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Chocolate torte

Poached pears with chocolate mousse


My

Ingredients

Ingredients

For the poached pears

4 large conference pears

Lemon and/or orange zest

1 vanilla pod or a splash of vanilla essence

200g golden caster sugar

1 cinnamon stick

600ml white wine

600ml cold water


For the chocolate mousse

150g dark cooking chocolate

Sea salt

4 large eggs

50g caster sugar

150ml double cream

Amaretto (optional)

1 tablespoon cocoa powder


For serving

Cocoa powder

Almond thins or Croquants du Cordes

Method

Method

To make the poached pears

  1. Peel the pears, leaving the stalks intact .
  2. Place the pears in a medium-sized saucepan with the remaining ingredients, then bring to the boil.
  3. Lower the heat, then poach the pears for about 20-25 minutes until they are cooked.  To check is the pear is cooked, pierce with a sharp knife.  It should slide in and out easily when it's ready.
  4. Remove the pears and cover with a little of the cooking liquid.
  5. Bring the remaining cooking liquid to the boil and reduce by about half.  Cool.


To make the chocolate mousse

Note that you require 3 cooking/mixing bowls for this  recipe, with the one used for the eggs and sugar to be the largest bowl.

  1. Separate the eggs, placing the yolks in the largest bowl and the egg whites in another medium/large sized bowl.
  2. Add the sugar to the yolks and beat until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth.
  3. Break or cut up the chocolate into small pieces and place in a heatproof bowl.
  4. Place the bowl over a pan of boiling water (bain marie) and stir until the chocolate has melted.
  5. Remove from the heat.
  6. Add 35ml of Amaretto (if using) and the cocoa powder to the egg and sugar mix and stir well to combine.
  7. Whisk the eggs with a pinch of sea salt until they form soft peaks.
  8. Whisk the cream until just whipped.
  9. Stir the melted chocolate into the egg and sugar mixture, until well-combined.
  10. Now fold the cream into the mix, before finally folding through the whipped egg whites.  Noe, it may look a bit disastrous for a while, but it will come together!


To assemble the individual desserts

  1. Cut the pears in half.

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