Daring Bakers January: Entremets (dessert)

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a biscuit joconde imprimé to wrap around an entremets dessert.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you will know that generally speaking I make tiny tiny amounts of the Daring Bakers’ recipes because I really don’t need huge amounts of dessert around the house. So when I saw this challenge, I immediately set about Googling individual-sized entremets.  Lost in a sea of gorgeous images and complicated patterns for the biscuit joconde imprimé, I happened upon a recipe for raspberry dacquoise from the lovely Clotilde at Chocolate & Zucchini inspired by a frozen dessert that I totally remember eating (ahem… a few times, shall we say?) when I lived in France and whilst it’s not the challenge per se, it’s an entremets dessert that I knew I had to make.

Entremets, according the the Larousse Gastronomique is:

The sweet course, which in France, is always served after the cheese (the word is also used to mean a specific dessert).  Formerly, all the dishes served after the roast, including vegetables and sweets, were called the entremets. (The word literally means “between dishes”).  In restaurants, the word still embraces the vegetable dishes as well as the entremets de cuisine (soufflés, savoury pancakes and fritters, pastries, croquettes and omelettes) and the desserts.  The latter are subdivided into three categories – hot, cold and iced entremets.

This dessert – a dacquoise – falls under the cold entremets category.  I planned on making three small round desserts in tiny springform pans.  My biscuit/cake base was a little uneven as my jelly roll pan was too large and all my other smaller pans were not deep enough but once I cut them out it was fine.  This was chewy and sweet without being too sweet and strong enough to hold up to putting mousse-cream in the middle without going soggy too quickly.


The mousse layer is made from plain Greek yoghurt (strained) since we can’t find fromage blanc here in Canada and soe whipped cream, sugar, vanilla and gelatin. This was absolutely incredible and I made the full amount though I didn’t need it which we enjoyed for breakfast the following day with some of the leftover berries 🙂

I used blackberries and raspberries and even though I packed them tightly around the edge of the molds, the cream kind of leaked over them and they moved apart. I guess it’s easier to line them up uniformly with no gaps in a square or rectangular mold.

I covered up the messy tops of the biscuit part with icing sugar and noone was any wiser 😉

This was a (semi) elegant dessert that tasted fabulous. The mousse was light and fluffy and even though I served halves, I could totally have eaten a whole one!  So delicate.  I wish I would have had enough of the cake to add an extra layer in the middle. That might be a project for next time…

Also, next time, I promise I will try the biscuit joconde imprimé…

(Whilst I was writing this post, it’s true, I delved into the Larousse Gastronomique. And spent quite a long time there. If you don’t own it and you like food, you should. Check it out on Amazon and Amazon.ca.)

Don’t forget to enter my RestaurantWare.com giveaway (you’re eligible wherever you live and you definitely will love these products – they make fabulous blog props!). Click here to read the post and enter! Contest closes Friday January 28th at 6pm EST.

(update: The contest is now closed – thanks for entering and congrats to Winnie from Healthy Green Kitchen!)

79 thoughts on “Daring Bakers January: Entremets (dessert)”

  1. I think it’s absolutely gorgeous Mardi…I’m ready to dive into one. I saw this at Clotildes too and wanted to make it, but got distracted as usual. Love the mousse!

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  2. it looks great . 🙂 I love making this type as well when you can see the fruit , with no wrapper. and yes, it counts as an entremet…but i thought trying to explain all the entremets to the DB;s would be too exhausting ! ..

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  3. Oh Mardie, it’s beautiful! Not only do your pictures “pop” (they always do) I always learn something from you just by reading your posts. I think I’m the only one who made theirs in a trifle dish. Is that cheating? I’ll be posting mine later this morning.

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  4. Very elegant and your photos make me feel that I could do it too. Thanks for the reminder about your giveaway.

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  5. Oh goodness, that dessert sounds ammmmazing! The individual size would not be enough for me… I’d eat it all, down to the last crumb.

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  6. WOW I have never seen anything like this!!! I wish I could fly to Paris this instant (or your kitchen!) and gobble one up. Thanks for sharing such an exquisite recipe!

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  7. Beautiful job! Your entremet looks delicious!!!! I love how you filled it with fresh fruit and that cream just looks stellar! I really wish I could scoop out a fingerful! 🙂

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  8. It definitely looks elegant! And I do like individual serves even though they take more time to put together.

    I got myself a copy of Larousse Gastronomique last year and envisage myself, one day, not cooking from it, but just reading it from cover to cover for pure enjoyment and nothing else.

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  9. OK, now I feel like a rube. I didn’t know what you were talking about up top, so thanks for the vocabulary lesson. And it’s a beautiful looking dessert, beautifully photographed. (And I usually have such a dependable grasp of vocabulary.)

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  10. A beautiful dessert. Since, my household is small, I’m always finding ways to reduce recipe portions. Other times, it’s a good excuse to reach out to neighbors and friends to share the extra calories.

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  11. Beautiful and I am sure delicious – not too heavy or too sweet!! This is a great challenge and I will bet that it’s fun to have an excuse to read up on the desserts. It’s great to have an “excuse” to try things that you normally wouldn’t make!

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  12. I love the fresh berries, and I’m always for individual sized portions! I saw some cute ones in the bakery case at the local grocery store, but I wasn’t sure what form I could use to get them that small. Nice job on the challenge!

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  14. What a stunning dessert!

    I love that you always make them mini…. I need to take a few hints from you because I always make gigantic desserts and then end up with lots of leftovers (not to mention that they are so much prettier when they are mini).

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  15. I really enjoy reading your posts, your food looks so beautiful! I want to learn more about French cuisine, and my dream is to work with a chef in France:) I was excited to find French Friday’s and The Daring Kitchen on your blog. I look forward to reading your posts, and learning more about French cuisine from you:) I just started French lessons, so I am working on my first of three goals!
    Take care,
    Terra

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  16. YUMMO!!

    Out of the 5 – 600 cookbooks I own, my 20 year old Larousse Gastronomique probably makes the most appearances. Wonder how the latest edition compares??

    Reply

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