Coconut croustillant

[jmacnaughtan]

Hi,

 

After the success of the Medovik, I'm working on a new project and I'd like some help with one of the components.

 

It's an entremet, with flavours based around coconut, pineapple, rum and vanilla.  I want to add a layer of croustillant using white chocolate, pailleté feuilletine and desiccated coconut, but the only recipes I have include praliné paste, which is a flavour I'd rather not introduce.

 

The challenge is getting the consistency right- I need it to be firm enough to hold up inside the cake, but not so firm it causes a debacle when cutting it.  I was thinking of adding neutral oil to soften it, but I have no idea of the ratio to use.

 

Has anyone done this before, or has experience softening chocolate? 

 

Thanks,

 

James

[teonzo]

If I were you I would avoid the feuilletine, just for a matter of overall balance considering the other tastes...

If you add neutral oil to white chocolate then the result is obviously a sort of ganache. 10% is enough to start loosing the crunch of the tempered white chocolate.

Other possible solutions are these ones:

- brush a piece of parchment paper with a very thin layer of tempered white chocolate, immediately (it sets quickly) sprinkle it generously with dessicated coconut, then cut is with the needed shape for your entremet (in this way you get a very thin and crunchy layer, easy to cut, but being thin maybe you need to use more than 1 layer);

- put some desiccated coconut in a bowl, add some untempered white chocolate (just enough to hold together the coconut), put some of this between 2 pieces of parchment paper, roll it to desired height (2 mm I'd say), cut it of needed shape (using untempered white chocolate will give you the desired firmness for this kind of layer).

 

 

 

Teo

[jmacnaughtan]

I see what you mean, but I really want the texture of the feuilletine in there- the most important are that and the coconut.  I'm not really a fan of having a layer if tempered chocolate inside my cakes, but that's just my taste.

 

The ideal is to have something I can spread directly onto the cake layer (a coconut financier) that will keep the feuilletine crunchy (by encasing it in fat) and preventing the next layer (roasted pineapple compote) from seeping into it.  All of the croustillant recipes I've seen incorporate the crunch elements into a mix of praliné paste and chocolate, and the praliné keeps it from setting hard.

 

I don't think adding oil would turn it into a ganache at all- there's no water added.  I've tried using pure untempered chocolate for layers like this, and it doesn't work very well.  Entremets are generally served at least slightly chilled, and the chocolate goes way too hard.

[Tri2Cook]

Adding oil will solve the problem of being able to slice through it along with everything else. When I make aerated chocolate using oil (Blumenthal's recipe), the result is easy enough to cut that I've used it as a 1/2" thick base layer in a cake. I sprayed the aerated chocolate (milk chocolate and roasted peanut oil) over caramelized rice crispies for the base layer and everything held up great. I don't see any reason coconut and feuilletine would present any problems.

[jmacnaughtan]

Adding oil will solve the problem of being able to slice through it along with everything else. When I make aerated chocolate using oil (Blumenthal's recipe), the result is easy enough to cut that I've used it as a 1/2" thick base layer in a cake. I sprayed the aerated chocolate (milk chocolate and roasted peanut oil) over caramelized rice crispies for the base layer and everything held up great. I don't see any reason coconut and feuilletine would present any problems.

 

That's exactly what I want.  Can you share the chocolate/oil ratio?  I imagine it'll be slightly different for white chocolate, but it would be a good starting point.

[Kerry Beal]

How about some coconut oil in place of the praline - won't soften the feuilletine or coconut - but will soften the chocolate.  

 

Oops - missed the overnight replies.

Edited March 27, 2014 by Kerry Beal (log)

[jmacnaughtan]

How about some coconut oil in place of the praline - won't soften the feuilletine or coconut - but will soften the chocolate.  

 

Oops - missed the overnight replies.

 

Interesting idea.  Do you get much flavour from the coconut oil?  

[Kerry Beal]

Deodorized very little - regular some.

[Tri2Cook]

Heston's recipe uses 65 g oil in 500 g milk chocolate and that's for use as a cake layer (Black Forest Gateau). If I recall correctly, I went higher than that with the one I mentioned above (I wanted it easy to cut and I wanted the roasted peanut oil flavor to come through) and it still wasn't too fragile to work with. I don't have an exact number though. Since you're planning to spread it on rather than forming a disc or something that has to be handled and moved and not aerating it, I'd imagine you could go pretty high if needed. Maybe start with Heston's ratio or a little less, chill it and try to cut it. If it's not as easy to cut as you'd like, melt it and add more oil.