Valrhona Truffle & Raspberry Supreme

Jason asked me to help with an after dinner dessert for a family of serious chocolate lovers. Well, from my days learning the art of Pastry at Cordon Bleu, my favourite from the afternoon tea party immediately sprang to mind - La Galaxie - a rich chocolate and raspberry mousse on a thin base of flourless chocolate sponge and enrobed in a luxurious chocolate glaze. However, rather than have a rather monotonous texture for a rather rich dessert, I decided to reconstruct it while incorporating more textures.

My truffle and raspberry supreme consists of a raspberry jelly sandwiched between two layers of chocolate almond dacquoise sponge embedded in a chocolate mousse made with Caraibe -Valrhona's smoky and complex 66% dark chocolate. It's not as intense as Guanaja (70%), but still gives a lovely woody, mahogany flavour with a final tang of tannin at the end. Floral notes are present throughout, and I added a little bit of Kirsch (cherry liqueur) to accentuate it

Decorations were one half of the log dredged in cocoa powder while the other half was enrobed in a ganache like glaze, with macadamias and almond slices arranged along the spine. The photos show two designs - a slanted line (above) and a straight line down the middle (right)

Reflection: I was quite pleased with the texture and taste (though flavourwise the Galaxie was more complex, with the raspberry coming out in the finish of each mouthful after the chocolate, rather than relying on the raspberry jelly...i might add some puree to the mousse next time), but presentation and texture could have been improved. I might add a feuilletine layer just inside the bottom layer, perhaps with some popping candy? Some fresh raspberries on top might go well with the decor, just to give it a more fruity appeal rather than just chocolate and nuts.