May 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge # 52: MARQUISE ON MERINGUE

 ^^ Finally it's the end of the month (again), and as I told you that I have so many things to do but I never wanted to skip my DB challenge.

This month we're making the Marquise and the meringue, the soft chocolate mousse and the sweet and bitter meringue.
I felt happy every time that I tried the recipe from the DB and the recipe turned out very delicious ^^.
This chocolate marquise is very very good, the taste is intense from the chocolate itself, the tequila, and the spices.  
The only problem that I got is the original recipe is huge and if I follow it, me and my family won't be able to finish it. So, I just make only 1/4 of the recipe (I type the recipe that I use for you to follow, because I know that it's not easy to make and eat a lot of dessert like this if you don't have a party, hehe).
So, let's enjoy the soft chocolate marquise together (actually I found that the marquise is very good on its own too, it likes a chocolate ice cream, ^^), and Thank you Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt for this great recipe and delicious challenge.


 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.

MARQUISE ON MERINGUE

2 8"x8" square pans, lined with parchment paper

 Chocolate Marquise

Servings: 18 2.5"x2.5" cubes

Ingredients

11 large egg yolks at room temperature

4 large whole eggs

2/3 cup (150 grams/ 5.3 oz) sugar

1/3 cup (2⅔ fluid oz/ 80 ml.) water

Chocolate Base, barely warm (recipe follows)

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

2 cups Dutch process cocoa powder (for rolling)

 (Note: We used extra brut, like Hershey's Special Dark. Make sure it's a Dutch processed cocoa, not a natural cocoa powder.)

Torched meringue (recipe follows)

Chocolate Base

Servings: n/a - this is an ingredient for the chocolate marquise, not meant to be used separately

Ingredients

12 oz (340 grams/ 1½ cups) bittersweet chocolate (about 70% cocoa)

12 oz (355 ml/ 1½ cups) heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 cup (60 ml/ 2 fluid oz.) tequila

1/4 cup (60 ml/ 2 fluid oz.) light corn syrup

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup (4 tablespoons/ less than an ounce) cocoa powder (we used extra brut, like Hershey's Special Dark, but any Dutch-processed cocoa would be fine. Do not substitute natural cocoa powder.)

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 oz unsalted butter (2 tbsps./30 grams), softened

-This is my recipe-

3 ............................ Egg yolks

1 ............................ Large egg

35g ........................ Sugar

Chocolate base 

85g ......................... Bittersweet chocolate

90ml ....................... Whipping cream

.................................. A pinch of salt

.................................. A pinch of Cayenne

15ml ........................ Tequila

15ml ........................ Light corn syrup

1tbsp ....................... Cocoa powder

.................................. A pinch of freshly ground black pepper

8g ............................. Butter

Torched Meringue

160g ......................... Egg whites

180g ......................... Sugar

½ tsp ....................... Vanilla extract

 Directions:

1. Place the chocolate in a small mixing bowl.

2. 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.

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

4. Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.

5. 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.

 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). If you have a cake tester with a metal loop for a handle, the right stage for the syrup is reached when you can blow a bubble through the loop.
  
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.

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. 

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).

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. These will start to melt almost immediately, so don't do this step until all of your other plating components (meringue, caramel, spiced nuts, cocoa nibs) are ready. The cubes need to sit in the fridge to slowly thaw so plating components can be done during that time. They don’t need to be ready before the cubes are rolled in the cocoa powder.

Torched Meringue


Servings: Makes about 4 - 5 cups of meringue. If you aren't planning on serving *all* of the marquise at once, you might want to scale this recipe back a bit.
Ingredients
11 large egg whites
1 ¾ cups (14 oz or 395 gms) sugar
Splash of apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Directions:
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 vanilla 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.

Plate with the torched meringue and drizzled caramel sauce. 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, you'll get creamy and crunchy textures with cool, spicy, salty, bitter, and sweet sensations on your palate.

May 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge # 52: 

MARQUISE ON MERINGUE