Mini Dacquoise Cake in Chocolate Cream Chantilly

Mini Dacquoise Cake in Chocolate Cream Chantilly,
nothing but the best for Mother's Day

Oh , l'amour d'une mère , amour que nul n'oublie!
Pain merveilleux qu'un Dieu partage et multiplie!
Table toujours servie au paternel foyer !
Chacun en sa part, et tous l'ont tout entier !"

-Victor Hugo

(Translation
oh, a mother's love, a love that no one forget, a wonderful bread that God shares and multiply, table always served the paternal home, each has his own share and all have a whole)

Last Sunday we celebrated Mother's Day in France. I know we are two weeks late compared to the rest of the world (are we?). And I have absolutely no idea why. So please don't ask me:-). Nonethelless, I was happy that I finally feasted my first mother's day. My husband offered me the two cookbooks I've been salivating for months now (I'll be posting about it probably this week) and I am so excited to start cooking from this book. But the biggest happening last weekend was the dinner party I organized for my mom-in-law. I took that opportunity to show my gratitude to her for all the wonderful things and all the love she's been giving me all this time. I always find it difficult to think what to buy as a gift for special people in our life for most often they already have all the material things they want and needed. And that was the case for my mom-in-law. So I just opted for something different. I concocted a very special dinner for her and I made a short movie of gratefulness (that's the reason I was quite busy the past few days, pardon me for not having a lot of time to drop by at your blog :-) ).

Just to give you an idea of what I served, here is the menu:

Apperitif:

Amuse-bouche of Southern Flavor (mini canapés, mini-croissant and crostini all garnished with flavors of home-made sundried tomatoes, grilled red pepper and sausages) served with Tropical Cocktail (mixture of fresh juices of mango, bananas, pineapple mixed with lychee liquor)

Entree

Seared Scallops with Duo Tartar of Mango and Asparagus, accompanied by an organic salad

Main Course

Roasted porc in wild thyme and rosemary served with orange butter sauce, accompanied by millefuille of gratin dauphinois and creme of artichokes

Dessert
Mini Dacquoise Cake in Chocolate Chantilly and orange salad in cannelle and mint

Mini Dacquoise Cake in Chocolate Cream Chantilly
(adapted from Pierre Herme)

Dacquoise
90 of hazelnut powder, 100 g of hazelnuts (you can replace this with any nuts you like), 100 g of icing sugar, 3 white eggs, 30 of granulated sugar

Preheat the oven at 165° celsius and grill a lit bit the hazelnuts. Let it cool and chop them evenly. In a separate bowl whisk the egg until it becomes stiff and little by little the granulated sugar. In another bowl combine the hazelnut powder with icing sugar, mix evenly; fold in this mixture into the whisked egg. Spread it over in a parchment paper about 1.5 cm thick . Sprinkle on the top the chopped hazelnuts. Bake it at 150° celsius for 20 to 30 minutes. Let it cool then cut it the shape you want.

Praline
100 g of crepe dentelle (any thin biscuit)
50 g of butter
40 g of chocolate

Crush the crepe dentelle using a rolling pin. Melt the butter and chocolate in bain marie. Mix evenly. Incorporate the crushed biscuit; spread this evenly on the top of the dacquoise. Put them in the fridge.

Chocolate Cream Chantilly
40cl of heavy cream
240 g of chocolate milk (you can use any type of chocolate)

Boil the heavy cream in a casserole. Cut the fire then add the chocolate. Mix evenly then put in the fridge for minimum of three hours. With the aid of electric beater, beat the mixture to make your chantilly. It will normally thicken after about five minutes of constant beating provided that the mixture is very cold. You can add an ice cube to facilitate the task. Spread over the chantilly over the cake.