Chocolate and raspberry cardinal
Author: Helen Doyle
Serves: 20
Ingredients
- 3 leaves bronze gelatine
- 397g Alto el Sol dark chocolate [65% good quality dark chocolate]
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 227g caster sugar
- 473ml raspberry puree
- 650ml whipping cream
- Chocolate decoration
- 1kg tempering chocolate
- 200ml red cocoa butter
- Chocolate decoration:
- 1kg tempering chocolate
- 200ml red cocoa butter
Method
- Place 20 rings (10cmx2.5cm/4”x1”) in the freezer before beginning (use any size ring though this will alter the number of cardinals produced).
- Soak the bronze gelatine in cold water to soften.
- Melt chocolate to 45C.
- Whisk whole eggs and yolks in a bowl to a sabayon.
- Boil sugar with a little water to hard boil (121C) to create a syrup.
- Remove gelatine from water, squeeze out excess liquid and add to the syrup.
- Then pour syrup onto the eggs - whisk until cold. Fold in melted chocolate and raspberry puree (both should be 45C).
- Fold in the cream.
- Remove the moulds from freezer and pour mixture into moulds until full.
- Refrigerate until set.
- Serve with chocolate discs, fresh raspberries and cocoa nibs.
- For the chocolate decoration: Tip some pistoles into a plastic or glass container.
- Place them in a bowl with the chocolate in a microwave and melt them at 800-1000W.
- Take them out of the microwave every 15-20 secs and stir them well so that the temperature of the pistoles is even and the chocolate doesn't burn.
- Repeat until the chocolate is melted.
- Some small pieces of pistoles must still remain in the container.
- Stop heating and shake the mass well to ensure that all the pistoles particles disappear and you have a homogenous liquid mass that is slightly thick: the chocolate has been tempered and is ready for processing.
- Once chocolate is tempered, spread 200g onto a sheet of acetate evenly with a cranked palate knife (you should get five sheets from the chocolate that you tempered).
- Just before it begins to set, use your desired cutter to cut discs ready for decoration (cutter should be the same diameter as the moulds used to make the cardinals).
- You should have eight discs per sheet and should have 40 discs in total.
- Do not remove the discs from the chocolate sheets.
- Place the sheet of chocolate between two flat trays, this will stop the chocolate curling as it will get a natural curl when it starts to crystallise.
- Once the chocolate has set, remove the excess to be left with the chocolate discs.
- To decorate half the disks (the other half will be the base), melt cocoa butter in the microwave (do not take it over 32C) - stir occasionally until fully dissolved.
- Place into a chocolate spray gun and cover the discs.
- If you don’t have a spray gun, use a toothbrush/pastry brush to splash the red colour across the discs.
