The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.
I was a little cynical when I first saw this challenge... chocolate pavlova almost seemed sacrilegious, pavlova has always been the basic pavlova with lemon curd, cream and fresh fruit. However I was pleasantly surprised when it all came together, the chocolate pavs where surprisingly light and the chocolate orange mousse with the marscarpone cream.
Chocolate Pavlovas
Recipe:
3 large egg whites
½ cup plus 1 tbsp (110 grams) white granulated sugar
¼ cup (30 grams) confectioner’s (icing) sugar
1/3 cup (30 grams) cocoa powder
This was very easy to make - the egg whites and sugar were combined in the mix master and the icing sugar and cocoa folded through once glossy. I piped the mixture into circles and a heart - the circles turned out better - and then Into the oven for 2 hours till dry and crisp.
Going into the oven:
The finished product:
Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse
1 ½ cups (355 mls) cream
grated zest of 1 average sized lemon
9 ounces (255 grams) 72% chocolate, chopped
1 2/3 cups (390 mls) mascarpone
pinch of nutmeg
2 tbsp (30 mls) Grand Marnier (or orange juice) - I replaced this with Cointreau
1. Put ½ cup (120 mls) of the heavy cream and the lemon zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.
I popped this in the fridge to cool down faster and didn't have any problems.
2. Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add the Grand Marnier and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK.)
3. Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated.
This mousse worked out really well - the orange flavour was quite subtle, but VERY rich. Mascarpone Cream
1 recipe crème anglaise
½ cup (120 mls) mascarpone
½ cup (120 mls) heavy cream
1. Prepare the crème anglaise. Slowly whisk in the mascarpone and let the mixture cool. Put the cream in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until very soft peaks are formed. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture.
The creme anglaise recipe I used was quite thick so I couldn't drizzle over the pav and used it as a third layer instead. To assemble...
Spoon the mousse onto the chocolate pavlovas, then top with the mascarpone cream - i grated chocolate over the top to finish it off. It would have been lovely to have some fresh berries, maybe raspberries with this to freshen it up a bit. All in all a good dessert but I don't think I will be rushing to make this again.
