Hi, all!

I’d really like to make Zach’s La Bomba, but I don’t feel like forking out for a food mill, and I don’t find the strainer method effective.

Any thoughts on alternate fruit?  Any experience with alternate fruit?

Thanks!

—ak

Hmmmm, the thing about pairing chocolate with fruit is that it’s tricky to get the balance right.  Zach’s dessert was probably tested and tweaked a number of times until he obtained just the right balance of flavors.  If you change the fruit, you may need to test and tweak again to get it to be as good.  I know the strainer isn’t that efficient, but I still use it and just scale up the quantity of fruit a bit so I don’t have to spend hours trying to mash out the last few molecules of fruit pulp.

All that said, I think one might be able to use blueberries in place of blackberries, with the understanding that they will stay in the background more than blackberries.  And raspberries would be a natural choice, but they are even harder to strain than blackberries.

You could make small quantities of just the filling to test different fruits.

A totally different choice would be to go with something like chestnut puree/rum, or hazelnut paste, or dark caramel (or praline- hazelnut and caramel).

Thanks, Julie!  I’m glad to know that blackberries are easier than raspberries.  Maybe my strainer will work for them—about 1/3 the seeds from the raspberries got into the puree, so my strainer was not very effective when I used it for them.

I was thinking of maybe pineapple—it’s so good with chocolate!

Is there a filling in TCB that would work re teh hzelnut paste or praline-hazelnut-caramel.  For example, could I fill it with any _____________________ <—don’t know what to put in the blank!!!  Is it chilobost cream or is it something else?

I used passion fruit instead of blackberries it was a little too tart but well accepted as passion fruit and chocolate are a match in heaven no matter how is presented.

Thanks, Hector!!  Glad to konw other fruits can work well!

Here’s my current ideas:

1.  Sub pineapple for blackberries.
2.  Use Orange Bavarian Chiffon (p. 238-239 of TCB) instead of the Zach’s filling.
3.  Use a vanilla bottom, fill with White Chocolate Ganache (with stiff egg white folded in), and coat with strawberry shiny jewel glaze (p. 330 of TCB) (preserves made with the Strawberry puree & sauce recipe).

Any thoughts or opinions?  I’ve never worked with any of these things or made a charlotte or bombe before.

Thanks!

—ak

Anne in NC - 27 May 2012 12:16 PM

Is there a filling in TCB that would work re teh hzelnut paste or praline-hazelnut-caramel. 

For a praline bombe filling, I would start with the peanut butter light whipped ganache in RHC (sponge section- PB+ jelly genoise).  I’ve made this LWG using hazelnut paste instead of peanut butter and hopefully can save you at least one test run.  It was too rich, too hazelnutty and too dense with a direct substitution, especially if you are not going to “dilute” it by pairing it with a lot of cake.

I would start by figuring out how much unsweetened chocolate and sugar would be needed to sub for the chocolate in LWG.  Then I would increase the sugar by about one-third.  I’d probably sub a little whole milk for part (maybe a quarter) of the cream, to keep it from getting too rich when it evaporates.  Caramelize the sugar, pour in the milk and about half of the cream and dissolve.

Use the hot caramel mixture to make the LWG as directed, including adding vanilla.  Then fold in the hazelnut paste (about half the weight of PB called for) and the rest of the cream, and whip when it hits the right temp.

For the outside, it might be fun to go textural and use Rose’s praline crunch, not too finely ground, to coat the outside of the bombe.

Julie, thank you so much!  That sounds amazing.  I think I’ll hold that option off until winter, though.  But I think I’ll have to use it somehow!!!!!!!!  Maybe I’ll use it in August for my chocoalte cake.  Uh, not exactly winter, I know, but August will definitely be chocolate.  The praline paste already has sugar in it (usually 50/50 hazelnuts/sugar)—but you suggest increasing the sugar by 1/3, rather than decreasing it.  Was your hazelnut paste 100% nuts? This is the one I have:  http://nuts.com/cookingbaking/fillings/hazelnut-praline.html

Hey, speaking of lemon cream illusion—we were speaking of lemon cream illusion, weren’t we—or maybe that’s just an illusion of mine—do you think it would work well with either super-thin almond bisquit (or whatever) and made sort of like the chocolate feather bed—several layers of each?  Might top (on the very top of it) with the white chocolate ganache and incorporate coconut into it or something.  I’m conisdering this for my September birthday, who likes it as light and as unsweet as possible…and she loves lemon!

Anne in NC - 04 June 2012 08:53 AM

but you suggest increasing the sugar by 1/3, rather than decreasing it.  Was your hazelnut paste 100% nuts?

Yes, 100% nuts, so hazelnut paste rather than praline paste.

who likes it as light and as unsweet as possible…and she loves lemon!

It would work, just be careful as it is very soft- i.e., chill (or freeze) the cake before layering on the illusion.  It it were me, I would probably use the lemon curd cloud cream rather than the illusion.  The illusion is very light, it almost has a “disappears in your mouth” texture to it, but if memory serves it may be a little sweeter than the cloud cream, and is quite soft.  I prefer the richer taste and reliable texture of the cloud cream.

Be careful with the almond biscuit roulade if you are going for “not too sweet”, it is one of the sweeter sponge cakes in the book.  It has a lovely texture and flavor, though, so perhaps just omit the syrup.

Good greif, Julie!  I am glad I asked! Thank you so much!