Elle & Vire Recipes
by Julien Alvarez

Recipe Checkmate

For
6 persons
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To prepare this dish

Ingredient list
Chocolate breton shortbreads
62.9 g egg yolk
147 g sugar
157 g Elle & Vire gourmet butter 82% fat
178 g flour
21 g baking powder
31.5 g cocoa powder
2.1 g fleur de sel
Namélaka macaé 62%
130 g milk
6.5 g glucose syrup
22.7 g gelatin mass
182 g Macaé dark chocolate 62%
258 g Excellence whipping cream 35% fat
19.5 g water
Sacher biscuit
125 g almond paste 66%
45 g icing sugar
80 g egg yolk
45 g eggs
40 g flour
40 g cocoa powder
45 g Elle & Vire gourmet butter 82% fat
120 g egg whites
45 g sugar
Morello cherry confit
470 g Morello Cherry puree
90 g sugar
25 g crystal dextrose
5 g pectin NH
3 g agar agar
10 g lemon juice
Whipped vanilla ganache
272 g Excellence whipping cream 35% fat
6.8 g vanilla pods
119 g valrhona opalys 33% chocolate
1.4 g vanilla extract
4.1 g powered gelatine
24.5 g water
Assembly
75 griottes au kirsch
Elle & Vire products used

The recipe,
step by step

  1. 1

    Chocolate breton shortbreads

    Whip the egg yolks and the sugar together. Using a flat beater, incorporate the softened butter, the sifted dry ingredients, and the fleur de sel. Spread out to 6 mm thickness, then cut out using buttered 18 cm square cutters. Bake in the oven at 160°C (320°F) for 20 min. Turn out the shortbread biscuits while still warm.
  2. 2

    Namélaka macaé 62%

    Pour the cold water over the gelatin powder. Whisk to get a consistent mixture. Let it hydrate for at least 20 min. Keep at 4°C. Bring the milk and the glucose syrup to a boil. Add the melted gelatin mass. Pour it over the melted covering in three batches, emulsify. Mix while adding the cold cream. Cover and keep at 4°C (39.2°F).
  3. 3

    Sacher biscuit

    Mix the almond paste, the icing sugar, the egg yolks and the whole eggs together. Add the sifted flour and cocoa powder. At the same time, whip the egg whites with the caster sugar. Melt the butter. Stir the whipped egg whites into the first preparation, followed by the melted butter. Spread out to a thickness of 5 mm on a Silpat® mat. Bake at 170°C (338°F) for 8 minutes.
  4. 4

    Morello cherry confit

    Heat the purée with half of the sugar. Mix the rest of the sugar with the crystal dextrose, the pectin NH and the agar-agar. At 40°C (104°F), stir into the purée mixture and bring to a boil. Mix while adding the lemon juice. Use immediately for the assembly.
  5. 5

    Whipped vanilla ganache

    Pour the cold water over the gelatin powder. Whisk to get a consistent mass. Let it hydrate for at least 20 min. Keep at 4°C. Bring half of the cream to a boil, then infuse the scraped vanilla pods for 10 minutes. Strain, bring back to a boil and add the gelatin mass. Pour the boiled cream over the chocolate covering in three batches. Emulsify, mix while adding the second half of the cold cream. Cover and keep at 4°C (39.2°F). Whisk before each use.
  6. 6

    Assembly

    .Cube assembly:
    Pour the Morello cherry confit into one 20 cm X 30 cm Sacher biscuit rectangle, 1 cm thick. Pour another 20 cm X 30 cm Sacher biscuit rectangle. Freeze. Spread out 1 cm thick whipped vanilla ganache over two 20 cm X 30 cm Sacher biscuit rectangles. Place the first biscuit/confit/biscuit assembly onto 1 biscuit rectangle with whipped vanilla ganache. Top with the second biscuit/whipped vanilla ganache rectangle to close the assembly. Freeze. Cut 3 cm rectangles, followed by 2 cm cubes. Freeze, then glaze three sides with a neutral coating mixed with 10% water at a temperature of 30°C (86°F).

    Checkmate assembly:
    Lightly sprinkle the sides of the breton shortbread with the decorating sugar. Pipe the Namélaka Macaé onto the chocolate breton shortbread, about
    180 g per pastry base. Add 25 well-aligned Amarena half-cherries, spread evenly across the Namélaka Macaé coating. Arrange 13 cubes in staggered rows. Pipe 120 g of the whipped vanilla ganache into the spaces between each cube. Arrange the 3 cm X 3 cm Macaé chocolate squares.

     


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A few words about the author…

Julien Alvarez

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