-- day before --

Ingredients

• 150gr chocolate 

• 200gr whole milk

• 185gr  heavy cream

• 3 egg yolk, (60gr)

• 15gr sugar

Instructions

1. Beat egg yolk and sugar, add milk/cream nearly boiling, mix

2. On stove, beat until the mix starts to coagulate on the tipped pan (see video). If using a thermometer aim for just shy of  87c / 188f degrees 

3. Wait for mixture to cool off a bit, add chocolate, mix with wand.

4. Let rest for 24h in fridge with cellophane directly on the creme.

Ingredient

• 60g (gluten-free) flour

• 5g cocoa powder

• 1/2 pinch baking powder

• 1/2 pinch of salt

• 30g sugar

• 1/4 scraped vanilla bean (1/2 tsp vanilla extract) 

• 50g butter, softened

Instruction

1. Oven at 190c / 375f degree.

2. Butter 22cm /9inch pan, preferrably with based covered by parchment paper.

3. Mix all solids.

4. Add butter, make a mass, if too soft, back to fridge.

5. Set at bottom of well-greased 10-inch spring pan, stab with fork.

6. Bake for 15 min.

7. Remove from pan and cool off biscuit in fridge.

Optional, cover by a thin layer of melted chocolate to act as a humidity barrier.  Use approx 80gr of chocolates for that.

Ingredients

• 6 eggs (340g)

• 150gr sugar

• 100gr gluten-free flour

• 50gr cocoa

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 160c / 325f degrees.

2. Butter and flour a 22cm / 9in pan.

3. Mix eggs and sugar, over double broiler until shy of 50c / 120c degree.

4. Off heat, mix with mixer high speed until 4x volume, then low speed for 10 min.

5. Pour sifted mixed coca/flour (in 3 batches, folding gently).

6. Bake 40-45 min.

7. Let cool over a wire rack, unmold, cool in fridge.

Ingredients

• 550gr fresh/frozen cherries (enough to cover a 22cm / 9inch pan)

• 50gr water

• 70gr sugar

• 2 tsp of lemon juice (espcially if the these are sweet cherries)

Instructions

1. Pit cherries.

2. Over moderate heat, add cherries, sugar, and water, and cook until tender while preserving their shape.

3. Drain cherries well, put into fridge as they must be cold during assembly.

4. Reserve the juice for the sirup.

Ingredients

• 120gr cherry juice (reserved during Step II, with additional water if needed).

• 170gr sugar (120gr if you reuse the cherry jucie as it is already sweetened).

• kirsch to taste, I use about 3 Tsp / 30gr.

Instructions

1. Over low heat, combine sugar and cherry juice/water until fully disolved.

2. Add kirsch once cooled off. 

Ingredients

• 1 pint (470gr) of heavy cream, at fridge temperature (cold).

• 40gr sugar.

• 30gr vanilla bean (or 1tsb / 5gr vanilla extract).

Instructions

1. Mix ingredients and beat until firm.

2. Put Chantilly in the fridge.

Preparation

Cut the Genoise cake (Step 3) into 3 slices. Best is to use a long bread knife, make a mark at a bottom 3rd of the cake. Make a shallow indent all around the cake by holding the knife at a fix height and turning the cake around. Once a full turn is done, continue with knife a bit deeper into the cake. Repeat these steps for splitting the upper 2 thirds.

Montage

1. Place a dollop of Chantilly creme in the middle of the  serving plate and add biscuit (Step 2) on it.

2. Place a dollop of creme on top of the biscuit and place the bottom-third of the Genoise (Step 3) on it. Use a 3rd of the sirup (Step 5) on the Genoise top, spreading the sirup evenly.

3. Using a pastry bag, make an even layer of Crémeux Chocolat Noir (Step 1) on top of the cake, leaving a small gap at the outer edge free of creme. If need be, smooth the top using an offset spatula.

4. Add the cherries (Step 4) in neat circles all around, embedding them into the creme. Reserve 6 of the prettiest to garnish the top of the cake.

5. Place the middle third of the Genoise (Step 4) on top of the mounted cake. Use a 3rd of the sirup (Step 5) on the Genoise top.

6. Make an even layer of the Chantilly on top of the cake, using no more than a 3rd of the total Chantilly.

7. Use the remaining of the sirup (Step 5) on the cut side of the last third of the Genoise (Step 4). Place on top of the mounted cake, uncut size up. 

8. Cover the mounted cake top and side with the remaining Chantilly creme.

At any times during the above steps, place the mounted cake in the fridge the cake is too warm. 

Making chocolate swirls

Temper about 200gr of chocolate, if you want the swirls to be shiny. Since it's representing wood, I think it's fine to have it dull.

Working with chocolate at approximatively 29c /85f degrees.

• Place working amount of chocolate in a thin layer on a cold marble block (if unavailable, use the back of a flat baking sheet).

• Once it cools off, cut chocolate in strips of 5cm /2in. Using a scraper / spatula, make round swirls. Move right away on a plate and keep it in the fridge.

• Repeat above steps until you have enough swirls.

• See link for visual inspiration (around minute 7 in the video).

Place chocolate swirls on top and around the cake, add possibly 6-9 small dollops of Chantilly and top with reserved cherries.