🎄 Christmas Chocolate & Caramel Entremets
This festive entremets is a perfect centerpiece for the holidays. It’s built from multiple refined elements: a reconstituted cocoa sablé base, a light tonka Sacher sponge, a layer of silky vanilla caramel with crunchy peanuts, a creamy milk chocolate crémeux, and an airy caramel mousse made with Zéphyr chocolate. The whole cake is finished with a shiny mirror glaze and playful decorations like chocolate rings, meringues, and sponge cubes.
Ingredients
🍫 Cocoa Crunch Base Croustillant Chocolate
- For the cocoa sablé:
- 57 g unsalted butter
- 25 g powdered sugar
- 9 g egg yolk
- 1.5 g fine salt
- 64 g all-purpose flour T55
- 3.5 g cocoa powder
- To reconstitute the sablé:
- 7 g Inaya dark chocolate 65%, Cacao Barry
- 45 g Alunga milk chocolate Cacao Barry
- 6 g neutral oil
- 35 g crêpe dentelle
- 70 g baked cocoa sablé from above
🍫 Milk Chocolate Crémeux
- 160 g heavy cream 30% fat
- 20 g egg yolk
- 80 g Alunga milk chocolate Cacao Barry
- 1.8 g powdered gelatin 200 bloom
- 11 g cold water for blooming
🍫 Tonka Chocolate Sacher Biscuit
- 55 g almond paste 50%
- 20 g sugar 1
- 35 g whole eggs
- 15 g egg yolks
- 15 g flour T55
- 15 g unsweetened cocoa powder
- 50 g egg whites
- 20 g sugar 2
- 15 g melted butter
- ⅓ tonka bean finely grated
🍮 Vanilla Caramel with Peanuts
- 115 g sugar
- 150 g heavy cream 30%
- 40 g butter
- Pinch of fleur de sel
- Pinch of powdered vanilla
- Q.S. roasted unsalted peanut chunks
🍯 Zéphyr Caramel Mousse
- 90 g heavy cream 30%
- 90 g Zéphyr caramel chocolate Cacao Barry
- 200 g whipped cream soft peaks
- 2 g powdered gelatin
- 12 g cold water for blooming
✨ Mirror Glaze
- 106 g water
- 200 g sugar
- 200 g glucose syrup
- 134 g sweetened condensed milk
- 100 g Zéphyr caramel chocolate
- 87 g Alunga milk chocolate
- 13 g Ocoa dark chocolate
- 12 g powdered gelatin
- 72 g water for blooming
🍫 Cocoa Sponge (Microwave Sponge)
- 120 g egg whites
- 80 g egg yolks
- 80 g sugar
- 20 g all-purpose flour
- 10 g unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
Cocoa Crunch Base
- Mix the sablé ingredients to form a smooth dough.
- Roll to 3–4 mm thick. Bake at 170°C (fan mode) for 15–20 minutes. Let cool.
- Blend 70 g of baked sablé and mix with melted chocolates, oil, and crêpe dentelle.
- Press into a 16 cm ring and let set at room temperature.
Milk Chocolate Crémeux
- Bloom gelatin in cold water.
- Heat cream and egg yolks to create a custard. Remove at 83°C.
- Pour over chocolate. Add gelatin. Blend until smooth.
- Pour 200 g into a 16 cm ring lined with plastic acetate. Freeze for 3+ hours.
Tonka Sacher Biscuit
- Blend almond paste with sugar and gradually add eggs and grated tonka.
- Stir in melted butter.
- Make a French meringue with whites and remaining sugar.
- Fold meringue into the almond base.
- Fold in sifted flour and cocoa.
- Pour 120 g into a 16 cm ring. Bake at 160°C for 15–20 min. Cool.
- Place on the cocoa base. Freeze, then core the center with an 8 cm cutter. Save the ring for garnish.
Vanilla Caramel with Peanuts
- Make a dry caramel with sugar. Deglaze with hot cream.
- At 50°C, add butter, salt, and vanilla. Blend.
- Chill for 6 hours.
- Pipe a spiral over the biscuit. Sprinkle peanuts. Freeze immediately.
Zéphyr Caramel Mousse
- Bloom gelatin in water.
- Heat cream and pour over chocolate. Stir to emulsify.
- Add gelatin and blend. Cool to 25°C.
- Gently fold in whipped cream.
Assembly
- In the Silikomart Savarin mold, pour mousse and insert frozen crémeux.
- Add more mousse. Invert the frozen biscuit/caramel/crunch layer on top.
- Smooth the surface. Freeze at least 6 hours.
Mirror Glaze
- Bloom gelatin in 72 g cold water.
- Heat water, sugar, glucose to 103°C.
- Pour over condensed milk, add gelatin, then all chocolate.
- Blend and chill 3+ hours before use.
- Warm to 30–35°C before glazing.
- Cocoa Sponge (Microwave)
- Blend all ingredients. Charge twice in a siphon.
- Fill halfway into a plastic cup. Microwave 50 seconds.
- Cool on a rack and tear into pieces for decoration.
Final Decoration
- Unmold the frozen entremets.
- Warm and blend glaze until smooth. Pour over cake on rack.
- Let drip and set for 2 minutes. Transfer to presentation board.
Decorate with:
- A 14 cm chocolate ring (center cut to 10 cm)
- Sponge cubes, meringues, cocoa-dusted sponge chunks
- Gold leaf and milk chocolate maple leaves
I’m Chef Mimo, a passionate pastry chef with over 17 years of experience in the world of fine desserts. I specialize in French-style entremets, refined cakes, and creative chocolate work. Pastry is not just my profession—it’s my lifelong passion. Through PastryCrafted.com, I love sharing my recipes, techniques, and inspirations with anyone who dreams of mastering the art of pastry. Whether you’re a curious beginner or a seasoned pro, you’re welcome in my sweet world.