Peanut Butter and Raspberry Entremet
We all know peanut butter is delicious with fruit – bananas, strawberries, raspberries – but have you tried it in a fine dessert? It truly shines in airy mousses and sponges, with an incredible aroma and texture. This peanut butter and raspberry entremet impresses with a contrast of flavours that carries through to its colours. The recipe is inspired by French pastry chef Dominique Ansel, creator of some of the most successful pastry concepts in the USA.
I made a few changes to the original to suit my taste. First, I added a raspberry insert to freshen the flavour and cut through the richness of the peanut butter. I also calibrated the recipe for an 18cm tin, 6cm tall. The glaze is essentially a dark chocolate ganache, but the honey and gelatin make it better suited for glazing, while the milk gives it the fluidity to leave a thin layer on the cake.
The result is spectacular. The caramelised puffed rice base adds a real plus, the extra-creamy mousse complements the crunch, and the tangy, fragrant insert brings the freshness a cake based on rich ingredients needs.
Tips and tricks
- Don’t replace the gelatin or pectin with anything else – they are too important for the final texture. The cake is frozen to work with it, and both help it stay intact after thawing.
- Use a smooth, unsalted, pure peanut butter – ideally made from roasted peanuts, for a deeper flavour and colour.
- Play with the insert: swap the raspberry purée for strawberry, strawberry and banana, mango, or mango and passion fruit.
- You can replace the puffed rice with a crumble; in that case, skip the caramelising step and make the crunch directly.
- Weigh everything carefully on a kitchen scale; for very small quantities, a jewellery scale helps.
- A thermometer is your best friend for working temperatures.
- To adapt the recipe to another tin, see how to adapt a recipe to a different tin size.
Peanut Butter and Raspberry Entremet
Ingredients
Caramelised puffed rice
- 70 g puffed rice
- 35 g liquid glucose
- 30 g granulated white sugar
Puffed rice crunch
- caramelised puffed rice (above)
- 65 g milk chocolate
- 15 g neutral vegetable oil
- 1 g salt
Raspberry marmalade
- 100 g raspberry purée
- 50 g frozen raspberries
- 35 g granulated white sugar
- 4 g pectin NH
- 10 g lemon juice
Peanut butter mousse
- 6 g gelatin (bloomed in 36g cold water)
- 100 g milk
- 60 g egg yolks
- 60 g white or brown sugar
- 135 g smooth peanut butter
- 5 g vanilla extract
- 240 g whipping cream (whipped)
Dark chocolate glaze
- 145 g whipping cream
- 30 g milk
- 10 g honey
- 2 g gelatin (bloomed in 12g cold water)
- 145 g dark chocolate (58–65%)
- 30 g butter
Instructions
Caramelised puffed rice
- Warm the glucose until very fluid – keep an eye on it, it only takes a moment.
- Pour over the puffed rice in a bowl and mix with a spatula – careful, it’s hot!
- Sprinkle with the sugar and spread on a tray.
- Bake at 180°C (355°F) for 15–20 minutes, until golden and caramelised.
- Cool completely, then break into small pieces.
Puffed rice crunch
- Melt the chocolate.
- Mix in the oil, then the caramelised puffed rice and salt.
- Press into an 18cm ring lined with acetate to form an even layer.
- Refrigerate.
Raspberry marmalade
- Warm the raspberry purée with the frozen raspberries.
- Mix the sugar with the pectin and add to the warm purée.
- Bring to the boil and cook for 1 minute.
- Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice.
- Pour into a 14 or 16cm silicone mould and freeze.
Peanut butter mousse
- Heat the milk.
- Mix the egg yolks with the sugar.
- Pour the hot milk over the yolks, return to low heat and cook to 82°C (180°F).
- Remove from the heat and add the bloomed gelatin, peanut butter and vanilla.
- Blend until smooth.
- Cool to 30–32°C (86–90°F) and fold in the whipped cream.
- Pour half the mousse over the crunchy base, add the insert, then pour in the rest of the mousse.
- Freeze for at least 8 hours.
Glaze
- Heat the cream with the milk, honey and bloomed gelatin.
- Pour over the chocolate.
- Blend with an immersion blender, taking care not to add air bubbles.
- Add the butter and blend.
- Use at 30–40°C (86–104°F).
Finishing
- Take the cake out of the freezer and place it on a rack or glass.
- Remove the ring and acetate.
- Pour the glaze evenly over the cake.
- Decorate as you like.
Notes
More peanut desserts: peanut Rocher petit gâteaux and the giant peanut butter cookie.
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