Gianduja & Orange Blossom cake by chef Christophe Michalak

12/08/20204passionfood

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour 05 minutes

Serves: 3 cakes (15cm / 8cm / 5cm)

When we start eating this cake it’s so hard to stop. The reason is that under its chocolate shell, we have a moist and soft financier cake, the crunchiness fron the caramelized nuts, the fondant of the Gianduja ganache. Everything is there !  Add to that this, a subtle note of orange blossom that I love.

 It’s really delicious, like every time I try a recipe from this exceptional chef “Christophe Michalak”.

I have already made his other signature “vanilla tonka” cake recipe on my Instagram account, from the same book “the ultimate cake book”.  It was just divine.

Without further ado, here is the recipe, don’t forget to see the note « advices and tricks ».

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Gianduja & Orange Blossom cake by chef Christophe Michalak

  • Prep time: 30 minutes
  • Cook time: 1 hour 05 minutes
  • Serves: 3 cakes (15cm / 8cm / 5cm)

For 3 cakes (mini bread molds) 15cm / 8cm / 5cm (300g of cake batter for each mold).
Or 2 calisson-shaped cakes (silikomart) 17cm / 8cm / 5cm high (330g of cake batter in each cavity)

Ingredients

Gianduja ganache :

  • 35 g dark chocolate , 70% cocoa
  • 80 g hazelnut Gianduja , (see tricks & tips for recipe)
  • 10 g water
  • 10 g caster sugar
  • 80 g whipping cream
  • 15 g glucose syrup
  • 12 g grapessed oil

Orange blossom financier cake :

  • 260 g icing sugar
  • 100 g flour, all-purpose
  • 3 g baking powder
  • 95 g raw almond powder, (skin on)
  • 145 g brown butter
  • 25 g acacia honey
  • 215 g eggs white, (6-7 eggs medium size)
  • 55 g orange blossom water

Caramelized almonds and hazelnuts :

  • 30 g water
  • 30 g caster sugar
  • 75 g slivered almonds
  • 30 g hazelnuts

Chocolate icing :

  • 300 g milk chocolate
  • 23 g cocoa butter
  • 60 g grapeseed oil

Method

Gianduja Ganache :

  • 1)

    In a bowl, place the chopped chocolate and the gianduja, set aside.
    In a saucepan, bring the water, sugar, whipping cream, and glucose to a boil.  Pour over the chocolate and gianduja, mix well, then blend with a hand blender until the ganache becomes homogeneous.  Add the grapeseed oil, mix.  Cover the bowl with a film and refrigerate overnight.

     

Orange Blossom financier cake :

  • 1)

    The same day, preheat the oven to 160C.  In a bowl sift the icing sugar, flour and baking powder then add the ground almonds.

     

  • 2)

    Make a brown butter :
    place the butter in a saucepan and let it melt. Once melted, the butter will begging to foam, keep stirring and continue cooking until the butter becomes golden brown and smells nutty. Pour the butter through a strainer
    over the honey.

     

  • 3)

    Pour this mixture over the powders then add the white eggs and orange blossom.  Mix well.

     

  • 4)

    Butter the molds and pour 300g of the batter into each mold (or 330g if you are using the silicone calisson molds) and bake for 40 minutes or until the cakes are cooked and golden brown. Let cool on a rack for 30 minutes before unmolding.

     

Caramelized almonds and hazelnuts :

  • 1)

    Preheat the oven to 160C.  Boil the water and sugar to make a syrup.  Pour it over the almonds and hazelnuts, mix.  Arrange the coated almonds and hazelnuts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then bake for 15 minutes.  Take out of the oven to cool and set aside.

     

Chocolate icing :

  • 1)

    Melt the chocolate and cocoa butter in a bain-marie.  Add the grapeseed oil, mix.(if you don’t have a cocoa butter check advices and tips for the alternative).

Assembly :

  • 1)

    Using a tablespoon, spread 70g of gianduja ganache on each cake, conforming to its shape. 

     

  • 2)

    Sprinkle each cake with 25g of almonds and 10g of caramelized hazelnuts.  Put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

     

  • 3)

    Coat the cakes with the chocolate icing, the chocolate shouldn’t be hot (30C), then place them on a sheet of baking paper before placing them in the fridge for about 20 minutes so that the chocolate freezes.

    Enjoy !

     

     

Tips and tricks

  •  What is gianduja and how do you make it?  :
    Gianduga is Italian, known to be made from a chocolate and hazelnut paste, it’s like praliné or a chocolate spread.
    I share with you a very simple and easy gianduja recipe which requires only three ingredients (Michalak recipe from his book “le tout Michalak”).
    You need the same amount for all the ingredients:
    o 150g of hazelnuts
    o 150g of icing sugar
    o 150g of milk chocolate
    o + a pinch of fine salt.
    Roast the hazelnuts in a preheated oven at 150C.  When the color of the hazelnuts turns to brown caramel, take them out of the oven and let them cool.  Grind the hazelnuts with the icing sugar and salt, then add the melted milk chocolate, mix everything until you get a shiny spread.
    I advise you to use a good quality of chocolate milk, I use the “Jivara” chocolate from Valrhona.
  • The more the almonds and hazelnuts are caramelized, the more intense the flavors will be.
  • For the caramelized almonds and hazelnuts, I advise you to coat them with syrup to pour them through a strainer to remove the excess of syrup before placing them on the baking sheet covered with baking paper and making sure to distribute them well, once you put them in the oven, keep an eye on them they can burn quickly.
  • If you don’t have slivered almonds , you can use whole almonds that are chopped.
  • To make 145g of brown butter, you will need 200g of butter.
  • I didn’t have any cocoa butter so I went for Cyril Lignac’s icing:
    In a bain-marie, melt 225g of milk chocolate at 45C, then add 50g of sunflower oil (or another neutral oil like grapeseed oil), set aside at room temperature.
  • It is important to put the cake in the freezer 30 minutes before coating.  The chocolate will set and glaze the cake.

Nutrition

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