Ingredients

  • Spiced Cake
  • 250 grams honey melted
  • 125 grams rye flour
  • 125 grams plain flour
  • 20 grams baking powder
  • 125 milliliters milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 55 grams sugar, caster
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • pinch nutmeg
  • pinch aniseed crushed
  • 15 grams candied citrus peel or ginger
  • 15 grams candied lemon peel or ginger
  • drop vanilla or lemon essence
  • 3 pears
  • 100 grams sugar, caster
  • 225 milliliters water
  • Apple Jelly
  • 100 milliliters water
  • 50 grams sugar, caster
  • 100 grams apples, gala coarsely chopped
  • ¼ lemon coarsely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon gelatin
  • Liquorice Bavarois
  • 300 milliliters milk
  • 50 grams sugar, caster
  • 5 egg yolks
  • 3 gelatin leaves
  • 25 grams liquorice extract 5 star annise
  • 25 milliliters water
  • 120 grams sugar, caster
  • 10 grams liquid glucose
  • 2 egg whites
  • 150 milliliters whipping cream ribbon consistency
  • 50 milliliters Armagnac

Directions

1. Spiced Cake: Line 8 1/2" cake tin with parchment paper and grease.
2. Warm honey until completely liquid. Cool to room temperature.
3. Sieve flours and baking powder in a bowl. Pour on honey, then milk, eggs and sugar. Whisk to obtain a smooth, creamy paste. Add spices, peel and essence. Paste should be supple, smooth and slightly elastic.
4. Preheat oven to 160*C/320*F/GM 3
5. Pour mixture into cake tin, place on a baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes. Remove to wire rack and cool.
6. Poach Pears- Make simple syrup. Peel, halve, core 2 of the pears. Peel, all but top 1" of third pear. Place halves and whole pear in syrup and simmer until soft but still firm.
7. Bavarois- Combine milk and star annise with half of the sugar in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Let rest for 1 hour. Whisk egg yolks and remaining sugar until light ribbon consistency. Reheat milk and strain onto egg mixture. Clean pan and return mixture to pan. Heat gently, stirring constantly, until spoon coating consistency. Remove from heat, strain and add gelatin. Cool to room temperature.
8. Make Italian Meringue- Pour water into pan and add sugar and glucose. Bring to a boil. When sugar at 230*F/110*C begin whipping egg whites until firm. Stop cooking sugar at 121*C/248*F. Pour sugar syrup over whipped egg whites. Continue to beat until room temperature.
9. Pour cooled custard onto cooled meringue. Fold in whipped cream and Armagnac.
10. Assembling: Place an 8 1/2" diameter by 2" deep ring on cardboard cake base. Line inside ring with band of rodoïde. Cut three of the pear halves into 1/4" slices. Dab them dry, then arrange in a rosette all over the cake base and up against sides. Pour one-third of the bavarois over the pears and place in freezer for 10 minutes.
11. Finely dice 4th pear half and mix it into remaining bavarois, then pour this mixture into dessert ring. With a serrated knife, slice spiced cake into a disc of about 1/2" thick. Lay cake disc over bavarois in the ring, pressing down lightly with fingertips. Freeze for at least 1 hour.
12. Apple Jelly- Heat water and sugar until dissolved. Add apples and lemon (pips, skin and all). Cover pan and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and push fruit to one side and add gelatin. When gelatin dissolved completely, pass jelly through conical strainer. Use jelly as a glaze when it is cold but not yet set. (Jelly keeps in fridge for 4 days.)
13. At least 2 hours before serving, invert it, remove cardboard cake base and place it under the gâteau on a serving plate. Refrigerate for 1 hour, then glaze with the apple jelly. Remove dessert ring and band of rodoïde.
14. Pat dry the whole poached pear and use a small sharp knife to cut out the core from the bottom without spoiling shape. Then slice down and all round the pear from below the collar at 1/4" intervals. Press lightly down on pear from stem end to fan out. Arrange onto centre of dessert. Brush lightly with apple jelly and refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve gâteau very cold.

Notes
Serving Ideas:Original serves 8.


Categories
CustardsCakesFruit, DessertsPuddings
Keywords
CustardsCakesFruit DessertsPuddings
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