Pear and chocolate galette des rois

This year, I really wanted to have a galette des rois. So this is the second version in a week! This time I propose a cake with a creamier than usual frangipane cream, with pears cooked in vanilla syrup, and with big pieces of melting chocolate. And this time I use semi-salted butter which goes perfectly with the pears and chocolate. I also give you the recipe for the syrup that makes the cake ultra shiny! 

a base of inverted puff pastry (recipe HERE)

Custard:

• 170ml semi-skimmed milk
• 10g of butter
• 15g cream powder (or cornstarch)
• a pinch of vanilla powder
• 35g of egg yolk
• 40g of sugar

Frangipane cream :

• 150g of very soft semi-salted butter
• 150g of almond powder 
• 100g of powdered sugar
• 1 egg
• 8g of cornstarch or custard powder
• 40g of rum
• the entire pastry cream

Vanilla pears :

• 2 firm pears
• 1 vanilla pod
• 30g of brown sugar
• 150g of dark chocolate

Gilding:

• 1 egg
• 50g of milk
• 15g of powdered sugar

Glossy glaze :

• 50g of sugar
• 20g of water
• 10g of glucose syrup

The day before, prepare the puff pastry and the frangipane cream. 

For the pastry cream:

Put the 35g of egg yolks in a bowl with the vanilla powder, half the sugar and the cream powder. (on the photo there are more egg yolks than in the recipe, it’s 35g that you need!)

Mix well with a whisk. 

Boil the milk with the other half of the sugar and the butter. 

When the milk boils, pour a small amount of it over the yolk-cream powder mixture. 

Mix well with a whisk. 

Then pour this mixture back into the pan with the remaining hot milk. 

Return to low heat. Boil for three to four minutes while whisking. 

Pour the custard into a dish.

Cover with cling film directly on top of the cream. Let cool completely then store in a cool place. 

For the frangipane cream:

Put the almond powder, powdered sugar, cornflour and soft semi-salted butter in a bowl.

Mix and add the egg.

Mix well and then add all of the cooled custard. Put in the fridge. 

For the pears: peel and cut the pears into pieces. 

Cook over low heat.

The pears should become soft and a little translucent. There should be almost no syrup left in the bottom of the pan.

Cut the chocolate into pieces.

Mix well.

Wet the dough around the cream, remove the excess with a paper towel. Place a second piece of rolled out puff pastry on top.

Let stand in a cool place for 30 minutes. Scratch the dough with a knife in the chosen pattern.

Bake at 220°C for about 30 minutes.

While baking, prepare the glaze syrup. Simply bring the sugar, water and glucose syrup to a boil. As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, brush a layer of syrup over the still hot dough.