Joconde biscuit is a light almond sponge cake, which is known as La Joconde in French that is commonly used as a base for Opera cake. Although the Joconde alone is not much to look at, it is an essential element to a number of classic desserts. The base for mousses, the decorative collar to a number of light cakes, and the layers between an opera cake’s espresso buttercream and chocolate ganache. The Joconde serves as the wind beneath the wings of countless desserts and as such deserves the recognition and the appreciation of anyone who enjoys something sweet now and again. Because Joconde is so versatile, you can also make some elaborate stenciled designs using Joconde. To color Joconde, take out 1/3 of the cake batter and add some cocoa powder to it or some food coloring. You can stencil this color onto the parchment paper or Silpat. Then bake that for 5 minutes just to set it.
Add the rest of your batter on top of the stencil and bake for 8 minutes until the edges just start to brown. Another fun design was making chocolate Joconde and cutting out some circles with a cookie cutter. Use a slightly smaller cutter to remove the center and insert the same sized circle of the striped Joconde. You can then put a little piped buttercream in the center and you have a nice little treat. Add the almond flour in a food processor with powdered sugar and flour then beat that until the texture is super fine. Add eggs to the flour mixture and continue to beat that while you use a spatula to help the food processor blade and remove flour stuck in the frontal corner. In a dry clean bowl, whip egg whites for few minutes then add it to the mixer, continue beating that while adding sugar, about a tablespoon at a time. Continue beating the mixture until the egg whites are glossy and hold a firm peak.
Pour the yellow mixture on the meringue and then you are going to fold them together with are giant spatula. Fold them together gently until they are all combined while trying to keep the volume as much as you can. Add melted butter and continue to fold until the texture is consistent. For baking the batter, use a flexplate which is kind of square which is used by chocolatier for the chocolate ganache. Stick two of them together so you can get eight-millimeter heights. Put them on a baking liner then pour in the batter. Once you have poured your batter and it has taken shape, remove the frame then bake you Joconde biscuit in a preheated oven at 425 degrees Celcius for about 10 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Allo the cake to cool in a rack once it is done baking.
Ingredients;
- Egg white 170 grams
- Sugar 45 grams
- Almond powder 135 grams
- Icing sugar 135 grams
- Egg 170 grams
- Flour 23 grams
- Melted butter 30 grams
Instructions;
- Process the almond powder with icing sugar in a food processor and flour
- Beat the egg white until foamy and add the sugar. Continue beating for some minutes until you get a firm and glossy meringue
- Add eggs to dry mixture in a large bowl.
- Mix well until smooth. Gently fold the egg white meringue into the mixture.
- Do it in two steps, i.e. adding 1/2 of the meringue at a time.
- Add the melted butter and gently mix with a spatula. Evenly spread the batter in a thin layer.
- On a silicone liner or parchment paper in the baking pan.Bake in your pre-heated oven for 10 or 13 minutes at 425°F.
- This cake bakes very fast. It is done when you can touch the top and it bounces back.
- Allow it to cool on a cooling rack for about 5 – 10 minutes.
