Harmonie

Harmonie .... reminds me of a TV chocolate commercial I saw recently. Of course my harmonie is not related it, but my lovely small cake is inspired by a amazing book Sucré by Ladurée. The original recipe is a much bigger cake assemble in a simple way, but I love a petite version one in my own way and addition of my favorite components..... This amazingly delicious cake has a few components - pistache macaron biscuits, pistache crème mousseline, framboise (raspberry) gelée and fresh framboise. Original recipe in Ladurée Sucré doesn't have raspberry gelée, but I do like gelée for my liking and addition of another fresh dimension. To assemble this cake is the easiest part, most of my time was using to get all my components ready....

you need...

• six 8-10 cm diameter pistachio macaron biscuits
• around 200g pistachio crème mousseline
• three 3 cm diameter raspberry gelée
• lots of fresh raspberry (some for snacking!)

First thing first, I have all my components ready on a big silpat, I just find this way more easy to clean-up afterwards. Here we have pistachio macaron biscuits, pistachio crème mousseline in a piping bag with star tip, raspberry gelée insert and fresh raspberries. You may notice my macaron biscuit has some not so pretty marks cause I followed Ladurée's direction piped them spirally and it ended up not smooth at all.  I think next time I will just pipe it into a big plain perfectly smooth disc instead....or have my batter tighter so it will hold a spiral shape like a dacquoise, hmm, let's see....

My first step is to pipe a layer pistachio crème mousseline on my macaron biscuit, arrange fresh raspberries around the border and pipe another small spiral pistachio crème mousseline in the middle. I love pistachio crème mousseline a lot, a lighter version of buttercream lightened by pistachio pastry cream. This crème mousseline taste awesome, not too sweet, light , fluffy and melt in mouth...

Only couple more steps and my Harmonie will be ready! I have my raspberry gelée handy and laid it carefully and quickly on top of my mousseline. My raspberry gelée is a lighter version and will definitely melt in my fingers! Its good to make a big batch raspberry gelée since they freeze quite well.  So far so good, my Harmonie comes together and looks great now...lovely green and red color! Smells great too, my imagination? No...can't wait, can't wait to taste it!

Now, I am in my final stage of Harmonie! Just pipe another small amount of mousseline, put on another macaron biscuit on top plus a rasbperry for garnish and I am done! But not tasting time yet as it has to sit in fridge until next day to develop its flavor fully, okay...another wait then. 

Last but not least...I can only say this petite Harmonie taste amazing - crunchy shells, smooth & creamy pistachio mousseline, fruity & citrus raspberry gelée and fresh raspberry make this small dessert exceptional! Harmonie will be my another one of my favorites! You may notice there is another little cutie at the end of my photo, it is a orange blossom and pistachio religieuse...maybe another post! But let me enjoy my harmonie time now!