I love making entremets… they take forever of course, but there’s something really satisfying when you finally cut into it and see all the beautiful layers of different textures and flavours.

For this recipe I decided to go with the classic combination of strawberry and pistachio which worked really well. The only slight issue was my thin jam layer which didn’t set quite right and prevented a smooth mirror glaze on the sides. I’ve changed the recipe below to include a strawberry jelly instead which works much better. But it’s worth noting you’ll never get as flat a surface unless you have the mousse from top to bottom and have the sponge/jelly/cream sections as an insert.

Strawberry and Pistachio Entremet

Makes: 8″ cake (10 slices)

Time:  5-6 hours + chilling

Elements:

• Genoise Sponge
• Simple syrup
• Strawberry mousse
• Pistachio cream
• Strawberry jelly
• Strawberry and white chocolate glaze
• Decorations: pistachios

Recipe:

Genoise Sponge:

• 150g whole egg (6 large)
• 150g caster sugar
• 150g plain flour
• 63g unsalted butter melted

Preheat the oven to 190°C and line a 30 x 40cm flat baking tray with a non-stick baking paper.

Make a sabayon by putting the eggs and sugar in a clean bowl and whisking the mix over a bain-marie to 37°C. Remove the bowl from the pan of water and continue to whisk until it reaches the ribbon stage (lift the whisk and the mix should fall back on itself and a trail will be left across the surface that should hold shape for a moment, before sinking back into the mix).

Carefully fold the sifted flour into the sabayon using a spatula. When it is around three quarters folded through take 2 large scoops of the sabayon and mix it into the melted butter. Then add the butter mix into the sabayon and fold through until fully incorporated. Pour the mix onto the lined baking tray, spreading evenly with a palette knife and bake in a pre-heated oven for 12-15 mins. You’ll know when it’s done as the sponge will be golden brown and spring back when pressed gently.  Leave to cool and then use immediately or freeze for up to a month.

Simple syrup:

• 60ml water
• 62g sugar
• 1/2 peel lemon
• 1/4 pod vanilla

Put water, caster sugar, lemon peel, seeds from the vanilla pod and the pod into a sauce pan and bring to the boil. Cook for 2-3 mins, take off the heat and leave to cool.

Pistachio Bavarian cream:

• 4 medium egg yolks
• 60 g caster sugar
• 40 g pistachio paste
• 160 g milk
• 1/4 vanilla bean seeds
• 4g gelatine leaves
• 180 g whipping cream

Place your gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water. In a large bowl whisk the egg yolks, pistachio paste and caster sugar for a few minutes until it thickens and turns a pale colour.  Gently heat milk and vanilla seeds in small saucepan until it simmers then turn off the heat. Take a little of the milk mix and pour it into the bowl and whisk it. Then pour the mix in the bowl into the saucepan and heat gently until it reaches 82°C, whisking all the while. When the mixture has thickened take the gelatine, squeeze out any excess liquid, and add to the mix.  Whisk until fully incorporated and then run through a sieve and leave to cool over a little ice. In a clean bowl whisk the whipping cream to ribbon stage and fold in the cooled mix.

Strawberry fruit puree:

• 500g strawberries
• 50ml water
• 50g caster sugar
• 10ml lemon juice

Blitz strawberries in processer. Bring water and sugar to boil then remove from heat and leave to cool. Poor the warm syrup and lemon juice onto strawberry mix and then pass through a fine sieve. Leave to cool. The puree will be divided and used for the mousse and glaze.

Strawberry jelly:

• 125 g strawberry puree
• 90g caster sugar
• 3g gelatine leaves

Soak gelatine in a bowl of water. Bring the strawberry and sugar to the boil in small saucepan and remove from the heat. Squeeze out any excess water from the gelatine and whisk into the jelly. Use immediately.

Strawberry Mousse:

• 6g gelatine leaves
• 250ml whipping cream
• 175g Strawberry puree
• 40g caster sugar

Soak gelatine in a bowl of water. Whisk cream until ribbon stage. Put 75g of puree in saucepan and add sugar heating gently until sugar dissolves. Add gelatine and stir until fully dissolved. Strain and add remaining puree. Fold into the whipped cream and use immediately.

White chocolate and strawberry glaze:

• 12g gelatine leaves
• 160ml strawberry puree
• 80g sugar
• 160g liquid glucose
• 105ml double cream
• 160g white chocolate finely chopped
• Red food colouring (I used 1 tube of Dr Oetker gel)

Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 3-4 minutes until it softens and then squeeze out the excess water.  Put the puree, sugar and liquid glucose in a small saucepan and bring to the boil until your thermometer reaches 103 degrees. Put the finely chopped white chocolate into a bowl. Add the cream and gelatine to the mix in the saucepan and then pour this over the white chocolate and blitz with a hand-held blender. Add some red food colouring till you reach the desired colour. Poor into a jug and leave the mix to cool down to 33-34 degrees (anything higher will melt the mousse!).

To decorate:

• 50g of chopped pistachios

To assemble:

• Cut the génoise sponge into a 8″ round using a cake ring as a guide.
• Brush the sponge with some simple syrup.
• Pour the pistachio bavarian cream on top of the sponge and use a palette knife to make an even layer
• Cover the cake with Clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 1 hour to set. You can start making the jelly whilst this layer sets.
• Remove the cake from the fridge and pour the strawberry jelly on top, using a palette knife to spread the mix evenly.
• Remove the cake from the fridge and pour the strawberry mousse on top, using a palette knife to spread the mix evenly.
• Cover with clingfilm and place in freezer for minimum 4 hours.
• Take the entremet out of the freezer and gently brush off any ice that may have formed on top of the mousse and the cake ring.
• Cover a can or a baking tin that has a smaller circumference than the entremet with cling film and sit it on top
• Pour the strawberry glaze over the frozen mousse and leave it for 5 – 10 mins.  Run a sharp knife around the bottom edge of the cake to trim the excess glaze (any leftover can be scraped into a tupperware and frozen.Remember the glaze will need to be at room temperature before use so if you’ve made this in advance and stored in the fridge you’ll need to melt it down again in a saucepan on low heat and leave to cool on the side until it’s reached 33-34 degrees.
• Spinkle the pistachios onto the entremet to the pattern of you’re liking.
• Leave in the fridge to defrost for 6-8 hours before serving.