Ad // The recipe is developed in collaboration with Sugarflair
These cute Apple Pecan cakes truly taste like a spoon of Autumn!
They are perfect for the season with lots of apples paired with a nutty pecan flavour and a super creamy white chocolate whipped ganache on top.
I love how fresh they taste and that you really can taste the pecan nuts in these cakes! It's definitely not the last time I'm making these.
As I do with all my cakes, I've used Sugarflair's amazing chocolate coloring powder and glaze paste color to give the cakes my favorite shade of green: A very light pastel green that has a more cold undertone. That gives the cakes a fresh look that matches the fresh flavor inside perfectly.
Sugarflair is a family-run powder and paste color brand that has been around for more than 40 years. They only use the best quality ingredients to ensure strong and intense colors.
The colors are very rich which means that you don't have to use a lot to achieve an intense color. That also goes for these cakes where I've used very little powder and paste to get this green color.
I've been using Sugarflair since I started baking more than 10 years ago and swear by their colors for coloring both chocolate and glaze as they really are the best!
You can find the different Sugarflair powder colors and paste colors that I've used for the cake here.
You can also watch my YouTube step-by-step guide of the cakes here.
Happy baking <3
Servings: 8 / 8 cakes
The recipe contains affiliate links.
Ingredients:
Day 1
Pecan Praliné:
80 g roasted pecan nuts
80 g caster sugar
Day 1
Apple Curd:
1/2 (0.5) gelatine leaf (1 sheet = 1,75 g, bloom value 240)
50 ml apple puree (made of approx. 1-2 apples / 160 g apple and 2-3 tbsp/or as needed pure unfiltered apple juice)
1 1/2 (1.5) tbsp lemon juice
3/4 (0.75) egg
1/2 (0.5) egg yolk
20 g caster sugar
20 g cold butter
Day 1
Pecan Cake with Cinnamon:
50 g white chocolate
30 g butter
30 g caster sugar
1 egg
60 g pecan nut flour (can be made by blending pecan nuts to flour in a small food processor)
1 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of salt
35-40 g chopped roasted pecan nuts
Day 2
Apple Mousse:
2 1/4 (2,25) gelatine leafs (1 sheet = 1,75 g, bloom value 240)
200 g apples with peel
20 g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste
60 ml pure unfiltered apple juice
35 ml lemon juice
225 ml heavy cream
Day 2
Whipped White Chocolate Ganache:
1 1/4 (1,25) gelatine leafs (1 sheet = 1,75 g, bloom value 240)
95 g white chocolate
220 ml heavy cream (110 ml to be heated, 110 ml cold)
Day 3
Shortcrust with Pecan nuts & Cinnamon:
90 g all-purpose flour
25 g pecan nut flour (can be made by blending pecan nuts to flour in a small food processor)
35 g icing sugar
55 g cold butter
1 1/2 (1.5) tsp cinnamon
1/4 (0.25) egg
Day 3
Mirror Glaze:
6 gelatine leafs (1 sheet = 1,75 g)
150 g white chocolate
100 ml heavy cream
50 ml water
150 g caster sugar
150 g glucose syrup
Lime Green & Holly Green Sugarflair food coloring paste color
Day 3
Chocolate Decoration:
140 g white chocolate
Lime Green & Moss Green Sugarflair food coloring powder
Flowers
Instructions:
You can watch my YouTube step-by-step guide of the cakes here.
Pecan Praliné:
Carefully melt sugar to a golden caramel in a little saucepan
Add immediately the pecan nuts and stir to cover all the nuts with the caramel
Pour the caramelized nuts onto a piece of parchment paper and let them cool
Cut the cooled caramelized nuts into big chunks
Blend the nuts to smooth nut butter with a strong food processor
Fill the praliné layer in 8 silicone insert molds of 4 cm in diameter (I have used this Silikomart Petit Fours mold), filling each mold 1/3 with the crunch. Level the surface by tapping the mold a few times
Put the mold in the freezer while the next layer is made. The praliné must be set/frozen before the next layer can be poured on to get a clean cut
Apple Curd:
Apple puree: Cut apples into cubes and boil apples and pure unfiltered apple juice in a saucepan. Cook until tender. Pour the puree in a plastic pitcher and hand blend. Strain the puree in a sieve. Put 50 ml puree aside
Soak gelatine in cold water for 5-10 min
Whisk the apple puree, lemon juice, eggs, egg yolks and sugar together in a saucepan. Heat it slowly to the boiling point while constantly whisking
Let the cream simmer for a few minutes until it thickens, while still constantly whisking. Be careful with too high a heat, as this can cause the cream to burn.
Take the pan off the heat and mix in the cubed butter. Then add gelatine
Strain the curd in a fine-mesh sieve. Blend at the end to get it completely creamy
Fill the curd layer on top of the praliné in the insert mold where you fill 1/3 of the mold with the curd. Level the surface by tapping the mold
Put the mold in the freezer while the next layer is made. The curd must be frozen before the next layer can be added to get a clean cut
Pecan Cake with Cinnamon:
Melt butter in a sauce pan and put it aside
Melt white chocolate in a sauce pan and put it aside
Whisk eggs and sugar with a hand mixer until it has a flight and fluffy consistency
Pour in butter and combine with a rubber spatula. Then, stir in the chocolate
Make pecan flour by blending roasted pecan nuts to flour in a food processor
Stir in pecan flour, cinnamon and salt with a rubber spatula
Pour the dough in a 14 cm diameter spring pan/pastry ring lined with baking paper
Chop the pecan nuts roughly and spread them on top of the cake dough
Bake the cake for 17-22 min. at 175ºC/350ºF conventional oven
Let the cake cool completely
Cut of 8 cake bases with a 3 cm diameter cookie cutter
Press them down one by one in the insert mold with the pecan nut front facing the apple curd. Use your hands to gently press down the pecan cake in the insert mold so it fits the insert
Freeze the inserts overnight
Apple Mousse:
Soak gelatine in cold water for 5-10 min
Cut apples into cubes and boil fresh apples, pure unfiltered apple juice, sugar, vanilla paste and lemon juice in a saucepan and cook until tender
Remove the saucepan from the heat, hand blend the mixture, and strain it to get a smooth cream
Whip gelatine in the mixture. Let it cool until lukewarm
Whip the heavy cream to lightly whipped cream with soft peaks and gently fold the cream into the lukewarm apple mixture (if it is too hot it can separate the cream)
Pour the mousse in a piping bag
Pipe the apple mousse into 8 Silikomart Stone 85 (6.5 cm in diameter) molds, where you fill 80% in each mold
Take the frozen pecan/apple inserts out of the mold and place them in the apple mousse with the pecan praliné facing downwards
Cover the cake bases with more apple mousse. Level the surface with a palette knife
Put the cakes in the freezer overnight
Whipped White Chocolate Ganache: You can watch my YouTube step-by-step guide of my white chocolate whipped ganache here.
Soak gelatin in cold water for 5-10 minutes
Carefully melt the white chocolate in a pot or over a water bath
Pour the chocolate in a bowl and put it aside
Heat 110 ml of heavy cream almost to a boil
Remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the gelatin
Pour the hot cream over the white chocolate while stirring in the middle with a rubber spatula until the mixture becomes glossy
Pour 110 ml cold heavy cream in the chocolate mixture while stirring
Put cling film on top of the ganache and let it set in the fridge overnight
The next day when you are ready to decorate the cakes: Whip the ganache to a thick consistency with a handmixer and put it in a piping bag with a 1 cm diameter star pastry tip
Shortcrust with Pecan nuts & Cinnamon
Put the flour, pecan flour, icing sugar, salt and butter (cut into cubes) into a food processor and mix it quickly until the dough is crumbly
Put the dough in a bowl and stir in the egg until just combined. Be careful not to knead the dough too much
Roll the dough out between two pieces of baking paper and let it sit in the fridge for 2 hours, or approx. 45 minutes in the freezer. It should be very cold when you take it out
Cut out 8 bases with a 6 cm cookie cutter and bake the bases in the oven at 175ºC/350ºF for approx. 10 minutes until they are golden. If possible, bake the bases on a Silikomart Air silicone mat to give the bases a fine checkered pattern
Let the bases cool on a baking rack. Put them in a cake tin until the cakes are to be decorated to keep them crispy
Mirror Glaze:
Soak gelatine in cold water for 5-10 min
Finely chop the chocolate and put it in a jug
Heat the sugar, water, cream and glucose syrup almost to a boil
Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the gelatine
Pour the hot mixture over the chocolate in the jug
Hand blend until the glaze comes together (insert the hand blender at an angle to avoid air bubbles) and add Lime Green & Holly Green Sugarflair food coloring paste color
Put cling film on the glaze in the jug and let it cool down to 35ºC-34ºC
Take the cakes out of the freezer right before you are ready to glaze. Place them on a baking rack with parchment paper underneath
Pour the glaze over the frozen cakes. Use a little palette knife to remove the glaze excess from the bottom of the cakes
Place each cake on a shortcrust base
Chocolate Decoration:
You can here see how you can learn to make chocolate ribbons and chocolate straws:
Chocolate ribbons on top of the cakes (4,5 cm diameter): 0,5 cm x 15 cm
Chocolate straws made in a narrow pattern at your preferred lenght
I have used Lime Green & Moss Green Sugarflair food coloring powder to color the chocolate decoration for the cakes.
Assembling the cakes:
Use a 4,5 cm diameter cookie cutter to make a slight mark on top of the cakes so you know where to place the chocolate ribbon. Place a chocolate ribbon on top of each
Pipe the whipped ganache on top of the cakes
Place a chocolate straw on each cake
Decorate with flowers
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