chocolate marquise with hazelnut garnishes

Now this is why I joined the Daring Bakers.

I was eagerly awaiting news on the challenge on the first day of the month, and after I finished reading it that afternoon, I just shook my head. So much to take in. And I read it again. Then I had to research it, because I couldn't wrap my mind around this dessert.

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle. The girls flavored their chocolate marquise with cayenne, tequila and black pepper, nestled it into a torched meringue nest, drizzled on a tequila caramel and sprinkled on some cayenne almonds and cacao nibs. Wow!

Sounded great, I mean what's not to love: some kind of frozen chocolate concoction on top of a toasted meringue, with some crispy garnishes and a sauce... that sounds good to me! Although we were free to play around with the flavorings, we had to make the chocolate marquise and the meringue. The garnishes were optional.

I knew right away that I was going to have to change the flavoring if anybody but me was going to eat this dessert. The flavor combo the girls picked sounds interesting, and I would gladly taste it, but I'm not going to make 18+ servings of a spicy/boozy chocolate dessert that people are going to be afraid to try. The people I feed are not very adventurous eaters.

So here goes the possibilities I considered:

• Chocolate and Coffee Marquise, Toasted Meringue, Espresso Caramel, Crushed Chocolate covered Coffee Beans
• Chocolate Marquise, Toasted Meringue, Blackberry/Rasperry coulis, fresh fruit
• Chocolate Marquise, Toasted Meringue, Dulce de Leche drizzle, Toasted Graham Cracker bits

I finally went with a Chocolate Marquise resting on a cloud of toasted hazelnut flavored Meringue sitting on a schmear of Nutella, sprinkled with candied hazelnuts and drizzled with Frangelico caramel.

Chocolate Marquise

Servings: 18 2"x2" cubes

Chocolate Base

12 oz ( 1½ cups) bittersweet chocolate (about 70% cocoa), chopped finely
1½ cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 oz (2 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened

Place the chocolate in a small mixing bowl.

In a double-boiler, warm the cream until it is hot to the touch (but is not boiling). Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate.

Allow it to sit for a minute or two before stirring. Stir until the chocolate is melted completely and is smooth throughout.

Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

Set aside until cooled to room temperature. Do not refrigerate, as the base needs to be soft when added to the marquise mixture. If you make it the day before, you may need to warm it slightly. Whisk it until it is smooth again before using it in the marquise recipe.


I made this component first, because I could let it cool while making the egg mixture. It's basically a ganache, so pretty easy to make. I was worried because mine had little lumps of cocoa that I couldn't fully incorporate to get my chocolate base smooth, but it didn't affect the final result of the dish. I let it sit on the counter for a couple of hours, and had to warm it briefly in the microwave before I could use it. (Maybe that took care of my cocoa problem?) I used half power for about 30 seconds, so I wouldn't burn it. I used a mixture of 70% chocolate, and 72 % chocolate, and it was delicious, with a strong chocolate taste.

Marquise

11 large egg yolks at room temperature
4 large whole eggs
2/3 cup ( 4 oz.) sugar
1/3 cup water

2 cups (16 fluid oz./ 500 ml.) heavy cream

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg yolks and whole eggs. Whip on high speed until very thick and pale, about 10 - 15 minutes.

When the eggs are getting close to finishing, make a sugar syrup by combining the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring the syrup to a boil and then cook to softball stage (235F/115C).

With the mixer running on low speed, drizzle the sugar syrup into the fluffy eggs, trying to hit that magic spot between the mixing bowl and the whisk.

When all of the syrup has been added (do it fairly quickly), turn the mixer back on high and whip until the bowl is cool to the touch. This will take at least 10 minutes.

In a separate mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Set aside.

Prepare two square 8-inch pans by lining them with parchment paper. I used one 8-inch square, and one loaf pan.

When the egg mixture has cooled, add the chocolate base to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Try to get it as consistent as possible without losing all of the air you've whipped into the eggs. I poured the chocolate base into the eggs while the stand mixer was running on low speed.

Fold 1/3 of the reserved whipped cream into the chocolate mixture to loosen it, and then fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Pour into the prepared pans and cover with plastic wrap (directly touching the mixture so it doesn't allow in any air).

Freeze until very firm, at least 2 - 4 hours (preferably 6 – 8 hours).

Now this was the main part of making the marquise. It's pretty straightforward if you follow the steps in order. My simple syrup was a bit hotter than soft ball stage ( I could hear lazy bubbles pop at the surface while I was busy taking pictures, and removed it from the heat promptly when my thermometer hit 235. I know it would of climbed much higher than that, based on the hard as rock sugar I had to scrub off surfaces where it had dripped.) I don't think it affected the final product. Also, when I added the syrup to the eggs, the mixture didn't get very hot, and it didn't take 10 minutes to cool back down.


After reading a suggestion by a Daring Baker in the private forums, in addition to the square pan and the loaf pan, I used 3 baby food cubes, to see if they could be unmolded easily instead of cut into cubes. - They can.


While the marquise was in the freezer, I worked on the garnishes.

Frangelico Caramel

Servings: Makes about 1 cup of caramel

Ingredients

1 cup (8 oz.) sugar

1/2 cup (4 fluid oz./ 120 ml.) water

1 cup (8 fluid oz./ 240 ml.) heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons Frangelico

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar and water on medium-high heat. Boil until the water completely evaporates and the sugar caramelizes to a dark mahogany color.

Working quickly, add the cream to the darkened caramel. It will bubble and pop vigorously, so add only as much cream as you can without overflowing the pot.

Return the pot to the stove on low heat and whisk gently to break up any hardened sugar. Add any remaining cream and continue stirring. Gradually, the hard sugar will dissolve and the caramel sauce will continue to darken. When the caramel has darkened to the point you want it, remove it from the heat. Add the salt and Frangelico and stir to combine. Set aside until ready to serve.

This caramel is sooooo good. I was a good girl and had the leftovers with some granny smith apples, but my parents had some with ice cream and raved about it. (Yeah, I gave half my batch away, so I wouldn't be tempted to drink the stuff!) Absolutely delicious. And very easy to make. Just make sure to use a large enough pot, and there won't be any problems. I was expecting a thicker caramel, but it's quite thin, even when chilled for a few hours. Perfect for drizzling or dipping.


Caramel-Dipped Hazelnuts

recipe source: Martha Stewart

24 hazelnuts, toasted and skinned
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup water

Gently insert pointed end of a long wooden skewer into the side of each hazelnut. Place a cutting board along the edge of a countertop; place newspaper on the floor, directly under cutting board.

Prepare an ice-water bath. Heat sugar and the water in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved and syrup is clear. Stop stirring; cook until syrup comes to a boil, washing down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent crystals from forming. Continue to boil, gently swirling occasionally, until medium amber. Plunge pan into ice bath to stop the cooking; let stand until thickened, about 10 minutes. (To test: Dip a skewer in caramel and lift a few inches; if a thick drip slowly forms and holds a string, the caramel is ready.)

Dip a skewered hazelnut into caramel, letting excess drip back into pan. When dripping syrup becomes a thin string, secure opposite end of skewer under cutting board. Repeat with remaining hazelnuts. (If caramel hardens before all hazelnuts have been dipped, rewarm it over low heat.) Let stand until caramel string has hardened, about 5 minutes; break each string to desired length. Carefully remove skewers. Candied hazelnuts should be used the same day; store, uncovered, at room temperature until ready to serve cupcakes.

Oh how I messed up this component! Sure, it looks great, but one lick of the caramel, and you'll know that I badly burnt it. See, Martha says to prepare an ice bath to stop the cooking. And I was lazy, so I just poured the caramel in a cold bowl, thinking it wouldn't be in the hot pan, and wouldn't keep cooking. Right. In the picture below, the light caramel is the color it was when I stopped cooking it. The dark caramel is the color it was, 10 minutes after I poured it into a bowl to let it "cool".

Even if it was burnt, I was still able to dip the hazelnuts so I didn't bother redoing the caramel. I was doing it more for fun and plating than anything else anyway. I was also happy to see that the dripping caramel had a nice spun sugar thing going on. I've been really curious about spun sugar, and this little experiment makes me want to try it even more now that I see it's really not that complicated, if it can happen "by mistake".

Torched Meringue

Servings: This recipe is half of the original (original yield: 4 - 5 cups) to make enough meringue servings for 1 x 8” square pan of the frozen chocolate marquise.

Ingredients
5 large egg whites
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp (6 oz.) sugar
Splash of apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp Frangelico

Combine the egg whites, sugar and vinegar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using your (clean, washed) hand, reach in the bowl and stir the three together, making sure the sugar is moistened evenly by the egg whites and they make a homogeneous liquid.

Over a saucepan of simmering water, warm the egg white mixture. Use one hand to stir the mixture continuously, feeling for grains of sugar in the egg whites. As the liquid heats up, the sugar will slowly dissolve and the egg whites will thicken. This step is complete when you don't feel any more sugar crystals in the liquid and it is uniformly warm, nearly hot.

Remove the mixing bowl from the saucepan and return it to the stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Whisk until you reach soft peaks. In the last 10 seconds of mixing, add the frangelico to the meringue and mix thoroughly.

When you're ready to plate the dessert, spoon the meringue onto a plate (or use a piping bag) and use a blowtorch to broil.


My last step before plating was to make the meringue. I think I might have used that method once to make buttercream frosting, but still, swirling egg whites and sugar with your hands is pretty... gross. It does make a beautiful meringue though. I just spooned some onto a plate, and used my blowtorch to lightly toast it.

Plating

Dutch process cocoa powder
Torched meringue

Frangelico Caramel

Candied Hazelnuts

Caramel Dipped Hazelnuts

When you're ready to plate, remove the marquise from the freezer at least 15 minutes before serving. While it's still hard, remove it from the pan by pulling on the parchment 'handles' or by flipping it over onto another piece of parchment.

Cut it into cubes and roll the cubes in cocoa powder. Or sift cocoa powder over the cubes.

Plate with the torched meringue and drizzled hazelnut sauce, and toss candied hazelnuts around for garnish. You want to handle the cubes as little as possible because they get messy quickly and are difficult to move. However, you want to wait to serve them until they've softened completely. The soft pillows of chocolate are what make this dessert so unusual and when combined with the other elements.

I've had the opportunity to serve (and eat) this dessert a few times since I made it earlier this month. First my daughter and I shared the serving I had plated to photograph. We we both eating as fast as we could so the other wouldn't eat it all. We fought over the last bite. It was that good. I gave my mother the other "pratice" serving, with untoasted meringue and marquise without cocoa, and all I could get out of her were yumm, mmmm, um... yum.

I served it again for a mother's day dinner for my in-laws. I used the leftover meringue that I had frozen, and unfortunately, the meringue wept badly. It still tasted very good, and toasted beautifully, but I know for next time to make it fresh. Now my mother in law is a very classy lady, but that didn't keep her from scraping her plate. Her reaction was genuine. She loved this dessert.

My parents, my brother and his wife also had some the next day for mother's day. The biggest surprise was my meringue hating, mousse fearing husband. He's had this dessert twice so far, and ate it all.

I've been sneaking squares of the marquise from the freezer, eating it plain, or with caramel, or with whipped cream or with ice cream... It's freaking awesome. Much better when fully soft and not half frozen, but I'm not always that patient.

I'm really glad it makes a lot, and that you can store it for up to 6 months in the freezer. I'll be serving it again and again. And then, I'll be making it again. Although the entire dessert had many components and is time consuming, it's not difficult. And the Daring Bakers had many great plating ideas that I will be stealing. Head over to the Daring Kitchen and have a look at all the wonderful creations!