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I've been wanting to try a joconde imprime for years. I'd always been a bit intimidated by it, so I filed it under O for "one day" and never gave it any serious thought. But when this months theme challenge was "layers", I knew it was high time I gave this a go. I'd been looking for an excuse to do another honeycomb topper anyway and had been searching for the perfect dessert to do it with.



I knew I wanted the joconde to be patterned with chocolate stripes, but it was the entremet I couldn't decide on. There were just so many options. I'd tried a dessert with chocolate mousse and layers of honeycomb before, but the honeycomb dissolved and the beautiful layers I'd imagine became one disjoined, albeit delicious, mess. I was chatting to my boyfriend about this first world dilemma when he said, "What about bumble bee mousse?"

I felt like I was in my very own Old El Paso commercial. 

Genius. 

I took photos of the first time I attempted it years ago with the intention of blogging, but apparently I never did. This is the glassy version, topped with cream and chocolate bees.



Time to ramp up the difficulty. 

In case you're not yet aware of what a joconde imprime is, it's basically a decorative layer of paste baked into a thin layer of joconde sponge: the end result is called a joconde imprime. It forms a decorative outer layer of entremets (desserts) that are usually formed in ring moulds. 

The first step is making the décor paste. I went for chocolate, using dutch processed cocoa to get that lovely dark colour. 

One it's baked, it becomes a juggling act of trying not to burn yourself and turning the sponge over onto a dusted surface before it completely cools. If it's too cool you'll have trouble peeling the mat back. 

It was at this point my sister approached me with my dad on the other end of the phone, asking if now was a good time to talk.

"This is the worst possible time in my life anyone could ever talk to me."

What can I say? I'm melodramatic in the kitchen. 

So when it worked, I danced around my kitchen laughing à la Smeagol when he finally rids himself of Gollum. The image of that scene in my head brought on even bigger fits of giggles. 

I was excited, yo.

Yesterday I unmoulded them and tada! They worked. 



I topped each with a chocolate honeycomb topper and fondant bees, just for fun. 



Any excuse to make these guys. I also marbled the chocolate for the topper this time. The newer/outer rings of honeycomb created by bees are often lighter than the base, so I decided to use this concept but in a much more random way. 




And finally, the moment of truth: cutting the joconde. Much to my relief, the layers were perfect. I was worried about the custard not setting due to the lack of gelatin, but it was fine. While it still has a bit of give, it's not enough that it comes pouring out from between the chocolate mousse layers. 



This dessert can be made in advance (minus the toppers) and frozen until required. Avoid leaving it in your fridge for more than a few days as that tends to make gelatine-based desserts go rubbery, and the joconde sponge will go stale. 

If you're a lover of dark chocolate, it's definitely better aesthetically. We're milk chocolate lovers in my household, so the mousse is milk chocolate.

You will only need half the quantity of mousse given here. This is my go-to recipe for moulded desserts and fills all four of my ring moulds, so while I didn't need this much, extra mousse never goes astray in my house and I poured the excess into ramekins. Decide first if you want leftovers. Also, if you plan for your décor paste to be thinner than mine or only wish to pipe with it, you could safely halve this recipe. In that case, double the joconde sponge recipe.

Here's how I did it: