Making a joconde cake with a decorative pattern is easier than you think. It just takes patience, once you learn how the possibilities seem endless.
Step-by-Step Joconde Cake with Decorative Tuile Paste
For this step-by-step tutorial, I kept it simple and just used a decorative cake comb. For an idea what you can do in terms of design, check out my Pumpkin Caramel Mousse Cakes. They were made for Halloween with a spider web design. And if you are wondering if I have Valentine’s design in mind-yes, I do. Check back with me in the coming weeks.
A few notes:
- You will need a silpat as parchment paper tends to shrink and ripple with moisture and thereby affecting the overall finished appearance.
- You will also need either ring molds or a pan that has a bottom release like Chicago Metallic’s Mini Cheesecake pan (that’s what is used in the pictures below) or any size springform pan will also work if you want to make a larger cake. If you are using a ring molds, make sure to line the inside with food safe acetate.
- The smaller the mold the thinner the joconde needs to be.
- Take great care not to over mix the dough or the cake will rubbery and if the cake is over cooked it will crack when it is flexed.
- Finished joconde cake with tuile paste will last up to 2 days tightly wrapped at room temperature. Any longer than that and the cake will become brittle and crack when flex to form.
- This is recipe is from Bo Friberg’s The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry, 4th Edition. The only adaptation I made was to change out the almond meal to bread flour ratio from 3-1 to 1-1. Lowering the almond meal made the cake lighter and more flexible. Making sure the cake is flexible is especially important when working with small forms.
Images left to right: Pumpkin Caramel Mousse Cakes and Raspberry Mousse Cakes
Joconde Cake with Decorative Tuile Paste
Ingredients:
CHOCOLATE TUILE DECORATING PASTE:
- 3 oz cake flour, sifted
- 1 ¼ oz Unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
- 4 oz butter, softened
- 4 oz Powdered sugar, sifted
- ½ cup egg whites, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
JOCONDE SPONGE BASE II:
- 2 oz blanched almonds, finely ground/almond meal
- 2 oz powdered sugar
- 2 oz bread flour
- 3 whole eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 egg whites
- 1 oz granulated sugar
- 1 oz melted unsalted butter
Instructions:
CHOCOLATE TUILE DECORATING PASTE:
1. Sift cocoa powder and bread flour together; set aside. Cream butter and sifted powdered sugar in a mixer fitted with paddle attachment on medium speed. Lower speed to medium low and add egg whites one at a time. Scrape and evenly mix after each addition. Add vanilla extract then the flour and cocoa powder mixture until just combined.
2. Place silpat in a bakesheet. Spread chocolate tuile paste evenly on silpat to 1/16th inch thickness. Run decorating comb to desired pattern, ie. Straight, crosswise or diagonal lines along the length of the silpat.
3. Lift silpat out of the bakesheet pan and set on top of an inverted sheet pan and freeze till firm. About 20 minutes.
JOCONDE SPONGE BASE II:
1. Place almond meal, powdered sugar and bread flour into mixing bowl fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on high for about 1-2 minutes. Mix eggs on high for about 5 minutes. Lower mixer speed to medium and then add egg yolks and mix until combined; set aside.
3. Change out paddle attachment for whisk attachment and whip egg whites with sugar just until soft peaks form. Fold half of egg whites into egg yolk mixture. Stir in melted butter and then fold in remaining egg whites.
FINAL ASSEMBLY:
1. Remove silpat with firm tuile paste and spread batter evenly on top and bake at 400-450 degrees F for about 5 minutes or until sponge color changes slightly.
2. Dust flour lightly on top of sponge and invert onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and buttered sides of pan.
3. Cut to desired size of form.
Recipe adapted from Bo Friberg
FANTASTIC post on something I’ve been wanting to do! Thanks Naomi!
Gorgeous!!! You have amazing talent!! Thanks for the wonderful instructions…I’ll be starting with something very simple.
WOW! So cool! I wondered how you did that! Thanks for sharing Naomi!
Great post and some very basic yet important tips that would be helpful for an amateur baker like me. Thanks for sharing!
Okay wow… thank you for posting the how to! 🙂 I may still have questions at some point but I’ll bug you when the time comes. Before now I thought the base was solid, not hollow. I’m still curious how you made the spiderweb design though 😉 If you ever make that one again, please share pics!
beautiful 🙂
Just beautiful, Naomi! And it doesn’t look all that difficult either!
Very cool. Wish I had the patience to try making more involved desserts.
~ingrid
Fancy! I don’t know if I have the patience for that. 🙂 Beautiful work!
Amazing girl! This just blows my mind… so delicate and perfect… you are a true artisan!
Absolutely gorgeous and such a useful post for me – an amateur baker!!!
What a great tutorial! Thanks so much for posting this.
Patience is one of those things I so rarely have… but I’m trying to be better about it. Your tutorial really does simplify this very nicely. Thanks for sharing!
AHHH so this is how it’s done. Thanks for the step by step photos, always makes it so much easier to understand!
eek! your work is so fantastic!! I can’t get over it. I posted a link on ediblecrafts.craftgossip.com!
i almost can’t even leave a comment – how in the heck do you bakers figure this stuff out?? do you dream in this stuff?? unbelievable!
OMG – those are absolutely stunning and such great instructions!
Naomi – wonderful to see step-by-step..can we have more and more of these please? I know they’re a pain in the backside to do but they’re fab to look at and learn…great job!
I do not usually do desserts, which is odd considering I am so fond of them. But this really would be stylish at a dinner party.
Excellent tutorial Naomi!! Geez, haven’t made something like this in ages but now I of course want to drop everything and head straight to the kitchen and whip some of these up!!
Oh this is coool! I wonder if I could do that too. Your cakes are always so pretty. Thanks for sharing Naomi x
Fastidious answers in return of this difficulty with firm arguments and explaining the whole thing concerning that.
How long did you let the finished tuile and sponge be out of the oven before you cut and put in the form? Did you then fill it with the mouse immediately? Do you think this could be prepared a day ahead and then released and plated to serve? It is stunning…Thanks for teaching us this new and eyebrow raising dessert. Great job.
can the dough be frozen and used later?
I made the whole thing but used only half of it.
The final product came out gorgeous! I got lots of compliments, and I am sure going to do it again.
I used a silicon mat (commercially available)
for the dark colored dough, flowers and vines, and then I cut to shape parts I needed.
Compared with other decorating techniques, stencil, chocolate, isomil, and even lace design, this takes the price for ease of production, versatility, and time spent on it. Thank you so very much for sharing this with the rest of us. Now, what can I do with the rest of the dough? Can I freeze it. And for how long can I keep a baked sheet and still be able to use it for decoration.
Thank you again.
I used it the moment it cooled, to decorate a cake (top and sides, with some berries added for accent) I did it all the day before I served the cake. Days later, the little left over in the fridge looks just as good, and the decoration took on the taste of the white chocolate mousse on top, and the dark chocolate mousse on the sides, and where the fruit was, the fruit juice gave it a bit of a fruity flavor.
I hope this answers part of your question.
Good luck!
AD
So i basically screwed the entire recipe up!
Firstly you state
CHOCOLATE TUILE DECORATING PASTE:
3 oz cake flour, sifted in the first step yet once you prepare you state add bread mix.
Then you state1. Sift cocoa powder and bread flour together;
BREAD FLOUR OR CAKE FLOUR????
Hi Naomi,
What is the size of the pan you bake the sponge in ?
That’s really nice n awesome. Thanks for sharing.