Daring Bakers Challenge – Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse and Raspberry Sauce
This months Daring Bakers Challenge was hosted by Dawn from Doable and Delicious. Thank you Dawn for creating such a fun challenge! We made Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. Here is a brief history of the origins of Pavlova.
“Pavlova (pav-LOH-vuh) – The Pavlova consists a base made of a meringue crust topped with whipped cream and fresh fruits such as kiwis (the fruit!), strawberries, etc. It is considered a fresh fruit pie with a meringue crust.
No one knows who first created the Pavlova. But the name and the recipes first began appearing soon after Russian prima ballerina, Anna Matveyevna Pavlova (1881-1931), toured both Australia and New Zealand in 1926 and Australia again in 1929. Anna Pavlova was considered the greatest ballerina of her time and her visit to New Zealand has been described as “the chief event of 1926.” It was said “She does not dance; she soars as though on wings.” From this you get the sense that this is a light, airy dessert.
There is a controversy with both Australia and New Zealand. While it has been suggested this dessert was created in New Zealand, it has also become recognized as a popular Australian dish. Both countries claim to have invented this dessert and claim it as their national dish.”
The version of Pavlova that we made was based on a recipe from Chocolate Epiphany from Francois Payard. It was a chocolate variation of the traditional Pavlova.
I have to tell you that I was incredibly excited about this challenge when I saw what we were making. I love to prepare desserts (especially chocolate ones) and besides that, they photograph really well!
I decided to wait until I had company to make this since it was really expensive to whip up a very special dessert. Besides, we did not need any more rich desserts to devour all by ourselves after just polishing off this last batch of homemade vanilla ice cream with blackberry sauce.
Of course, I waited until the last minute to make this month’s challenge. I have been running amuck a little busy with other things this Summer. Unfortunately, I also happened to be in the mountains at 4200 feet in a rainforest and had to deal with damp, high altitude baking when I decided to make this. Well, I can tell you, this creates disastrous situations for baking! I missed the Daring Bakers Challenge for Croquembouche last month because my tiny cream puffs were golf balls. So, I had to redeem myself this time around, no matter what!
I wish I had taken a picture of my perfect meringue and the beautiful free form shapes I made. I was, however, flipping out rushing around trying to get ready for guests, so I didn’t. So, you will never see how pretty they were!
I was on the phone with my soon to arrive guests when I decided to peek in the oven after one and a half hours to see how my meringues were getting along. Well, my friends on the phone thought I had a bear in the house or something like that because I shrieked in horror as I saw my beautiful meringues flattened out like a bad batch of chocolate cookies!
After I recovered from the shock of yet another baking failure, I could not let this situation get me totally down and out. Now, it was time to get a bit creative with my high altitude disaster! Of course, I still was only left with part of a dessert for guests arriving at any moment and another not completed Daring Bakers Challenge for June!
Meanwhile, I am thinking that I can make flat chocolate meringue ice cream sandwiches with these disks I just baked. Perhaps I can crumble them and make a dessert topping or I can feed the local wildlife use them in place of skipping stones!
Rather than waste any more time stress out over this any more, I decided to go ahead and make a version of the mascarpone cream. I used less chocolate and mascarpone cheese than the original recipe called for and used Chambord rather than Grand Marnier since I was doing something different. I already had the creme anglaise (it turned out beautifully) and I decided to make some fresh raspberry sauce.
I have to say that the mousse was absolutely delicious! It was creamy and rich and had just the right amount of chocolate. It was incredible with the creme anglaise and the raspberry sauce. The meringues, on the other hand, were, well…forget the meringues!
Here are the recipes I came up with to get through this months Daring Bakers create this lovely dessert. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do when faced with a real challenge!
This content is protected under International Copyright Laws. Bunkycooks provides this content to its readers for their personal use. No part (text or images) may be copied or reproduced, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of bunkycooks.com. All rights reserved.
Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse and Raspberry Sauce
Serves 6
Ingredients:
Chocolate Meringues
(recipe from the Daring Bakers Challenge)
3 large egg whites
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
1/4 cup confectioner’s (icing) sugar
1/3 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder
Creme Anglaise
(Adapted from Barefoot Contessa)
Makes 2 cups
4 extra-large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 3/4 cups scalded milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse
(Adapted from The Daring Bakers Challenge)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
grated zest of 1/2 average sized lemon
3.5 ounces (70% cacao) chocolate, chopped
1 cup (8 ounces) mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons Chambord
Raspberry Sauce
1/2 pint fresh raspberries
2 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
Directions:
For meringues:
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment and set aside.
Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. (The whites should be firm but moist.) Sift the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white. (This looks like it will not happen. Fold gently and it will eventually come together.) Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shapes you desire. Alternatively, you could just free form your shapes and level them a bit with the back of a spoon.
Bake for two to three hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
For Creme Anglaise:
Beat the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, or until very thick. Reduce to low speed, and add the cornstarch.
With the mixer still on low, slowly pour the hot milk into the eggs. Pour the custard mixture into a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thickened. The custard will coat the spoon like heavy cream. Don’t cook it above 180 degrees F or the eggs will scramble!
Pour the sauce through a fine strainer, add the vanilla extract and chill. You can make this one day ahead.
For mascarpone mousse:
Put one half cup of the heavy cream and the lemon zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.
Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add the Chambord and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK.) Mix about one quarter cup of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Refrigerate until ready to use. Fill a pastry bag with the mousse. Again, you could just free form mousse on top of the pavlova.
For raspberry sauce:
Put raspberries into a small saucepan. Mash with a potato masher. Heat over low heat until mixture begins to boil. Add sugar to taste. You can cook over low heat for a minute or two to thicken. Refrigerate until ready to use.