One of the things I like the most at Christmas is putting up the tree, it fascinates me. I enjoy it as much or more than when I was little. I must admit that I love this time of year for many reasons and, one of them, is the amount of wonderful sweets that accompany us during these dates. There is such a wide assortment that it is impossible for someone not to like at least one of them. Today we are going to focus on nougats, so versatile, wonderful and exquisite. So much so that we can make a nougat of whatever comes to mind. Like this Red Velvet Nougat .

This year I have been very focused on cakes. Normally it is something I do from time to time, but this year I have had and suffered a special fixation. So it occurred to me to take this little "ob

session" to the nougat format and thus end and start next year surrounded by cakes. But in another format, hahaha.

A sweet that is never missing at Christmas.

If there is something that is bought in 99.9% of homes at Christmas, I omit that small percentage because there will always be some exception, they are nougats. We can find a greater or lesser assortment depending on the family, but there will always be one. More classic, traditional, modern, innovative... Which leads you to think why we don't dare to make them at home.

They are very easy to carry out, well it depends on the nougat, and the results are exceptional as well as gratifying. If we have never tried this sweet, you still prefer to opt for a simpler recipe such as chocolate and almonds or coconut nougat, marzipan... But I assure you that there is a very small step from making one that is very easy to one that is a little more elaborate. .

If you like Red Velvet, this nougat cannot be missing from your Christmas tray under any circumstances. I promise you, it's something from another world.

Red Velvet Nougat

Mold to make nougat in Ibili rhombuses and pastry bag

To carry it out we will need to prepare 3 elaborations; a Red Velvet type cake (not like the original, but the result is a very spongy cake with a bright color), a cream cheese and white chocolate ganache and white chocolate coverage . It is done. Easy, easy.

The sponge cake looks a lot like a Genoese sponge cake, only we colored it with red food coloring. We will prepare it in about 10-12 minutes and it only needs 8-9 minutes of cooking. Come on, you can't even have a coffee!

I saw the cheese and white chocolate ganache at Roberto from Desserts with style . Looking for a ganache with cheese, I came to his blog , which I had known for a long time, and said: This man is my hero! You will love the result, wonderful.

Finally the white chocolate coverage. It is very easy to do since we only have to melt in a water bath, but we have to temper the chocolate to obtain a good result.

To assemble it we will use one of these molds for nougat , in my case I chose the lattice because it seemed very elegant for this nougat. They are very comfortable to use, clean and take up little space. Come on, they have almost everything!

The result of this Red Velvet nougat is a nougat with a crunchy exterior, a thin layer of white chocolate, accompanied by a creamy interior thanks to the cheese and chocolate ganache along with a very juicy sponge cake... Seriously, happiness.

Ibili diamond nougat mold , WMF Gourmet stainless steel bowl and T&G pastry brush

Ingredients

For the outer cover:

• 200g white chocolate

For the white chocolate cheese ganache:

• 130g cream cheese at room temperature
• 150g white chocolate
• 10 g of invert sugar

For the Red Velvet cake:

• 185 g of loose pastry flour
• 170 g of egg (3 units)
• 85g sugar
• 115g egg whites
• 70g icing sugar
• 30 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• red paste dye "Extra Red"
• pinch of salt

For the syrup:

• 50g of water
• 50g sugar

To decorate:

• silver sprinkles of different sizes
• ruby powder

Preparation

FIRST DAY

We prepare the Red Velvet cake.

1. Preheat the oven to 205ºC with heat up and down.
2. Line a perforated tray with baking paper . We booked.
3. Sift the flour, reserve.
4. In the bowl of the KitchenAid or a mixer, add the eggs along with the sugar and salt. We beat, progressively increasing the speed without reaching the maximum, until we reach the point of tape* (see NOTES).
5. Once this point is reached, add red paste coloring and beat again at medium speed until completely dissolved.
6. On the other hand, in a bowl add the egg whites. We begin to assemble them with some electric rods at the lowest speed and gradually increasing the speed without reaching the maximum.
7. As soon as they start to foam, we will add the icing sugar little by little and mount at the same time.
8. Once we have all the icing sugar incorporated, we will continue to assemble until we obtain a firm and shiny meringue. We booked.
9. We begin to add the dry ingredients, little by little, to the mounted eggs. We will do it with encircling movements with the help of a spatula .
10. We integrate the whipped egg whites into the mixture and homogenize with enveloping movements.
11. Finally, we incorporate the butter and integrate again with enveloping and smooth movements.
12. Put the mixture in a pastry bag.

We bake.

1. To prevent the ends of the paper from rising or moving when we bowl the dough, arrange a few small "globs" of dough in the corners. This way the paper will stay put.
2. Cut off the tip of the pastry bag and pipe the dough. We will make a rectangle and then we will fill the interior trying to exert the same pressure at all times.
3. If we have more dough in the pastry bag, we will create lines around the rectangle.
4. Put in the oven for 9-10 minutes. We will see that it acquires a light golden color on the surface. Also if we press the surface of the cake, it will return to its initial state.
5. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a rack .
6. If we are going to use it the next day, once it is completely cold, we cover it with film and leave it at room temperature.

We prepare the syrup.

1. Add all the ingredients in a saucepan. Place over medium heat and let it come to a boil. The sugar should have completely dissolved.
2. Once it starts to boil, turn off the heat and let it cool completely.
3. We introduce the syrup in a bottle, if we prefer we can pour it into a bowl or container, with the help of a funnel .
4. We reserve at room temperature.

We create the coverage of the Red Velvet nougat.

1. Melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie.
2. We temper the chocolate until it reaches 28ºC, we will use a digital thermometer to know the temperature.
3. Pour the white chocolate into the nougat mold . Tilt to favor that all the sides of the mold are covered.
4. Turn the mold over, tapping gently, to remove the excess white chocolate.
5. Let cool at room temperature for 20 minutes.

We prepare the cheese and white chocolate ganache.

1. Before proceeding to make the ganache, remember to take the cream cheese out of the fridge a few hours before so that it reaches room temperature.
2. We melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie, it must reach 45ºC so that we can use it. In case the temperature has been exceeded while it was melting, we let it cool until it reaches the one I specify.
3. Add the inverted sugar to the white chocolate and mix.
4. Pour over the cream cheese and mix.
5. With the help of the turmix, we beat to emulsify, we must obtain a soft, smooth and homogeneous mixture.
6. We introduce inside a pastry bag .

We mount the nougat.

1. Cut the cake into a rectangle. It must be inferior, the length and width, to the total dimension of the mold.
2. We soak with syrup on both sides. We booked.
3. We piped a base of cheese and white chocolate ganache. We will fill something less than half.
4. We smooth to make sure there are no gaps.
5. With the help of a shovel, we place the cake inside the mold . We will try to keep it centered. We press gently.
6. Fill the sides and the surface with the ganache.
7. Smooth the surface with the help of a spatula . Remember to leave a little margin to cover the base with white chocolate coverage.
8. Cover with film and refrigerate for 5-6 hours.

We seal the nougat.

1. We temper the rest of the white chocolate coverage.
2. Pour over the mold and smooth with the help of a spatula to remove the excess.
3. We refrigerate for 24 hours.

Mold to make nougat in diamonds Ibili

SECOND DAY

We unmold.

1. To unmold the nougat we must be careful not to force the mold or the nougat.
2. Carefully stretch the 4 ends to detach the mold from the nougat.
3. We turn carefully, we can place it on a board and turn it over. We will try not to touch the upper part at any time to avoid leaving traces.

We decorate the outside.

1. Melt a little white chocolate and proceed to paste the sprinkles on the surface. Let it harden at room temperature.
2. Sprinkle with ruby ​​powder and serve.

GRADES:

• It is important to use a good quality white chocolate to get the best possible result.
• The cream cheese I use is spreadable cream , Philadelphia type.
• In this recipe: Roasted pumpkin ice cream with hazelnuts you can see how to make invert sugar at home. It can be kept in a cool, dry place for many months.
• The ribbon point is obtained by beating the eggs together with the sugar for several minutes. The mixture acquires a whitish color and the texture becomes very thick to the point of lifting the whisk and being able to form a cord or ribbon on the mixture without it deforming. Hence it takes this name.
• The cake will be greater than the amount we need to make the nougat . We can wrap it very well in film and freeze it to make more nougats at another time. Or we can give it another purpose that we want.
• Respect the steps of the process, tempering of the chocolate and temperatures to obtain a good final result.
• The decoration is totally optional , you can decorate it the way you like.

With this Red Velvet Nougat your family is going to do the wave repeatedly. From the time they get up in the morning until they go to bed, believe me. It happened to me, lol. No, seriously, it's an incredible set of flavors and textures.

When I thought about doing it I wasn't sure if the sponge cake inside would work and it worked very well. It is a different and surprising contrast. I recommend 100% that you cheer up with him and tell us what you think ;)