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Magic Lantern

Did you know that the history of red velvet cake goes way back? The Waldorf Astoria in New York served the cakes back in the 1920s. It supposedly gained renewed popularity through the movie “Steel Magnolias” and, above all, through a brief appearance of the Magnolia Bakery in the American series “Sex and the City”, whose best-selling cupcakes today are still the Red Velvet Cupcakes. And I think that's what really made it famous here.
And did you know how the cake gets its red-brown color? The color is the result of a chemical reaction between the cocoa in the cake and acidic ingredients such as buttermilk or yogurt? I didn't know that either ☺.
I'd only made a red velvet cake once before, but I wasn't really impressed with the recipe. So I was a little skeptical, but I can assure you that this Red Velvet Cake is simply fantastic. Light and airy with fine pores and a beautiful color.
The flavors of lemon, mandarin and white chocolate mousse are combined with this wonderful base for the Magic Lantern. I love the interplay of citrus fruits with sweet components, so Gregory Doyen is right up my street. And hopefully yours too. Don't be put off by the few steps involved, they are all quickly prepared and you will be rewarded with a great cake.
Prep Time 3 hours
Cook Time 40 minutes
Servings 12 people

Ingredients
  

Mandarin coulis

  • 100 g mandarin puree e.g. from Boiron or Ponthier
  • 20 g mango puree e.g. from Boiron or Ponthier
  • Juice of half a lime
  • 1 1/2 sheets of gelatine

Lemon cream

  • 1 egg
  • 30 g sugar
  • 5 g cornflour
  • 45 g lemon juice
  • 16 g cream
  • 36 g glucose syrup

Lemon zest

  • 20 g butter
  • 15 g Mycryo Butter*
  • 10 g gelatine mix**

Red Velvet

  • 100 g whole egg
  • 57 g egg yolk I used two, so slightly less in weight
  • 83 g sugar I
  • 57 g egg white
  • 47 g sugar II
  • 53 g butter
  • 67 g flour
  • 13 g corn starch cornflour
  • 13 g baking cocoa
  • 2.7 g baking powder
  • 2.7 g baking soda
  • 47 g natural yoghurt
  • 2.7 g vinegar
  • Red food coloring if necessary

Raspberry coulis

  • 100 g raspberry puree Boiron or Ponthier
  • 100 g frozen raspberries
  • 34 g invert sugar I used acacia honey as a substitute
  • 34 g sugar
  • 6 g pectin
  • 34 g gelatine mix*

Mirrorglaze

  • 120 g glucose syrup
  • 120 g sugar
  • 60 g water I
  • 8 g powdered gelatine
  • 48 g water II
  • 120 g chopped white chocolate coating or callets
  • 80 g sweetened condensed milk e.g. from Nestle
  • Food gel coloring red

White chocolate mousse with vanilla

  • 160 g milk
  • Pulp of half a vanilla pod
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 164 g white chocolate coating chopped or callets
  • 19 g sugar
  • 250 g cream
  • 3 sheets of gelatine

Preparation and finishing

  • Velvetspray orange
  • Ring s of tempered and colored white chocolate coating

Instructions
 

Mandarin coulis

  • Soak the gelatine in ice-cold water. Heat the fruit puree with the lime juice and dissolve the well-squeezed gelatine in it. Pour into the tortaflex mold (Ø 16 cm) and place in the freezer overnight.

Lemon cream

  • Gregory Doyen uses Gelatine Mix** in all his recipes. It is very easy to make or prepare. Cut into small cubes, it is then ready for further use.
  • 1 sachet of powdered gelatine (approx. 9 g)
  • 58 g water
  • Stir the sachet of gelatine into the water and leave to soak for 30 minutes. Then melt in the microwave, pour into a small, shallow plastic bowl and leave to set in the fridge. For the lemon cream after it has set, remove 10 g.
  • * Mycryo Butter
  • Mycryo Butter is pure cocoa butter in powder form, a 100% natural ingredient. I bought this product some time ago to temper chocolate with. However, I think you can also melt the required amount of cocoa butter in the microwave and use it.
  • Mix the egg with the sugar and starch. Heat the lemon juice, glucose and cream. Stir the hot mixture into the egg and sugar mixture, return everything to the pan and heat to 83°. Remove from the heat and leave to cool to approx. 40°. Carefully melt the butter and Mycryo butter together in the microwave, fold into the lemon cream and finally dissolve the gelatine mix in it. Pour the lemon cream onto the tangerine fruit layer, “shake” until smooth and freeze again.
  • Unfortunately, the lemon cream hardly stands out from the vanilla mousse, it is not recognizable in the cut that it is something else. Fortunately, you could taste it ☺.

Red velvet

  • Preheat the oven to approx. 170° top/bottom heat. Beat the eggs, egg yolks and sugar (I) until frothy. In another bowl, beat the egg whites with the sugar (II) until stiff peaks form. Melt the butter and add the red food coloring.
  • Mix all the dry ingredients together, as well as the yogurt and vinegar. First carefully fold the yoghurt mixture into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in the sieved dry ingredients and the beaten egg whites. Finally, fold in the colored butter.
  • Spread the mixture onto a silicone mat or a baking tray lined with baking paper. As smooth as possible and approx. 1 cm thick.
  • Once again, the mixture is a little more than required. I didn't want to reduce the original instructions any further. The leftovers can be used for a dessert or a cake in a jar.
  • After cooling, cut out two circles with a diameter of 16 cm.

Raspberry coulis

  • Chop up the whole raspberries and add to the raspberry puree. Mix the pectin with the sugar, add and bring slowly to the boil. Dissolve the gelatine mix in it and leave the mixture to cool slightly.
  • As soon as the mixture has cooled, place a circle of Velvet Cake on top of the lemon cream, then spread the raspberry puree on top and finish with the second Velvet Cake. Freeze again. Now all that's missing is the vanilla mousse ☺.

Mirrorglaze

  • Soak the powdered gelatine in cold water (II). Bring the glucose syrup, sugar and water (I) to the boil in a pan at 103°. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sweetened condensed milk. Then dissolve the gelatine in it. Place the couverture in a tall mixing bowl and pour the mixture over it, leave to stand briefly. Then add the food gel coloring and emulsify with a hand blender. Make sure that the hand blender is always held below the surface so that no air bubbles form. Mix until a nice creamy glaze has formed. Cover the surface directly with cling film and place in the fridge overnight.

White chocolate mousse with vanilla

  • Mix the egg yolk and sugar and soak the gelatine in ice-cold water. Melt the chocolate coating. Heat the milk with the seeds from the vanilla pod. Mix with the egg yolk before boiling and return everything to the pan and heat to 83°. As soon as the temperature has been reached, dissolve the gelatine in it and mix in three parts with the couverture.
  • The mixture should only cool to approx. 30°, stirring constantly. Whip the cream until creamy and carefully fold in. Fill two or three “mandarins” with the mousse and use the rest for the cake.

Preparation and finishing

  • Pour the vanilla mousse into the silicone mold and smooth up the sides so that there are no gaps. Shape the entire inner part and place in the middle. In my case, the inner part was a little too high, the lower part of the velvet cake should actually be exactly flush with the edge of the silicone mold.
  • Now put the whole thing back in the freezer for a night. The next morning, carefully heat the Mirrorglaze to approx. 40°, then allow to cool back down to the usage temperature of approx. 35°.
  • Unmold the cake, place on an inverted dish and cover with the Mirrorglaze. Leave to defrost in the fridge. Also unmold the “mandarins” and spray with orange Velvetspray. Decorate with the green of real mandarins and raspberries.