A while back I watched Raymond Blanc's Kitchen Secrets. It was a great show and inspired me to want to cook a few different things. The chocolate episode had two recipes I particularly wanted to try and this was one of them, Delice de Chocolate.
If you read my blog you would know I don't post many sweet treats, but actually sweets are my favourite. I love to bake and can eat the sweetest things. But I had a baby last year and gained heaps of weight :( so I'm trying to avoid lovely things like this dessert. So far I've lost about sixteen kilos and there is still a way to go until I reach my goal but sometimes you just have to treat yourself!
It is relatively simple to prepare. The base consists of hazelnut praline and bran flakes. The recipe says pre-made praline paste but on the show it says this can easily be made by blending roasted hazelnuts and toffee. I did this but only ended up with powdered praline. So I mixed this with the crushed flakes and then tried microwaving to melt the toffee and make it sticky - didn't really work, so i added a little melted butter and pushed it in the mould (rather then rolling it out). I used an upside down loose bottom tin. I allowed this to set in the fridge for an hour.
The filling is simply milk and cream heated up and slowly added to eggs whilst whisking constantly. Then whisk in the broken up dark chocolate until you have a beautiful smooth mixture. I let this cool for a while before pouring in to my mould. I left this in the fridge for about 8 hours. To release the tart I blow torched the edges of the tin and lifted it off - worked a treat!
To decorate I grated some chocolate on top and made hazelnut toffee drops, lots of fun. Just toast and peel your hazelnuts, make some toffee and then let it sit for a few minutes. Dip in a toothpick studded hazelnut a it will make a lovely toffee string.
I took it to our friends place for dessert. It was very rich and we accompanied it with some much needed vanilla ice cream. An elegant and delicious dessert.
