Ann Reardon

Mocha Dream Dessert

chocolate mocha dessert recipe

 

Wow your tastebuds with this amazing dessert. It has several elements but they’re all easy to make. You could just make one part or, if you’re up for the challenge, make the lot and enjoy the wonders of this Mocha Dream Dessert.This week I watched some very emotional interviews with people who were held captive in the recent Sydney siege. While it was only one day of their whole lives – it will undoubtedly haunt, define, destroy or motivate them. Each will never be the same again.
Post traumatic stress disorder is a condition that can arise after these sort of horrendous events, with some people struggling to function or becoming depressed and withdrawn. Interestingly for others the opposite is true. It’s called ‘post traumatic growth’ – where a traumatic situation drives them to change and adapt, becoming stronger as a person and appreciating life more. Research shows that people who experience this type of growth tend to have two key things going on in their lives – a strong sense of spirituality and a good social support network. While we never really know what life will throw our way, I’ve found there’s something precious about being involved in a local church and building a strong network of friends – after all, who better to invite over to share this delicious dessert.

Mocha Dream Dessert Recipe

crispy base
260g (9.17 ounces) milk chocolate
60g (2.12 ounces) or 3/4 cup crepe dentelle / praline feutille / crushed wafer cones /rice bubbles

daquoise recipe
224g (7.9 ounces) or 7 egg whites
60g (2.12 ounces) or 1/4 cup sugar
200g (7.05 ounces) or 1 2/3 cups almond meal
200g (7.05 ounces) or 1 1/2 cup plus 2 tsp icing sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
100g (3.53 ounces) or 2/3 cup blanched almonds, roughly chopped

Use a 10 x 15 inch (38.1 centimetres) pan
Bake at 180c till cooked through (approx 15mins)

mocha cremeux recipe
270g (9.52 ounces) dark chocolate
200g (7.05 ounces) milk chocolate
120g (4.23 ounces) or 7 egg yolks
60g (2.12 ounces) or 1/4 cup sugar
550ml 2 1/4 cup plus 2 tsp cream
10 coffee beans

Mascarpone cream recipe
250g (8.82 ounces) 1 cup plus 1 Tbsp mascarpone
25g (0.88 ounces) or 1-2 tablespoons caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla
chocolate decorations garnishes

Chocolate for decorations
200g (7.05 ounces) milk chocolate
coffee beans
circle cutters in two sizes
elegant dessert recipe ann reardon

To make the almond dacquoise whip together the egg whites and sugar until you can turn the bowl upside down without it falling out.  Next fold in the icing sugar and ground almonds until just combined.

Pour it onto a baking tray and spread it out all the way to the edges.  Top with roughly chopped almonds.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until it is browned and cooked through.  Leave to cool.

For the crispy base.   Melt the chocolate add the crape dentelle  and mix together well.  Tip it out onto a sheet of non-stick baking paper and spread it out into a rectangle in the same size as the tin you baked your dacquoise in.  Then add a sheet of baking paper on top and roll it out gently to level it out.

Remove the baking paper and place the dacquoise on top of the crispy base.  Place a rectangle frame over the top.  If you don’t have one of these you can make the next layer in a lined baking tray and add it on top after.

To make the mocha cremeux put your chocolate in a bowl with a sieve over the top.  Measure out the sugar egg yolks, cream and coffee beans, you can use instant coffee if you prefer.

Bring the cream and coffee beans to the boil and then remove from the heat.

While that flavour is infusing, add the sugar to the yolks and whisk with a fork until they are well combined.  Now whisk in some of the coffee cream.   Then add that back into the pan and return it to the heat.

You want to bring this up to 186F (85.56 degrees Celsius) which doesn’t take long you can use a candy thermometer.  Or see the video for how to check if it is ready.

Pour it through the sieve onto the chocolate.  The sieve will get out the coffee beans and any little bits of egg that have overcooked.

Stir the chocolate mixture until it is all smooth and then pour the cremeux into the frame.  Then that whole thing goes into the freezer over night.

For the chocolate decorations, temper some milk chocolate and spread it out on some acetate or foil, shake it to smooth it and get rid of air bubbles.

Leave it at room temperature for a few minutes.  Once it is set firm but not too hard cut out circles and then cut out smaller circles to one side of those.  Put a little dot of chocolate onto the thin side and add a coffee bean.  Then gently brush on some edible gold luster dust.

For the mascarpone cream simply add the sugar to the mascarpone and mix it through.  Then place that into a bag fitting with a round piping tip.

Remove the frame from your frozen cremeux and using a sharp knife shave a tiny amount off each side to neaten it up.  Then use a hot knife cut slices of the dessert, it’s a good idea to measure with a ruler so they are all the same.

Pipe dots of mascapone cream along one edge and then top with one of the chocolate circles.

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

141 Comments View Comments

  1. This is a grate recipe, thanks ,Ann ! One question – there are 7 egg whites with weight 125 grams in recipe. I checked the weight of them – much more than 125 grams, actually 4 whites weight so much. Where your eggs very small or is the weight correct ?

    • Thanks Pille for this comment. The weight was incorrect. I used 7 egg whites which should weigh around 224grams. I have updated the recipe with this correction.

  2. Thanks for great recipe ! I tried it and result was nice. One question – you are using 7 eggs. When I measured egg whites, already 4 egg whites were 125 g, so did you really used very small eggs or was the weight correct?

  3. Hi,
    It looks so good, so I had to try a vegan version. This is what came out.
    First attempt to make a vegan butter cream (instead of the mascarpone), so it didn’t hold its shape 🙁 …
    Anyway, it was very tasty, even the non-vegan guests loved it.

    ————————————————————————————————
    Check out my vegan cooking channel on youtube:

    • Hi Dalia, This looks yummy.

  4. Gave this a go last night! Nowhere near as tidy as yours (photo included) but still pretty tasty 🙂
    Didn’t get any coffee flavour in the cremaux despite following instructions, think it might have been because I had thicker cream than I should’ve done. Also, my freezer wasn’t big enough for the pan! Left it on the side overnight though and it cut fine, if a tiny bit messy. Also made the circles a little too big for the pieces I cut! Used the middle pieces as well because they looked pretty good too.
    Made a couple of substitutions:
    I ended up getting pink wafers for the crispy base and using them with white chocolate to keep the colour, turned out great and could be a nice substitute for a pink princess theme (especially if the mocha cremeaux was white chocolate and strawberry flavour to keep it all pink).
    I also substituted ricotta for the mascapone because it’s the only cheese I can’t get on with. Two spoonfuls of sugar with it and vanilla extract to taste made it come out perfectly. Think the quantity in this recipe is a little much though as I now have loads left (might try and turn it into a cheesecake).
    Final thought, THANK-YOU for the sensibleness of the recipe! 7 egg whites in one part and 7 yolks in another, bliss! Now I don’t have to make a just white/just yolk omlette!

    Looking forward to making more 🙂

    • Great effort Sarah.

  5. Hi, i have made all the components but am stuck with the mocha cremeux part. I have poured it into a baking tray lined with paper but how do I now get it out to place on the almond layer. Thank you so much for this recipe.loving it so far.

    • If you freeze it, you can probably just lift it up and place it on with the metal tray and sliding like she did with the almond layer on the crispy base 🙂

    • Hi Nasreen, Ideally you wanted to have poured the cremeux onto the almond layer to set as per the video. As you have put it in a tray on it’s own, I would freeze it and then tip it out and place on top of the almond layer.

  6. Thanks ann for the mocha recipe and i would like to request a “how to train your dragon cake”…pls i really really love that movie so i was hoping you could make a cake..Thank you, you’re amazing

  7. What size pan did you use for the daquoise?

    • Hi Joe, I used one 15 x 10 inch pan.

  8. Hi Ann!What the oven temperature you bake the daguoise?Thank you!Very good videos!

    • *bump*

    • Hi Lena, I baked it in a moderate oven 1t 180c or 350F.

  9. This looks amazing! For a different dessert, could this cremeux be brought to room temperature or colder and piped in stars or would it not hold its shape? Also, do you think that coconut milk/coconut cream could be subbed for the heavy cream? Thank you!!

    • Hi Zeezie. We used the cremeux at our Meet & Greet pipped into shot glasses. We refrigerated it overnight, then whisked it with a stand mixer and piped. This worked well. Have a look at our meet & greet highlights reel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8SLY7xn7Sc .

  10. Hey. My little sister’s birthday’s coming up and she LOVES unicorns. So I wanted to suprise her with a unicorn-shaped cake. I want it to be with cream and not fundant. Could you please make a video of one? Last year I made her your Hello Kitty one and she loved it so much I just had to ask your advice this year… Thank you!!! I really love and enjoy your videos!

    • Hi Oranitel, Thanks for the suggestion. You could consider my Rainbow Surprise Cake. If you use the App, you discover a Unicorn prancing on top of the Cake.

  11. Hi Ann! I absolutely loved this recipe. I was wondering, since I wanted to make this in five glass bowls, for how many people did you make this recipe?

    • Hi Clemence, the recipe made 18 generous serves.

  12. My sister has soon birthday and I’ll make her a cake and she wants a book cake that tastes good, so can you please make a cake with modeling chocolate instead of fondant? It needs to bee easy because I am just 12 years old..

  13. For Daquoise recipe how much icing sugar do we need?

    • Hi Esther, 200g

  14. Hi Ann! How long does this last for in the refrigerator?

    • Hi Cheryl, It will last a few days in the fridge or a month in the freezer if sealed in an airtight container

  15. What size baking pan have you used for the daquoise?

    • Hi Lara, my baking pan is 15×10″

  16. I have the same quetion as Margaret – how much icing sugar for the Daquoise? Thanks.

    • thanks Ingrid, 200g, added to the post

  17. That looks beautiful and you taught me words I had never heard before in baking. I bet it tastes amazing.

    • Thanks Shirley.

  18. Daquoise recipe, how much icing sugar is needed please. Not listed, or is it me. I will be using instant coffee instead of beans how much approx. Can’t wait to try your new recipe! Thanks margaret

    • Hi Margaret, it’s 200g of icing sugar. Regarding the coffee, just make it to suit your taste and use about 1/4 tsp.

    • Thankyou Ann for the icing sugar quantity. Can’t wait to try it!

  19. For the base, can you use popping sugar/candy with the chocolate?

    • Hi Maya, Yes I think that would be yummy.

  20. That looks sooo yummy yet very professional looking.

    • Thanks Grace.

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