Traybakes

Method

Pistachio Praline

*Note – this is quite a small batch of praline, enough for the cake recipe, but if your food processor isn’t overly powerful, it may be worth doubling this recipe so that there is enough mixture in the food processor for it to “catch” the praline and blend it. Otherwise the blade will be spinning around blending air and all the praline will be stuck to the sides.

1. Place the unsalted, shelled pistachios onto a baking tray. Place them in the oven to roast gently at 175C/350F for 8-10 minutes. They should be fragrant and lightly toasted when done, but keep an eye on them so they don’t burn!

• • 120g Unsalted Pistachios

2. Meanwhile, place the water and sugar into a medium saucepan. Place it over a medium heat and try not to stir it. Heat the mixture until it reaches a nice deep golden colour. Once it is done, immediately pour it onto a silicon mat to set.

• • 60g Caster Sugar
  • 2 Tbsp Water

3. Once the caramel has set and is nice and firm to the touch (about 30 minutes – 1 hour), add it into a high powered food processor along with the roasted pistachios and a small pinch of salt.

• • Pinch of Salt

4. Start by bending on a low speed and slowly increase it.

5. Initially the mixture will look quite powdery and dry – you will need to scrape down the sides of the food processor at least 6-8 times, stopping the machine every 20 seconds or so to make sure it is fully incorporated. The key is to start on a medium low speed, so the blade isn’t running too fast that it spits all the mixture to the edges.

6. After about 5 minutes of blending and scraping down, you should end up with a nice green paste, that is a similar texture to a natural peanut butter. If your mixture is very dry, you can add a very small amount of groundnut oil to help loosen it and it will blend much easier.

7. Scrape the praline out of the food processor and weigh 100g of it, ready for the cake batter.

Pistachio Cake

1. Preheat the oven to 210C/410F Non-Fan Assisted . Lightly grease a 9×9” square tin, and then line the base & sides with parchment paper.

2. Start by browning your butter – place the unsalted butter into a small saucepan and place it over a medium heat.

• • 65g Unsalted Butter

3. Melt the butter and continue to cook until the butter starts to smell nutty and the bubbling noises have stopped. Keep a close eye on the butter as it can burn. Once brown, pour the butter into another bowl, weighing the 40g needed for the recipe. Keep it somewhere warm.

4. Into a medium bowl, add the eggs and sugar. Whisk the mixture for 1-2 minutes by and until it is slightly lighter in colour.

• • 120g Whole Eggs
  • 85g Caster Sugar

5. On top of the eggs, add the flour, baking powder, salt & ground almonds. Whisk the mixture until it is combined, do not overbeat it. Simply mix until the dry ingredients are incorporated.

• • 95g Plain Flour
  • 2 Tsp Baking Powder
  • 20g Ground Almonds

6. Next, pour in the cream and whisk to combine.

• • 60g Double/Heavy Cream

7. Finally, add in the warm brown butter and the pistachio praline you made earlier. Whisk to combine until you have an even batter.

• • 40g Brown Butter
  • 100g Pistachio Praline

8. Pour the batter into the greased tin, and place it into the oven. Bake for 11-15 minutes. Every oven is different so keep an eye on it, it should be a nice golden colour on top so be careful not to overcook it. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool.

Sable Breton

1. Into the bowl of a stand mixer (or a large bowl if you are using a hand mixer), add the soft unsalted butter, vanilla & sugar and beat on a medium speed until it is white & pale in colour.

• • 125g Soft Unsalted Butter
  • 110g Caster Sugar
  • ½ Tsp Vanilla Bean Paste

2. Next, add in the egg yolk and salt. Beat to combine. You will need to scrape down the bowl so it is fully incorporated.

• • 55g Egg Yolk
  • 2g Salt

3. Finally, sieve in the baking powder and flour. Mix on a low speed until just combined. You might need to scrape down the bottom of the bowl to ensure all the soft butter is fully incorporated.

• • 160g Plain Flour
  • 5g Baking Powder

4. Scoop the mixture out and place it into between two silpats or pieces of parchment. Using a rolling pin, roll it as thin as possible. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour, until it is firm to the touch. Preheat the oven to 180C/355F.

5. Remove the sable breton from the fridge and cut it into discs, 3.5” wide.

6. Place them onto a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes or until lightly golden around the edge.

7. As they bake, they may spread slightly and lose their shape, so as soon as they come out of the oven, take the cookie cutter, and cut them down to size again so they are neat.

Chocolate Decoration

Tempering chocolate is a whole series we have covered in Bake It Better so I would advise watching those videos for the full explanation and techniques on how to temper. You can also skip this decoration and ignore these steps!

1. Take your bottle of red cocoa butter and place it in the microwave, heating it in small bursts, shaking it every time you remove it from the microwave. Don’t melt the entire bottle, you simply want to melt enough to the point where, when you shake the bottle you can feel a small amount of liquid in there, but the main body of the cocoa butter is still unmelted. As you shake the bottle, this will ensure the cocoa butter remains in temper.

2. Cut eight strips of acetate – around 12.5” long and 2” high. If you are making the desserts slightly larger, simply measure the circumference of your dessert to ensure the acetate collar will fit around the outside.

3. Take four of the strips of acetate and wrap them around large circular objects that are similar in circumference to your dessert – it could be a plastic bottle or container. Remember that once the collar has set, it will essentially hold this exact size, so if you place it around an object that is too large, it will be too large for your final dessert. Place the containers onto a tray.

4. My dessert was 3.5” wide, so I used a plastic container that was between 3.5” – 4” wide. You wrap the bottom in acetate so that the tempered chocolate doesn’t stick to the container.

5. Place the remaining 4 strips of acetate onto a large silicon mat. If the acetate curls up, simply stick the edges down with a small piece of sellotape.

6. Take the melted, tempered cocoa butter and squeeze drops of it onto your strips of acetate.

7. Use a sponge or a pastry brush to spread the cocoa butter evenly across the acetate. The cocoa butter will set quite quickly as you spread it. It should set within a minute or so.

8. Ensuring the cocoa butter has set (you will see it no longer looks wet), take a small pastry brush and dust the acetate strip with gold lustre dust.

9. Next, place your white chocolate into a medium bowl over a pan of very gently simmering water.

• • 200g High Quality White Chocolate

10. Stir the chocolate constantly until it reaches a temperature of 45C/113F on a digital thermometer.

11. Immediately remove the chocolate from the heat and stir in the remaining, unmelted chocolate.

• • 40g High Quality White Chocolate

12. Keep stirring the mixture constantly until it cools to 27C/80F. Place the chocolate back on the pan of gently simmering water and heat it slowly until it reaches 32C/89F. Be very careful not to overheat it.

13. Dry the bottom of the bowl with a tea towel, then ladle the chocolate evenly between the 4 strips of acetate coloured with cocoa butter. Spread the chocolate out evenly with a palette knife.

14. Allow the chocolate to set at room temperature until it is no longer wet, and is dry when you touch it, but is still flexible. If you let it cool too much, it will snap when you lift it up.

15. Very carefully lift the strip of acetate up, and wrap it around the acetate covered container you set up earlier and leave it to set. You can let it set at room temperature for an hour (if your room temperature is not too hot) or place it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes.

16. Once the chocolate has set, very carefully remove the container from the centre, and peel away the acetate, being careful not to snap the chocolate.

Final Assembly

1. Take the pistachio sponge, and cut 3.5” circles to match the size of your sable breton.

2. Place the sponge on top of the sable breton biscuit base.

3. To make the chantilly, add all of the ingredients to a mixing bowl and whisk by hand until you have a medium peak.

• • 300g Double/Heavy Cream
  • 1 Tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
  • 1.5 Tsp Icing/Powdered Sugar

4. Spoon the chantilly onto the centre of the sponge.

5. Take the chocolate collar and carefully wrap it around the dessert.

6. Slice the fresh strawberries and decorate the top of the dessert along with some crushed pistachio.

7. Finish with edible gold leaf and serve.