To make this challenging multi-layered elegant dessert is quite the accomplishment, but it’s totally worth it in the end.
This is the amazing Banana Dulcey Entrement, a cake that was born from my love for Valrhona Dulcey. I managed to get my hands on a bag of Dulcey recently and I just can’t stop eating it – it’s delicious! I kept delaying the moment of actually using it in a dessert because I was a bit afraid of failure – it’s a pretty expensive chocolate and I just didn’t want to waste any. I kept thinking what to pair it with for a while and then I thought – let’s just give it a try, it can’t go that bad, right?! I decided to combine it with banana and a bit of dulce de leche just to emphasize the caramel taste and the cake turned out luscious!
This banana Dulcey entremet is a cake to impress! The layers look so beautiful and the taste is perfectly balanced so a slice is not enough for those of you with sweet cravings. Mind you, I had two slices at midnight the day I made it! Surely not the healthiest thing I’ve ever done, but sometimes I do feel the need of being spoilt and what better way than a slice of cake, especially when that cake is as tasty and creamy as this one?!
You can easily replace Dulcey with caramelized white chocolate or plain , simple white chocolate, with caramel or milk chocolate, but keep in mind that Dulcey comes with a butter, toasty, slightly salty, mild caramel taste that is hard to replicate. I’m absolutely smitten by it! Valrhona is said to be one of the best chocolates in the world – now I can’t say I necessarily agree, easpecially for dark chocolate, but they surely made me fall in love with Dulcey!
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Banana Dulcey Entremet
- Total Time: 48 hours
Description
This banana dulcey entremet is a cake to impress. The layers look beautiful, and the taste is perfectly balanced, so a slice is not enough.
Ingredients
Hazelnut Dacquoise:
- 90 g powdered sugar
- 82 g hazelnut flour
- 30 g all-purpose flour
- 105 g egg whites
- 30 g white sugar
- 60 g whole hazelnuts (roasted and chopped)
Banana sponge:
- 30 g white sugar
- 130 g bananas (sliced)
- 10 ml dark rum
- 100 g dark brown sugar
- 40 g honey
- 125 g butter (clarified)
- 125 g whole eggs
- 135 g all-purpose flour
- 6 g baking powder
- 100 g banana (chopped)
Banana Compote:
- 150 g bananas (diced)
- 50 g light brown sugar
- 50 g butter
- 2 g pectin NH
- You will also need 80g dulce de leche
Dulcey Mousse:
- 170 g egg yolk
- 25 g white sugar
- 185 ml milk
- 8 g gelatin + 40ml cold water
- 390 g Dulcey Valrhona chocolate (melted)
- 450 ml heavy cream (whipped)
Milk Chocolate Glaze:
- 22 g gelatin sheets
- 125 ml water
- 225 g white sugar
- 225 g glucose
- 225 g milk chocolate (40%)
- 160 g sweetened condensed milk
- 90 g neutral nappage
Instructions
Hazelnut Dacquoise:
- Mix te powdered sugar, hazelnut flour and all-purpose flour in a bowl.
- Whip a meringue from egg whites and white sugar, mixing it until stiff and glossy.
- Fold in the hazelnut flour mixture then spoon the dough into a pastry bag and pipe a circle of about 22cm diameter on a sheet of baking paper.
- Top the batter with chopped hazelnuts and bake in the preheated oven at 350F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and slightly crisp on the edge.
- Allow to cool down in the pan then cut a 21cm diameter circle then wrap it in foil and place aside until needed.
Banana sponge:
- Begin by caramelizing the banana slices: melt 30g sugar until golden brown. Add the banana slices and cook on each side briefly then pour in the rum. Remove from heat and place aside until needed.
- Mix the brown sugar, honey and butter in a bowl for 2 minutes. Add the eggs and mix for 1 more minute then stir in the caramelized bananas and mix to incorporate.
- Stir in the flour sifted with baking powder and salt and mix it in the batter.
- Fold in the chopped bananas then pour the batter in a large pan, making sure the layer of batter is about 1cm thick.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 350F for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown and it passes the toothpick test.
- Allow to cool down in the pan then cut an 18cm diameter circle and place it in an 18cm round cake ring lined with acetate sheets. This will be the base of the insert.
Banana Compote:
- Combine the brown sugar, butter and pectin in a saucepan.
- Add the banana and cook for 2 minutes on low heat.
- Pour the compote over the banana sponge and freeze for a few hours.
- Spread the dulce de leche over the compote and freeze again.
Dulcey Mousse:
- Bloom the gelatin in cold water.
- Combine the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl.
- Heat the milk in a saucepan then pour it over the egg yolks.
- Place the mixture back on heat and cook until thickened and a thermometer reads 82C.
- Remove from heat and stir in the bloomed gelatin then strain it over the melted Dulcey chocolate. Mix until smooth and creamy then allow to come to room temperature.
- Fold in the heavy cream.
To assemble the cake:
- Line a 21cm diameter cake ring with acetate sheets and place the dacquoise at the bottom of the ring.
- Pour ½ of the Dulcey mousse in the cake ring. Remove the frozen insert from the mold and place it in the center of the cake ring, pressing it slightly.
- pour the remaining mousse over the insert to cover it completely.
- Freeze the cake for a few hours, preferably overnight.
Milk Chocolate Glaze:
- Bloom the gelatin sheets in cold water.
- Combine the water, sugar and glucose in a saucepan and bring the syrup to 103C.
- Remove from heat and stir in the bloomed gelatin sheets, followed by the condensed milk.
- Pour the mixture over the chocolate and blend until smooth and creamy. Add the neutral nappage and mix well.
- Allow to cool down to 30-35C before using.
To glaze the cake:
- Remove the cake from the freezer then unmold it and remove the foil.
- Place the cake on a cooling rack then pour the glaze over the cake, making sure the stream is even and the layer of glaze is consistent.
- Allow to drip off then transfer on a platter.
- Decorate as you wish!
- Cook Time: 2 days
- Category: Dessert
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: French
Hello, is there a difference between pure pectin and pectin nh, as I can find only one type of pectin in the UK shops?
There are some differences between pectin and pectin NH, but for this recipe you should be able to use either (as you are applying heat).
It is really 22 grams gelatin. The glaze needs to set quickly on the cake.
Hello! :-)
It’s really 22 gram gelatin sheets? or 2.2 gr gelatin sheets?
This looks amazing! After glazing do you bring it up to room temperature before serving? Or keep it refrigerated until serving?
After glazing you keep in the fridge for a few hours prior to serving.