How to Achieve a Perfect Deconstructed Strawberry Plant?
Benoît Castel gives us the secrets of his highly spring-like recipe.
This contemporary strawberry cake rests on a melting pistachio financier base covered with a light vanilla cream. Above, a generous layer of strawberries enhances everything, then a few cubes of almond paste, small cubes of pistachio financiers and pieces of “petits beurre” style biscuits, Benoît Castel ’s standard!
For 6 small unstructured strawberries.
Preparation: 1h30.
Cooking time: 30 minutes.
Ingredients :
FOR THE VANILLA PASTRY CREAM
500 g of whole milk
50g caster sugar (1)
1 vanilla pod
50g caster sugar (2)
45 gr of cornstarch or flan powder (starch)
80g egg yolks
25 g of unsalted butter
FOR THE FINANCIAL BASE WITH PISTACHIO
140 g of unsalted butter
170g caster sugar
70 g of almond powder
70 gr of flour
140g egg whites
55 gr pistachio paste
Cubes of almond paste or pieces of fresh almond (optional)
Preparation :
FOR THE VANILLA PASTRY CREAM
Boil the milk, sugar (1) and the scraped vanilla pod. Mix the sugar (2), starch and yolks.
When the milk boils, remove the pod and pour half of the liquid over the sugar, starch and egg yolk mixture. Return everything to the pan and boil for 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the butter and mix.
Remove into a container, cover with film and place in the freezer for 20 minutes, then in the refrigerator until completely cooled (around 2 hours).
FOR THE FINANCIAL BASE WITH PISTACHIO
In a saucepan, heat the butter until it is brown. Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, mix all the powders together. Add the egg whites. Mix well between each addition. Add the butter last and the pistachio paste.
Pour into a dish to a thickness of approximately 1 cm, bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 160°. Leave to cool and cut a few small cubes.
When the vanilla pastry cream has completely cooled, relax it with a mixer and whip with 325 g of mascarpone.
In small round pots approximately 8 cm in diameter, pipe three large balls of vanilla custard directly into the bottom. Garnish with whole or halved strawberries then add the small cubes of financier. Decorate according to your taste, you can add chopped pistachios for example.
For decoration, add cubes of almond paste or pieces of fresh almond according to your taste.
