Daring Bakers - Biscuit Joconde Imprime/Entremet

I joined the Daring Bakers because I was keen to make fancy desserts - the kind I would never try on my own. Accordingly, I was delighted when I learned that this month's challenge is definitely in the "fancy desserts" category:

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

The challenge consisted of making a biscuit joconde imprime (a sponge "printed" with a cigarette paste design). This started in my case with spreading a thin layer of cigarette paste onto a piece of baking paper:

then swirling a design in it with my finger, and covering the paste with a thin layer of sponge. On turning the sponge over, the design is revealed:

This "printed" sponge is then used design-side out to line a ring mould:

You then fill the ring mould with "entremets" or layers of your choice. I chose a strawberry cheesecake, made using this recipe (tinted dark pink for visual effect):

then covered with a layer of lemon mousse, made from this recipe:

I then decorated the dessert by piping whipped cream around the outside, and topping it with a fanned strawberry, as seen at the top of this post.

The bottom layer of the dessert did not set properly, but together, the combination tasted good. I would happily make this again with a different cheesecake recipe.

To see all the wonderful and creative efforts of the other Daring Bakers with this dessert, visit the Daring Bakers blogroll.