5 layered valentines dessert

We’re going to make a beautiful heart shaped valentines dessert. We’re going to make our own strawberry pink chocolate with a white chocolate brownie, a champagne & strawberry gel and a vanilla cheesecake.

The strawberry and champagne gel

500 grams	frozen strawberries
50 grams	sugar

Mix the frozen strawberries with the sugar. Now cover it well 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. Once drained transfer the strawberry pulp on a silicon sheet and spread them. Now let this completely dry at 60 degrees Celsius.

150 grams	strawberry broth
150 grams	champagne
3 grams	agar powder

Then transfer 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 1 minute. 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. Then transfer it into a piping bottle and keep it in your fridge for later.

The strawberry chocolate

200 grams	cacao butter
100 grams	milk powder
100 grams	pink candy hearts or sugar
	The dried strawberries from before

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 degrees Celsius. Then transfer the chocolate back into the bowl and mix it well till it has a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius. 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.

The vanilla cheesecake

200 grams	cream cheese
50 grams	sour cream
1	egg
50 grams	sugar
10 grams	corn starch
0.5	vanilla pod

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 degrees Celsius 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.

The white chocolate brownie (blondie)

140 grams	butter
140 grams	white chocolate
2	eggs
140 grams	sugar
3 grams	salt
90 grams	flour
1 gram	baking soda

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. Once that’s done cut it with a heart shaped cookie cutter and keep it in your fridge for later.

The strawberry mousse

30 grams	pink sugar candies or sugar
2 leaves or 3.3 grams	gelatin
100 grams	strawberry broth
250 grams	cream

Transfer the pink sugar candies into a blender and blend it till it’s a fine powder. In this recipe I use the candy to the replace sugar, but you can also just use sugar. Now 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 30 grams of candy powder or the 30 grams of sugar. First mix it for 10 seconds and then beat it till it has a yoghurt consistency. Now while moving add the strawberry broth and fold this together. Then fill the heart mold halfway with the mousse. Press the cheesecake interior in the mousse and press it down all the way. Spread it with a pallet knife and then put the white chocolate brownie on top. Now freeze this till solid. This takes at least 4 hours.

How to finish the dessert

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.