Riiko and her boss goes through trials to make this delicious looking carrot cream which is used for the main component of this carrot entremet Riiko later finished off. The way they filmed it made it so special that I wanted to try it out, not to mention because carrots are included which ups the health factor? :D 

Watching the drama the first time was also when I was introduced to these cute silicone  sphere molds. I was totally like ''*0* omg this is how they make round desserts?'' haha, major noob times. 

Tada! This is my take on that carrot dessert xD. Totally no where near as fancy and polished up as the one shown in the drama. When I tried to make the pieces of carrot toppings I had difficulty shaping them, they needed to be softened which would take quite a while and I just didn't have that patience at that time, so slices of par-boiled --> baked carrots it was! Was originally going to make carrot twirls, but the carrots just wouldn't stay in shape and I didn't have all night, so carrot curled coins it was! 

Originally, this was how the dessert was supposed to be like, bare without it's frilly skirt. Wasn't too happy with this so I added more :D. 

I found a recipe that had similar cooking shown in the drama, well, the boiling carrots part only really. ^^;. The carrots in the mousse couldn't really be tasted, though I would have probably added more for a brighter colour as well as flavour. It tasted more of orange because of the outer gelee layer- I used orange extract and colouring for the vibrant colour, though sweetened orange juice would be a better alternative, I just had some extra plain gelee to hand. In the center, I added a set lemon curd (for the presence of vitamin C haha and also because of the recipe I looked at used it too ) it was really nice and made the dessert creamy . 

I guess this would explain why I called this dessert a 'half-entremet'. An entremet contains quite a few layers which usually includes textures like crunchy, crispy, silky, smooth, aerated etc. 

Recipe

Click here for the full recipe. I replaced the glazing and didn't include the sponge, however I do think it's a nice touch and would give the dessert added depth of flavour. 

I definitely will try more entremets, they're fun and quite straight forward to make. :). 

Baumkuchen

Baumkuchen, or 'the tree cake' (because of the rings/layers the cake has, which resembles a tree cut open), is originated from Germany however is widely popular in Japan. To be honest, I would think even more popular in Japan, but that's really just my own opinion, but also probably because I knew of this from a Japanese outlet; anime^^''. Speaking of which, I first stumbled upon this cake when I was watching Yumeiro Patissiere (amazing anime, I LOVE it.), although it didn't look as fancy and dressed up as the other cakes shown in the anime it was special because it looked so simple and looked delicious despite it being in an anime; though I must admit, almost all food in animes looks ridiculously mouth watering =^= like a simple onigiri, gah. 

Baumkuchen is usually made with this special spinny oven, where the batter would either be poured on, or rolled in. 

So even after watching the anime, this cake was one of the cakes that was imprinted in my mind, I never thought I would be able to try it unless if I traveled to Germany or Japan or found special places where they sold them, so I was really surprised when I found quite a variety of baumkuchen cakes in Muji during my holiday at Hong Kong (which backs up my point about the Japanese loving this cake as Muji is more popular with their stationary and furniture stuff). Bought an original flavoured mini baum cake home and after one bite I simple couldn't stop, I was like ''*0*, so this, THIS IS THE TASTE OF BAUMKUCHEN?''. It was sooooo good! Buttery goodness and all, ahhhh. Bliss. 

Mini Baumkuchen from Muji! 

Well after tasting a baum cake I could understand why it is so popular, it most definitely bumped up to my top favourite cakes of all time. As London would never have a place that would sell baum cakes (although there could be, just never got round to baum cake hunting :P) I'm pretty much stuck with having to make it myself but being a home baker obviously I wouldn't have these ovens ;w;. So I decided to adopt the method that was used in Yumeiro Patissiere. 

^screenshots of the main bits that teach you how to make it at home. The rest was finding a suitable recipe and  using my own common knowledge! :D 

 Yumeiro Patissiere episode 22 - Baumkuchen

My first attempt on a Baum cake! Far from being as perfect and as fine as the one that can be bought but I definitely will try again, this time making the layers thinner and getting a bigger pan so we get more..==. My hopeless, tiny square pan only managed a cake around 15cm probably? And only 4 proper nice cuts! (Chomped on the trimmings of course). The taste of the cake was actually very nice, in the original recipe I replaced the ice cream with more butter as the cake I bought from Muji had a rich buttery taste, and I didn't want to lose that, I also thought that the cake was going to be too wet from the ice cream too. I was worried that the cake wasn't going to be sweet enough, but it turned out to had just the right amount :D, not too sweet and not too bland. The corn flour really gave the cake an interesting 'crumb', it also made the cake a little like a soft, biscuit? 

After slicing the roll, I was surprised at how the cake didn't fall apart and weren't all flimsy because when I tried to make egg rolls with it, it was possible the most easily separable thing I had made ==. I figured that the loose bits of cake that won’t stick properly together were the bits that was thoroughly cooked through, in which I realized that this method needed the cake to be only half done or at least a thin layer of cake batter left uncooked to act as an adhesive in addition to other rolled layers. 

Ingredients: 

• 60g plain flour 
• 40g corn flour
• 80g sugar
•  60g butter
• 2 eggs 

-As the batter needs to be quite thin (so that it'd be easier for to spread around the pan) the butter can be melted in advance. As I made this at night and my kitchen is rather cold, the butter in the batter solidified after a while after being left alone. If the batter turns out to be at a thicker consistency or the butter has solidified a bit, place the bowl over a bain-marie being careful that the bowl is not touching the water. Keep stirring the batter so the batter doesn't cook. This method is just used to make the batter thinner by melting the butter. 

-Make the foil roll in advance; adjust the size of how big you want the middle of your cake to be by adjusting the width of the foil roll. Trimming may be needed to adjust to fit your square pan. 

1. Cream the room temperature butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. 
2. Incorporate the eggs in one at a time (the batter can split and curdle if the eggs are added all at once)
3. Sift the cake flour and corn flour into the batter and whisk lightly. No folding is needed as the air isn't really important in this cake, though you don't want to over mix the batter so all air is knocked out, some will help create a fluffier cake. 
4. Heat the pan up and brush a light layer of butter in the pan to prevent sticking. Pour a thin layer of the cake in the pan; wait until each layer is nearly cooked through. Place the aluminum roll at the top of your square pan, and gently roll the cake towards yourself. Make sure the layer of cake is quite tightly rolled around the foil roll so ensure no loose bits. 
5. Carry on with each layer until the outer layer can no longer wrap around the the entire cake roll. 

The original recipe I got was from here. Do check her blog out if you're interested in Japanese food and cooking. 

^leftover batter: a Baum sqaures? haha.