Red Velvet Nougat

One of the things I love most at Christmas is putting up the tree, I'm fascinated. I enjoy it as much or more than when I was little. I must admit I adore 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's impossible that at least one of them doesn't please someone. Today we're going to focus on torrónes, so versatile, wonderful and exquisite. So much so that we can make a torróne out of whatever crosses our mind. Like this Red Velvet Torrone.

This year I've been very focused on cakes. Normally it's something I do from time to time, but this year I've had and suffered a special fixation. So I thought of taking this little "obs

ession" into torrone format and thus finish and start the next year surrounded by cakes. But in another format, hahaha.

A sweet that is never missing at Christmas.

If there's something bought in 99.9% of homes at Christmas — I'll omit that small percentage because there will always be exceptions — it's torrónes. You can find a larger or smaller assortment depending on the family, but there will always be at least one. More classic, traditional, modern, novel... Which makes you wonder why we don't dare to make them at home.

They are very easy to make, well it depends on the torrone, and the results are exceptional as well as rewarding. If we've never tried this sweet, you might prefer a simpler recipe like chocolate and almonds or coconut torrone, marzipan... But I assure you there's a very small step from making a very easy one to one a little more elaborate.

If you like Red Velvet, this torrone cannot be missing from your Christmas platter under any circumstances. I promise you, it's out of this world.

Red Velvet Torrone

Ibili diamond-shaped torrone mold and piping bag

To make it we'll need to prepare 3 components; a Red Velvet-style sponge (it's not like the original, but the result is a very spongy cake with a bright color), a cream cheese and white chocolate ganache and the white chocolate coating. That's it. Easy, easy.

The sponge is very similar to a genoise sponge, except we color it with red food coloring. We'll prepare it in about 10-12 minutes and it only needs 8-9 minutes of baking. Come on, you won't even have time for a coffee!

I saw the cream cheese and white chocolate ganache from Roberto of Postres con estilo. Looking for a ganache that included cheese I came across his blog, which I had known for a long time, and I said: This man is my hero!. You're going to love the result, wonderful.

Finally the white chocolate coating. It's very easy to make since we only need to melt it in a bain-marie, but we must temper the chocolate to get a good result.

To assemble it we'll use one of these torrone molds, in my case I chose the lattice because it seemed very elegant for this torrone. They are very convenient to use, tidy and take up little space. Really, they have almost everything!

The result of this Red Velvet torrone is a torrone with a crunchy exterior, a thin layer of white chocolate, accompanied by a creamy interior thanks to the cream cheese and chocolate ganache together with a very moist sponge... Seriously, happiness.

Ibili diamond-shaped torrone mold, WMF Gourmet stainless steel bowl and T&G pastry brush

Ingredients

For the outer coating:

• 200 g white chocolate

For the cream cheese and white chocolate ganache:

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

For the Red Velvet sponge:

• 185 g weak wheat flour for pastry
• 170 g egg (3 units)
• 85 g sugar
• 115 g egg whites
• 70 g powdered sugar
• 30 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• red "Extra Red" paste food coloring
• pinch of salt

For the syrup:

• 50 g water
• 50 g sugar

To decorate:

• silver sprinkles of different sizes
• ruby powder

Preparation

FIRST DAY

We prepare the Red Velvet sponge.

1. Preheat the oven to 205ºC with top and bottom heat.
2. Line a perforated baking tray with parchment paper. Set aside.
3. Sift the flour, set aside.
4. In the KitchenAid bowl or a mixer bowl, add the eggs along with the sugar and salt. Beat, gradually increasing the speed without reaching the maximum, until you reach the ribbon stage* (see NOTES).
5. Once this stage is reached, add the red paste food coloring and beat again at medium speed until it dissolves completely.
6. On the other hand, in a bowl add the egg whites. Begin whipping them with electric beaters at the lowest speed and gradually increase the speed without reaching the maximum.
7. When they start to foam we'll add the powdered sugar little by little while continuing to beat.
8. Once all the powdered sugar is incorporated, continue whipping until you obtain a firm, glossy meringue. Set aside.
9. Begin adding the dry ingredients, little by little, to the beaten eggs. Do this with folding motions using a spatula.
10. Fold the whipped egg whites into the mixture and homogenize with gentle folding movements.
11. Finally, incorporate the butter and mix again with gentle folding movements.
12. Place the batter into a piping bag.

Bake.

1. To prevent the edges of the paper from lifting or moving when piping the batter, put small “dabs” of batter in the corners. This way the paper will stay fixed.
2. Cut the tip of the piping bag and pipe the batter. Make a rectangle and then fill the interior making sure to apply the same pressure at all times.
3. If you have more batter in the piping bag, create lines around the rectangle.
4. Place in the oven for 9-10 minutes. You will see it take on a slight golden color on the surface. Also, if you press the surface of the sponge, it will return to its original state.
5. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a rack.
6. If you are going to use it the next day, once completely cool, cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature.

Prepare the syrup.

1. Add all ingredients in a small saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a boil. The sugar should be completely dissolved.
2. Once it boils, turn off the heat and let it cool completely.
3. Pour the syrup into a squeeze bottle; if you prefer you can pour it into a bowl or container, using a funnel.
4. Set aside at room temperature.

Create the Red Velvet torrone coating.

1. Melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie.
2. Temper the chocolate until it reaches 28ºC, use a digital thermometer to check the temperature.
3. Pour the white chocolate into the torrone mold. Tilt to help cover all the sides of the mold.
4. Invert the mold, tapping gently, to remove excess white chocolate.
5. Let cool at room temperature for 20 minutes.

Prepare the cream cheese and white chocolate ganache.

1. Before making the ganache, remember to take the cream cheese out of the refrigerator a few hours beforehand so it reaches room temperature.
2. Melt the white chocolate in a bain-marie; it should reach 45ºC so we can use it. If the temperature exceeded that while melting, let it cool until it reaches the specified temperature.
3. Add the inverted sugar to the white chocolate and mix.
4. Pour over the cream cheese and mix.
5. With the help of an immersion blender, blend to emulsify; you should achieve a smooth, silky and homogeneous mixture.
6. Place into a piping bag.

Assemble the torrone.

1. Cut the sponge into a rectangle. It should be smaller in length and width than the total dimension of the mold.
2. Soak both sides with syrup. Set aside.
3. Pipe a base of cream cheese and white chocolate ganache. Fill slightly less than half.
4. Smooth to ensure there are no gaps.
5. With the help of a palette knife, place the sponge inside the mold. Try to leave it centered. Press gently.
6. Fill the sides and surface with the ganache.
7. Smooth the surface with a spatula. Remember to leave a little margin to cover the base with white chocolate coating.
8. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 5-6 hours.

Seal the torrone.

1. Temper the remaining white chocolate coating.
2. Pour over the mold and smooth with a spatula to remove the excess.
3. Refrigerate for 24 hours.

Ibili diamond-shaped torrone mold

SECOND DAY

Unmold.

1. When unmolding the torrone be careful not to force the mold or the torrone.
2. Carefully stretch the 4 corners to detach the mold from the torrone.
3. Flip carefully; you can place it on a board and turn it over. Try not to touch the top at any time to avoid leaving fingerprints.

Decorate the exterior.

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

NOTES:

• It is important to use a good quality white chocolate to obtain the best possible result.
• The cream cheese I use is spreadable cream, like Philadelphia.
• In this recipe: Roasted pumpkin ice cream with hazelnuts you can see how to make inverted sugar at home. It can be kept in a cool, dry place for many months.
• The ribbon stage is obtained by beating the eggs with the sugar for several minutes. The mixture takes on a whitish color and the texture becomes very thick to the point that you can lift the whisk and form a cord or ribbon over the mixture without it deforming. Hence the name.
• The sponge will be larger than the amount we need to make the torrone. We can wrap it well in plastic wrap and freeze it to make more torrónes another time. Or we can give it another use as we wish.
• Respect the steps of the process, chocolate tempering and temperatures to obtain a good final result.
• Decoration is totally optional, you can decorate it however you like.

With this Red Velvet Torrone Your family will do the wave for you over and over. From the moment they get up in the morning until they go to bed, believe me. It has happened to me, haha. No, seriously, it's a Set of incredible flavors and textures.

When I thought about making it I wasn't sure if the sponge interior would work and it worked very well. It's a different and surprising contrast. I 100% recommend you try it and tell us what you thought ;)