Joconde Imprimé

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.
This was going to be my first challenge at the Daring Kitchen, and, I must admit, at first, I really thought that I wasn't going to make this one. But then, I took a closer look at the recipe and wanted to give it a try.

Now, that it became that good, I know, I will definitely do this one again.
I want to try more flavours. Maybe something more classical with flavours like hazelnut, vanilla, coffee, chocolates, and something with different fruits like banana, orange, lemon cherry, or even more exotic fruits like mango & co! There are just too much possibilities. But this one was so good, I don't know if I'd manage to get away from the rhubarb/raspberry/blueberry fillings.

It was so delicious, I love desserts with fruits! A friend of mine said it's "the best cake she has ever eaten".

I must admit, I had absolutely no problems making the joconde, even though I couldn't let the decor paste freeze as the baking sheet was way too big for our freezer (how do you gyus do that? I mean, your jelly roll pan is even bigger as mine, our bigger ones are 29*33 cm).
I made mine on parchment paper on a baking sheet. There weren't any burnt edges, it was a perfect rectangle, there was almost nothing that I had to cut away. But the hint of the red gel food coloring (I want a soft pink) somewhat disappeared while baking the joconde batter. I made the decor paste a cocoa version.
So, even preparing the mold and filling was totally easy! I was a bit scared because I read so many bad things that could happen, but I think the batter/sponge was just good and I put it quite tightly in the mold which probably was a huge advantage.
I made a smaller batch of the joconde batter (according to the size of my pan) and 2/7 of the decor paste. But I quite adapted both of the recipes, put more almonds in and so on. And I coloured the joconde pink, but unfortunately, it wasn't too visible when baked.

Oh, my selfmade "paper pastry comb" sucked. Has anyone a better idea how to create one? I don't know where to buy one. In every shop I go I look for them, but if they have pastry combs, they only have the zig zag ones.
So, then came the filling. I made fruit mousses and was afraid that it wouldn't set, as I have never made fruit mousses or any kind of mousses before and I never work with gelatine. And I had no recipe for the mousse, so I created my own! As it wasn't ready after 2-3 hours, I left it in the fridge until the evening of the next day. And: the consistency was PERFECT!
I was so stupid to decorate the top with some hazelnut brittle (that was no problem) and blanc battu (which was also in the mousse). But the blanc battu "lost water". But, it wasn't that bad. I wasn't expecting a perfect lookg joconde.

From bottom to top:
Rhubarb mousse,
blueberry mousse,
raspberry mousse.

My recipe (for the original recipe and the directions: Here.)

The following recipe is my version and scaled down for a smaller jelly roll pan (29*38 cm)!

Joconde Sponge (yields a 29*38 cm jelly roll pan)
2/3 cup	70 g	almond meal
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp	70 g	confectioner's sugar
3 tbsp	20 g	cake flour
2		eggs
2		egg whites
2 1/2 tsp		granulated sugar
1/4 stick	25 g	margarine

Margarine can be replaced with butter.

Cacao Décor Paste (yields 29*38 cm jelly roll pan)
1/2 stick	55 g	margarine
1/2 cup	55 g	confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup	30 g	cake flour
2		egg whites
2 tbsp	15 g	cocoa powder

Margarine can be replaced with butter.

For the directions, look at the link above.
Dividing the recipe for the Décor Paste is strongly recommended, else it yields way too much.

For the Entremets I used three variations of my own mousse creation: 

My fruit mousse, basic recipe
	500 g	fruits
1/3 cup	80 g	sugar
6 sheets		gelatine
2/3 cup	150 g	blanc battu
1 cup	250 ml	heavy cream (35% fat)

1. Puree the fruits mixed with the sugar. 
2. Prepare the gelatine according the producer's directions, let it sit.
3. Melt the gelatine on very low heat, then add a tbsp of the puree to the pan with the gelatine, and then mix this with the remaining puree. 
4. Put it in the fridge until it's firm only at the edges. Mix again.
5. Fold in the Blanc Battu
6. Whip cream and fold it carefully in, too.

It's only a basic recipe which I divided for each layer.