Image is for illustrative purposes only.
This is the little paste that turns a plain Joconde sponge into a patterned one. It is a soft, pipeable cocoa dough made from equal weights of butter, icing sugar and egg white, with a small amount of flour and cocoa powder to hold it together. Spread thinly on a silicone mat and combed, piped or stencilled into a pattern, it is frozen firm, covered with Joconde batter and baked, so the design bakes right into the surface of the sponge.
The baked paste is soft, buttery and mildly chocolatey, never crisp or hard, so the finished sheet stays flexible enough to line the sides of a mousse cake or an entremet. Stripes, chevrons, spots and lace patterns all work, and the same paste can be tinted or left plain if a lighter contrast is wanted.
Ingredients
The weights in the recipe table below will yield the following 'weight per unit' and 'number of units'. If you would like to change the recipe to cater to a different 'weight per unit' and/or 'number of units',
you can use the Recipe Calculator Tool below the ingredients table.
Note: The Recipe Calculator Tool is available to subscribers.
Weight Per Unit: 155
Number of Units: 2
Unit Size: 30 x 40 cm patterned Joconde sheet
|
|
|
WEIGHT
(grams)
|
ALTERNATIVE METRIC
|
INGREDIENT
|
IMAGE
|
CONDITION
|
|
A
|
80 |
2.8 ounces
|
Butter
Butter is a solid dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk, to separate the butterfat from the buttermilk. It is generally used as a spread on plain or toasted bread products and a condiment on cooked vegetables, as well as in cooking, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying. Butter consists of butterfat, milk proteins and water.
|
|
soft, room temperature |
|
B
|
80 |
2.8 ounces
|
Pure Icing Sugar
Pure icing sugar is also made from pulverised granulated sugar but contains no cornflour. For everyday cooking, icing sugar mixture does the trick; the only place where pure icing sugar is a must is when making royal icing, modelling fondant and the like.
|
|
sifted |
|
C
|
80 |
2.7 Egg Whites
|
Egg White
Egg white is the common name for the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms around fertilized or unfertilized egg yolks. The primary natural purpose of egg white is to protect the yolk and provide additional nutrition for the growth of the embryo (when fertilized). Egg white consists primarily of about 90% water into which is dissolved 10% proteins (including albumins, mucoproteins, and globulins). Unlike the yolk, which is high in lipids (fats), egg white contains almost no fat, and carbohydrate content is less than 1%. Egg whites contain just over 50% of the protein in the egg. Egg white has many uses in food (e.g. mousse) and also many other uses (e.g. in the preparation of vaccines such as those for influenza).
|
|
room temperature |
|
D
|
50 |
1.8 ounces
|
Cake Flour
Cake flour is a finely milled white flour made from soft wheat. It has very low protein content, between 8% and 10%, making it suitable for soft-textured cakes and cookies. The higher protein content of other flours would make the cakes tough. Highly sifted cake flours may require different volume amounts in recipes than all-purpose flour. Using the scoop and level method, well-sifted flour usually produces 125 g per cup. However, most American recipes are written with 140 g of flour per cup, so weighing and experimentation can be helpful in baking unfamiliar recipes. Small weight differences can greatly affect the texture. American Cake flour is bleached; in countries where bleached flour is prohibited, plain flour can be treated in a domestic microwave to improve the texture of the end product.
|
|
sifted |
|
E
|
20 |
0.7 ounce
|
Cocoa Powder
Cocoa Powder (cocoa solids) is a mixture of many substances remaining after cocoa butter is extracted from cacao beans. When sold as an end product, it may also be called cocoa, and cacao. In contrast, the fatty component of chocolate is cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is 50% to 57% of the weight of cocoa beans and gives chocolate its characteristic melting properties.
Cocoa solids are one of the richest sources of flavanol antioxidants. They are a key ingredient of chocolate, chocolate syrup, and chocolate confections.
unsweetened
|
|
sifted |
|
|
310
|
|
|
|
|
Recipe Calculator Tool
Using this tool, you can alter this recipe for your own requirements. Use the two fields below to generate new weights for the ingredients above.
STEP 1. Enter your Custom Weight Per Unit
The 'Custom Weight Per Unit' is already loaded with the weight per unit for this recipe but can be changed if required. If all you wish to do is change the number of units (or servings), just leave the current weight per unit.
STEP 2. Enter your Custom Number of Units
This is the number of units (or servings) you want this recipe to yield.
STEP 3. Click Calculate
The new weights for your adjusted recipe will be displayed in the table above.
Method
|
STEP
|
ACTION
|
DETAIL
|
CONDITION
|
|
1 |
Prepare |
Have a silicone baking mat or a sheet of baking paper cut to fit your tray, a small palette knife and a decorating comb, patterned scraper or piping bag ready before you start. |
Everything to hand, as the paste must be spread and patterned while soft |
|
2 |
Cream |
Beat A and B (unsalted butter and pure icing sugar) together with a paddle or a spatula. |
Pale, light and completely smooth |
|
3 |
Mix |
Add C (egg white) a little at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the bowl down. |
Smooth and creamy with no curdling; add the next lot only when the last is absorbed |
|
4 |
Fold |
Sift D and E (cake flour and cocoa powder) over the mixture and fold through gently with a spatula. |
Even, lump free and the colour of soft chocolate; do not beat once the flour is in |
|
5 |
Spread |
Spread the paste in a thin, even layer over the silicone mat with a palette knife, about 1 to 2 mm thick, or load it into a piping bag and pipe your pattern directly onto the mat. |
Thin and even, with the mat just covered |
|
6 |
Pattern |
Draw a decorating comb, a patterned scraper or the back of a knife through the paste to make stripes, chevrons or waves, lifting away the paste it removes. |
Clean lines with the mat showing through between them |
|
7 |
Freeze |
Lay the mat flat on a tray and freeze the patterned paste. |
Hard and firm to the touch, about 20 to 30 minutes |
|
8 |
Bake |
Spread your Joconde sponge batter straight over the frozen pattern and bake as that recipe directs, at a high heat for a short time. |
The sponge is just set and springy and the pattern shows clearly on the underside |
|
9 |
Cool |
Cool the sheet on the mat, then peel the mat away from the patterned face. |
Completely cold, so the pattern lifts cleanly and stays on the sponge |
|
10 |
Store |
Unused paste keeps covered in the fridge, or the spread and patterned mats can be kept in the freezer ready for baking. |
Bring refrigerated paste back to a soft, spreadable state before using |
Important Notes
This quantity makes about 310 g of paste, enough to pattern roughly two 30 x 40 cm sponge sheets, depending on how thinly it is spread and how much the comb takes away. The paste must be frozen hard before the sponge batter goes over it, or the pattern will smear and blur. Keep the layer thin: a thick layer stays soft and makes the baked sheet greasy and hard to handle. The paste can be made a day ahead and kept covered in the fridge, or spread, patterned and stored flat in the freezer for a few days. Patterned sheets should be used the same day for the best flexibility, or wrapped well and frozen.
Tools & Arrangements
Mixing bowl and paddle or hand mixer, spatula, sieve, silicone baking mat or baking paper, flat baking tray, small palette knife, decorating comb or patterned scraper, piping bag with a small plain nozzle, freezer space
