Creative Director & Executive Chef, La Folie, Mumbai, India
The inspiration behind this recipe is my grandmother, who introduced me to the world of baking. She mentored and shaped me when I felt alone in the field. My grandma had to escape from Lahore to Ahmedabad with three children when India and Pakistan were divided. To sustain her family, she started cooking, baking and teaching home science. Besides baking, grandma loved gardening. She would grow vegetables in her garden and ferment them into pickles for sale. I used to visit her in the summer holidays, and together we would make carrot halwa cake out of carrots growing in the garden. For her age, she was very innovative: she taught me how to make a cake in a pressure cooker. On the first anniversary of her death, I wanted to bake something that reminded me of her. Flipping through her recipe diary, I settled on something nostalgic. This recipe is inspired by a traditional carrot cake recipe she taught me, but I have made it into an entremet by incorporating lemon cream, apricot compote and a Linzer biscuit.
Yield: 5 1200-g entremets
Linzer Base
- 280 g unsalted butter
- 5 g lemon zest
- 50 g confectioners’ sugar
- 300 g T55 flour
- 1 g baking powder
- 60 g cooked egg yolks
- 1 g sea salt
- 50 g almond powder
1. Cream the butter with the lemon zest and confectioners’ sugar.
2. Add the cooked egg yolks and knead with remaining ingredients. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
3. Roll the dough between two sheets of baking paper to 3 mm thickness.
4. Bake at 320°F (160°C) for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
Carrot Cake
- 220 g whole eggs
- 200 g unrefined granulated sugar
- 200 g brown sugar
- 260 g T55 flour
- 10 g baking soda
- 16 g ground cinnamon
- 300 g clarified butter
- 400 g winter baby red carrots, grated
120 g toasted walnuts
1. Whisk the eggs and sugars until creamy.
2. Fold in the dry ingredients followed by the clarified butter, grated carrots and walnuts. Scrape into a baking sheet and bake at 356°F (180°C) until done.
Apricot Sea Buckthorn Compote
- 200 g apricot purée
- 100 g sea buckthorn purée
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 5 g pectin NH
- 10 g lime purée
1. Warm the apricot and sea buckthorn purées with the sugar, then add the pectin. Bring the mixture to a boil and boil for 1-2 minutes, until it is a spreadable consistency. Add the lime purée. Cool.
2. Blend with immersion blender.
Carrot Cream Cheese Mousse
- 100 g egg yolks
- 55 g water
- 176 g granulated sugar
- 528 g cream cheese
- 33 g confectioners’ sugar
- 26 g gelatin sheets, bloomed
- 400 g Winter Indian red carrot purée
- 660 g heavy cream, whipped
- 100 g grated red carrots
1. Whisk the yolks, water and sugar in a bain marie until it reaches a thick ribbon consistency.
2. Transfer to an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whip until cool.
3. In the meantime, melt the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar. Add the gelatin and carrot purée. Fold the cream cheese mixture into the beaten egg yolks and sugar mixture.
4. Finally, gently fold in the whipped cream and grated red carrots.
Lemon Cream with Black Lime Zest
- 238 g unsalted butter, divided
- 75 g lime purée
- 86 g lemon purée
- 216 g superfine granulated sugar
- 324 g whole eggs
- 8 g gelatin sheets
- 250 g heavy cream 35.5%
- Zest of 3 fermented black limes
1. In a saucepan, combine 125 g of the butter with the lime and lemon purées and bring to a boil.
2. In a round bottomed bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs. Add the boiling puree mixture to temper the eggs and sugar. Return the mixture back to the flame and keep whisking until the lemon custard boils and thickens, without burning on the sides and the bottom of the saucepan.
Remove from the heat and add the gelatin, making sure the gelatin is completely dissolved and melted. Cool the lemon custard until lukewarm to the touch.
3. Add the remaining 113 g butter and blend in with the hand blender to achieve the smooth consistency of a lemon curd.
4. Whip the cream and fold into the lemon curd with the black lime zest.
Walnut Crumble
- 75 g young Kashmiri walnuts
- 50 g unsalted butter
- 50 g brown sugar
- 50 g T55 flour
- 1 g sea salt
- Cocoa butter powder, as needed
1. Roast the walnuts at 302°F (150°C) for 10-11 minutes at speed 5. Cool, then chop coarsely.
2. Cut the butter into cubes and soften with a paddle attachment in a stand mixer. Once the butter is softened, add the brown sugar and mix further.
3. Sift the flour and add to the butter mixture in three additions, mixing until well combined. Add the chopped walnuts and sea salt.
4. Form into small clusters and transfer onto a silicone mat-lined baking tray. Chill the crumble for 2 hours.
5. Bake at 320°F (160°C) for 18-20 minutes, or until evenly browned.
6. Once out of the oven, evenly sprinkle cocoa butter powder on top.
Assembly
- Swiss meringue
- Apricot compote
- Poached baby carrots
- Black lime zest
- Microgreens
1. Layer the carrot cake with apricot compote, carrot mousse and lemon cream in the same order.
2. Freeze the layers and cut in rectangle or square strips for individual portions.
3. Place the dessert on the Linzer base that is cut to the same size of the dessert.
4. Layer fresh Swiss meringue on top and pipe drops of apricot compote to decorate. Garnish with fresh poached baby carrot, zest of black lime, crumble and microgreens.
(This recipe appeared in the Spring 2024 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)
