It’s been a minute since I’ve last tackled an entremet, so I wanted to do another one, as I had a bunch of random components here and there that I knew I could use. I was making Turkish delight for Pinktober and realized that I had an entire piping bag of leftover ruby chocolate mousse from another dessert that I had made. That, coupled with me wanting to already do a chocolate-rose thing, was how this entremet came about! For the flavors, we are mostly focusing on dark chocolate, rose, and a little bit of olive oil. My thought process on this is that olive oil and chocolate work together, rose and olive oil work together, and chocolate-covered Turkish delight is a thing(that is freaking delicious), so all three do have synergy there. So the components we have include a black cacao-olive oil chiffon base with a rose milk soak, a dark chocolate-olive oil mousse, disks of ruby chocolate mousse and Turkish delight, two different mirror glazes, and black cacao infused modeling chocolate roses. There was a lot of time that went into this entremet, as when you are working with layers inside of it beyond just mousse and cake, you will need time to properly freeze those layers solid so that you can press them into the mousse without accidentally breaking the fillings or warping the shapes of them. For me, I actually made components of this cake throughout the week, starting with freezing the ruby chocolate mousse and Turkish delight disks first, then making the cake, then the mousse, then glazing it, and finally, the roses. If you were to attempt to do this all in one cook or the span of one day, you’ll probably need at least 4 to 6 hours just to freeze the components and the cake itself for assembly plus glazing. Just giving a fair warning, not necessarily trying to intimidate here, as once you get the feel/timing of making these mirror glaze cakes down, they actually are a ton of fun to do! Personally for me, there are fewer things in life that give me more serotonin that seeing a perfectly glazed mirror glaze cake.

For the components, we have the aforementioned black cacao-olive oil chiffon with rose water soak as the base, then the ruby chocolate mousse, chocolate-olive oil mousse, Turkish delight, our two mirror glazes, and the modeling chocolate roses to finish. You can make the chiffon, ruby chocolate mousse, and Turkish delight all in advanced, as the soak will mitigate any drying out of the sponge base itself! I went with black cacao for this recipe specifically for that rich, fruity flavor it has that pairs gorgeously with the olive oil and rose water. That and the dark color gives the cake a more black rose aesthetic, which is what I was aiming for with this cake. With the mirror glazes, I went with a single base glaze made with white chocolate, and dyed about 3/4 of it with black cacao and activated charcoal, and the rest of it with beet powder, just so that I did not have to make two separate glazes, and this way, it guarantees that the two glazes are roughly the same viscosity and can be swirled together naturally. The roses on top are made with homemade modeling chocolate, which in turn, is made from chocolate and corn syrup. It is a super simple and straightforward decorating technique that my friend Bethan taught me years ago, and it is something I still use even to this day! This cake is technically an homage to chocolate-covered Turkish delight, while also featuring black roses for that gothic Halloween-meets-Pinktober aesthetic!

For the chocolate EVOO chiffon:
2 egg whites
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp black cacao powder

Whip egg whites with sugar to stiff peaks. Whisk egg yolk with olive oil, baking powder, salt, and vanilla until combined. Sift flour and cacao into the egg yolk and fold in the egg whites to combine. Spread the batter onto a lined quarter sheet tray and bake at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes. Allow the cake to fully cool before cutting out one 5-inch round.

For the rose milk soak:
2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp rose water
a pinch of salt

In a cup, mix together your three ingredients. Brush the soak onto the sponge cake.

For the ruby chocolate mousse:
1.5oz ruby chocolate
1/2 tsp gelatin powder + 1 tbsp cold water
3 tbsp whole milk
a pinch of salt
1/4 tsp red beet powder
2 tbsp heavy cream

In a pot, heat up ruby chocolate, gelatin, milk, and salt. Once everything is dissolved together, pour the ruby chocolate mixture into a bowl and fold in the red beet powder. Allow the mixture to cool down completely before mixing in the heavy cream using a whisk to incorporate air – the mixture should begin to cling to the sides of the whisk, but not be whipped to the consistency of stiff cream or else it will break and need to be re-melted and re-mixed! Pour into a lined 4-inch ring mold and freeze solid, at least 2 hours, before attempting to unmold. Store in the freezer.

For the Turkish delight:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 packet gelatin powder
2 cups water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp pitaya powder
1/2 tsp rose water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a pot, whisk sugar, cornstarch, gelatin, water, and lemon juice on low heat until thickened and translucent. Once the mixture clings to your whisk, take off heat and whisk in the remaining ingredients. Pour into a lined 4-inch ring mold and freeze for 2 hours before attempting to unmold. Keep frozen solid for assembly.

For the dark chocolate-EVOO mousse:
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp gelatin powder
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1 egg yolk
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

In a pot, heat up milk, gelatin, and dark chocolate until fully melted together and combined. Take off heat and stir in the egg yolk, olive oil, and salt. Allow the mixture to cool down to just above room temperature before folding in the heavy cream.

For assembly:
Line a 6-inch ring mold with cling wrap and cooking spray. Pour in about 1/3 of the mousse first, then press in the Turkish delight. Then pour in another 1/3 of the mousse, and then add in the ruby chocolate disk. Finally, pour in the rest of the mousse, and press in the cake round. Freeze for at least 2 hours before attempting to unmold, and keep the mousse cake frozen solid for glazing.

For the mirror glaze(s):
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 1/2 tbsp gelatin powder + 2 tbsp cold water
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp beet powder
2 tbsp black cacao powder
1 tsp activated charcoal

In a pot, melt down the white chocolate and gelatin with milk. Once fully dissolved, portion out 1/4 of the glaze and stir in beet powder to it. Then add the black cacao and charcoal powders to the rest. Keep the glazes separate, but store in a warm water bath to keep them at 90 degrees F. Pour the glazes over the frozen mousse cake and let the excess drip off.

For the black modeling chocolate:
2oz dark chocolate chips
1oz corn syrup
1/2oz black cacao powder
a pinch of salt

Melt down everything together over a double boiler. Once everything is melted together, stir into a “dough” and pour onto cling wrap. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Then place the chocolate onto a non-stick surface and roll out to a 1/8-inch thick layer. Using 1/2-inch and 1-inch circle cutters, cut out disks of the modeling chocolate. Crimp the edges to thin them out, and fold the edges of the same-sized circles together like a scroll, folding additional crimped-edged disks around them to form your roses. Store in a refrigerator for at least 10 minutes just to give the roses time to firm up.