5 layered valentines dessert

The strawberry broth

• Mix the frozen strawberries with the sugar. Now cover it well with wrap and cook it on a double boiler for 3 to 4 hours.
• After that remove the wrap and let the liquid drain on a sieve that’s lined with a kitchen paper. Do this in your fridge. 

The strawberry and champagne gel

• Pour the strawberry broth into a saucepan together with the champagne and the agar powder. Then mix it and bring it to a boil for at least 30 seconds.
• After, pour it into a bowl and let it cool down in your fridge.
• Once it’s cold and it has set, transfer it into a blender and blend it till smooth. 
• Now I always vacuum my gels. By doing this you will remove the air bubbles and that will leave you with a lovely clear and intense gel.
• You can keep the gel for 3 days in your fridge and if you want to freeze it for a couple of weeks. If frozen be sure to let it defrost in your fridge. This way the gel will keep it's thick texture.

• Transfer the cacao butter into a saucepan and melt it on a low heat. Once it’s melted pour it into a wet grinder and turn in on. Then also add the milk powder and the pink candy hearts or sugar.
• Once the strawberries are completely dry add them all to the grinder for a beautiful color and flavor. Then let it grind for a couple of hours until it’s super smooth. Unfortunatly you can not do this in a blender. It's just not able to get the chocolate as smooth as when using a grinder. Maybe for white chocolate it will be kinda okay, but for dark chocolate definitely not.
• Once it's smooth pour the chocolate out of the grinder in a bowl and then we need to temper it. For this pour 4/5 of the chocolate on your worktop and while moving it with a big pallet knife cool it down till it’s reached a temperature of 27 °C.
• Then transfer the chocolate back into the bowl and mix it well till it has a temperature of 30 °C.
• After, take the bigger heart mold and fill it with the tempered chocolate. Tap the mold a couple of times to remove any air bubbles and then turn it around to pour out any excess chocolate.
• Now clean the sides with the pallet knife. The remaining chocolate you can use to make some delicious bonbons or turn it into beautiful chocolate bars. Keep them dry and covered for whenever you need it.

• Transfer the cream cheese into a bowl together with the sour cream, the egg, the sugar and the corn starch. Now cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds to the bowl and mix this well.
• Then transfer it into a heart shaped mold. This one is from Mold Brothers, click here for the link.
• Now tap the tray a couple of times and bake it at 130 °C for 20 minutes.
• Then let it cool down completely. Once that’s done pipe some of the strawberry and champagne gel on top. Now let this freeze till solid. 

• First melt the butter on a low heat. Once it’s melted add the white chocolate and mix it till it’s one smooth mixture.
• Then crack the eggs in a bowl and also add the sugar and the salt. Now beat the eggs till it’s a thick and firm foam. You can also do this by hand, but you need some serious muscles and time for that…
• Then add the chocolate mixture to the beaten eggs and mix it for another 30 seconds. After that mix the flour with the baking soda on a sieve. Add it to the bowl. Then gently fold this together to keep it as airy as possible.
• Now pour it on a tray that’s covered with a silicon sheet and spread it. Bake it at 180 degrees Celsius for around 20 minutes till golden. Then let it cool down out of the fridge. 

The strawberry broth

• Mix the frozen strawberries with the sugar. Now cover it well with wrap and cook it on a double boiler for 3 to 4 hours.
• After that remove the wrap and let the liquid drain on a sieve that’s lined with a kitchen paper. Do this in your fridge. 

The strawberry mousse

• First soak the gelatin in cold water.
• Then pour the strawberry broth into a saucepan and bring it to a boil on a medium heat. Once it’s boiling turn off the heat and dissolve the gelatin. Mix this well and set it to the side.
• Now pour the cream into a bowl and add the sugar. First mix it for 10 seconds and then beat it till it has a yoghurt consistency.
• Now while mixing add the strawberry broth and fold this together. Then pour it into the desired mold or bowl and let it set in your fridge.

• Gently remove the heart from the mold and let it defrost. In the fridge this takes a couple of hours. Out of the fridge it’s defrosted in around 50 minutes.