Chocolate is such a versatile ingredient that it offers a world of opportunity when it comes to dreaming up new chocolate dessert ideas for your menu.
From a bitter drink enjoyed by the Mayans to the delicious, smooth and sweet solid form we all recognise, chocolate has changed a lot over the years.
Today, there are hundreds of chocolatiers perfecting the art around the globe, continuing to create new flavours and delicious tastes for us all.
There’s no end to the diverse wonder of chocolate, and it’s incredible to think what this one little bean has evolved into.
Using chocolate with patisserie and dessert recipes creates wonderfully delicious, beautiful and incredibly irresistible desserts that add a decadent finish to any menu.
To give you some inspiration, here’s our pick of the best chocolate dessert ideas…
A favourite dish of Yautacha visitors, this dessert is full of romance and flavour. Shaped like a rose, the delicate pink cocoa butter shell hides layers of raspberry mousse, chocolate sponge and a lychee pannacotta. Melting in the mouth, this rich and creamy dessert comprises the heavenly combination of chocolate and raspberries, a timeless pairing of ingredients that are meant to be together. It makes the perfect intimate centrepiece of a shared meal for two. Candlelight and soft music optional.
Chocolate & Salted Caramel Macarons – Photo courtesy of www.patisseriemakesperfect.co.uk
Chocolate & salted caramel macarons
There’s just something about hearing the words chocolate and salted caramel together that makes your mouth water. Macarons were created in Italy, in 1533, by the chef of Catherine de Medicis. At the beginning of the 20th Century, French chef Pierre Desfontaines stuck the cookies together with a chocolate ganache, creating the macaroon we know and love. Since then, they have become nationally acclaimed in France and a real best-seller in pastry stores. Try using a ring of chocolate ganache with salted caramel in the middle to sandwich these macarons, for a show-stopping finish.
Chocolate and amaretto mont blanc – Photo courtesy of www.patisseriemakesperfect.co.uk
Chocolate and amaretto mont blanc
A Mont Blanc is made from puréed, sweetened chestnuts topped with whipped cream to look like the summit of the snowy mountain it is named after. The use of chocolate and amaretto gives a refreshing and delicious twist on the classic flavours and you can switch the amaretto with brandy, Baileys or your favourite chocolate liquer. The addition of seasonal spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon and clove can be incorporated to create a perfect final flourish to any festive menu. These can be piped into delicate bite-sized mouthfuls or served as a larger, more individual cake-sized dessert.
Salted chocolate delice with coffee mousse and rum crème fraiche – Photo courtesy of www.greatbritishchefs.com
Salted chocolatedelicewith coffee mousse and rum crème fraiche
A real showstopper, this multi-layered and textured dessert consists of many different elements, and putting it together is a true testament to your skill. The delice combines salted chocolate, the bitterness of the coffee and the sharpness of the rum, to create a gorgeously creamy, indulgent and decadent dessert that hits all the right notes. Served simply and elegantly in the centre of the plate, this dessert can bring a real wow factor to your menu by achieving that holy grail of exquisite flavour and visual appeal.
Honey Mead Chocolate Tart – Photo courtesy of www.patisseriemakesperfect.co.uk
Honey Mead Chocolate Tart
No desert list is complete without a tart, and this dish provides a delicious twist on a classic recipe. Honey mead is made through a process of mixing citrus blossom honey with water and yeast and letting it ferment, creating an intense honey flavour. Combining the honey mead with the chocolate, this tart makes a gorgeously smooth, sweet and delicious dish that’s bound to excite and delight in equal measure.
Our list of chocolate dessert ideas is limited only by your imagination.
All these dishes can be given a further fresh twist by adding a few final flourishes, such as a dusting of icing sugar or cocoa power, a grating of orange zest, or a spritz of rosewater or lemon oil.
Here are a few other serving tips to bring our chocolate dessert ideas to life:
Add colour
Remember, your customers eat with their eyes, so adding a splash of colour to your dish can go a long way to making it so visually appealing that their mouths start to water. A chocolate cake can be transformed from a dark brown lump to a vivid array of colours with the stretegic addition of a few mixed berries and mint leaves. And a splash of berry coulis can add an otherwise dull and drab white chocolate dessert. Think contrast and you’re on to a winner.
Create texture
Adding different textures to the plate not only improves the visual appeal of your dessert, but will also totally transform the eating experience, by stimlulating and exciting the senses. For example, who doesn’t love the rich creaminess of chocolate mousse against the snap of a well-cooked biscuit? And it’s not just contrasting ingredients that work. Mixing up the temperatures can haver a similar effect… hot fudge sauce mixed with cold vanilla ice cream, anyone?
Serve it right
A great deal of effort may have gone into creating your perfect dessert, but all that hard work can be undone if you don’t serve it correctly, so it pays to think about what you will be using. A cheesecake, chocolate tart or slice of gateau may be easier to eat from a dessert plate (square or round, the choice is yours), but fruit, anything warm and melty, or anything creamy will be better contained in a rounded dish or bowl. A bit of common sense when it comes to choosing your serving vessel can pay dividends.
Make sure it’s stable
Layering your ingredients may look great, but if you stack them too tall, the whole thing could topple and fall in the times it takes to leave service and be presented at the table. Likewise, a slice of layer cake may look fantastic standing up on a plate, but if it’s too top heavy, it may wobble and fall. The general rule of thumb is that if you’re in doubt, don’t stack your plate too high. Instead, take it as an excuse to be creative and work out away to make it look just as good, if not better, while it’s laid it on its side or served across the plate.
Be creative
Serving a showstopping dessert can round any meal off in style, and the only thing limiting you from making your food look as good as it can be is your imagination. If you view your plate or dish as a blank canvas or an empty photograph frame, what will you do to fill it in a way that excites your diners? Just remember to be consistent, don’t dress one plate too over-elaborately if you intend to serve another simply and elegantly. Likewise, keep your portions to similar sizes, to cut down on your diners rubbernecking their neighbouring tables’ dishes and wishing they’d ordered the same.
We hope our chocolate dessert ideas have got your creative juices flowing and inspired you to go out there and create your own showstopping desserts, or put your own twist on the all-time classics. For more hints, tips and ideas, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram and subscribe to our email newsletter.
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