Dark chocolate and gianduja mousse with hazelnut praline

Karen Martini
Easter dessert: Chocolate gianduja mousse with hazelnut praline.
Easter dessert: Chocolate gianduja mousse with hazelnut praline. Photo: Marcel Aucar

This is somewhere between chocolate ganache and chocolate mousse, with a fudgy texture and hazelnut overtones. You could also set this in a tub and quenelle to use on desserts or with crepes or pancakes, or even deconstruct for a modern restaurant presentation. Prepare in advance to allow extra time for cooling mousse and praline.

Ingredients

150ml pouring cream

150ml milk

3 large egg yolks

50g castor sugar

75g glucose powder

250g dark chocolate (85 per cent cocoa), chopped

150g gianduja chocolate, chopped

350ml cream, whipped

chocolate Easter eggs, to serve

dark cocoa, to dust


For hazelnut praline

300g hazelnuts

270g castor sugar

Method

1. In a small pot, bring the pouring cream and milk to a simmer. Take off the heat.

2. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and glucose together in a large bowl then slowly whisk in the hot milk. Return to a clean pot and cook over a low heat, while stirring, until slightly thickened. Take off the heat and leave to cool for one minute.

3. Tip all the chocolate into the liquid at once and stir until dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature then fold through the whipped cream until combined and pour into pots or glasses. Chill until set.

4. Preheat the oven to 150C fan-forced or 170C conventional.

5. Spread the hazelnuts out on a baking tray and roast until the nuts are lightly golden, about six minutes - the nuts need to be warm when they go into the caramel so do this immediately before adding or roast them ahead and warm them quickly in the oven if they have cooled down.

6. In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar with 30 millilitres of water, bring to the boil and cook to a medium to dark caramel.

7. Tip the warm nuts into the caramel, stirring to thoroughly coat. Tip the mix out on to a sheet of baking paper and set aside to cool. Crush the praline in a mortar.

8. When ready to serve, break chocolate eggs into large shards and arrange on top of the set chocolate, dust with dark cocoa and sprinkle with crushed praline. Leftover praline will keep well in an airtight container.

Note: Gianduja chocolate is available from speciality food stores.

Drink: Pedro Ximenez sherry or a mature Rutherglen muscat

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