Raspberry & Rose Dessert – Godiva’s Chocolate Challenge 2015

The Godiva Chocolate Challenge is a competition held by Godiva to find the nation’s best chocolate dessert. This year Godiva are also raising money for Breast Cancer Now, 10% of every sale from their Mousse Meringue range will go to the charity.

To tie in with the charity, the brief for each recipe entered, is that it must feature chocolate, meringue and a touch of pink. I have created a Rose & Raspberry Dessert that comprises a rose dacquoise (a ground almond and meringue cake), chocolate mousse, chocolate cake and a rose and raspberry glaze. I also added some pink rose flavoured meringues to make these even more delicate.

The four finalists will have to prepare their dessert in London for the judges; Mark Hix, Gizzi Erskine, William Sitwell and Jean Apostolou. The winner will have their dessert on the menu for a week at one of Mark Hix’s restaurants, a 5 star trip to Brussels and a visit to Godiva’s Atelier of Chocolate Innovation.

Good Luck to all of the entrants and I hope this helps to raise a lot of money for Breast Cancer Now.

Below you can see the entire recipe for my entry to the Godiva Chocolate Challenge. This isn’t a complicated recipe and all of the components can be made in advance and in stages, just the final assembly needs to be carried out on the same day.

You can see other entries online by checking Twitter and Instagram for the hashtag #GodivaChallenge.

Raspberry & Rose Dessert
Cooking: 1½ Hours
Chilling: 2 Hours
Preparation: 2 Hours
Serves: 8

Ingredients:
ROSE DACQUOISE
150g Ground Almonds
150g Egg Whites (about 5 medium eggs)
140g Caster Sugar
2 Drops of Holy Lama Rose Extract
Red Food colouring

CHOCOLATE SPONGE CAKE
75g Plain Flour
10g Cocoa Powder
120g Egg Whites (about 4 medium eggs)
90g Caster Sugar
60g Egg Yolks (about 3 medium eggs)

ROSE MERINGUES
2 Egg Whites
Red food colouring
90g Caster Sugar
2 Drops of Holy Lama Rose Extract

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
250ml Whipping Cream
45g Caster Sugar
25ml Water
2 Egg Yolks
1/2 Whole Egg
110g Chocolate (70%+)

RASPBERRY SYRUP
50g Frozen Raspberries
25ml Water
1/2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
25g Caster Sugar

RASPBERRY & ROSE GLAZE
110ml Water, boiled with 95g Granulated Sugar to make a syrup
8g Leaf Gelatine
175g Raspberry Puree
100g Sugar Syrup
1 drop Holy Lama Rose Extract

TO ASSEMBLE
20x20cm Cake Ring
50g Milk Chocolate
Fresh Raspberries
Gold leaf
Tempered chocolate decorations

Method:
Rose Dacquoise:
– Preheat the oven to 180C Fan, line a baking tray with baking parchment.
– Whip the egg whites in the bowl of stand mixer until they hold a soft peak, add the caster sugar and whisk until firm and glossy.
– Gently fold in the ground almonds, food colouring and rose extract until it is evenly mixed.
– Spoon the cake batter in a piping bag fitted with a 1cm nozzle. Pipe neat rows on the prepared baking sheet and bake it for 15-20 minutes until it is golden. Leave to cool in the tray.

Chocolate Sponge Cake:
– Preheat the oven to 180C Fan, line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
– Sift the flour with the cocoa powder.
– Whip the egg whites in the bowl of stand mixer until they hold a soft peak, add the caster sugar and whisk until firm and glossy.
– Add the egg yolks and whip until smooth, about 5 seconds, gradually add the dry ingredients and gently fold in with a flexible spatula.
– Spoon the cake batter in a piping bag fitted with a 1cm nozzle, pipe neat rows on the prepared baking sheet, bake each sheet for 10-12 minutes until just firm to the touch and it springs back.
– Leave the cake in the tray to cool.

Rose Meringues:
– Preheat the oven to 90C Fan, line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
– Put the egg whites in the bowl of a food mixer and whisk until they begin to foam. Add half the caster sugar and whisk to form soft peaks.
– Continue to whisk and add the remaining sugar a little at a time, whisk to form a stiff meringue, then gently whisk through the rose extract and red food colouring.
– Put the meringue into a bag fitted with a star nozzle and pipe small stars onto the prepared sheet. Bake for 1 hour.

Chocolate Mousse:
– Mix the sugar with the water in a small saucepan with a heavy base. Bring to a boil and cook until it registers 118C on a thermometer.
– In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the egg yolks and the whole egg at a low speed. When the sugar syrup is ready, increase the speed of the mixer to high and carefully pour in the sugar syrup, whisk until the mixture cools to room temperature, around 5-8 minutes.
– Finely chop the chocolate, place it in a bowl set over a saucepan and melt until it reaches 45C, then remove from the heat.
– Whip the cream until it holds a firm peak. Mix the chocolate into the egg mixture and stir until it is fully combined.
– Beat a third of the cream into this mixture to lighten it. Add the remaining cream and mix until smooth and an even colour.

Raspberry Syrup:
– Mix the raspberries, water, sugar and lemon juice and stir with a wooden spoon, bashing up the raspberries until they have mushed down and the sugar has dissolved.
– Place in a bowl and allow to cool – this can be made a few days in advance.

Raspberry & Rose Glaze:
– Soak the gelatine in a bowl of ice-cold water for a few minutes until soft. Squeeze to remove any excess water.
– Put the raspberry puree, rose extract and syrup in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
– Take off the heat, add the softened gelatine and strain into an airtight container, leave it to cool, store it in the fridge and use within 1 week.

To Assemble:
– Finely chop the chocolate, place it in a medium bowl over a pan of water and melt. Remove from the heat and stir until smooth.
– Spread the melted chocolate over the chocolate sponge cake and let it set.
– Place the square cake ring on top of the dacquoise and trim to size.
– Cut out the chocolate cake, using the same mould.
– Clean the cake ring if necessary and then place the dacquoise in the bottom.
– Spread half the mousse on top and smooth with an offset spatula.
– Place the chocolate covered cake on top, chocolate side down.
– Spread with the raspberry syrup, add the remaining mousse and smooth it with an offset spatula.
– Freeze until the mousse sets, at least 2 hours.
– Warm the glaze until it is pourable and around 30Cs.
– Remove the set cake from the freezer, but leave it still in the ring, pour the glaze on top of the cake in an even layer, you probably won’t need all of the glaze.
– Return the cake to the fridge for around 20 minutes until it sets and then remove the cake ring.
– Slice the cake into 8 portions and decorate with fresh raspberries, tempered chocolate decorations and gold leaf.