Recipe: Dark Chocolate Cream

Name: Dark Chocolate Cream
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 1.1 qt (1 litre) whole milk; 7 oz (200 g) caster sugar; 6 egg yolks; 2.8 oz (80 g) rice flour; 1 vanilla pod, scraped (Tahitian or other varieties); 5.25 oz (150 g) bitter cocoa powder (van Houten style) or from São Tomé (a real find if you can get it); 3.5 oz (100 g) shelled hazelnuts; 24 ladyfinger biscuits

By chef patrick Asfaux 5/5 (6 reviews)

Prep 5 min

Cook 10 min

Total 15 min

Servings 6 serv.

Dark chocolate cream is sometimes called Viennese cream.

The common mistake: adding cocoa too early or at high temperature causes lumps to form. Wait until the pastry cream cools slightly, then whisk in the cocoa smoothly. Caramelized hazelnuts add crunch and bitterness that balances the sweetness.

Ingredients for 6 servings

Adjust for

servings

1.1 qt (1 litre) whole milk
7 oz (200 g) caster sugar
6 egg yolks
2.8 oz (80 g) rice flour
1 vanilla pod, scraped (Tahitian or other varieties)
5.25 oz (150 g) bitter cocoa powder (van Houten style) or from São Tomé (a real find if you can get it)
3.5 oz (100 g) shelled hazelnuts
24 ladyfinger biscuits

Step-by-step directions

Preparing the pastry cream:

1 In the saucepan, add a splash of water as usual so your milk doesn't stick to the bottom. Bring your milk to a boil with the vanilla pod cut in half. Keep a whisk nearby so it doesn't boil over.

2 Meanwhile, whiten the yolks with the sugar, then add the flour and mix well.

3 When the milk comes to a boil, scrape out the pulp from your vanilla pod, then pour one-third of the milk onto your egg yolk, sugar and flour mixture. Whisk well, then return to the saucepan, whisking constantly. Bring back to a boil for 2 minutes and pour into a nice bowl.

4 Now stir in your cocoa powder, mixing it in smoothly.

5 Crush your hazelnuts with the bottom of a saucepan, then in a pan with no fat, toast your crushed hazelnuts until they take on colour. Add a spoonful of sugar and stir well until your hazelnuts are nicely caramelised, then set them aside, separating them from each other as they cool.

6 Let your cream cool with a little icing sugar on top to stop it forming a skin.

7 Once it's cold, fold in the hazelnuts gently.

Presenting this dark chocolate cream:

Place your ladyfinger biscuits around the bowl, pushed halfway in. Each guest takes a ladyfinger biscuit with a little (or a lot) of cream, it's a real treat.

A chef's advice

In French-speaking Switzerland, a splash of kirsch is always added to dark chocolate cream, with separately toasted hazelnut pieces. Here we caramelize them directly in the pan with dry sugar. For serving, langues de chat inserted upright into the cream make all the difference: each guest dips their biscuit at their own pace, less formal than bowls. Key tip: remove the cream from cold 20 minutes before serving, it'll be creamier. Gently whisk the cream once hazelnuts are folded in to give it back some volume.