Choco Hazelnut Squash

Hey foodies :o)

This week, I have an ultra pretty and delicious recipe for you! :o) I tested the new Bloom 120 silicone mould by Silikomart.

Here are some lovely little pumpkins for the autumn season that has just begun.

For 6 pumpkins, you will need:

1 Bloom 120 silicone mould

1 jar of mirror glaze or caramel glaze

Modelling chocolate (optional):

250gr white chocolate

90gr glucose

1 jar of green powder food colouring

Hazelnut sponge:

50gr ground hazelnuts

100gr whole hazelnuts

3 eggs

2 tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla extract

100gr sugar

100gr flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pumpkin and chocolate mousse:

2.5 gelatine leaves

300gr full-fat cream

80gr icing sugar

100gr dark chocolate

250gr pumpkin purée (I used a 1.3kg squash which gave me 800g of purée)

Modelling chocolate

Let's start with the modelling chocolate. In my trade, we call this "plastic chocolate".

We will use this plastic chocolate to make the stems and leaves of the pumpkin. If you want to save time, you can easily use marzipan instead and skip the "modelling chocolate" section. But I wanted to introduce you to a new technique.

I love working with sugar paste to cover a cake or to make simple decorations. The downside of sugar paste is that it hates moisture. Moisture and sugar don't mix well! That's why I opted for modelling chocolate as it is less sensitive to moisture.

Let's go!

Pour 250gr of white chocolate into a saucepan and melt it over a very very low heat. (Be careful, chocolate burns very quickly! To be safe, you can melt the chocolate in a bain-marie or in the microwave).

Once the chocolate has melted, add the 90gr of glucose and mix briefly with a spatula. The mixture will thicken and become similar to sugar paste.

Colour the modelling chocolate with green powder food colouring or other colourings suitable for chocolate colouring.

You can also colour your chocolate while melting it in the saucepan. :o) This way the powder will dissolve even better. But as you can see, it also works once the modelling paste is prepared.

Don't knead your modelling chocolate too much. Otherwise the fat will separate from the mass.

Wrap the plastic chocolate in cling film, press it flat and let it harden for at least 24 hours in the fridge. This is very important as the cocoa butter crystals need this time to crystallise.

Hazelnut sponge:

Let's get started on the sponge!

Preheat your oven to 180°C, top/bottom heat.

We are going to toast our hazelnuts to enhance their flavour.

Roughly chop 100gr of whole hazelnuts with a knife. Don't chop them too finely.

Then spread 50gr of ground hazelnuts and the 100gr of chopped hazelnuts on a perforated baking tray lined with a silicone mat or a roulade mat. Make sure to keep the two ingredients well separated.

Bake at 180°C top/bottom heat for about 10-15 minutes. Remove the hazelnuts from the oven and let them cool to room temperature.

Leave the oven on afterwards so it is preheated for the sponge.

In a mixing bowl, pour 3 eggs, 2 tbsp of water and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Mix at high speed for about 1 minute. The mixture should turn pale.

Then add 100gr of sugar and whisk again for a further 2 minutes.

Add 100gr of flour, 1 tsp of baking powder and the 50gr of ground hazelnuts.

Gently fold in with a spatula. Make sure the mixture doesn't deflate.

Pour the batter onto the sponge mat previously placed on a perforated baking tray and smooth the batter with an offset spatula.

Add the 100g of roughly chopped hazelnuts on top of your sponge.

Optionally, dust the sponge with about 20-30g of icing sugar before baking so that once baked, the top of your sponge is caramelised.

Bake your sponge in the oven preheated to 180°C, top/bottom heat, for about 20-25 minutes.

After baking, turn your sponge out onto baking paper, then let it cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate and pumpkin mousse

Now let's tackle the chocolate and pumpkin mousse!

Start by preparing the squash purée. You can also make it several days in advance.

Here I used a red kuri squash weighing 1300gr.

Peel the squash and cut it into small pieces. Place the squash pieces in a large saucepan and fill it one third with water.

Boil the squash cubes until tender. About 20 minutes.

Make sure to use a large saucepan as I used a small one and ended up with squash splattered all over the kitchen =0S

Drain the squash, then blend it with a hand blender. You will get a nice thick texture like mashed potatoes.

I got about 800g of purée. Since I only need 250g for this recipe, I will use the rest for a delicious squash soup or squash cupcakes ;0). Check out the other recipes on our blog, we have some excellent squash-based recipes.

Alternatively, you can freeze the squash purée in an airtight container for up to 6 months.

Let the purée cool to room temperature.

For the mousse, soak 2.5 gelatine leaves in very cold water.

Pour 100gr of full-fat cream into a small saucepan and bring the cream to a boil.

Once the cream is boiling, remove it from the heat.

Squeeze out your gelatine leaves, then add them to your heated cream. Stir gently so that the gelatine melts evenly.

Then place 100gr of dark chocolate in a glass bowl and pour the hot cream over it in 3 additions. It is important to add the cream in 3 additions so the ganache does not split. Mix the chocolate and cream with a whisk, adding the cream gradually. Let it cool to room temperature.

Once the ganache is at 29°C, pour 200gr of well-chilled full-fat cream with 80gr of icing sugar into a mixing bowl and whip both ingredients into whipped cream.

Then gently fold the ganache into the whipped cream in several additions. Use a spatula and be gentle.

Finally, fold in 250gr of squash purée into your chocolate mousse. Mix with a whisk.

Assembly

Prepare the Bloom 120 mould, two round cookie cutters of 3.5cm and 5cm and the hazelnut sponge.

I put two sponge discs per cavity to have a good balance with the chocolate/squash mousse.

Pour the chocolate mousse into a large 40cm piping bag.

Place your Bloom 120 mould on a perforated tray or a board so you can move it once filled.

Then fill your cavities halfway. Place a small 3.5cm sponge disc in each cavity, pressing it in slightly.

Fill your cavities with chocolate mousse again up to two thirds. Tap your tray on the worktop so that any air bubbles rise to the surface and disappear.

Then place a second 5cm sponge disc in each cavity.

As you can see in the third photo, my mousse overflowed slightly in some cavities because I overfilled them... That's fine. :o) You won't notice it once unmoulded.

Place your mould in the freezer for a minimum of 6 hours. Overnight is even better!

Glazing and decoration:

For the glaze, I used ready-to-use mirror glaze in ivory colour and tinted it with orange gel food colouring.

Pour your glaze into a jug. Then heat the glaze in the microwave in 30-second intervals until it reaches 30°C. This temperature must be maintained for glazing (28-32°C).

If the mirror glaze is too cold, it will be too thick. If it is too warm, it won't adhere well to the mousse and will be too thin. Mirror glaze is also easy to make yourself — you will find the recipe HERE.

When the mirror glaze is ready, prepare your work surface. Place some cling film on your work surface, then place a wire rack on top. This way the excess glaze can drip down and you can easily collect it afterwards.

Unmould your frozen mousses. Place them on the wire rack and glaze them one by one using circular movements.

Collect your mirror glaze by pouring it back into your jug. It can be reheated and reused for other desserts. :o)

Put a tiny bit of green and brown gel food colouring on a plate. Dip a stiff brush into it, then flick it with your finger over the mousses to achieve a speckled effect.

Using a small offset spatula, remove the little pumpkins from the wire rack, then place them on small stands. Here we used the new reusable stands from Silikomart. :o)

Now we come to the modelling chocolate (plastic chocolate).

Knead your modelling chocolate firmly in your hands. It takes time, strength and a little patience until the mass becomes smooth and supple.

Once you have the right texture, form a ball, then shape it into a cone.

For the leaves, roll out the modelling chocolate with a rolling pin and cut out small leaves using a leaf-shaped cookie cutter.

If the modelling chocolate sticks too much, you can use a little cornstarch to help.

To make the curly tendrils typical of squash vines, roll a long thin rope between your hands. Then coil it around a stick or a skewer.

Place the stems, leaves and roots on the pumpkin. With the mirror glaze, they will hold on by themselves.

Here are the finished pumpkins! Aren't they gorgeous? :o)

Whether for Thanksgiving, Halloween or any other autumn occasion, your guests will be amazed!

Happy Sunday foodies!

Jenny

P.S.: All the materials used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.