The ideal Christmas dessert made out of 3 delicious chocolate layers: brownie, mousse & ganache. Together they are fun, punny & yummy! Not only are they are easy to make, they make for a great decorating activity with the kids too. Why only decorate your table when you can decorate your desserts too?!
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, International
Prep Time 1 hourhour
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Chill Time 3 hourshours
Servings 10people
Calories 608kcal
Author SforB
Ingredients
Brownie layer:
110gUnsalted butter ,soften
150gCaster sugar
2Eggs
2tspVanilla extract
90gAll purpose flour ,unsifted
80gCocoa powder
1/2tspSalt
1tspBaking powder
2tspMilk
Mousse layer:
1tspGelatine powder
20mlWater ,cold
150gMilk chocolate
120gWhipping cream(for melting)
160gWhipping cream ,cold
Ganache layer:
180mlWhipping cream
1tbspUnsalted butter
250ggDark chocolate ,cut into chunks
Decorations:
Pretzel snacks ,salted
12Mini marshmallows
24Milk chocolate chips
12Red M&M's
Instructions
Brownie layer:
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celcius fan-assisted. Line and grease a 9-inch square baking pan.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring continuously to avoid burning. Add in the sugar and stir until well combined. Remove the saucepan from heat and leave to cool slightly.
Whisk the eggs, one at a time, into the slightly cooled butter-sugar mixture. Add the vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl with a fork, i.e. flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients in without sifting, fold the mixture with a spatula until well incorporated. *
Pour the brownie batter into the prepared pan and bake for 20-22 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely.
Mousse layer:
Prepare the gelatine. In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatine powder over cold water and set aside for at least 3 minutes.
Melt the chocolate and whipping cream using the double boiler method. ** Once the chocolate is fully melted, dissolve the gelatine into the mixture. Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.
Using an electric mixer, whip the cold whipping cream until stiff peaks. ***
Add the cooled melted chocolate mixture and continue whisking just until well combined.
Pour the chocolate mousse over the brownie layer. Refrigerate the cake for about 2 hours.
Ganache layer:
Heat the cream and butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat just before it begins to boil.
Pour the hot cream mixture over the chocolate chunks. Leave for 1-2 minutes before stirring to melt the chocolate. Leave aside to cool until room temperature.
Spread the ganache over the top of the chilled mousse layer. Continue to refrigerate the cake for another hour.
Run a knife around the outer edges of the cake. Cut the cake into 12 equal rectangles, i.e. 3 rows and 4 columns. Transfer the rectangular slices for decorations - have fun!
Notes
* You want to keep the slightly heavy and dense texture of the brownie; sifting the dry ingredients will create a lighter and airier product.** Place a heat proof bowl over a saucepan with simmering water over medium-low heat.*** Be careful not to over-whip the whipping cream. You will start to see wave lines when it is soft peaks, but the peaks will still slide off the whisk while lifted. Stiff peaks will hold firm on the whisk while lifted.As mentioned in the blog post, the mini marshmallows are cut in half as they can be quite thick. The halved parts are slightly stickier, which can be placed facing upwards to ensure the chocolate chips stick to them.Volume to metrics Conversions can be found here.