Days 4 and 5: Jamaica

First things first, I've had several requests to see pictures of the Peniche so I've done my best to take a few pictures.  I don't have interior pictures to share yet, but I walked across the Bir Hakeim Bridge the other day and found that I had a perfect view of Adriana at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.  Definitely something amazing to see!  More pictures will follow as soon as I get my act together.

Adriana

And here are a few pictures from the sidewalk walking up to the peniche!

Day 4 was Monday January 10 and we watched a demo on how to make a cake called a Jamaica.  Day 5 was Thursday January 13 and the practical class when we finally made our own cake.  I guess it is called Jamaica because it is made from tropical fruits, but other than that I'm not really sure.  The base layer and sides of this cake were a Joconde biscuit sponge.  It was a chocolate based batter that we sprinkled with finely chopped pistachios, almonds, and coconut.  We baked the batter flat on a cookie sheet like a texas sheet cake and when it had cooled we cut out shapes to assemble the cake.  We cut a circle for the base and a long rectangle that we wrapped around the circle to create sides for the cake.  The assembly was similar to the Pear Charlotte I made in basic pastry.

The first layer inside the cake was a coconut mousse made from milk, coconut milk, and whipped cream.  The second layer was chunks of fresh pineapple soaked in simple syrup and rum. The third layer was a mango-passionfruit mousse made from mango puree, passionfruit puree, whipped cream, and italian meringue.  Each time we added a layer we put the cake in the freezer to firm up the cream so that the layers wouldn't run together.  The last step was to decorate and glaze the cake.  This cake can also be decorated like the raspberry and passionfruit tart, but is traditionally topped with a pineapple ring embedded in the top of the mango-passionfruit mousse.

Nothing about this cake sounded very appetizing to me as I'm not a huge fan of coconut and I generally like my pineapple fresh (or soaked with Stoli), but I was surprised to find that this cake was delicious!  It was very light and all of the flavors really complemented each other.  The chocolate sponge crust was subtle and really held the whole thing together well.  I was pleasantly surprised and would definitely make this again.

Until next time Au Revoir and Bon Appetit!