From the menu: // Recipe: Chocolate delice
Adessert made of chocolate, coffee mousse and rum will always be a crowd pleaser. Christchurch locals have one of the best in their midst.
According to one of our readers, the Twenty Seven Steps’ delice is ‘‘the most heavenly you’ll ever eat’’.
We contacted the cafe, which was happy to share the recipe.
Chocolate delice
Serves 4
Twenty Seven Steps pastry chef Georgia McFelin says she rates the dish as ‘‘medium difficulty or, as I like to say, a good challenge for the skills’’.
❚ 175g dark chocolate (70 per cent)
❚ 125ml milk
❚ 125ml whipping cream
❚ 50g egg yolks
❚ 25g sugar
❚ 75ml whipping cream (whip separately to fold through later)
To melt the chocolate, make a double boiler and gently heat the chocolate until completely melted. Be careful not to overheat.
Heat the milk and 125ml of cream together in a saucepan until it begins to steam (around 96 degrees Celsius). Do not boil.
Whisk together egg yolks and sugar in a large bowl, and slowly add the hot cream mixture, whisking continually. Return mixture to the saucepan and back on to a gentle heat, and stir with a wooden spoon until it’s thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. Pour the melted chocolate into a food processor and start to blend.
While the chocolate is blending, slowly pour the custard mixture into the chocolate until it has fully combined. Put chocolate mixture aside to cool and whip the 75ml of cream to soft peaks.
Fold the whipped cream through the chocolate mix and pour into moulds of your choice.
Set overnight in the fridge and gently heat the moulds with a gas torch to release the delice on to the plate to serve.
Salted caramel
❚ 250g sugar
❚ 25ml water
❚ 150ml cream
❚ 150g salted butter
Add sugar and water to a small saucepan and heat at a medium heat until the sugar turns a dark amber. Next, add your cream and butter to the sugar mixture (be careful as the sugar will splatter if added too quickly), and stir until fully combined. Put the saucepan back on the heat if there is residual caramel that needs to melt in. Add an extra pinch of flaky sea salt if required and dollop on to delice to serve, once cooled.