Playing with textures, combining it with acidic fruits or spices that round off its flavor we can create very original desserts with dark chocolate.
Cocoa is more versatile in the kitchen than you usually imagine. In addition to sweets, it can be used in salty recipes to which it adds flavor and consistency.
Its particles, rich in starch, absorb moisture and give solidity to dishes. These qualities are useful for preparing sauces and giving depth to soufflés, fillings or baked preparations. Mexican moles with chocolate or polenta with Italian cocoa are an example.
However, it is in confectionery and sweets where it unfolds its potential. Any sweet recipe serves as an excuse to savor it: custards, cookies, mousses, cakes, ice cream…
You can even prepare cakes without flour using cocoa powder as a starch source and egg as a stabilizer, since cocoa butter, when crystallized, contributes together with the egg to structure the recipe.
And it is that cocoa, or quality chocolate, when carefully prepared has one of the richest and most complex flavors that occur in food.
The unique constitution of its fat molecules causes them to melt at a temperature of between 30 and 36 ºC, just below body temperature. Hence, it melts easily in the mouth, leaving a pleasant sensation of freshness and velvety texture.
Cocoa allows you to create countless shapes and decorations. Just melt it and use a piping bag. Once melted, cookies, cakes or fruits such as strawberries, pears and apples can be coated.
When preparing a recipe, it is convenient to know the proportion of dry particles and cocoa butter of the product that is going to be used as an ingredient.
- For a topping, a cocoa with plenty of added butter will give a smoother and brighter final appearance. This cocoa has a delicate flavor, but it is more difficult to work with than already tempered pastry chocolate.
- For confectionery in general, however, you can use unsweetened, bitter and dark brown cocoa powder, which is sold in artisan bakeries.
By containing butter, cocoa admits well the mixture with other fats, such as butter or liquid cream, which also soften its flavor. However, by mixing a good cocoa powder with virgin olive oil, desserts with very original flavor nuances can be made.
It also makes good crumbs with nuts, coconut, fresh and dried fruits, wheat or corn, and spices such as cinnamon, vanilla or cloves. It can be sweetened with honey.
3 DELICIOUS RECIPES WITH DARK CHOCOLATE
CHOCOLATE GYPSY ARM WITH RASPBERRIES
Ingredients (for 8 people):
- 75 g semi-whole wheat flour
- 30 g fructose powder
- 250 g whole wheat sugar
- 4 eggs
- 175 g chopped dark chocolate
- 100 g raspberries
- 1 and a half cups of heavy cream
- Oil to grease the mold
Preparation (15’+35′ cooking):
- Spread a pastry tray with oil and cover with baking paper. Using a few rods, beat the eggs and sugar until you get a cream. Add the flour and continue beating. Melt the chocolate in a water bath, stirring with a wooden spoon, add to the eggs and mix well.
- Spread the dough on the tray and cook 30 minutes in the preheated oven at 190 ºC. Remove and, turning the tray, pour over baking paper sprinkled with fructose. Remove the old paper and put another sheet on top. Roll up and let cool.
- Whip the cream. Unroll the dough making sure it does not crack and spread the cream. Distribute the raspberries on top and roll the gypsy arm very carefully again.
Nutritional information
- Calories: 405
- Carbohydrates: 53 g
- Protein: 6 g
- Fat: 19 g
- Cholesterol: 180 mg
CINNAMON MOUSSE CONE
Ingredients (for 4 people):
- 150 g dark chocolate melting tablets
- 50 ml oat milk
- 2 eggs
- 60 g whole wheat sugar
- 4 cone cookies
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 50 g dark chocolate shavings
Preparation (15′ + 5′ cooking + min. 3h. of refrigeration):
- In a bowl introduce the dark chocolate bars along with the goat milk, heat the mixture in a saucepan in a water bath and cook until the chocolate has completely melted. Then let cool.
- Crack the eggs and separate the yolks from the whites. Add the yolks to the melted chocolate and mix everything well.
- In another container beat the egg whites to the point of snow. Add the sugar, and beat again until hard.
- Mix the chocolate sauce along with the whipped egg whites and cinnamon and introduce the paste into the cones.
- Add chocolate shavings to the mousse balls and put them in the fridge to refrigerate for several hours.
Nutritional information:
- Calories: 438
- Carbohydrates: 50 g
- Protein: 7 g
- Fat: 23 g
- Cholesterol: 160 mg
SWEET COCOA SOUFFLÉ
Ingredients (for 6 people)
- 120 g dark chocolate powder melt
- 2 eggs
- 40 g whole wheat sugar
- Unsalted butter for greasing
- 10 g fructose powder
Preparation (15’+25′ cooking):
- Preheat the oven to 190 ºC and grease six molds for individual custards with butter. Separate the egg whites from the yolks and beat the egg whites to the point of snow.
- Add the whole sugar to the egg whites and continue beating until you get a thick paste.
- Chop the chocolate and melt in a bowl in a water bath while stirring with a wooden spatula. Once undone, add the yolks and continue stirring. Little by little add the beaten egg whites and distribute the mixture between the molds.
- Bake the soufflés 20 minutes or until set, and serve immediately sprinkled with fructose.
Variant
If you prefer you can use finely ground brown sugar instead of fructose.
Nutritional information
- Calories: 170
- Carbohydrates: 17 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Fat: 10 g
- Cholesterol: 110 mg
