Darren’s Christmas Ornaments
Take another look! These edible Christmas Ornaments were whipped up with a Smeg stand mixer and expertly assembled by the bakers of The Great Australian Bake Off on Episode 5 of Season 7.
Watch the new season of the Foxtel Original The Great Australian Bake Off, Wednesdays at 8.30pm on LifeStyle or on demand.
INGREDIENTS
Chocolate Ornament Shell, Trees and Clasps
1000g dark chocolate
Silver, gold, red, food-grade spray colouring
White Chocolate and Kirsch Cream
100ml thickened cream
150g white chocolate, melted
160ml thickened cream
60ml Kirsch liqueur
Flourless Chocolate Sponge
65g egg yolks
35g caster sugar
85g egg whites
40g caster sugar
15g cocoa powder
45g dark chocolate, melted
Cherry Compote
100g frozen cherries, defrosted, drained
35ml water
65g caster sugar
Snow
80g maltodextrin
60g pure icing sugar
60g coconut oil, melted
100g fine desiccated coconut
Decorations
6 pieces of decorative cord cut to 12cm in length.
Gold, silver and red lustre dust
METHOD:
1. For the chocolate ornament shells; start by tempering the chocolate. Finely chop 350g of chocolate and set aside. Place the remaining chocolate into a large glass bowl over simmering water. Stir the chocolate until completely melted and it reaches 48C.
Remove the bowl from the saucepan and transfer the chocolate into a clean glass bowl of the same size. Add the chopped chocolate, a third at a time, stirring continuously to ensure the chocolate melts and becomes smooth. It must be at a temperature of 31-33C. Do not exceed this temperature. If temperature under, place the bowl back over the warm water and stir until it reaches the desired temperature of 31-33C.
2. To colour and prepare the chocolate moulds; polish two 6 x7cm dome moulds with a microfibre cloth. Lightly spray the first mould to completely coat, two cavities gold, two cavities silver, two cavities red. Repeat with remaining mould. Leave to dry.
Once dry, completely fill the cavities of the moulds with tempered chocolate. Leave for 3-4 minutes. Tip the moulds upside down and pour the excess back into the bowl, tapping the side of the mould to remove excess chocolate Scrape the surface of the mould to ensure it is clean before turning. Turn the mould upside down on a sheet of baking paper on the bench to rest.
3. For the clasps; while the chocolate is still melted, spoon a small amount into a piping bag fitted with a no. 3 plain piping tip. Lightly oil spray the clasp moulds and pipe to the top with chocolate. Dip the cord knot into the chocolate, ensuring the knotted end is completely submerged and the loop is upright. Put aside until set.
Fill another small piping bag with a no 1 piping tip with the melted chocolate. Finely pipe 12 Christmas trees onto a sheet of acetate. Leave to set.
4. For the White Chocolate and Kirsch Cream; pour 100mls of thickened cream into a small saucepan and bring it to the boil. Pour onto the melted white chocolate and mix until smooth. Add the 160mls of cold thickened cream and mix through. Add the Kirsch, mix until smooth, refrigerate to chill.
5. For the Flourless Chocolate Sponge; pre-heat the oven to 165C. Grease and line a 30cm x 20cm shallow baking tray and set aside.
Place the egg yolks and 35g of sugar together into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk until light and creamy.
In a separate clean stand mixer bowl, using the egg whites and 40g sugar, make meringue. Fold half of the meringue through the whipped egg yolks, then add in the remaining meringue and fold until combined. Sift in the cocoa powder and fold through. Lastly, add the 45g of melted chocolate and fold through. Pour into the prepared tin, level with a palette knife.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until risen and firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and place onto a wire rack to cool. Once cooled, cut six discs of chocolate sponge using a 5cm round cutter.
6. For the Cherry Compote; place the cherries into a small saucepan. Add the water and sugar and bring to a boil. Continue to simmer until slightly jammy in appearance. Place into the fridge to chill.
7. For the snow; place the maltodextrin and pure icing sugar into a large glass bowl. Melt the coconut oil and pour slowly onto the dry ingredients while hand whisking constantly until all the oil has absorbed. It should have a coarse lumpy sand appearance. Add in the coconut and mix well with your hands until it resembles coarse snow. Fill the bottom of your serving plate and set aside at room temperature.
8. To decorate the ornaments; place dome moulds, Christmas trees and clasps into the fridge for 10 minutes to help chocolate fully contract away from the mould. Wearing gloves, release the domes from the moulds. Place chocolate domes, flat side down onto a clean paper towel on the bench.
First spray, then dust two halves with red colouring. Repeat on remaining halves with silver and gold. Repeat with remaining mould. Dust the trees with gold on both sides.
9. For the clasps; remove the clasps from the moulds. Carefully dust each one with a generous coating of gold dust. Using a small amount of melted chocolate, attach one clasp for each of the three colours.
10. To finish the White Chocolate and Kirsch cream; remove the White Chocolate and Kirsch Cream from the fridge and whisk to stiff peaks. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a no. 11 plain round nozzle.
11. To assemble; place one of each coloured dome half upright on the snow. Spoon cherry compote into each half. Top with chocolate sponge. Pipe small individual cream kisses to cover the sponge. Place three Christmas trees in each. Put the “lid” on your ornaments to serve.
