noir plus

I'm now at Turin, Italy when updating this post.

I'm attending a science conference with my colleagues & I have 2 days conference so I'll have some times walking around the town.

I had a long weekend break & took the chance to make some entremets.

I was craving for chocolate so I decided to make the chocolate mousse & coffee creme brûlée from "Top10名师的50道人气蛋糕技术教本" (50 Popular Cakes from Top 10 Pâtissiers).

The original recipe includes a jaconde base, chocolate mousse & coffee creme brûlée.

I used a different cake base & added some caramel hazelnuts for some variations.

I made this recipe into 6 small glasses & 6 little domes.

The chocolate mousse is absolutely divine.

The rich coffee creme brûlée enhances the bitterness & sweetness of chocolate mousse which makes a great combination.

Recipe (makes 12 small glasses or 12 x 3" hemispheres):

Genoise Praline (40 x 15 cm)

2 eggs

38 g sugar

20 g praline paste

70 g plain flour

35 g unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 180C, line a parchment paper on a baking pan. 

Combine eggs, praline & sugar in a large mixing bowl & sit over a pan of simmering water, beat with electric beater at high speed until hot then remove from heating.

Continue beating for another 8-10 min until pale & fluffy.

Fold in the flour gently.

Bake for 12-15 min or until a skewer comes out clean.

Cool on a wired rack.

Créme Brûlée Café (12 x 4 cm dishes)

150 g milk

75 g double cream

3 egg yolks

63 g sugar

5 g instant coffee

Preheat oven to 100C.

Combine milk, double cream, sugar & coffee in a saucepan.

Bring to 40C over gentle heating & stir until coffee & sugar have dissolved.

Remove from heating & stir in the egg yolks.

Sieve through & divide into the baking pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 min.

Once cooled, freeze until firm.

Mousse au Chocolat Noir

235 g dark chocolate 72%

90 g sugar

80 g egg yolks

60 g whole egg (1 large egg)

335 g whipping cream, whisked to soft peaks

Melt chocolate over simmering water.

In a saucepan, combine egg yolks, whole egg & sugar.

With whisking, bring the egg mixture to 120C or become custard-like over gentle heating.

Fold with the chocolate.

Fold with half the whipped cream until smooth.

Fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Caramel Noisette

80 g hazelnuts, toasted in oven for 15 min.

80 g granulated sugar

In a saucepan, caramelise the sugar.

Add the hazelnuts & work quickly to coat all hazelnuts with caramel.

Pour on a silicone mat & leave to cool.

Assembling:

Cut the genoise into pieces of 2.8" round & carefully remove the coffee creme brûlée from the mould.

Fill the dome-shaped mould with the chocolate mousse until 2/3 full.

Press the coffee creme brûlée in the middle followed by a piece of genoise.

Spread & smooth the base, freeze until firm.

Once set, carefully remove from the mould.

Break the caramel hazelnuts into shards & place a few pieces on top for garnish.