Chocolate Root Beer Cake, Boylan's Red Birch Beer Sorbet, Ginger Marshmallow, Cherry Sphere, and Cherry Pearls

METHOD:

For the Boylan’s Creamy Red Birch Beer Sorbet:
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together 100 grams sugar and sorbet stabilizer. In a medium pot, combine water, glucose, and 635 grams sugar and heat on high, whisking constantly. When syrup reaches 104°F, whisk in stabilizer mixture. Continue cooking syrup to 185°F; then remove from heat and chill over an ice bath. Scale 1.75 kilograms cooled syrup and whisk in birch beer and remaining sugar; cover and refrigerate overnight. Process sorbet in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

For the Ginger Marshmallows:
In a small pot, combine water, sugar, salt, and light corn syrup and begin to heat to 238°F. When sugar syrup reaches 220°F, melt gelatin in microwave, turn stand mixer fitted with whisk to low speed, and pour in gelatin. When syrup reaches 238°F, remove from heat. Turn mixer up to medium speed and whisk for 1 minute, then slowly stream in syrup. Turn to high and whisk until marshmallow is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add ginger puree and whip 1 minute. Transfer marshmallow to a pastry bag and pipe onto greased tray. Dust with snow sugar and rest, uncovered for 6 hours; store in airtight container.

For the Spiced Chocolate Cake:
Heat oven to 320°F. In a large bowl, sift together sugar, flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and ginger. Separately, combine eggs, yolks, root beer, buttermilk, and butter;  whisk to combine. Form a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in liquids. Mix, whisking in concentric circles from center outward, until combined. Transfer batter to a parchment-lined half-sheet tray and bake until cake springs back when gently pressed, about 8 minutes.

For the Chocolate-Caramel Mousse:
In a small pot, scald 300 grams of cream; reserve. In a separate pot, cook sugar to a medium caramel, then deglaze with heated cream. Temper hot caramel mixture into egg yolks. Add gelatin and stir to dissolve. Set chocolate in a large bowl and strain in caramel mixture. Rest 1 minute, then stir to emulsify; chill. Whip remaining cream to soft peaks and fold into cooled chocolate base.

For the Cherry Spheres:
Pour water into a blender, turn on to high speed, and shear in sodium alginate and sodium citrate; rest 1 hour. Pour cherry purée into a bowl and use an immersion blender to blend in calcium lactate, Ultratex 3, and sugar. Transfer base to small, silicone demi-sphere molds and freeze.

Drop frozen purée into the alginate bath and cure 2 to 4 minutes, or until thawed. Time will vary depending on the temperature of the bath and the base. Transfer to water to rinse. Reserve in simple syrup until needed. Do not hold cured spheres longer than 2 days.

For the Cherry Pearls:
In a small pot, warm cherry purée. Separately, whisk together sugar, agar agar, and locust bean gum. Whisk sugar mixture into warmed purée and bring to boil, whisking constantly. Boil 1 minute. Transfer hot liquid to a piping bag or a squeeze bottle and drip into cold grapeseed oil; rest 5 minutes in oil. Strain through a chinois. Remove irregular pearls and store in refrigerator.

To Assemble and Serve:
Reduce Boylan’s root beer to a syrup and use to soak Root Beer Chocolate Cake. In desired silicone molds, build cakes by layering Root Beer Chocolate Cake with Chocolate-Caramel Mousse until molds are filled. Freeze assembled cakes; then unmold and spray with chocolate to finish. Hold in refrigerator 2 hours to temper. Plate a tempered cake and garnish with chocolate sauce, then decorate plate with Ginger Marshmallow, a Cherry Sphere, and Cherry Pearls. Deposit a small mound of chocolate cookie crumbs and top with a quenelle of Birch Beer Sorbet.