Okay, so this one is my favourite…… Chocolate garden..!!!

A dessert which I first saw in “Masterchef Australia”! I am an addict of the Masterchef TV Series, especially the Australia version. The show opened the doors to understand food, how to respect and love the ingredients we use, and a lot more…. And of course; Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris are my favourite judges.

I have read about various ways of using Chocolate soil, and always wondered on the techniques used in making it. Finally gave it a try and I managed to re-create this with a small twist.

I have added hard sauce in my recipe to introduce a wet component to the dessert, so that it complements the dryness of the soil. Hard sauce is an excellent combination with chocolate soil, as it’s creamy, buttery and sugary. The mint parfait brings in a refreshing taste, and together with the soil and the sauce, it makes an awesome combo to dig in to. We decorated the garden with chopped raspberry and chopped fresh mint leaves, to represent the flowers and grass.

The chocolate soil recipe has been referred from Jason Atherton, and hard sauce from Lousiana Kitchen and Culture.

Prep time        : 90 minutes (chilled overnight)
Serves              :  6 servings

 INGREDIENTS

For Chocolate soil :

Caster sugar       : 125 g
Almond meal     : 1 ¼ cup
Cocoa powder    : 50 g
Flour                     : ½ cup
Butter                   : 1/3 cup
Salt                        : 1 teaspoon

For Hard sauce :

INGREDIENTS

Butter                                  : 3 tbsp
Vanilla extract                  : 3 tbsp
Sugar                                    : ½ cup
Flour                                    : 1 tbsp
Nutmeg                               : ¼ tsp
Heavy Whipping cream  : 1 cup
Dark rum                            : 1 ounce

Mint parfait :

INGREDIENTS

Eggs                                      : 2
Sugar                                   : ¼ cup
Mint leaves                        : 1 tbsp (finely chopped)
Heavy Whipping cream : 180 ml
Lemon zest                        : 1 lime

Decoration :

Mint leaves      : 3, 4
Raspberry        : 3, 4 chopped

INSTRUCTIONS

Preparation of Chocolate Soil :

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees.
2. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix with melted butter. It will appear mealy once properly mixed.
3. Line a baking tray with sheet, spread this mixture.
4. Bake for 30 minutes by stirring occasionally.
5. Cool and then store in an air tight container.

Preparation of Mint parfait :

1. In a small saucepan, add sugar, zest of lemon, chopped mint leaves and water on a low heat and gently simmer. Whisk until well combined, smooth, and starts to thicken.
2. Remove from heat, and whisk again to cool.
3. Blend with whipped cream and then pour into a silicon mould.
4. Keep in the freezer to set.

Preparation of Hard Sauce :

1. Melt butter in a pan, add sugar and nutmeg.
2. Blend in flour and mix thoroughly.
3. Whisk in cream, vanilla extract and rum.
4. Cook till the sauce is about to boil, do not allow it to rise.

Assembling dessert

Place hard sauce in a plate, topped with chocolate soil and centered with parfait. Sprinkle chopped mint leaves and raspberry to decorate.

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