Belgian Chocolate Cremeux - Chef Recipe by Cameron Hynd

Ingredients

Chocolate cremeux:

125 g cream
125 g milk
50 g egg yolks
25 g sugar
125 g chocolate
1/2 sheet gelatin

Hazelnut dacquoise:

100 g hazelnut meal
30 g melted butter
150 g (split into 2 x 75 g) sugar
20 g cornflour
100 g egg whites

Chocolate mirror glaze:

80 g water
240 g sugar
80 g cocoa powder
4 sheets gelatin

Hazelnut truffle:

30 g egg whites
25 g sugar
15 g flour
30 g hazelnut meal
10 g butter
2 g salt

Davidson plum sauce:

200 g Davidson plum puree
250 g water
100 g glucose
100 g sugar

Tawny caramel

250 g sugar
2 Tbs water
50 g butter
30mL Tawny

Method

Chocolate cremeux:

Heat cream and milk together in a pot, meanwhile, melt chocolate over a bain marie.

Separately whisk egg yolk and sugar together.

Once milk and cream are hot, pour a small amount over yolk and sugar mixture to temper together, continue doing this in increments until all milk and cream are tempered into sugar and egg yolks.

Place the milk/cream and sugar/egg yolk mixture back into a fresh pot, and heat until it reaches 82 C, stirring constantly to ensure the egg doesn’t cook on the bottom of the pot. Once at 82 C, add the melted chocolate and the bloomed gelatin, stirring them through. Take off the heat, strain the mixture to remove any cooked egg and place into moulds and freeze.

Alternatively, if you have a Thermomix, start this part after you have combined the milk/cream and the sugar/egg yolk. Place mixture into the Thermomix with the paddle attachment. Pour in melted chocolate as well. Set on 90 C and mix on speed 2 until it reaches 82 C in temperature. Once at 82 C, place the bloomed gelatin sheet into the Thermomix and mix briefly into the chocolate mixture.

Strain through a sieve to remove any bits of cooked egg. Pour into desired moulds, leaving a small gap from the top to place the dacquoise crumb once it's ready and freeze to set.

Davidson plum sauce:

De-seed the Davidson plums and blend them in a blender until smooth. In a pot, add the plum puree, sugar, glucose and water and bring to a boil, stirring periodically. Take off the heat and cool in the fridge, ready to serve.

Hazelnut dacquoise:

Mix the hazelnut meal, corn flour and 75 g sugar together in a bowl. Melt butter a fold through the dry mix. Separately whisk the egg whites with the other 75 g sugar to a medium peak. Gently fold the meringue through the dry mix.

Spread out on trays thinly and bake at 150 C for 20 minutes. Bake for longer if needed to get some colour and for it to be fully cooked (no soft parts). Put into a dehydrator to dry out further. Then blitz into a crumb once fully dried out.

Hazelnut tuille:

Melt the butter then combine all ingredients together by hand. Leave to cool. Once cool, take the desired mould you want (in our case, a butterfly tuille mould) and spread thinly and evenly into the moulds. With a palette knife, gently scrape away any excess on the silicone mould. Bake in the oven at 150 C until cooked. Leave to cool for 10 minutes and then pop out of the moulds ready to use.

Chocolate mirror glaze:

Combine all ingredients except the gelatin into a pot and bring to 90 C, constantly whisking to avoid the sugar and cocoa powder clumping. Bloom the gelatin sheets in cold water until soft. Once the mixture is at 90 C, add the gelatin and stir through. Use a stick blender to make sure the glaze is completely smooth and silky. Take off the heat.

Tawny caramel:

Heat the sugar and water together in a pot, cook on a medium-high heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and starting to caramelise. Once at the desired colour for caramel, take off the heat and stir through the butter and the tawny. Leave to cool to room temperature. Do not chill if making and using on the same day.

To serve:

Once the hazelnut dacquoise is dried out and blitzed into a crumb, combine with a small amount of melted butter. Once combined, pack the dacquoise tightly into the gap left at the top of the moulds when filling the moulds with the cremeux. Place back into the freezer briefly to set the butter. Once set, pop the cremeux and dacquoise combination out of the moulds and turn upright, so the dacquoise crumb is now on the bottom.

Using a cake/resting rack, place the cremeux on the rack. Warm all of the chocolate mirror glaze you made back up on the stove. Transfer once warm into a measuring jug that has a spout. Carefully and evenly pour the glaze over the cremeux ensuring every part of it is glazed, including the dacquoise crumb bottom.

Place back into the freezer briefly to set the glaze. Pull the final glazed cremeux out of the freezer and leave to defrost fully in the fridge.

Place 2 tablespoons of the Davidson plum sauce on the plate. Carefully place the glazed cremeux in the middle of the plum sauce.

Gently pour the tawny caramel over the cremeux in a back and forth motion to create a zig-zag effect. Place 2 hazelnut butterly tuilles over the top to finish the dish.

Recipe provided by Anvers Wines