The earthy tones of beetroot combined with chilli and chocolate makes for this decadent and unique dessert.
15
Serves
4h
Prep
45m
Cook
Ingredients
- 150g (50101) White Wings Plain Flour
- 30g (64999) Caterers’ Choice Cocoa Powder
- 6g (64993) Caterers’ Choice Baking Powder
- 300g (188392) Nestlé Plaistowe 70% Dark Chocolate Couverture
- 205g (66815) Anchor Unsalted Butter (125g room
temperature, chopped and 80g melted) - 420g beetroot, cooked and peeled
- 3 (81481) Caterers’ Choice Bulk Large Eggs, separated
- 375g (156735) Bundaberg Sugar Caster Sugar
- 90g (188618) Bundaberg Sugar Brown Sugar
- 4 sheets gelatine
- 250ml (170279) Bottega Gold Prosecco DOC Spumante Brut
- 5g dried hibiscus
- 400ml (56298) Anchor Whipping Cream UHT
- 1 tsp (55738) Caterers’ Choice Medium Chilli Powder,
to taste - 55g puffed buckwheat
- 55g puffed rice
- 1 tsp (55736) Caterers’ Choice Ground Cardamom
- 1 tbsp pink peppercorns, crushed
- 1 tbsp (55781) Caterers’ Choice Fennel Seeds, toasted
- 500g (159631) Anchor Cream Cheese, softened
- 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
- 200g cocoa butter
- 300g (6365) Nestlé White Chocolate Compound Buttons
- 2.5g pink powdered colour
Method
1. Chocolate beetroot cake
Pre-heat the oven to 170˚C. Spray silicon mini muffin
moulds lightly with neutral oil. Sift together flour, 20g
cocoa powder, baking powder and set aside. Melt 100g
dark chocolate and add 125g chopped butter, cover and
sit for a couple of minutes until the butter has melted. Stir to combine. Roughly puree the beetroot and stir through
chocolate mixture until well combined. In a small bowl,
whisk the egg yolks and add to the chocolate mixture,
stirring until well combined. Whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then gradually add 100g caster sugar and the brown sugar one spoonful at a time, whisking in between until you have a thick and glossy meringue. Fold one third of the meringue through the chocolate and beetroot mixture, then half of the flour. Alternate with the remaining meringue and flour, until just combined. Spoon into your prepared cake moulds. Bake until the cake springs back to the touch. About 15-20 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes, then unmould and cool completely on wire racks. Once cooled, trim the tops of the cakes.
2. Hibiscus jelly
Bloom 2 sheets of gelatine. Bring the prosecco, 20ml
water, and 65g caster sugar to the boil, add the hibiscus
and steep for 5 minutes. Strain and add the gelatine, stir through until completely combined. Pour into small dome
moulds (compatible to the size of your cake inserts)
and freeze.
3. Ganache
In a bowl, break 100g of the dark chocolate into small
pieces. Heat 100ml cream and chilli powder until it just
comes to the boil. Pour over chocolate, cover and sit for 5
minutes, until the chocolate has melted. Stir well and set
aside to cool and thicken.
4. Crunch
In a large bowl toss together the buckwheat, puffed rice,
60g sugar, cardamom, pink peppercorns, fennel, remaining
cocoa powder and 80g of melted butter until well coated.
Spread onto two baking sheets and bake at 130˚C for
15-20 minutes until crisp. Cool. Melt the remaining 100g
chocolate, add the cooled crunch and toss to coat, spread
onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper. Set aside to
harden. Cut small discs, the same size as your beetroot
cakes. To assemble the inserts, start with a spiced crunch
round, spread with ganache, top with a cake round, a little
more ganache and a jelly disc. Freeze until needed.
5. Mousse
Bloom the remaining 2 gelatine leaves. Whisk 250ml of
the cream into soft peaks and set aside. Beat the cream
cheese and remaining 150g sugar together until smooth,
set aside. Warm the remaining 50ml of cream and add
bloomed gelatine, add the vanilla and mix through the
cream cheese mixture. Gently fold in the whipped cream.
6. To assemble
Pipe the cream cheese mousse into the moulds until about ¾ full (the size of your moulds versus the size of your inserts will dictate how high to fill the moulds), press the cake inserts into the centre, and freeze for at least 3 hours.
7. Cocoa butter spray
Melt the white chocolate and cocoa butter in a microwave,
stir until well combined. Check the temperature, when it is
45˚C stir through the powdered colour, strain through a fine
sieve. Pour into spray gun, spray cakes individually, straight
from the freezer. Bring to room temperature to serve.
