Plan Your Sunday

World Chocolate Day is on July 7. It’s the perfect day to spread love and smiles amid the chaos caused by the pandemic and what’s better than preparing some home made recipe for your loved ones.

Cherry Moulded Pralines

Cherry jelly

Ingredients:

• 15g Sugar #1
• 3g Pectin NH
• 45g Cherry puree
• 30g Water
• 50g Sugar #2
• 35g Glucose
• 2g Citric acid 1:1

Preparation:

• Mix together sugar #1 and pectin.
• Warm up pulp and water, at about 50ºC and sprinkle in, by stirring consistently the pectin and sugar mixture.
• Bring to the boil and add in sugar #2 and glucose.
• Bring back to the boil again for 30 seconds, last stir in Citric acid 1:1.
• Let it cool down.

Cherry Ganache

Ingredients:

• 100g Cherry puree
• 80g Cream 35%
• 12g Glucose
• 160g Dark couverture 52%
• 40g Milk Chocolate 36%
• 10g Butter (soft in room temperature)
• 4g Cherry alcohol

Preparation:

If the chocolates are in blocks or bars, chop them on a chopping board in small pieces (about 0.5cm thick). Warm them up in the microwave to almost half melt stage, pure the glucose on top and set aside.

Bring almost to the boil cherry puree and cream. Pour the hot mixture in to the chopped chocolates with the glucose, in three steps, stirring with a plastic spatula. Using stick blender emulsifier the mixture, avoiding air bubbles to form. When the ganache turns smooth and shiny, add the butter, alcohol and continue blending until the mixture turns again smooth and shiny. Cover with a plastic wrap, pushing the plastic against the surface of the mixture and use it to fill the pralines when the temperature of the ganache is below 28ºC.

Preparation for Praline

• Clean and sterilize the mould with cotton and 70% alcohol.
• Colour the mould using air gun and suction technique. In order for the colour to pop up more, bride spray with white colour cocoa butter.
• When the cocoa butter sets, cast the praline mould with tempered dark couverture 52%.
• Wait for the chocolate to set and fill in the jelly and then the ganache using a piping bag.
• Let it rest overnight.
• Seal with tempered dark couverture 52% and let it set.
• Demould and serve.

Note: Store in temperature of 20 degree C and humidity less than 55%, away from foreign odours, for up to three weeks.

Courtesy: Chef, Fotios Kefalakis, Culinary Arts Academy Switzerland