Chocolate and spiced pear slice

Pastry chefs Beverley Dunkley and Julie Sharp spoil the taste buds with their take on the perfect Xmas cake. They surprise layer after layer with a crispily baked chocolate meringue, soft milk chocolate and caramel mousse, a hearty chocolate ganache and the warm flavours of poached pear in a wintry spiced syrup. Making all the different components for this recipe is quite elaborate - but fairly easy to make.

Level:: Difficult

0.2 oz

egg white
5.6 oz

sugar
6

egg yolks
2.5 oz

CP

Whisk the egg whites and sugar to a stiff meringue. Turn the machine off and add in all the egg yolks and whisk on a high speed for 3 seconds to incorporate them. Fold through the cocoa powder and then spread onto silicon paper. Cook at 180°C for aprox 10 min when they come out of the oven cover with another sheet of silicon and gently press on top of the sponge to even it out.

4.6 oz

sugar
9.0 oz

cream
6.3 oz

pasteurized egg yolks
1.0 lb

Callebaut Arriba
7 leaf/leaves

gelatin
2.0 lb

cream

Make a direct caramel from the sugar and allow it to foam, add in the first amount of cream to make it into a butterscotch sauce. (Be careful as this will spit). Whisk up the egg yolks until white and fluffy. Add the gelatine into the sauce and then pour the sauce onto the whisking yolks. Whisk to a sabayon. Melt the milk chocolate and fold through the sabayon. Semi Whisk the cream and fold into the other mix.

12.3 oz

white wine
2

cinnamon stick
1

clove
2

orange zest
10

pear(s)
Q.S.

sugar

Bring all of the ingredients to the boil and simmer to infuse flavour. Peel the pears; take the core out with a melon baller. Place into the white wine and make sure that the pears are immersed in the white wine. Place a cartouche on top and simmer until the pears are cooked.