If you've been following my blog laterly, you know that we were invited to attend the 3rd Annual Big Island Chocolate Festival held May 1-3 at the Fairmont Orchid Hotel.
There were tours, workshops, and demonstrations during the 3 day event.
Valrhona Chocolate chef and President of the Asia Pacific Pastry Cup Board, Vincent Bourdin is one of the most respected pastry chefs in the world. He and his staff traveled from Singapore to attend the Chocolate Festival. Their demonstration was sensational!
During a demonstration early Saturday afternoon, Chef Bourdin used Valrhona’s newest chocolates to create two desserts, 'Bahibe Queen' which is made using Bahibe 46% milk chocolate, and 'Verrine ala Coque' which uses Dulcey, the one and only blond chocolate. Chef Bourdin said the two desserts were easy chocolate creations to make...but I think that if we were to make them at home, we would need to make a few allowances. These recipes were as submitted to us. I haven't made either dessert myself, so not sure how I would try to adapt them to my own "home cook" cooking.
Queen Bahibe
This looked like a confection right out of 'Alice in Wonderland'. I could almost hear the Queen scream "Off with her head" when I took the little crown from the top and bit a chunk out of it!
To save space I am linking explanations to the words and names with which you might not be familiar.
For the Dacquoise
150 g Tainori 64% Couverture
250 g ground almonds (he prefers Marcona)
20 g egg whites powder
125 g caster sugar
250 g egg whites
125 g caster sugar
2 pc orange zest
Sift the ground almond powder and mix with 125 g caster sugar. Melt the chocolate at 50 C (122 F). Whip the fresh egg whites into the melted chocolate to soften the mixture, then add this with the rest of the remaining mixture. Finish by adding the ground almond powder and sugar as prepared previously and the orange zest in the end. Spread the mixture thinly into a frame* and bake at 170 C (338 F) for about 15 minutes.
* you could use a parchment lined jelly roll pan, but be sure to spread the mix evently.
500 g milk
500 g fresh cream 34%
200 g egg yolks
100 g caster sugar
1000 g Crème Anglaise
480 g Bahibe 46% Couverture
Boil the cream together with the milk and pour this over the eggs, previously mixed with the sugar (not whitened). Cook the mixture at 82-84 C (179.60-183.20 F). Strain through a fine sieve and use immediately or it will cool down rapidly. Soak and drain the gelatin and then mix with the hot, strained custard. Pour the mixture into the melted chocolate and mix with a rubber spatula to make a smooth and glossy emulsion which has an elastic texture. Blend to perfect the emulsion, taking care not to incorporate any air and working at 35-45 C (95-113 F). This technique guarantees the smooth texture of the crémeux, even after thawing. Leave to set completely in fridge overnight.
Bahibe 46% Light Chocolate Mousse
250 g milk
5 g gelatine sheet
350 g Bahibe 46% Couverture
500 g fresh cream 35%
Bring the milk to a boil and add the gelatin. Pour around 1/3 of the liquid into the chocolate and whisk to obtain a smooth, glossy and elastic texture, signifying the emulsion process has begun. Add the remaining milk, taking care to preserve this texture. When the chocolate mixture reaches 35-40 C (95-104 F), fold in the whipped cream. Use immediately. Blast freeze.
Bahibe 46% Glaze
112 g fresh cream 35%
162 g Bahibe 46% Couverture
Melt the couverture. Bring the cream to a boil and separately melt the Absolu Cristal at 60-70 C (140-158 F). Gradually pour the cream into the melted chocolate and emulsify by using a rubber spatula (as for a ganache), finishing with the Absolu Cristal glaze. Finish with a handheld blender to ensure a fine texture and glossy look, pay attention not to incorporate any air bubbles. It is best to leave the glaze to rest overnight before use. Suggest to use glaze at 32 C (89.600 F), reheating in the microwave.
P125 Shortbread
360 g butter
270 g icing sugar
6 g fine sea salt
90 g ground Marcona almonds
150 g whole eggs
180 g cake flour
520 g cake flour
200 g P125 Coeur de Guanaja
Make a first mixture with the butter and the chocolate at 45 C (113 F), add the salt, the icing sugar, the ground almonds, the eggs and the 189 g flour. Do not beat air into the mixture. As soon as the mixture is homogeneous, add the 520 g of flour quickly into the bowl. Set aside in a refrigerator for a few hours before rolling out. Roll the pastry out to 2mm (0.078740 of an inch) and cut out discs in a 4 cm diameter (0.62000 of an inch). Bake at 150-160 C (302-320 F) for about 20 minutes.
Chocolate Discs
200 g Bahibe 46% Couverture
Temper some Bahibe chocolate. Pour between two guitar sheets and spread it out with a rolling pin. When the chocolate begins to set, mark the plastic sheet in discs of 3 cm (0.46500 of an inch) outside diameter and 2 cm (0.31000 of an inch) inside diameter. Leave to crystalize until it is set.
Assembling: Chef Bourdin used a pre-formed bell shaped form to mold the 'casing' for the confection, then layered the different elements, Dacquoise, Crémeux, Mousse, Discs, etc until the bell shaped vessels were filled. Turn upside down then 'glue' the chocolate crown on top with some soft ganache. Let sit in fridge to set. Serve.
'Verrine ala Coque' recipe will be posted tomorrow
If you missed my three previous posts about the 3rd Annual Big Island Chocolate Festival, please click on the following links:
To learn more and keep up with information about the Big Island Chocolate Festivals, please click on the following links:
More to follow...don't go away!
