Conor Pope serves up this interestingly named dessert on Celebrity MasterChef Ireland.
Ingredients
- 100 g whole hazelnuts
- 50 g milk chocolate (green and blacks)
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 100 g popping candy
- 400 g valrhona dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
- 400 ml double cream
- pinch of salt
- sprinkle of valrhona cocoa powder
- 350 g raspberries
- 8 table spoons of caster sugar
- 0.25 cup water
- teaspoon salt
- 2 tblsp lemon juice
- brandy snap curls:
- 55 g butter
- 55 g demerara sugar
- 55 g golden syrup
- 50 g plain flour
- 0.5 level tsp ground ginger
- 0.5 tsp lemon juice
- dash of brandy
Method
- Tart base & mousse topping: Roast hazelnuts until lightly coloured in a moderate oven. Keep a close eye on them because they will burn easily. Blend nuts into a paste (a hand blender will be okay for this).
- Melt milk chocolate over a bain marie, add the ginger and fold in the blitzed hazelnuts.
- Press the mixture into a spring form tin.
- Sprinkle layer of popping candy mixture and press into base and place in the fridge to chill and set.
- Meanwhile, chop the dark chocolate into very small pieces and place in a bowl. Bring 150ml of double cream to the boil and pour over the chopped chocolate.
- Add a pinch of salt.
- Whip remaining double cream and once the chocolate cream mix has cooled to room temperature, fold in the lightly whipped cream.
- Pour the mousse mix into the tin on top of the popping candy base.
- Set for one hour.
- Raspberry coulis: Place raspberries, caster sugar, water and salt in a saucepan and simmer over heat until sugar has dissolved.
- Blend in a hand blender until smooth. Taste and adjust sweetness if desired.
- Strain mixture through a sieve into a bowl. Transfer bowl of puree to fridge and leave until ready to serve.
- Brandy snap curls: Place the butter, sugar and syrup into a small, heavy-based pan and stir well to combine. Let the mixture reach a rolling boil. Remove from the heat, allow to cool slightly and then stir in the flour, ginger, brandy and lemon juice.
- Leave on a low heat, stirring continuously to remove any lumps. The mixture will become thick. Drop small amounts of the mixture onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 220 degrees celcius. Remove from the oven when golden brown and leave for 5 minutes to cool. Roll into curls when cooled slightly but still pliable. Leave to cool completely.
- To serve: Three very thin slices of the chocolate dessert drizzled with the coulis and sprinkled with cocoa powder and garnished with a brandy snap curl and mint leaf.
