Bûches de Noël Carles Mampel École Valrhona Brooklyn

Extreme chocolate bûche by Carles Mampel

Although the interests of Carles Mampel lately focus on making pastry adapted to the main concerns of the consumer – healthier products, vegan, less sweet – that does not mean he is not interested in paying homage to the king, chocolate. He took advantage of his time at Valrhona’s Ecole du Grand Chocolat in Brooklyn to offer this authentic tribute to chocolate in which the intensity and purity of flavors pivot around the Illanka origin couverture. It is one of the many creations he made in his “hands-on” course with Antonio Bachour, with whom he shares a friendship and sweet buffet on more than one occasion in his master class all over the world. We recommend you do not miss out on the details on the use of ingredients which were unusual until recently in the workshops and that sometimes help achieve that effect of purity, intensity, and essence that the Catalan chef seeks in his creations.

Photos by: Nitzan Rubin

Chocolate biscuit

150 g Valrhona P125 Coeur de Guanaja Couverture
150 g Valrhona Equatoriale Noir 55% Couverture
100 g butter
140 g egg yolks
400 g egg whites
100 g sugar

Melt chocolates and mix with butter and tempered yolk. Whip egg white and sugar, and mix together. Bake at 160ºC.

Chocolate shortbread

240 g cold butter in cubes
350 g brown sugar
40 g cocoa powder
280 g almond powder
220 g flour
25 g maltodextrine
20 g Valrhona Eclats d’Or
10 g Valrhona Chocolate Nibs
2 g baking soda
1 g vanilla extract
5 g salt
60 g egg yolk

Mix dry ingredients, add butter cubes and mix until getting a kind of sand. Add yolk, make dough and keep in the fridge for 4-6 hours. Use.

Illanka creamy ganache without cream

250 g water
80 g Valrhona Illanka 63% Couverture
30 g Valrhona Jivara 40% Couverture
50 g inulin
2 g 200 BLOOMS gelatine +10 g H2O

Melt chocolates. Heat water and inulin up to 70ºC and add the gelatine. Emulsify with melded chocolates. Strain with a superbag and place in moulds. Keep in the fridge for 12 hours. Freeze.

Illanka mousse

Direct meringue:

200 g egg whites
150 g sugar
50 g inulin
100 g 21 DE glucose
1 g cream of tartar
1 g albumin

Cook all ingredients in a bain-marie at 62ºC. Keep in the fridge for 6h. Melt again at 40ºC. Whip just the needed quantity.

750 g whipped cream
350 g Valrhona Illanka 63% Couverture
300 g direct meringue
8 g 200 BLOOMS gelatine + 40 g Milk

Melt chocolate at 55ºC and add a third of the cream. Melt gelatine and add to the first mix. Integrate the meringue at 32ºC, and then the remaining cream.

Crunchy smoked corn

100 g Valrhona Equatoriale Lactée 35% Couverture
150 g Eclats d’Or Valrhona
50 g fried corn
5 g smoked viking salt
120 g 60/40 Almond Praliné
25 g clarified butter

Melt chocolate with butter. Mix all ingredients. Laminate between 2 guitar sheets to a 2-3 mm thickness. Let cool and cut with desired shape to place inside the cake.
Assemble the cake.