Chocolate cake by Cèdric Grolet

In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the leaf, cream the butter with the icing sugar, salt and vanilla powder.
Add the ground almonds and then the beaten whole egg while mixing at low speed. Finally, add the flour with the cocoa powder little by little, mixing as little as possible. Just enough to obtain a homogeneous
paste. Reserve in cling film for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
Once well rested and cold, spread it on a lightly floured work surface to a thickness of 3mm. Cut out circles 12cm in diameter and line tartlets 7cm in diameter.

Generously pierce the bottom of the pie with a fork then leave it in the freezer for 3 hours.
Preheat the oven to 160°C.
Bake the pie shell for 30 minutes at 160°C then immediately remove it from its tray to cool on a wire rack.

TIP: For better cooking, take the pie out after 20 minutes, remove the ring so that the edges cook perfectly and put it back in the oven without the ring for the remaining 10 minutes.

In a saucepan, heat the “hot” liquid cream with the cocoa nibs. Once boiling, cover with cling film and leave to infuse for at least 10 minutes. Then pour it in three times over the previously melted chocolate, passing it through a sieve to recover the nibs. Press well on the nibs to extract all the taste. Make a nice emulsion with a spatula (which consists of making small circles in the center of the bowl with your spatula). Finally, add the cold cream all at once. Emulsify with an immersion blender to smooth everything and reserve in the refrigerator for 12 hours, filming on contact.

Preheat the oven to 150°C and roast the hazelnuts for 15 minutes.

With the sugar, make a caramel in a saucepan, then remove it on a silicone mat until completely cooled.

Mix together the very cold caramel, the cocoa nibs and the well-roasted hazelnuts until you obtain a very smooth paste. Remove to a bowl and add the fleur de sel. Mix to homogenize. Reserve in a piping bag.

Caramelize the glucose (1) and the caster sugar. At the same time, heat the glucose (2) with the milk (1) and the cream. Deglaze the caramel with the previous preparation (= pour the preparation over the caramel while mixing with your spatula). Cook at 105°C then let cool to 70°C. Then add the butter as well as the chopped chocolate and fleur de sel. Finish with the milk (2), mix then sieve. Reserve in the refrigerator.

Preheat your oven to 180°C.
Start by melting the chocolate with the butter, then add the sugars with the egg yolks and whisk until homogeneous. We go up next to the egg whites. Sift the flour and cocoa powder over the first mixture, mix gently with a spatula then add the whipped egg whites little by little (still with a spatula). It is poured into a sponge cake mold 1.5 cm thick and cooked for 15 minutes at 180°C. We immediately take it out of its plate to stop the cooking, and once very cold we cut out circles 6cm in diameter.

In the bottom of the pie, place a generous amount of praline.
Place the cooled biscuit. Then dig a 2.5cm circle in the center.
Then, take the ganache out of the fridge and whisk it in the food processor fitted with the whisk.
Put it in a pocket fitted with a saint honoré tip and make the shape of a flower or a whirlpool on a turntable.
Reserve 30 minutes in the freezer.

Melt the cocoa butter with the chocolate (in a bain-marie or in the microwave), mix with an immersion blender for a very homogeneous result. Once the mixture has reached 45°C, put it in the bowl of the spray gun, sifting it and sprinkle it on the very cold ganache. You must first have put the circle back around the pie so that the dough is not flocked
Then remove the circle gently from below and enjoy after letting it thaw for 30 minutes at room temperature.