If you’ve seen Master Chef Series 1, you’ll be familiar with the name “Zumbo”.
If you haven’t, then let me tell you more about this young Sydney based Chef with an African sounding Greek Name.
In July 2009, he put forward his creation to the dismay of the Masterchef contestants - It was a Chocolate Mousse Cake that would take HOURS to complete. This cake got so much publicity, his little store got inundated with orders. He wasn’t able to fulfill the requests so he created a lottery system on his website… he’d make 100 of these cakes and donate proceeds to charity… After a few weeks of waiting, we were notified of the news that we made the list 
Adriano Zumbo signed and numbered every one of the 100 boxes
Here’s what lies beneath the pretty Black & Pink box:
You can see the level of detail in this cake, even the patterns of cocoa is intentional.
This cake is like a work of art that shouldn’t be disturbed… Unfortunately for this cake I’m pretty uncultured when it comes to art so it’s fate is definitely sealed tonight *evil laugh*
To celebrate the impending doom for this cake, a couple of friends came over to help us finish it off… Not sure if the stupid amounts of fish sauce we had during the vietnamese meal would have an impact on the flavours of the cake but we were soon to find out.
The time has come!
Now… We Ee Laine was the most qualified cake surgeon and had to do some practice cuts in mid air…
The cake was SUPER dense…
BEHOLD! The 8 Layers of awesome!
Oh, if you’re keen on making this (and have nothing better to spend 8 hours of your life), here’s the ingredient list and recipe:
Ingredients
1. Pate sable cinnamon
285g cold butter cubed
185g caster sugar
375g plain flour
1 egg
2g ground cinnamon
1/4 scraped vanilla bean
2. Texture apple tatin insert
PART A
4 granny smith apples, peeled & diced
350g caster sugar
175g butter
PART B
3 granny smith apples, peeled & diced
10g butter
1 orange zest
6g fresh ginger (leave in large bits)
50g caster sugar
15ml calvados
3. Salted caramel layer
300g caster sugar
60g glucose
120g water
220g cream
5g gelatine leaves
125g butter unsalted
2g sea salt flakes
4. Biscuit decor jaconde
Cigarette decor paste
50ml cream
50g egg white
50g icing sugar
30g plain flour
20g cocoa
Biscuit jaconde
60g plain flour
40g butter melted
200g almond meal
200g icing sugar
6 eggs
180g egg whites
90g caster sugar
5. Chocolate blackberry sabayon mousse
Blackberry ganache
125g blackberry pulp
12g inverted sugar
50g caster sugar
6g caster sugar
3g pectin nh
200g 64% dark chocolate
35g butter
Sabayon mousse
60ml liquid strained black tea
50g sugar
50g egg
145g blackberry ganache (see recipe above)
60g 64% chocolate
400g whipped cream soft peaks
Chocolate spray
500g dark chocolate
350g cocoa butter
colour as directed
Tempered chocolate
500g white chocolate
Method
Pate sable cinnamon
1. Preheat oven to 160°c.
2. Add butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon and vanilla to a food processor and process to fine crumb. Add egg, mix till it comes together. Tip mixture onto bench and knead lightly. Roll out on a sheet of baking paper until 7 – 8 mm thick. Place ring mould over pastry and cut around outside edge, remove excess outer pastry.
3. Transfer pastry and ring mould on baking paper to an oven tray and bake until lightly golden.
Texture apple tatin insert
PART A
Dry caramelise the sugar, emulsify the caramel with the butter. Add the apples, cook until the apples are translucent and caramel in colour. Cool mixture.
PART B
1. Peel & dice the apples. Add butter, orange zest, & ginger to a pan and cook until aromatic. Add sugar & apples. Cook over high heat for 1 minute, add calvados & flambé. Cool mixture.
2. Mix the 2 apple mixtures together. Place in a silicon mould. Place in blast freezer until set.
Salted caramel layer
1. Heat cream. Place sugar, glucose, water in a saucepan, cook to caramel colour. Deglaze sugar with cream. Add gelatine. Cool to 50°c. Add butter and blitz.
2. Place in a silicon mould and place in blast freezer.
Biscuit decor jaconde
Cigarette decor paste
Mix all ingredients together.
Biscuit jaconde
1. Melt butter. Whip eggs, icing sugar, and almond meal together. Whip egg whites and sugar together to form stiff peaks. Fold egg whites into egg almond mixture alternating with butter & flour.
2. Preheat oven to 160°c.
3. Place cigarette paste on tray, swirl pattern with fingers. Place in freezer. Using a pastry scrape or palette knife spread cigarette paste with a thin layer about 3mm thick of jaconde. Bake until lightly golden. Cool.
5. Chocolate blackberry sabayon mousse
Blackberry ganache
1. Heat blackberry pulp in a saucepan, add sugar and inverted sugar, bring to the boil. Add extra sugar and pectin.
2. Pour mixture over chocolate in a bowl, stir until smooth. Cool to 40°c, add butter and blend with a stick blender.
Sabayon mousse
1. Place tea, sugar & eggs in a bowl over simmering water (bain marie) and whip to form a sabayon. Melt chocolate, mix in cream. Fold in blackberry ganache, gently fold in sabayon.
Chocolate spray
1. Temper chocolate see method below. Cool to 40°c. Add cocoa.
2. Place in spray gun.
Tempered chocolate
1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl. Add more chocolate stirring until melted, until the temperature of the chocolate reaches approximately 32°c (dark chocolate), approximately 30°c for milk or white chocolate. The chocolate should be tempered. To test, use a small square of silicon paper & dip in chocolate, place on bench (cool place), the chocolate should set at room temperature.
2. To temper the cocoa butter melt in pot on stove, then pour onto a clean work surface to cool rapidly (around 32°c), add colour as soon as you pour the cocoa butter on table and work with the palette knife. When cool, brush on clear plastic provided working left to right, and keep brushing until cool in same direction to obtain brush strokes. Cover in tempered white chocolate, and cut and shape to desired finish. Place on top of cake as desired.
Assembly
Layer of mousse in bottom of mould
Layer of salted caramel from silicon mould
Layer of jaconde
Layer of mousse
Layer of apple tatin from silicon mould
Layer of jaconde
Layer of mousse
Sable
