Chocolate mousse logs

Chocolate mousse

 

Ingredients

200g Dark Chocolate

100g Butter

5 Egg Whites

4 Egg Yolks

100ml Cream

 

Method

  1. In a large bowl beat egg whites to soft peak.
  2. Beat cream to soft peak.
  3. In a large sauce pan melt the butter
  4. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate to melt
  5. Whisk in egg yolks
  6. Fold the chocolate mixture and cream into the egg whites
  7. Place into piping bag
  8. Roll acetate tubes 8cm long and 1cm wide, sticking with tape to hold its shape.
  9. Fill tubes by means of piping in chocolate mousse.
  10. Allow to freeze fully

 

Assemblage

100g Melted Dark Chocolate

Frozen chocolate mousse cylinders

 

Method

  1. Holding the unwraped cylinders at both ends between your fingers, dip into the melted chocolate.
  2. Place onto parchment paper on its length and allow to set
  3. Scratch surface with a sharp skewer to resemble the bark of a log.

 

Passionfruit Mousse Domes

Passionfruit mousse

Ingredients

100g White Chocolate

100g Cream Cheese

40g Egg Whites

20g Castor sugar

20ml Passionfruit puree

Method

  1. Melt chocolate over a double boiler.
  2. Soften cream cheese in a kitchen aid.
  3. Whisk egg whites to stiff peak gradually adding sugar while whisking.
  4. Combine chocolate, passionfruit and cream cheese and fold till smooth.
  5. Fold in egg whites
  6. Place into piping bag and pipe into dome moulds 2cm in diameter.
  7. Allow to freeze fully.

Pear & Passionfruit Gel

Ingredients

125ml Apple Juice

125ml Litchi Juice

2ml Pear or Passionfruit Aroma

Red (for pear) or Yellow (for passionfruit) Food Colouring

10ml Agar Agar

Method

  1. In small sauce pan heat juice up to a simmer.
  2. Slowly tap in agar through a tea sieve bit by bit while whisking
  3. Allow agar to cook for one minute
  4. Remove from heat and add divide the mixture in half into another sauce pan.
  5. Colour one half red and flavour with pear aroma.
  6. Colour one half yellow and flavour with passionfruit aroma.

Assemblage

  1. Keep gel in a small sauce pan between 40˚C and 50˚C
  2. Lift the frozen mousse from the mould on a skewer and dip into the warm gel.
  3. Turn over quickly allowing for a smooth dome surface, remove from the skewer with your fingers cradling the base and carefully place it on a plate in the fridge.

 

Chocolate leaves

Ingredients

250g Dark Chocolate

Fresh Leaves (the waxy kind works best.)

 

Method

  1. Melt chocolate to 60˚c
  2. Dip the reverse of the leaves into the chocolate being careful to only dip the one side
  3. Allow to cool and set then slowly tear back leaves allowing just the chocolate to remain

 

White Chocolate Soil

Ingredients

100g white chocolate nibs

Method

  1. Spread the chocolate nibs out evenly in a cool baking pan
  2. Roast in oven at 180˚C for 5min
  3. Check constantly to ensure even roasting bake longer if necessary
  4. Once light caramel brown remove from the oven and scrape with a fork to form a crumb
  5. spread immediately onto a cool surface and allow to cool fully before storing

 

Green citrus Soil

Ingredients

100g Bread Crumbs

2 drops green food colouring

Zest of 1 Lime

Method

  1. Place ingredients in dry blender and blitz till fine

 

Roast Pear Truffles

Poached pears

Ingredients

500g Fresh Pears

500g White Sugar

500ml Water

½ lemon juiced

½ lemon zested

2 Star Anise

2 sticks cinnamon

2 Cloves

5g Ginger Chopped

Method

  1. Place all ingredients except pears into a large pot
  2. Bring to a boil ensuring all sugar is dissolved.
  3. Turn down to a simmer.
  4. Add pears and cover with wax paper cut to the size of the pot. (cartouche)
  5. Poach until pears are soft (roughly 45min)
  6. Drain and reserve syrup
  7. The syrup can be re-used for poaching or as a base of a sweet autumn cocktail.

 

Roast Pear puree

Ingredients

500g Poached Pears

50g Butter

Lemon juice to taste

Method

  1. Drain poached pears, reserve one pear for later use.
  2. In large sauce pan fry the pears in a little oil allowing the top and bottom to caramelize properly to a well roasted dark brown.
  3. Once sufficiently caramelized add in Butter.
  4. Fry further allowing the butter to go brown and nutty.
  5. Place directly into blender and Blend till smooth adding in butter if necessary to make the blades run.
  6. Adjust flavour with lemon juice
  7. Pass through tamis sieve.
  8. Place in piping bag and allow to cool before use.

Truffles Assemblage

Roast pear puree

Melted Chocolate

Maple sugar

Method

  1. Pipe drops of roast pear puree and freeze
  2. Place on skewer
  3. Dip into melted chocolate
  4. Roll in maple sugar before chocolate sets.

Passionfruit Pate de Fruit

Ingredients
100g passion fruit puree
10ml cup plus 2ml powdered apple or yellow pectin
28ml plus 110ml granulated white sugar, divided
20ml cup liquid glucose
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Method

  1. Line a small flat dish with parchment paper
  2. Combine the pectin and 28ml of sugar in a bowl and whisk together thoroughly.
  3. Attach a candy thermometer to a pot and place over medium-high heat. Add the passion fruit puree to the pot, and bring to a simmer for 3 minutes.
  4. Whisk in the pectin and sugar mixture, followed by the rest of the sugar and glucose. Whisk continuously until mix reaches 130˚C
  5. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.
  6. Pour into your prepared mould and let set for 6 to 8 hours.
  7. Once set, unmould and cut with small round cutter, and toss in granulated sugar before storing or serving.

 

Chocolate Bark

Ingredients

50g Egg Whites

50g Castor Sugar

50g Melted Butter

50g Flour

10g cocoa

Method

  1. Wisk eggs to stiff peak while slowly adding sugar
  2. In a slow steady stream whisk in melted butter
  3. Fold in the flower and cocoa
  4. Spread thinly onto parchment paper and bake at 150˚C for 10min
  5. Fold and shape tuiles while still warm from the oven over the stick of a wooden spoon to imitate tree bark.

 

Chocolate Soil

Ingredients

Offcuts of chocolate bark (recipe above)

10g Dark chocolate nibs

Method

  1. In a food processor, roughly pulse the bark with chocolate.
  2. Store in airtight container.

 

Passionfruit gel

Ingredients

250ml Apple Juice

2ml Passionfruit Aroma

5ml Agar Agar

Method

  1. In small sauce pan heat juice up to a simmer.
  2. Slowly tap in agar through a tea sieve bit by bit while whisking
  3. Allow agar to cook for one minute
  4. Place in small bowl and allow to set fully in the fridge.
  5. Blend the gel in a blender until smooth, regularly scraping in sides.
  6. Store in a squeeze bottle

Poached pear leaves

Ingredients

1 poached pear, reserved from before.

Method

  1. Slice the pear into 2mm slices
  2. Use small leaf shaped cutter to press out leaves from the fruit.

To serve:

  1. Dust green soil onto your plate with a tea sieve.
  2. Pipe a line of passionfruit gel from 9 to 12 on your plate.
  3. Place the log over the line.
  4. Use a small lifter to place the red and yellow passionfruit domes onto the plate, top left and bottom right of the log.
  5. Crumble white and dark chocolate soil in little clusters around the log next to the domes.
  6. Place small round cut outs of passionfruit pate de fruit at the top and bottom of the log to create a half moon effect.
  7. Pipe drops of gel in the same pattern.
  8. Place leaves of poached pear onto the plate around the log in a natural scatter.
  9. Place chocolate truffle at the base of the log.
  10. Position chocolate leaves over the log and domes.
  11. Add the bark to the plate.
  12. Garnish with fresh yellow red and orange flowers.