
I don’t know if you have come across pictures of cakes with a center tube filled filling. They seem to be popular in France, and for months I have wanted to get a cake pan that would allow such a bake. It has a metal tube in the center and a cover. I found one reasonably priced at Pastry Chef, and I decided to buy it. In the meanwhile, I had seen a recipe for a version of this cake on Instagram @patissedric. So I made a few changes and decided to create my own version using the new cake pan. If you don’t have this specific pan, you can bake it in a regular loaf pan, then cut the cake in half, to fill with the chocolate pastry cream.
For the caramelized tangerine segments I used to decorate the cake, I simply skinned some clementine segments, then caramelized some sugar and poured it on the segments, on both sides. Because the segments are quite juicy, they tend to break out of the caramel, but I was able to save a few and use them. Another, easier, way to do it, would be to leave the skin on the segments, then dip them in caramelized sugar – though you would lose the dramatic effect of the broken shards. It’s also not necessary to add the clementine segments as decoration, since the chocolate hazelnut glaze does a beautiful job by itself.
Don’t get discouraged by the number of steps in this cake. First of all, if you have any praline leftover from the Ferrero Rocher Cookies, you are ahead of the game. The chocolate pastry cream and the clementine syrup can be easily made while the cake is baking and cooling. And the glaze takes only a minute or two.
The recipe which was originally in French, and it was in grams. I did my best to traslate it into volume, but I cannot attest to its precision. As always, I encourage you to purchase a digital scale and start using weight in your baking. Not only is it fun, but it ensures consistency and precision.
ENJOY!