Recipe from Le Bernardin
Adapted by Florence Fabricant
- Total Time
- 2½ hours, plus up to 4 hours chilling
- Rating
- 4(97)
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:8 to 10 servings
- 12ounces 70 percent bittersweet chocolate, in pieces
- 1⅓cups heavy cream
- ¼cup agave syrup
- 2½cups sugar
- ½vanilla bean, scraped
- Zest of ½ orange
- Zest of ½ lemon
- 1small pumpkin, about 1½ pounds, or winter squash, peeled, seeded and diced
- ½cup fresh cranberries
- 1⅓cup unseasoned canned pumpkin purée
- ½packet unflavored gelatin
- 1cup heavy cream
- ½vanilla bean, scraped
- ⅓cup sugar
- ¼teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛teaspoon nutmeg
- ⅛teaspoon ground ginger
- Butter for pan
- 1½cups flour
- ¾teaspoon baking soda
- ½teaspoon salt
- 1teaspoon cinnamon
- ½teaspoon nutmeg
- ½teaspoon ground ginger
- 1½cups sugar
- 2large eggs, beaten
- 1cup unseasoned pumpkin purée
- 4ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- Reserved chocolate from ganache
- 6thin ginger or speculaas cookies
For Chocolate Ganache
For Pumpkin and Cranberry Confit
For the Pumpkin Mousse
For the Pumpkin Cake
For Finishing
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Make the ganache: Place 10 ounces of the chocolate in a bowl. Reserve the rest for decoration.
Step
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Bring cream and syrup to a boil. Pour over chocolate. Mix well with a whisk without incorporating any air. Place a piece of plastic wrap on the surface. Refrigerate until well chilled and fairly firm, about 4 hours.
Step
3
Make the confit: Mix sugar with 2 cups water in a 2-quart saucepan. Add vanilla bean, orange and lemon zest. Bring to a boil and when sugar has dissolved, add pumpkin. Reduce heat to very low and simmer until pumpkin is translucent, about 2 hours. Use a slotted spoon to remove pumpkin to a small container, cover with about half the sugar syrup, cover container and set aside.
Step
4
Add cranberries to remaining syrup, simmer 5 minutes, then set aside for 15 minutes. Drain cranberries into a small container, cover with some syrup, cover container and set aside.
Step
5
Make the mousse: Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a small baking sheet with foil, spread the 1⅓ cup of pumpkin purée on foil and bake about 25 minutes to remove some moisture. Transfer to a bowl.
Step
6
Place gelatin in a small dish, stir in 1½ tablespoons cold water and set aside. Place ⅓ cup cream, the vanilla, sugar and spices in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in softened gelatin. Mix thoroughly into pumpkin purée. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 2 hours. When cold, whip remaining cream. Fold into pumpkin purée. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Step
7
Make the cake: Butter a 9-by-13-by-2-inch baking pan. Line with parchment, allowing overhang on the long sides. Butter the paper. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Step
8
Place flour, baking soda, salt and spices in a sieve. Sieve into a large bowl. Stir in sugar. Mix eggs with pumpkin purée. Fold into dry ingredients. Add melted butter and mix well.
Step
9
Spread batter in pan and bake 20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cake will not rise to the rim of pan. Cool in pan at least 1 hour. Use parchment overhang to help remove from pan. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.
Step
10
Assemble the dessert: Place pumpkin confit in a strainer. Rinse briefly in cold water, drain and place on paper towels. Repeat with cranberry confit. Set aside.
Step
11
Place cake on a cutting board. Trim ½ inch from all sides. Nibble trimmings or let the army of assistants have at them. Cut cake in half lengthwise. Place half the cake on a large platter.
Step
12
Use a spatula to spread or a pastry bag to pipe ganache in a thick layer all over the top of the cake half on the platter. Place second half on top and press lightly.
Place mousse in a pastry bag and pipe peaks or rows all over the top of the cake. Alternatively, form ovals with 2 teaspoons to cover top of cake, or simply spread the mousse on the cake and use the point of a knife to make peaks.
Step
14
Break up reserved chocolate and the ginger cookies and stick them randomly into the pumpkin mousse. Place some of the pumpkin and cranberry confit on the mousse and scatter the rest on the platter around the cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Ratings
4
out of 5
97
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Cooking Notes
BR
Made this a few years ago with a group of friends, one person made the mousse, another the cake, etc. Then we assembled it and had it for dessert. It made for a great party and a wonderful dessert.
Jacqueline
This recipe is amazing, worth the time and effort - looks and taste every bit like a fancy French entremet. Do not overcook the cranberries - they are essentia as they bring a note of acidity but burst very quickly in the syrup - make sure that surup is not too hot when you put them in. My cake was a bit thicker than the photo, I will consider using a slighter larger pan next time - cookie sheet instead of the size pan indicated..
Debby
I am diabetic and looking for an alternative to all of the carbs in pumpkin pie. Is the pumpkin mousse good enough to stand alone with a little whipped cream?
David Look
Florence says you can prep the cranberry/pumpkin a day in advance.
Johanna
Loved this recipe! Made it for Thanksgiving and it was a runaway hit. Agree that baking in a 12x17 half sheet pan ( /-) is the way to go. Can make the mousse, ganache and pumpkin/cranberry confit a day in advance. Ditto the cake but wrap extremely well & refrigerate. I left off the chocolate shards and the ginger crisps (too much gilding of this perfect lily!). It’s an incredibly delicious and elegant dessert.
scruffy
I made this over two days (ganache and confit on day 1; cake, mousse, and assembly on day 2). I wanted a round cake, so I did a tiny bit of math, to figure out what diameter cake pans I would need (8"). I thought the mousse was missing a little something (not quite sweet enough? a little lacking in flavor?), so next time I think I'll add a bit of maple syrup and see what that does. There was a lot of leftover ganache, mousse, and confit, so I made a second cake a few days later. Fun!
BG
A 9x13 pan makes a cake much thicker than that pictured. Tried a 10x15 jellyroll pan (better) and then a 12x17 half sheet pan (best). The half sheet pan replicated the thin layers in the picture and provided the best proportion of cake to filling. Though there are a lot of components, most are easy to make and don't take a lot of active time (one exception: the pumpkin confit, which requires the tedious task of peeling & dicing fresh pumpkin). More make-ahead detail in recipe would be helpful.
dksp
I’m not a fan of traditional pumpkin pies, but my daughter requested I make this so I did. It was pleasantly delightful, but had a great excess of the ganache, confit and cream. It took all day to make, but I was ready for this so it was okay.
Cathy C
It was lovely. I made cranberry coulis instead of confit. More colourful.
FLinhart
I would LOVE to make this, but don't have enough time on the day of the party to make the desert - can I prepare and refrigerate the cranberry / pumpkin one day early?
David Look
Florence says you can prep the cranberry/pumpkin a day in advance.
BR
Made this a few years ago with a group of friends, one person made the mousse, another the cake, etc. Then we assembled it and had it for dessert. It made for a great party and a wonderful dessert.
Jacqueline
This recipe is amazing, worth the time and effort - looks and taste every bit like a fancy French entremet. Do not overcook the cranberries - they are essentia as they bring a note of acidity but burst very quickly in the syrup - make sure that surup is not too hot when you put them in. My cake was a bit thicker than the photo, I will consider using a slighter larger pan next time - cookie sheet instead of the size pan indicated..
Debby
I am diabetic and looking for an alternative to all of the carbs in pumpkin pie. Is the pumpkin mousse good enough to stand alone with a little whipped cream?
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