“LAPIS” by Deden Putra

February 16, 2020

1158

(This recipe appeared in the Winter 2020 issue of Pastry Arts Magazine)

Praline cremeux, compressed apple, apple meringue chips, candied ginger, green apple sorbet

‘LAPIS’ means layers in Indonesian. This dessert is one of my childhood favorites. It was adapted from the Dutch a long time ago, and it has become one of famous Indonesian desserts, because it is labor intensive, and requires a lot of patience in the making.

Yield: 14 servings

Speculaas Layer Cake

300 g unsalted butter
130 g margarine
53 g confectioners’ sugar
50 g sweetened condensed milk
542 g egg yolks
152 g granulated sugar
40 g all-purpose flour
12 g powdered milk
1 tsp speculaas
½ tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat convection oven to 350˚F with fan on high.
Prepare 6” square cake pan: butter and line it with parchment paper.
Cream together butter, margarine, confectioners’ sugar and condensed milk until creamy and smooth; set aside.
Meanwhile, whip the egg yolks and sugar to ribbon stage. Fold in the butter mixture. Fold in the dry ingredients.
Scale 140 g of the batter into the prepared cake pan, spreading it evenly using an offset spatula. Bake for 5 minutes.
Pull out the cake from the oven and press it down using a fondant smoother. Repeat the steps with the rest of the batter, until the batter has all been used. Cool cake down in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before cutting.

Praline Cremeux

100 ml whole milk
350 ml heavy cream
4 gelatin sheets, soaked
400 g praline paste

Combine the milk and the cream in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in soaked gelatin.
Using a hand blender, pour the warm milk into the praline paste until emulsified. Pour into a spiral mold and freeze for couple of hours.

Compressed Apples

Fuji apples
Juice of 1 lemon

Peel the Fuji apples and cut into ¼” cubes.
Place the apples in a single layer in a vacuum bag with the lemon juice. Vacuum-seal the bag and liquid on high. Store overnight in the refrigerator.

Apple Crumble

50 g apple puree
50 g white chocolate, melted
145 g maltodextros

Combine apple puree with melted white chocolate. Using a fork, stir in maltodextros to create crumbles.

Green Apple Sorbet

450 ml sorbet syrup
Juice from 7 Granny Smith apples
Juice from 1 lemon
6 g citric acid

Combine all ingredients and spin in the ice cream machine.

Apple Meringue Chips

50 g egg whites
50 g granulated sugar
50 g confectioners’ sugar
25 g apple powder

Whip the egg whites at medium speed until a doubled in volume. Add granulated sugar slowly, and continue whipping to stiff peaks.
Fold in confectioners’ sugar and apple powder slowly. Spread the meringue very thinly on a Silpat and bake at 200˚F for about 50 minutes. Keep in airtight container for service.

Ginger Tuiles

200 g granulated sugar
75 g all-purpose flour
100 g orange juice
¼ tsp ground ginger
113 g unsalted butter, melted

Combine sugar, flour, orange juice and ground ginger in a small mixing bowl. Pour in melted butter slowly, mixing until blended. Let it set for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
Spread the batter thinly onto a Silpat and bake at 325˚F until golden brown.
Remove from the oven and let it cool down for a couple of minutes. Using a 2” cutter, cut out tuiles carefully. Keep them in an airtight container for plating.

Candied Ginger

150 g fresh ginger
100 g water
100 g granulated sugar, plus more for coating ginger

Peel and slice the ginger into julienne and place into a small saucepan. Add the water and sugar and bring it to a boil. Simmer and keep cooking until the ginger is transparent.
Strain and toss the ginger into granulated sugar. Keep in dehydrator for a few hours.

Assembly

Edible flowers

Place Praline Cremeux on the left side of the plate.
Using 2” cutter, cut out the layer cake and place in the center of the plate.
Scatter Compressed Apple on the plate and on top of the cake. Top it with a Ginger Tuile.

Place Apple Meringue Chips next to Compressed Apple and place a quenelle of Green Apple Sorbet on the right side. Garnish with Candied Ginger and edible flowers.

Photo credit: Brett Pinsent