Chocolate & Pecan Praline Mousse Cake
Chocolate & Pecan Praline Mousse Cake
Chocolate and praline is a classic pairing in French pastry, and this dessert is a great combination of flavour & texture.
It features a light chocolate mousse filled with a delicious crunchy layer made from a chocolate financier and praline feuilletine crunch. The financier is a fantastic recipe on its own, I like to add a little orange zest and bake it in mini muffin tins.
You can freeze the dessert in any silicone mould you have, but using one with an indented design will make the final decoration much easier.
Ingredients
Method
Add the pecans onto a baking tray and bake in a prea-heated oven for 10 minutes at 175C/345F (non-fan assisted). Remove them from the oven.
Into a medium saucepan, add the water and sugar.
Place it onto a medium heat and stirring occasionally, cook until it reaches 114C/237F on a digital thermometer.
Tip in the roasted pecans along with a used vanilla pod. These are just pods that I store in my sugar jar when I am done with them, which have dried up. It adds some extra flavour but it's totally optional.
Continue to cook this over a medium heat, stirring constantly. As you continue to cook it, the mixture will go very dry as the sugar crystalises. Continue to cook it. The sugar will eventually melt into a dark caramel, coating the nuts. The whole process will take about 5 minutes.
Remove the caramelised nuts from the heat and tip them out of the pan, onto a silicon mat. Add a pinch of flakey salt over the top and allow them to cool completely until firm. About 30 minutes.
Break the praline up into pieces and add it into a high powdered food processor. Blend for 1-2 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed, until you have a smooth praline. Transfer it to an airtight container and set aside at room temperature.
Start with the feuilletine. If you don't want to make this, you can also just used crushed up cornflakes as a replacement! Pre-heat the oven to 175C/345F (non-fan assisted).
Into a medium bowl, add the soft butter and icing/powdered sugar. Beat this with a spatula to form a smooth paste with no lumps of butter.
Add in the egg whites and mix briefly. It won't fully incorporate, that's fine.
Tip in the flour and mix again to form a smooth paste.
Spread a very thin layer of the mixture onto a silicon baking mat using an offset spatula. You will need to bake three batches so you can split the mixture roughly into thirds.
Place the silicon mat onto a baking tray and place it into the centre of the oven. Bake for 7 minutes or until it is an even, deep golden brown colour.
Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool for a minute. Then tip it into a large bowl, crushing it into small pieces with your hands.
Repeat the process, making two more batches. Remember to ensure the silicon mat it cold (or use a fresh one) before spreading out the next batch of mixture or it will melt!
You should end up with around 80g of feuilletine. Set this aside at room temperature.
Pre-heat the oven to 175C/345F (non-fan assisted). Lightly grease a 9x13" baking tray and line the base with parchment paper.
Into a medium bowl, add the chocolate and butter. Melt it of a pan of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally. Once melted, set aside to cool just slightly.
Into a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
Tip the egg whites and cream on top, and whisk to combine to form a smooth mixture.
Finally, pour in the slightly cooled chocolate mixture and whisk again to combine.
Pour the batter into the lined tray. It will be thick, so use an offset spatula to spread it out evenly.
Bake it in the centre of the oven for 10 minutes. It should feel just set to the touch. Remove it from the oven and set it aside to cool for 20 minutes.
Once it has cooled, loosen the financier from the edge of the pan and then carefully flip it out onto a silicon mat. It will be quite fragile so be careful not to tear it.
Cut the financier in half. One half isn't really needed, but if you're using a smaller pan, such as an 8x8" tin instead of a 9×13", you can simply half the recipe. Otherwise, don't worry, the leftover sponge scraps are delicious to snack on!
Into a small bowl, add the milk chocolate and melt this gently over a bain-marie.
Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and pour in the required amount of pecan praline. Stir to combine.
Tip this mixture over the cooled feuilletine, and stir to combine, along with a pinch of flakey salt.
Spread the mixture evenly over the cooled half of financier. Lift the silicon mat onto a tray and place it into the freezer for 30 minutes.
Add the chopped chocolate into a tall measuring jug and set it to one side.
Into a medium saucepan, add the cream, milk, sugar and egg yolks.
Whisk it constantly over a medium heat until it reaches 82C/179F on a digital thermometer.
Immediately remove it from the heat and pour it through a sieve, over the chocolate.
Allow it to sit for 2 minutes, then blend with a hand blender until smooth. A hand blender is important here to ensure the mixture doesn't split and is properly emulsified. Scoop the mixture out into a medium bowl.
Whisk the cream in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment (or in a medium bowl, with an electric/hand whisk). Whisk it to a soft peak. Be careful not to overwhisk it. The chocolate base is quite thick so if the cream is over whipped the mousse will be too firm to pour smoothly into the silicon molds. It is better to under whip the cream rather than over whip.
Fold the cream through the chocolate base in two parts until you have a smooth chocolate mousse. Finally fold through a pinch of flakey sea salt.
Add the chocolate mousse into a piping bag and pipe it into your desired silicon molds, filling it up 3/4 of the way. You should get 4-6 mousses depending on the size of your mold. Firmly tap the molds to get rid of any air bubbles. I am using ones from MoldBrothers. Ideally you want a silicon mold that includes an indent in the top so you can pipe the praline into the top for the final decoration. If not, any silicon mold is fine and you can get creative adding the praline at the end.
Remove the praline crunch from the freezer and use a cookie cutter to cut discs, slightly smaller than the silicon mold.
Press the disc, praline side down, into the chocolate mousse, so that is is flush with the edge of the silicon mold. Smooth the top with a palette knife and freezer for a minimum of 4 hours.
Into a medium bowl, add the chocolate and cocoa butter. Melt it over a pan of gently simmering water, then remove it from the heat.
Allow the mixture to cool to 40C/104F before adding it into a spray gun. I use a fence paint sprayer.
Take the chocolate mousses out of the freezer and remove them from the silicon molds. Place them onto a tray lined with a silicon mat.
Spray the mousses evenly with the velvet spray. Then immediately lift them onto your serving plates with a palette knife.
Pipe the remaining pecan praline onto the top of the mousse, in the cavity.
Place them in the fridge for 2 hours to defrost or 1 hour at room temperature. If you defrost them in the fridge, allow them to come to room temperature for 15 minutes before serving as this will lighten the texture of the chocolate mousse.
