Spiced Chocolate mousse & hazelnut Praline
Ingredients For 4
For the chocolate mousse
- 180 g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids, chopped
- 3 eggs, separated
- 1 tsp groundcinnamon, plus extra to serve
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp chilli powder
- 250 ml double cream
For the hazelnut praline
- 150 g caster sugar
- 100 g Hazelnuts, roasted, skins removed, roughly chopped
1. Line an oven tray with parchment paper and place into the freezer.
2. For the chocolate mousse: place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water (make sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl) and leave until the chocolate has melted. Remove from the heat to cool slightly, then whisk in the egg yolks and the ground cinnamon, ground allspice and chilli powder.
3. Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until soft peaks form, then set aside. In another bowl, whisk the double cream until it reaches the ribbon stage.
4. Fold the melted chocolate into the whisked cream, then gently fold the mixture into the egg whites to combine. Spoon the mousse mixture into four moulds or martini glasses and place into the fridge for 2-3 hours, or until set. Remove the mousse from the fridge 10 minutes before serving.
5. For the hazelnut praline: place the sugar and a drop of water in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat (do not stir the sugar) until the sugar melts and forms a light golden caramel, about 4-5 minutes.
6. Quickly stir in the chopped hazelnuts, then pour the mixture over the chilled oven tray and set aside to cool and harden. Once hardened, break into rough shards.
7. To serve, garnish the mousse with the hazelnut praline and sprinkle over a little ground cinnamon
Chocolate fondant for 6
Ingredients
1. Melt the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a pan of barely simmering water.
2. Combine the eggs and yolk with the icing sugar and orange zest; stir into the chocolate and butter mixture.
3. Sieve the flour, cocoa and baking powder and fold into cake batter. Leave this mixture to rest for 1 hour.
4. Brush 6 ramekins with melted butter and dust-out with cocoa powder.
5. Pipe the rested cake batter into the prepared ramekins and chill for a minimum of 3 hours or longer - 12 hours is ideal.
6. Bake the puddings at 180C/gas 4 for between 8-10 minutes. The sponge should be just set, and the centre still a little soft.
7. Leave to rest for 2 minutes before serving.
