Pear and almond cake

Almond biscuit
125g caster sugar
125g almond powder
35g flour
200g egg whites
50g caster sugar
Mix the powders together in a bowl. Beat the egg whites until stiff with the powdered sugar. Take a small portion of the whites and mix to loosen the mixture. Add the remaining whites, stirring gently with a spatula. Pour the dough onto a baking tray lined with baking paper (rectangle of about 24 cm X 28 cm, twice the size of your pastry frame). Bake at 170°C for 14-15 minutes. Leave to cool and then cut out two 26X11cm rectangles.

Vanilla mousse
200g cold liquid cream
100g of liquid cream
Vanilla pod or vanilla powder
5g gelatine
60g icing sugar
Place the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water. In a saucepan, heat the 100g of liquid cream with the vanilla. Remove from the heat and add the gelatine. Mix and set aside. Whip the cold cream and add the icing sugar. Pour in the previous mixture and stir gently.

Proceed with the assembly
300g of pears in syrup, cut up + cooking syrup
Place the first almond biscuit in the bottom of your pastry frame (26X11cm). Brush it with the syrup left over from cooking the pears. Place half of the vanilla mousse, the pears cut into pieces and the remaining mousse on top. Finish with the second biscuit and place in the freezer overnight.

Caramel glaze (the day before)
145 g – 20 g sugar – 12 g cornflour
120 g water – 120 g single cream
4 g gelatine

Mix the 20 g sugar and cornflour in a bowl. Heat the water and cream in a saucepan. Make a caramel with the 145 g of sugar in another pan. Remove from the heat and gradually add the water/cream mixture while whisking. Put the mixture back on the heat to obtain a smooth caramel. Then, off the heat, add the sugar/maizena mixture. Put the mixture back on the heat and bring to the boil for 1 minute without stopping stirring. The caramel should thicken. Remove from the heat and pour the caramel over the gelatine, which has been wrung out and softened, and mix, keeping the mixer at the bottom to avoid air bubbles.

If your biscuit is already up to the height of the frame, slide the frame slightly upwards by 3mm. Cover the surface of the cake with the caramel icing which has been cooled to 25°C. Leave in the fridge for a few minutes until the icing has set. Carefully remove the frame and cut 0.5 cm off each side of the cake, so that the layers are well defined. Cut out individual slices, decorate with gold leaf and milk chocolate decoration and leave to defrost in the fridge.