In this serie of articles, we will analyze high-end pastries to understand the secrets behind unequaled tastes.
This week, new analysis of a high-end pastry to understand the balance, the subtlety and the technique. I went to a famous French pastry chef in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, to taste an original entremet in its name as well as in its presentation. I decided to taste Carl Marletti's Cikara.
How can I describe this pastry: it is an atypical entremet with character.
This pastry will not leave your palate indifferent. A mix between bitterness, acidity and sweetness, it's a bold and very interesting choice if you want to discover unusual flavour combinations.
STRUCTURE
This pastry is composed of :
- A soft citrus biscuit
- A lime jelly
- A light salted butter caramel mousse
- Two discs of shortcrust pastry and crushed or peanut powder
- A meringue
TASTY OVER BEAUTY
Disclaimer : the recipe has never been revealed and official. All the elements that follow are the result of personal research and analysis. I tasted all the cakes I present in this series of articles and take care to understand their composition so that you can reproduce them at home.
Let's break down the different layers one by one:
The peanut sweet dough discs have the particularity of being very thin. These discs were covered with peanut powder or crushed peanuts. This brings texture to the dough and adds relief to the dessert. This texture is very important, because it is the only element of the cake that will be crispy and therefore add chew. Be careful, it is very important that this element does not take over the whole dessert because the main thing in this dessert is to titillate the palate with different flavors. The textures are simply binders.
The soft biscuit helps to physically structure the cake. This cookie looks like Joconde biscuit soaked in a citrus syrup or juice. As a side note, I did not smell any pieces of candied fruit or peel or citrus supreme. The biscuit was very spongy and well soaked. It is important to note that this biscuit was neither sour nor bitter but sweet.
The lime jelly probably brings the most character to this dessert. It was both sour and bitter at the same time. This must surely be due to the acidity of the lemon pulp combined with the zest. According to me, nothing has been added to the raw material to soften it. Neither sugar or sucrose. Be careful with the quantity of jelly in the cake, it represents only 20% of the entremet. A good dosage is very important to find a balance in the mouth.
Finally, to sweeten the dessert, we have a salted butter caramel mousse which comes to round off the edges.The bottom note (rather subtle) of bitterness is surely due to the cooking of the caramel. However, it brings a very good balance to the rest of the cake. Probably abundant, this cream links the different elements and make up the entremet.
Concerning the presentation of this entremet, the icing is based on white chocolate with colouring. The entremet is sprinkled with lime zest and covered with meringue.
BETTER THAN OTHERS
I'm not going to lie to you, I love adventure and always want to test new things when I'm in Paris. That's why I set my sights on this original entremet which captivated my eye by its name and its unusual shape. Everything about this cake amazed me: its presentation, its name, its composition and its flavours.
You can feel that it has been thought and worked to make customers react. As I said, it is a dessert with character. Friends of sugar and classic tastes, abstain, this pastry is not for the simplistic. It's not a child's cake. What I like the most is the different stages in your mouth: you are immediately appetised by the bitterness of the jelly, then the acidity immediately comes to invade your mouth before being softened by the sugar and the delicacy of the salted butter caramel mousse. What I can tell you is that you don't get bored with the different tastes and textures.
The only point of improvement would perhaps be the soft biscuit which finally melts into the mass. It would benefit from being more fruity and/or flavoured. I advise you to dose your syrup so that the taste of the fruit comes out much more than the sugar.
KEY POINTS
To make an exceptional pastry:
Master the basics. Here Carl Marletti uses known techniques and appropriates them to mix them and make an exceptional cake.
Play with textures, without abusing them. Here, Chef Marletti plays with the light texture of his airy mousse, his soft biscuit soaked, his crispy disc, his bitter and acid jelly.
Know how to quantify each element. Each component must bring something magical to the cake in terms of taste and must be able to remain in harmony with the rest of the ingredients.
It's up to you to make good cakes. See you soon on TPB.
Lea from The Paris-Best
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