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Special Chocolate Desserts
Throughout the year which 'Covid lockdown' gave us the greatest opportunity, Jules and I have made all of these chocolate-based desserts, but unanimously agree that the first 5 are truly outstanding! Jules (my nickname for identical twin Julie) has helped me with the spelling and grammar. All recipes came from BBC Good Food, but wouldn't find any other recipe that matched Marcel Desaulniers' Frozen Chocolate Mousse Bombe! (which will be last).
I've never been keen on posting links mostly because some break, and then you lovely people would be without the recipes! So I'm going to post each recipe up with the link so as to ratify said links are authentic. I may add to this thread of recipes, depending if I can find more even if they aren't chocolate, will be most deffo tried and tested. Without doubt though, all chocolate lovers will be in for a treat! :D First Best: Squidgy chocolate pear pudding (using canned pears) Reference 1: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/...e-pear-pudding Reference 2: Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2014 Ingredients: 200g butter, plus extra for greasing 300g golden caster sugar 4 large eggs 75g plain flour 50g cocoa powder 410g can pear halves in juice, drained 100g plain dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) 25g flaked almonds (optional) cream or ice cream to serve Step One. Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Lightly grease a roughly 20 x 30cm shallow ovenproof dish. Put the butter in a large saucepan and place over a low heat until just melted. Remove the butter from the heat and stir in the sugar until well combined. Step Two. Whisk the eggs together in a large bowl. Gradually add the eggs to the butter and sugar, beating well with a wooden spoon in between each addition. Sift the flour and cocoa powder on top of the egg mixture, then beat hard with a wooden spoon until thoroughly combined. Step Three. Pour into the prepared tin or dish and nestle the pears into the chocolate batter. Put the chocolate on a board and cut into chunky pieces roughly 1.5cm with a large knife. Scatter the chocolate pieces over the batter and sprinkle with almonds, if you like. Can be frozen at this stage. Step Four. Bake in the centre of the oven for 30 mins or until the mixture is crusty on the surface and lightly cooked inside. Do not allow to overcook, as the cake will become spongy rather than gooey in the centre. Serve warm with cream or ice cream. TIPS Wrap the cooled, unbaked pudding tightly in foil, label and freeze for up to 1 month. To serve, unwrap the pudding and bake from frozen as above in step 4 for 50 mins. |
Re: Special Chocolate Desserts
Second Best: Chocolate Marquise
Reference 1: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chocolate-marquise Reference 2: Recipe from Good Food magazine, November 2007 Ingredients: 300g dark chocolate, use 70%, good quality, such as Valrhona or Green & Black's 150g unsalted butter, softened 150g caster sugar 6 tbsp cocoa powder (Valrhona or Van Houten's) 6 eggs 450ml double cream 300g box After Eights Step One. Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a heatproof bowl. Then assemble a bain-marie – do this by pouring a little water into a saucepan and placing the bowl over the water (making sure the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl). Set the pan over a gentle heat and warm the water until the chocolate has melted. Take off the heat and leave to cool a little. Step Two. Meanwhile, place the butter and half the sugar into another large bowl. Using a tabletop mixer or electric hand whisk, beat until the mixture is really light and creamy, then beat in the cocoa powder. Step Three. Separate the eggs (the whites can be frozen for another time) and put the yolks in a third bowl. Tip in the remaining sugar, then beat together until pale and creamy. To check if it’s ready, make a figure-of-eight shape in the mixture with the beater – it should hold its shape for a moment. In a fourth bowl, whip the cream until thickened with soft peaks. Step Four. Pour the melted chocolate into the butter mixture, and carefully stir through until it is well combined. Gently fold in the egg mixture. When this is amalgamated, stir in the whipped cream. Now line a 6.5 x 22cm tin with 3 layers of cling film, leaving a 10cm overhang. Step Five. Spoon the mixture into a large piping bag with a large nozzle attached (see Gordon’s steps, far right). Pipe a layer over the bottom of the tin, then cover this with a layer of After Eights (cut some in half to ensure they fit). Pipe over another layer of chocolate cream, followed by a layer of After Eights. Continue until you have 4 layers of chocolate mints and the tin is full, finishing with a chocolate cream layer. Fold over the cling film, then chill overnight or up to 2 days. Step Six. Just before serving, place the marquise in the freezer for 10 mins to make it easier to slice. Place the tin, bottom-side up, on a serving plate, slide off the tin, then peel away the cling film. If you have a blowtorch, quickly run the flame over the surface of the marquise to give it a glossy sheen. Alternatively, dip a palette knife in boiling water and smooth the surface that way. Use a serrated knife dipped in boiling water to cut the marquise into slices. Recipe Tips. NO PIPING BAG? If you don’t have a piping bag, snip off a small corner of a plastic food bag. Spoon the filling into this and use it to pipe, instead. Or, you can spoon the chocolate mixture over the After Eights, making sure to smooth over any air pockets. BUY THE TIN You can buy 6.5 x 22cm tins from specialist baking shops, or online at divertimenti.co.uk. You could also use a regular loaf tin – but as this is a bit wider, only make three layers of After Eights. FREEZE FOR A MONTH The marquise will keep in the freezer for up to one month – just defrost in the fridge for an hour before serving. Try freezing slices individually – this will make plating up much quicker. |
Re: Special Chocolate Desserts
Third Best: Chocolate & chestnut truffle torte.
Reference 1: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/...-truffle-torte Reference 2:Recipe from Good Food magazine, January 2010 Please note that alcohol is used in this recipe, so first please ask permission from a parent or guardian if you are underage to be handling alcohol. Thank you. Ingredients: 50g butter, melted, plus a little extra 3 eggs 85g caster sugar 40g plain flour 40g cocoa, plus extra for dusting 2 tbsp brandy (optional) For the truffle topping 435g can unsweetened chestnut purée (we used Merchant Gourmet 2 eggs, separated 2 x 200g/7oz bars plain chocolate, broken (don't use one with a very high cocoa content) (my suggestion is use 60% plain choc from Lidl or Aldi) 600ml pot double cream
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Re: Special Chocolate Desserts
Forth Best: Sunken drunken chocolate cake (Julie recommends us marsala instead).
Reference 1:https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/...chocolate-cake Reference 2: Recipe from Good Food magazine, April 2012 Please note that alcohol is used in this recipe, so first please ask permission from a parent or guardian if you are underage to be handling alcohol. Thank you. Ingredients:
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Re: Special Chocolate Desserts
Fifth Best: Chocolate fudge crinkle biscuits.
Reference 1: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/...inkle-biscuits Reference 2: Recipe from Good Food magazine, September 2019 Ingredients:
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Re: Special Chocolate Desserts
Chocolate fruitcake.
Reference 1: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chocolate-fruitcake Reference 2: Recipe from Good Food magazine, December 2010 Please note that alcohol is used in this recipe, so first please ask permission from a parent or guardian if you are underage to be handling alcohol. Thank you. Ingredients:
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Re: Special Chocolate Desserts
1 Attachment(s)
Marcel Desaulnier's Frozen Chocolate Bombe.
Reference Book: Marcel Desaulniers' Celebrate with Chocolate: Totally Over-the-Top Recipes Originally published: 22 October 2002 A note from me. First, read the recipe through a couple of times. Then it won't be nearly as intimidating as it seems. Before commencing, shut off your phone. This splendid, truly memorable Frozen Chocolate Bombe will take some time to make. But it will be totally worth it. Now, I've made this several times, so the recipe is no way as daunting. But you will be remembered for making it for your loved ones. I guarantee they'll be asking you for it again! :dem: Ingredients: Cake: 1/4 lb (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus an extra tsp for greasing the pan 8 oz good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped 2 eggs 1 egg yolk (don't dump the white, you'll need it) 1 Tbsp sugar Mousse: 8 oz good quality dark chocolate (divided), coarsely chopped 1/4 cup freshly brewed coffee 1/4 cup honey 4 Tbsp sugar 3 egg whites (you can use one of the ones left over from the cake) 2 cups heavy cream 1 1/2 cups pecans, toasted. Pick out about half cup of pretty ones and chop the rest. Glaze: 8 oz good quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped* 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup honey 2 Tbsp unsalted butter Cake: 1. Preheat the oven to 300F. 2. Line a 9" spring-form pan with parchment and grease the bottom and sides with a bit of butter. Set aside. 3. Melt the chocolate and the butter in a glass bowl in the microwave in 20 second increments, stirring at each break until everything is smooth. Set aside. 4. Place the eggs, yolk and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a balloon whip and whisk on high until light in color and slightly thickened (about 5 min). Using a rubber spatula fold in the chocolate and butter mixture just until it's incorporated. Try not to mix too much or you'll lose the volume you just whipped into it. 5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spread evenly and bake for about 25 min, or until a toothpick stuck into the middle comes up with a few crumbs but definitely not covered in raw batter. Cool completely at room temp before removing from the pan. Set aside. Mousse: 1. Melt 5 oz of the chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave at 20 second intervals , stirring at each stop until it's smooth. Set aside. 2. Combine coffee, honey, and 2 Tbsps of the sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil it, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 240F (about 5 min). 3. While the syrup is cooking combine the egg whites and the remaining 2 Tbsps sugar in a bowl of a mixer and when the syrup is almost ready, start whipping the egg whites on high and whip until soft peaks form, about 1 minute. Your syrup should be ready now, so lower the speed to low and slowly add it to the egg whites. Once it's all in there turn up the speed to high and whip until very thick (about 4 min). 4. Carefully fold in the melted chocolate. 5. In a separate bowl whisk the heavy cream on medium-high until stiff peaks form, then fold that into the chocolate meringue until it's uniform. Keep in the fridge until needed. 6. Melt the remaining 3 oz chocolate the same way as before, let it cool a bit and transfer to a large bowl. Add 2 cups of the chocolate mousse and the chopped pecans. Fold with a rubber spatula until combined and keep in the fridge until needed. Assembly 1: 1. Lightly spray the inside of a large bowl, which should be about 9" in diameter at the top, with Pam, or some other vegetable oil spray, and line with plastic wrap, making sure to leave lots of it hanging over the sides. 2. Spoon the chocolate honey mousse into the bowl and use an offset spatula to make sure it's spread evenly and that there are no air bubbles. Pour the chocolate pecan mixture over the top and smooth that as well. Top with the cake and press down a bit to make sure there are no air bubbles or gaps trapped in between. Cover the top with the ends of the plastic wrap, adding more if needed and put in the freezer. It will need to chill at least 6 hours, preferably overnight. Glaze: 1. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium bowl. 2. Heat the heavy cream, honey, and butter in a small saucepan over medium high heat and stir to combine. DO NOT WALK AWAY or the milk will boil over. As soon as you see little bubbles at the edges take it off the heat and pour over the chocolate. Let it stand for a minute and then stir with a whisk until smooth. Assembly 2: 1. Place a cooling rack on a baking sheet. 2. Remove the bowl from the freezer, unfold the plastic wrap from the bottom and flip onto a 9" cake circle placed on top of the cooling rack. If the dome doesn't pop right out of the bowl, soak a towel in hot water, wrap it around the bottom and sides of the bowl and hold it there for a few seconds, then try to un-mold again. It should pop right out, but you may need to tug gently at the plastic wrap to help it along. 3. Pour the glaze over the bombe, letting excess drip down onto the baking sheet. Transfer to a plate or a bigger cake circle and stick it back in the freezer to set for 20 min. In the mean time scrape up the glaze that dripped onto the baking sheet into a bowl and let it chill in the fridge for 20 min. 4. Transfer the chilled extra glaze to a pastry bag fitted with a star tip, pull out the bombe from the freezer and pipe a border around the bottom, alternating with the reserved pretty pecan halves. 5. Store the bombe in the freezer, but take it out 20 min or so before serving to let it soften a bit, otherwise it will be really hard to cut. Enjoy! * Yes, there is a pound and a half of chocolate in this cake. So what? :bleh: |
Re: Special Chocolate Desserts
Oh wow, lots of chocolate recipes! Which one out of the ones you shared is your favorite to make and why?
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Re: Special Chocolate Desserts
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I'm delighted you asked because Maman adores making grande dinners and I'm her culinary Sorcerer's Apprentice. You'll understand why shortly. I have a weakness for pears; even the tinned variety are pretty good where we live, except it's their combination with the best chocolate you can buy, and for me that would be either Valrhona or Green & Black's for it high cocoa content. Not Lindt or Cadbury's: too much sugar content. Now, combining chocolate with thick cream and you have ganache, the base for fine chocolate truffles or ganache used by a Master Chocolatier creating their special dark delights. But add butter - for all desserts I use unsalted and the eggs are free range organic, and that combination makes for a richly pronounced and deeply, chocolately satisfying dessert. I've used ripe pears instead of tinned - it is heaven! But only if you like pears. ;) Michelin chef Gordon Ramsay devised that version of chocolate marquise, except he cunningly used half an After Eight to fit while building his marquise before firing a quick blast of blowtorch to give that dessert that appealing gloss. Not for me becuase I disliked the peppermint fondant which, even halved, tasted far sickly. My family loved it, just not me. Except in any other recipe I'd have used certified organic 'Black Mitcham' Peppermint which Bendinks use in their peppermint chocolates, then that could have overtaken the pear's 1st because Mitcham peppermint has a drier taste, so a lot, lot less would have been used. I didn't have that splendid peppermint to hand, more the pity. My family and our friends went wild for the After Eight, but the pear one, the 1st won over even the chocolate & chestnut truffle torte. For why? Because the recipe stated only 'brandy', except Maman used Courvoisier VSOP. To me, that was a dire mistake. Had I my lockpick set (I play Lock Sport) I'd hvae raided Maman's drinks cabinet and nicked her coveted Hennessy Paradis Imperial. :dem: Chocolate fruitcake, chocolate fudge crinkle biscuits and 'sunken drunken' is for anybody, especially big kids. But the pear takes 1st, but the torte would have overtaken it on my choice of Hennessy and risking Maman's wrath. (OMG she'd have gone bats! :dem: :hehe:) And this leaves Marcel Desaulnier's Frozen Chocolate Bombe. It cannot be compared to the first five. It's construction is painstaking and ultimately the eating - hands down, that ice cream dessert is stratospheric!!! You're thinking, 'what is lock sport'? Take a look at this guy: https://www.youtube.com/c/lockpickinglawyer/videos |
Re: Special Chocolate Desserts
Julie's Chocolate Espresso Cake
Chocolate (she says) in our house is very important because it's a mood lifter (which she's still feeling guilty for raiding that box of Leonardis!) because it helps everyone's' moods, so a cake will bring us together with some nice chilled milk from the fridge. Except this cake is different. Soon out of the oven, its centre sinks a little and a crisp shell forms across the top. I only use the best ingredients that I can afford because if you use the best, then the food will taste miles better It's not difficult to make. My only advice is to measure out and prepare all the ingredients according the ingredients before you start cooking. Makes life easier that way. Serves 8 180g fine dark chocolate, chopped a small espresso (about three tablespoons of very strong coffee) 140g unsalted butter, diced 5 free range eggs, separated 200g golden caster sugar 1 tsp baking powder 2 tbsp cocoa powder 90g plain flour Preheat the oven to 180. Line the base of 21-23cm shallow spring-form cake tin with silicone baking parchment, buttering the tin lightly to hold it in place. Melt the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. As soon as it starts to soften, add the coffee and leave it for two or three minutes. Stir very gently, then when the chocolate has melted add the butter. Stir until it has melted. Meanwhile beat the egg whites with an electric mixer till stiff, then fold in the sugar. Mix the baking powder with the cocoa powder and flour. Remove the chocolate from the heat, quickly stir in the egg yolks, then slowly, firmly and gently fold the melted chocolate into the egg whites. Lastly sift in the flour and cocoa mixture. Stir the mixture tenderly with a large metal spoon, taking care not to knock out any air. It should feel light and wobbly. Do not over mix - just enough to fold in the flour. Scoop into the lined tin and bake in an oven preheated 180 for thirty-five minutes. Leave to cool in its tin then turn out. |
Re: Special Chocolate Desserts
And while the opportunity is here, Maman has just given what looks totally amazing chocolate recipes by Michelin awarded Raymond Blanc.
Now while I've said of never being keen posting links, I am quite certain Raymond Blanc's superb website will remain featured on the internet for a long time to come. Just take a look at these incredibly delicious examples Chocolate Mousse, or 'Maman Blanc' https://www.raymondblanc.com/recipes...mousse-recipe/ Chocolate Fondant with Salted Caramel https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/c...dantwith_93623 Reverse Chocolate Crumble OMG!! https://www.raymondblanc.com/recipes...rumble-recipe/ Raymond Blanc's Chocolate Delice https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/c...tedelice_93624 We are already making preps to make some of these. All look quite easy to make. |
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