We’re going to make a beautiful champagne and pear tart! It’s a white chocolate mousse filled with poached pear, a champagne & caramel ganache, a delicious golden madeleine, a pear & long pepper cream, a pear & champagne gel and a rich hazelnut & long pepper praline.
Pear and champagne gel
Ingredients
- 2 pears 500 g
- 300 g champagne
- 30 g cane sugar
- 2 long peppers
- agar powder
Instructions
- Start by peeling the pears. Now cut away the core and then chop them in big chunks.
- Place the pear chunks in a saucepan together with the champagne, the cane sugar and the long peppers. Heat this on a low simmer till the pear is fully cooked.
- Once cooked remove the long peppers and then blend it till smooth. You can also do this in a blender.
- Then weigh the pear mixture. Add a gram of agar powder for every 100 grams of mixture. I had 400 grams, so I added 4 grams of agar powder.
- Now mix this well and then while stirring bring it to a boil for at least 30 seconds. After that pour it into a bowl and let it cool down completely in your fridge.
- Then transfer it into a blender and blend it till smooth.
- Now I always vacuum my gels to make them clear and remove any air. This is optional, the gel will still be very good and delicious, but with this you bring it to the next level!
Long pepper praline
Ingredients
- 150 g sugar
- 30 g water
- 2 long peppers
- 150 g untoasted hazelnuts
Instructions
- Mix the sugar with the water and the long peppers. Now caramelize this on a medium high heat.
- Once a nice golden color starts to form add the untoasted hazelnuts and while stirring keep on heating the caramel. Stir it for around 4 minutes to toast the nuts and give the sugar some more color. Then transfer it on a silicon sheet and let it cool down out of the fridge.
- After that transfer it into a blender and blend it into a fine praline. This really takes a couple of minutes. In the beginning it may seem not much is happening, but just scrape down the sides and give it some time. It’s so worth it!
- Once you’re happy with the consistency transfer it into a bowl and keep it out of the fridge for later.
Champagne and caramel ganache
Ingredients
- 100 g sugar
- 30 g water
- 120 g champagne
- 40 g cream 35% fat
- 20 g glucose syrup
- 190 g white chocolate 28%
- 50 g butter
Instructions
- Mix the sugar with the water and caramelize this on a medium high heat.
- While the sugar is caramelizing mix the champagne with the cream and the glucose syrup. Bring this to a simmer. When you’re happy with the caramels color slowly add the simmering champagne mixture. Keep on heating to prevent the caramel from setting.
- Once that’s done turn off the heat and add the white chocolate and the butter. Blend this till smooth. Be sure to keep the blender at the bottom of the pan to prevent air from mixing with the ganache.
- Then transfer it into a bowl and let it cool down in your fridge.
Madeleines
Ingredients
- 125 g butter
- 150 g whole egg
- 125 g sugar
- 1 lemon
- 0.5 vanilla pod
- 125 g flour
- 7 g baking powder
Instructions
- Place the butter into a saucepan and caramelize it on a medium heat. Stir it every now and then to prevent it from burning. Once some color starts to form turn down the heat to get more control. You want a nice golden brown color. Place it to the side.
- Then mix the whole egg with the sugar and the zest from the lemon. Now cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds to the bowl and start mixing till you have a fluffy mixture. This takes a couple minutes.
- Then while mixing add the flour, the baking powder and the beurre noisette we just made. You’ll end up with a thick fluffy batter.
- Now fill a greased madeleine mold for 3/4 and bake it at 190 degrees Celsius till golden on top. This takes around 6 to 8 minutes.
Poached pear
Ingredients
- 900 g champagne or prosecco / cava
- 180 g sugar
- 1 lemon
- 5 long peppers
- 0.5 empty vanilla pod
- 2 star anise
- 5 cardamom pods
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5 pears
Instructions
- Mix the champagne with the sugar, the peel from the lemon, the long peppers, the empty vanilla pod, the star anise, the cardamom pods and the cinnamon stick. Bring this to a boil.
- While that’s happening take the pears and peel them. Once the liquid is boiling add the pears and make sure they are all submerged. Then cover the top with some parchment paper to insure a more even cooking. Now let them poach on a low heat for 1 hour.
- After that turn off the heat and let them cool down completely.
- Then remove the pears from the liquid. The liquid you can use to poach some more pears or reduce it. Once it’s reduced into a syrup pass it through a fine sieve and later on we’ll use it to glaze the pears.
- Now take the poached pears and cut them all in half. Then remove the core with an Parisienne scoop. You could also use a teaspoon, but this is so much easier. Now cut away the stem on the top and bottom. Keep them in your fridge for later.
Pear and long pepper cream
Ingredients
- 150 g pear juice
- 100 g cream 35% fat
- 30 g sugar
- 3 long peppers
- 50 g egg yolk
- 20 g corn starch
Instructions
- Mix the pear juice with the cream, the sugar and the long peppers. Now cover the pan with a lid and bring it to a simmer. Then turn off the heat and let it infuse for 1 hour.
- After that add the egg yolk and the corn starch. Mix it well and then while stirring bring it to a boil to thicken it.
- Once thickened transfer it on a fine sieve and press it through. Then cover it and let it cool down in your fridge.
- Mix it once more and fill a piping bag and keep it in your fridge for later.
The interior
Instructions
- Place a madeleine disc on the bottom of a metal ring that’s sitting on a piece of parchment paper and pipe the cream around it.
- Then add a layer of the ganache and drizzle some praline on there. Add the other madeleine disc and then top it off with the pear compote. Level it and then let it freeze till solid.
- Once solid remove the parchment paper and heat up the side of the ring with a blowtorch. Now remove it as well and keep the interior in the freezer for later.
The white chocolate mousse
Ingredients
- 3.3 g gelatin 2 leaves
- 70 g cream 35% fat
- 100 g white chocolate 28%
- 50 g champagne
- 40 g sugar
- 70 g egg
- 180 g cream 35% fat
Instructions
- Soak the gelatin in cold water.
- Now pour the 60 grams of cream into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. When it’s boiling turn off the heat and dissolve the gelatin. Then also add the white chocolate and mix it till it’s fully emulsified. Set it aside for later.
- Now mix the champagne with the sugar and heat this up till it’s 110 °C. Meanwhile transfer the whole egg into a mixing bowl and start beating it. Once the syrup is 110 °C while mixing add it to the egg and keep on mixing till it’s at room temperature.
- For the final step pour the 170 grams of cream into a bowl and beat it till it has a thin yoghurt consistency.
- Now while mixing slowly add the ganache to the beaten egg mixture and fold it together. Then pour that mixture on the whipped cream and fold it together as well. You’ll end up with a super nice and airy mousse.
- Pour that mousse into the tart mold and tap it a couple times to remove any air bubbles. This one is from Mold Brothers Pastry. Click here for more info.
- Now gently place the frozen interior in the mousse and level the top with a pallet knife. When necessary clean the sides and then let it freeze till completely solid.
How to finish the tart
Instructions
- Once the tart is completely frozen remove it from the mold and place it on a frozen tray that’s covered with some plastic wrap. You can already serve the tart like this, but I add a thin layer of white chocolate brush. Unfortunately, my brusher broke down so I used a premade spraying can. Homemade it’s a mixture of 50% melted cacao butter and 50% melted white chocolate.
- Now let it defrost in your fridge.
- Then let’s decorate the top. First add a thin layer of the praline and then place the poached pear balls on top. Now pipe some of the crème in between.
- Then add a couple toasted hazelnuts and pipe some of the champagne & pear gel next to those. As a final decoration I add some gold leaf. Just to really make it a fancy celebration for the new year!
