Christmas Number Cake
Hey foodies!
For a fun change from the classic yule log while staying in the Christmas spirit, I'm sharing a Christmas version of the number cake. ;o)
It's made with a lime biscuit, a lime ganache and a mango cremeux.
This number cake serves 10 to 12 people.
Here is the list of ingredients you will need:
Lime ganache
- 5 gelatin sheets
- 125gr white chocolate
- 180gr heavy cream
- 52gr lime juice (3 limes)
- 250gr heavy cream
Mango cremeux
- 1/2 gelatin sheet
- 2 eggs (75gr)
- 70gr sugar
- 60gr mango puree
- 88gr butter
Shortbread biscuit
- 140gr butter at room temperature
- 85gr icing sugar
- 30gr egg
- 2 lime zests (from the limes we used for the ganache)
- 1.5gr salt
- 250gr flour
Icing and decoration
- 1 packet of royal icing
- 1 round tip 1 mm
- 1 round tip 1.5 mm
- Mini sugar pearls, meringues, gold leaves, chocolate pearls
I recommend making this recipe over two days. On the first day, prepare the ganache and the mango cremeux, and on the second day, make the biscuit and assemble. ;o)
Lime ganache
Start by softening the 5 gelatin sheets in very cold water.
Cut 3 limes in half and juice them.
Keep the limes once juiced. We'll need to zest them for the biscuit.
In a bowl, pour 125gr of white chocolate. I always work with chocolate pistoles made for pastry! I can't stand chocolate bars which (in my opinion) are not of very good quality. Here, I used Callebaut white chocolate. Love it!
In a saucepan, pour 180gr of heavy cream with 52gr of lime juice (3 limes).
Bring the cream to a boil.
Once it boils, remove the saucepan from the heat, squeeze the gelatin sheets and add them to the hot cream. Let the sheets melt into your cream and whisk everything together.
Once the gelatin sheets are fully melted, pour the lime cream over the white chocolate and let the chocolate melt for a few seconds.
Then whisk the ganache and make sure everything is well melted.
Finally, add 250gr of cold heavy cream and whisk together.
Once the ganache is well mixed, cover it directly with cling film and refrigerate overnight.
TIP: I never plan far enough ahead to leave my ganache overnight in the fridge. So I cheat! I cool it in the freezer for about 20 minutes, but I come back to stir it every 5 to 10 minutes. Then I put it back in the fridge for about 1h more and it's ready to go.
Mango cremeux
Second step, the mango cremeux. ;o)
Whisk 2 eggs. We will need 75gr for this cremeux and 30gr for the biscuit later, so keep it all.
Soften 1/2 gelatin sheet in very cold water.
In a saucepan, pour 75gr of eggs with 70gr of sugar.
Add 60gr of mango puree and whisk together.
Heat the egg/sugar/mango mixture over medium heat until the first PLOP. In theory, the mixture should be heated until it reaches 85°C. But at my place (in the mountains) the first PLOP happens around 75-80°C.
Whisk continuously with the 2-in-1 whisk-thermometer so nothing burns at the bottom of the saucepan. I highly recommend this magical tool. With it, you no longer need to hold the thermometer while whisking. The bonus: it beeps once the desired temperature is reached.
As soon as you hear the first PLOP or the temperature is reached, immediately remove the saucepan from the heat.
Squeeze the gelatin and add it to the cremeux, then whisk again.
Let the mixture cool down to 60°C.
Once the mixture is at 60°C, add 88gr of butter all at once and gently whisk together.
To make the preparation smooth and homogeneous, blend 1 to 2 minutes using an immersion blender.
Cover directly with cling film and refrigerate the cremeux overnight. It's important that the cremeux stays in the fridge for several hours to be firm enough to pipe.
Once the cremeux has set, transfer it into a piping bag fitted with a 13 mm round tip.
Shortbread biscuit
Start by cutting 140gr of butter at room temperature into pieces and placing it in a mixing bowl.
Add 85gr of icing sugar.
Mix these two ingredients using the paddle attachment until the mixture becomes creamy and smooth.
Add the 30gr of egg.
Weigh 1.5gr of salt using the scale spoon and add it to the mixture.
Zest 2 limes using the famous steel grater! I love this grater! It's magical and works with all citrus fruits as well as tonka beans, and it's also great for levelling a tart base.
Finally, add 250gr of flour and mix very very lightly with the paddle attachment.
As soon as you see something resembling a crumble like in the first photo below, stop the mixer and finish kneading by hand.
The problem with over-mixing is that the gluten will develop and your biscuit will puff up during baking... We want something nice and smooth that doesn't rise too much. So don't over-mix! And everything will be fine. :o)
Once the dough is well mixed, place it between two sheets of baking paper. Place your 3 mm guide sticks next to the dough and roll it out evenly with your rolling pin.
Make sure the dough is smooth and evenly rolled out. Then place your dough in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 170°C, fan-assisted.
To make my Christmas tree shaped number cake, I used this stencil: STENCIL.
Take your dough out of the freezer, then place the stencil on the dough and cut out your biscuit.
Remove the stencil, then trim any missed or uneven edges with a knife for a clean finish.
Place the Christmas tree on a perforated baking tray lined with a perforated mat.
Bake the biscuit for 10 minutes at 170°C, fan-assisted. The edges should lightly brown.
Re-roll the remaining dough and place it back in the freezer for 10 minutes. Then cut out your second Christmas tree, following exactly the same procedure as for the first.
With the remaining dough, make some pretty little stars or other shapes of your choice. We'll use them for decoration.
Here, we have two different sizes of stars made with these cookie cutters.
Bake the biscuits 5-6 minutes at 170°C, fan-assisted.
Icing and decoration
Time to move on to decoration and assembly.
I decided to decorate the small biscuits with royal icing. But you can also leave them plain.
I used the royal icing from Funcakes. Super simple to use. ;o)
Pour 112gr of royal icing into your bowl and add 15gr of cold water using a bottle.
Then whisk at low speed! This is very very important! If you whisk too fast, you'll end up with a meringue that you won't be able to work with in a piping bag... So, go easy with the whisk!
You may need to add water or more icing depending on the texture you get. To add water in small amounts, I always use an icing bottle. Super handy for royal icing.
The right texture is when you lift your spoon 10 cm above the bowl and the icing flows smoothly without being too liquid! I know, it's not easy... If the icing drips in spurts, add water until it flows smoothly enough.
Once your icing is ready, take a small 30 cm piping bag, a 1.5 mm tip for filling and a 1 mm tip for decoration.
Little tip: for small tips I like to use a coupler, that way your tip stays firmly in place with no risk of making too large a hole.
Cut your piping bag, put in the coupler then the tip and screw the coupler on. Place your piping bag in a glass or shaker so you can fill your bag with both hands.
Close your piping bag with a piping bag elastic.
Have fun! Decorate, add some sparkle! Enjoy yourself. ;o)
Use a scribe needle if needed, very handy for touch-ups or to fix imperfections.
Here, I simply iced my stars and sprinkled some golden mini sugar pearls on some of them.
Now we need to whip the ganache.
Take your ganache out of the fridge and whip it to give it a lovely light, airy texture.
Don't whip it too fast and keep a close eye on it throughout so it doesn't split.
Place the ganache in a piping bag fitted with a 12 mm star tip.
Let's start assembling! Get all your preparations out.
I placed my first biscuit on a 35 x 35 cm board.
TIP: You can put a small dot of ganache under your biscuit (one at the bottom, one at the top). This way, the biscuit won't slide around on the board! ;-)
Pipe the lime ganache over the entire first biscuit.
Then pipe the mango cremeux.
Once the cremeux is piped, place the second biscuit on top.
Pipe the lime ganache on the second layer.
There we go, now we have a beautiful two-tiered Christmas tree.
Add your royal icing decorated biscuits and a few meringues.
Add the decorations of your choice.
Here, I added some chocolate pearls and a few gold leaves.
Use precision tweezers for the gold leaves.
And here is the result with all the decorations! ;o)
Add the decorations at the last minute, as they melt quickly once on the ganache.
The rest can be done a few hours in advance without any problem.
I hope you'll love this Christmas version of the number cake.
Have a great Sunday!
Karin
P.S.: All the equipment used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.
Watch our recipe in video!
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Comments
Question de Chantal
By: Chantal G. On 2024-12-26Bonjour,
Peut-on remplacer le sablé par une genoise ?
Merci
Replied by: Karin On 2024-12-27
Question de Eloïse
By: Eloïse S. On 2024-12-01Bonjour :)
Je souhaiterais essayer cette recette en faisant un biscuit nature, une ganache à la vanile et un crémeux fruits de la passion.
niveau biscuit je pense que cela ne changera rien si nous enlevons le zeste du citron, cependant pour la ganache à la vanille je bloque, avez-vous une recette sur laquel je peux me baser ?
Je vous remercie d'avance pour votre réponse.
Belle soiréee.
Replied by: Karin On 2024-12-02
Question de Florence
By: Florence H. On 2023-12-27Bonjour, nous nous sommes régalés de ce magnifique dessert le soir de Noël!
Replied by: Karin On 2023-12-28
Question de Charlotte
By: Charlotte J. On 2023-12-15Bonjour :-)
Je souhaiterais essayer cette recette en faisant un biscuit nature, une ganache vanille et un crémeux praliné.
S'agissant du crémeux praliné, dois-je simplement remplacer la purée de mangue par du praliné ou faudrait-il que j'adapte la recette ?
Merci d'avance :-)
Replied by: Laura On 2023-12-15
Replied by: Charlotte J. On 2023-12-17
Question de Gaelle
By: Gaelle Q. On 2023-11-21Bonjour. Est ce possible de cuire le buiscuit la veille au soir pour monter le lendemain matin ?
Replied by: Karin On 2023-11-21
Question de Stéphanie
By: Stéphanie P. On 2021-12-19Bonjour,
Est-ce possible de remplacer la mange par du fruit de la passion. Et faut-il changer les proportions ?
Merci de votre aide.
Stéphanie
Replied by: Karin On 2021-12-20
Question de Evina
By: Evina M. On 2021-12-11Bonjour,
J’ai un doute en voyant la taille du sapin. Est-ce que c’est assez grand pour 12 parts?
Belle préparations festives à vous.
Nina
Replied by: Laura On 2021-12-13
Question de Jasmine
By: Jasmine J. On 2021-11-08Bonsoir,
Comme il est beau^^ j'aurais souhaité avoir quelques conseils. Je voulais tenter de faire une ganache praliné est-ce que ça peut jouer si au lieu de la quantité du chocolat blanc, je mets moitié chocolat au lait et moitié du praliné? Et une 2eme petite question, si je veux remplacer le biscuit citron par un biscuit noisette est ce que c'est suffisant de remplacer la moitié de la farine par de la poudre de noisette?
Une toute belle soirée
Jasmine
Replied by: Karin On 2021-11-09
Replied by: Jasmine J. On 2021-11-23
Question de Alexandra
By: Alexandra A. On 2021-08-03Bonjour,
est-ce que la quantité des ingrédients pour la ganache est la même si l'on prend du chocolat noir ?
Merci pour votre réponse :-)
Replied by: Karin On 2021-08-04