Trial One!

The best ingredients will yield the best product, but for my college budget and lack of proximity to real pastry supply stores, all the ingredients are simple and fairly inexpensive. However, if you can get you hands on Cacao Barry, it's definitely worth it! To purchase online, click here.

Gather together all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, eggs, vanilla, butter, cream, cocoa powder, baking chocolate and pecans. The cake base needs to be made first so it can cool for later. Although I eventually want a brownie base, I decided to start with the basic sponge for trial one.

Separate the yolks from the whites and whisk both with sugar. The yolks will begin to lighten and become thick and sticky. The whites will get frothy and gain volume. (With the whites, don't add the sugar until you have whipped them a few minutes and they have soft peaks. Continue to whip after adding the sugar until they are more firm and keep their shape.) Fold the yolks and the flour and cocoa mixture into the whites gently. Watch the video below for proper folding technique. Gently pour evenly onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 38o until it springs back when touched. Sponge, or génoise, is one of the first things we learned to make at Le Cordon Bleu.

The next two components are simple and only take a few minutes. For chocolate ganache, simply pour hot cream into a bowl of chopped chocolate. After a minute, stir slowly to incorporate. Let it cool. For mousse, whip cream in a large bowl to soft peaks, then drizzle in melted chocolate while whipping to combine. Refrigerate.

I had never made caramel sauce before, but it turned out really well! I heated some sugar in a saucepan until it began to brown and bubble, then I added butter and whisked in cream. It looks just like the kind you buy at the store! (see below for the color it should be when bubbling with butter on the stove)



Now that all the components are made, it is time to assemble. Cut circles out of the cake and fill into a parchment paper ring (or ideally a metal pastry ring). Next, pour on a layer of chocolate ganache and spread to cover the entire circle. Sprinkle with chopped, toasted pecans and cover with the caramel sauce.


Fill a pastry bag with the chocolate mousse and pipe onto the cakes as the final layer. Refrigerate for several hours or you can't wait any longer! Remove the paper rings from the outside of the cake and place on a dessert plate. You can either pipe a chocolate design (for technique on using a chocolate cornet, watch this video) or drizzle with extra caramel sauce and garnish with pecans.


The end result earned rave reviews from my parents, but I know there is work to be done and improvements to be made. As my pastry idol Jacques Torres says:

“If you love to work with dough and chocolate and sugar, then you give it everything you have" and “you have to come up with something new, something else, always, always”.