January 2011 Daring Baker Challenge (FINALLY) -Biscuit Joconde Imprime/Entremet

After my Wisdom Tooth surgery... extraction of all 4, which were all severely impacted, I never expected to feel as crappy as I did, and for as long as I did... I actually still cannot open my jaw. I expected to be out of it for a few days, and then weak for about a week.... NOT out of it for nearly 2 weeks, and weak for who knows how long yet.
Since I am still off of work because of the teeth, I took advantage of being able to go home and visit my parents while my mom had a day off... And she was going to help me complete my February challenge, while I have the time to do it, before work gets crazy (because of making up for all the days i was off for the surgery). While I was waiting for her to wake up, I made my January challenge, for a few reasons: a)i really wanted to try the technique and i was bummed when i wasn't going to be able to do it on time, b)she had all the ingredients I needed, c)i had the time to do it
and so here it goes:

The January 2011 Daring Baker's Challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entrements dessert

Now, I know what you're thinking... "A WHAT?" And i honestly can't help you pronounce anything French... Basically, its a pretty sponge cake that you can wrap around another "cake" the "entremets" which is usually made of layers... the dessert should be free-standing, so the layers should be able to hold themselves up like mouses and gelee's and what have you.
My original plan (pre-surgery), was to make my "entremet" (inside cake) of Banoffee pie kind of style. However, my mom didn't have the essential ingredient condensed milk, so i had to figure out something different. We ended up filling it with a thick Vanilla pudding... but it wasn't so freestanding, and I would defiantly not recommend using pudding... I should have stuck to my idea of making chocolate mouse with the egg yolks i had left over from the sponge/paste layer.
I don't have any pictures of it cut, I saved it in the fridge for my parents to have on their anniversary tomorrow. Still unsure of how the pudding will work out.

My mom and I were surprised at exactly how easy this was to make, and we will defiantly be trying this again.


So, here are my pictures and the short description of what i did/what i learned. You can find the recipe on the Daring Kitchen website... defiantly download the pdf file if you can, It had amazing resources and helpful hints in there.
I chose to make the chocolate paste for 2 reasons... a)my mom didn't have any food colouring, but she had cocoa, and b)because it seemed like the easiest option... and Easy is always a good option when you don't really have any idea what you are making.

I drew the path through the paste with my fingers... next time i will probably use a pastry comb (if i can find one), or something that will make smaller squiggles than my fingers.
I made the sponge recipe first, just because that was the order they were in on the pdf file, and it was nerve racking... It didn't look right until the very end. I'm very glad that I stuck to my gut, and followed the directions as closely as possible... OH, 2 more things... We didn't have room in the freezer for the paste with my finger squiggles in it, so I just went outside (its January, i live in a giant freezer) and put it in my car for 20 minutes. AND I cut the paste recipe in half... and i still have more than enough.. But made the full sponge recipe, and it just barely covered. It worked out quite well to be honest.

Above is the sponge batter on top of my finger squiggles... Just before baking. and Below is after (and flipped over to show the pattern that became of said finger squiggles. I didn't have any trouble with the edges burning like a few people seemed to have on the forums. In fact, it turned out nearly perfect. AT least because i think i was expecting complete doom.


And then here is my finished pudding cake... We ended up tying a ribbon around it to try and get it to hold together at the seams, and I'm pretty sure it worked, I haven't asked my mom yet if there is vanilla pudding all over her fridge yet though.

Here is my finished product:

Again, I learned a TON from this challenge, and both me, and my mom will be making this again. It is much easier than it seems... even if i still can't pronounce it.