Catalonia cake with almond, apricot and Rosemary by Kevin Pannier

For Kevin Pannier, the most important thing as a pastry chef is flavor and taste. Since the end of 2017, he looks to attract guests of the luxurious five-star Mandarin Oriental hotel with impeccable creations such as the Catalonia, whose recipe we detail in this article.

A cake with which he wanted to “include south French Flavor which reminds me of my stay in Perpignan, in the south of France, the city I resided in for some time during my apprenticeship”, explains Kevin. “In that part of France,” he continues, “you can find amazing products like apricot, almond, or olive oil and a lot of different fruits and vegetables during the 320 days of sun per year. I decide to use the apricot, because the color of the apricot is close to that of the Catalonia. ”

On a technical level, the French chef decided to use Almond Mousse made with Lubecca Marzipan that “brings a very strong taste of almond to the cake in the finish”.

Almond dacquoise

100 g egg whites
85 g sugar
85 g almond powder
50 g icing sugar
25 g flour T55

In a mixing bowl, whisk the white egg with the sugar. Carefully add the sifted icing sugar, Almond Powder and the Flour T55. Spread the Mixture in a ring of 14 cm. Bake in a fan oven at 200°C for 11 minutes.

Baked apricot

300 g fresh apricot
12 g sugar
10 g butter

Wash and cut half your Apricot. Mix with the sugar and add in a GN1/1 container. Add small cubes of butter on top of your apricot. Bake in a fan oven at 200°C for 10 minutes. After cooking, add 55 g of this baked apricot on top of your almond dacquoise.

Rosemary Crème Brulee

400 g cream
64 g fresh rosemary
46 g sugar
2 g pectine X58
80 g yolk

Keep infusing in cold for 24 hours the rosemary in the cream. In a pan, heat the cream until 80°C, add the mix of pectine and sugar and boil altogether. Add the Yolks. Strain the cream through stainless chinoise. Mix with a hand blender.

Add 100 g on top of your baked apricot.

Apricot Coulis

225 g apricot purée
45 g lemon juice
37 g sugar
4 g pectine NH395

In a Saucepan, heat at 40°C the apricot puree and lemon juice, then add the mixture of sugar and pectine NH395. Boil for 30 seconds. Mix well together and place 70 gr on top of the Rosemary Crème

Lubecca Mousse

500 g milk
5 g vanilla bean
20 g gelatin sheet
470 g lubecca almond
1000 g cream

In a Saucepan, heat at 80°C the milk and the vanilla beans. Then add the gelatin and the lubecca almond. Mix all with a hand blender and keep in the fridge until 30°C. Fold in the whipped cream.

Montage

In rings of 18 cm diameter, fill to halfway the Lubecca Mousse then place into each center the insert. Smooth over to the level of the rings with remaining mousse and place in the rings into the freezer. Unmold the entremets and glaze with an Orange Glaze. Decorate with roasted apricot, fresh rosemary, roasted almond and yellow square chocolate.