Photo: Natalie Levin
About a week ago, I decided to create a mini-patisserie in our house when we hosted few friends for a late Purim party. I wanted to prepare a few kids of desserts but could not decide what exactly, and so I just prepared no less than 8 different types of desserts I arranged neatly in a mini-patisserie display at the entrance to our apartment.
In order to create a variety of tastes, colors and textures, I decided to make few different kinds of desserts, and created a delicious and quite varied collection of individual cakes various flavors. Among the desserts I prepared there were Paris Brest, pecan tartelettes, eclairs, Pina Colada cream puffs, raspberry mousse and more. One of the desserts everyone really liked was this following chocolate bar.
This chocolate bar is made of almond fudge brownie layer, topped with dark chocolate cream with 70% cocoa solids, white chocolate whipped cream and crushed cocoa beans for decoration. Each layer itself is not hard to make, but the final look is very impressive and makes everyone say WOW.
This is a very decadent chocolate bar – fudgy in texture and melt-in-your-mouth. It’s gluten free as it contains no wheat flour, which also makes it perfect for Passover or for those of you who avoid Gluten in general.
Photo: Natalie Levin
Fudge Brownies Chocolate Bar
For the chocolate brownie base:
- 200 grams dark chocolate
- 150 grams (1 stick + 1 tbsp.) butter
- Pinch of salt
- 150 grams (3/4 cup) sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 100 grams (1 cup) almond meal
For dark chocolate cream:
- 100 grams dark chocolate 70% cocoa solids
- 375 ml. (1 ½ cups) cold whipping cream
For white chocolate whipped cream:
- 100 grams white chocolate
- 250 ml. (1 cup) cold whipping cream
For decoration:
- Crushed cocoa beans
- A bit of melted dark chocolate
- Brownie base: preheat oven to 170c degrees and grease the pan.
- Chop the chocolate and put in a bowl. Add butter and melt together in the microwave or over double-boiler until everything is melted and the mixture is uniform.
- Add salt and sugar and mix well until combined.
- Add eggs one by one, stirring between additions until they are assimilated in the batter.
- Add almond meal and mix well until uniform.
- Pour the batter into the pan and straighten the top.
- Bake the brownies for 20-25 minutes or until it sets at the edges but is still slightly soft in the center.
- Cool completely at room temperature.
- Dark chocolate mousse: Chop the chocolate and put in a bowl.
- Dissolve the chocolate in the microwave or over double boiler until the chocolate is completely melted.
- Whip the cream into a firm whipped cream.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of whipped cream into the melted chocolate, mix well until combined.
- Add the chocolate mixture to the remaining of the whipped cream and fold gently until you get a uniform chocolate cream.
- Pour the chocolate cream over the cold brownie layer and straighten the top with a palate knife.
- Freeze for 3-4 hours or until completely frozen.
- Remove from the pan and cut into rectangles of the desired size. It is recommended to use a long chef knife (not serrated knife) and work with a ruler for maximum accuracy. I cut into 12 bars.
- White chocolate whipped cream: chop the chocolate and put in a bowl.
- Whip the cream into a firm whipped cream.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of whipped cream into the melted chocolate, mix well until combined.
- Add the chocolate mixture to the remaining of the whipped cream and fold gently until you get a uniform white chocolate whipped cream.
- Transfer the cream to a piping bag fitted with Saint Honore piping tip and drizzle whipped cream at the top of each chocolate bar.
- Garnish with crushed cocoa beans and drizzle a bit of melted dark chocolate between the whipped cream.
- Instead of almond meal you can prepare the brownie layer with cornstarch in the same amount. The texture will be slightly different.
- Keep the chocolate bars in a closed container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
- You can freeze the bars without the whipped cream for up to a month.
Photo: Natalie Levin