IMBB #9 — Three Chocolate Layer Terrine

An Obsession with Food brings us Is My Blog Burning #9 with the theme being terrines.

I've never made a terrine. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever eaten a terrine. Terrines and foie gras have always been synomyous in my mind, and since I don't care for goose livers, no matter how fattened they are, I've generally kept away from terrines. So I was delighted to learn that there is so much more to terrines than foie gras.

I looked for recipes that I knew would have the broadest appeal and avoid the various food allergies of the friends I would be serving it to. Google obliged me, and I discovered "Cate Dowling's Three Chocolate Layered Terrine." This terrine has whipped cream, chocolate, eggs, and sugar — the four essential food groups.

The recipe called for milk, dark, and white chocolates. I think milk chocolate is too sweet, so I used semi-sweet instead. I used Valrhona 71% cacao for the dark, and Valrhona 56% cacao for the semi-sweet. For the white chocolate, I used El Rey.

It is an easy recipe, and the result is a terrine-shaped mousse.

Chopped chocolates:

Recipe in extended post.

Cate's recipe is available on Epicurious. Cate says that she adapted it from the book "Delicious Desserts." I re-ordered the steps into a more sensible order and made a few modifications — for example, suggesting the use of a double boiler. Also, I don't know where the book author is from, but Cate is from Austrailia, and the Austrailian tablespoon is 20ml whereas the American tablespoon is only 15ml. So 3 Austrailian Tbs of sugar is 4 American Tbs. I typed up Cate's measurements here, but when I made this terrine for IMBB, I adjusted my measurements to approximate the Austrailian ones where possible. However, I thought the terrine very sweet, so it probably would have worked well enough using American tablespoons of sugar.

Cate Dowling's Three Chocolate Layered Terrine
Serves 10

6 egg yolks
3 Tbs superfine sugar (aka castor sugar).
1 1/4 cups cream
3 tsp powdered gelatine
1/3 cup water
100 gm dark chocolate, chopped finely or grated
100 gm milk or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped finely or grated
100 gm white chocolate, chopped finely or grated
1 cup cream (extra)

Grease a large loap pan or a terrine with a flavorless oil.

Combine gelatine and water and set aside.

Grate or choppe the chocolate.

Beat egg yolks with sugar until thick and creamy.

Heat the 1 1/4 cups cream in a double boiler until very hot, but NOT boiling. Whisking rapidly, pour the cream over the egg yolks and return mixture to the double boiler. Stir over low or medium low heat until thickened. Do not allow the custard to boil. Remove from the heat and add the gelatine. Stir until dissolved. Divide into equal portions between three bowls.

Add one kind of chocolate to each bolw and stir until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. I didn't chop my chocolate finely enough, so I had to set each bowl briefly over the double boil to rewarm the custard and melt the last chunks.

Whip the remaining cup of cream until soft peaks form. Divide the cream into three equal portions and fold each portion into a chocolate custard. Fold through until smooth but just combined.

Pour the semi-sweet or dark chocolate into the terrine. Put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes or until lightly set. Add the white chocolate on top. Refreeze for another 10 minutes or so. Add the last chocolate. Cover with plastic wrap (press it gently against the chocolate to prevent a skin from forming.) and chill for a minimum of 12 hours.

To serve, plunge the terrine in a bowl of boiling water to loosen it then turn out on to a serving platter.

Serve plain or with raspberries or with a small amount of some tasty sauce. Cate says that the terrine does not need whipped cream. I think an unsweetened, or only slightly sweetened, whipped cream would help cut the terrine's almost too-sweet-ness.

Kitchen Chick's tips:
Before pouring the custard out of the top half of a double boiler, wipe the bottom of the pan with a towel to prevent water from dripping into whatever bowl your pouring the custard into. Same goes before serving the terrine: dry the bottom before inverting into a serving platter. It also may take some time to drop out of the mold. You can either have patience for gravity to do its thing, or do what I did and end up with a melted coating (see below picture).

When chilling the layers, keep a close watch on the clock and don't walk away and forget about the terrine. The other chocolate(s) still waiting to be poured into the terrine may begin to set in the bowls. How do I know this? Oh, I dunno...

Hmm... I think I let it sit in the hot water too long, but it does give it a neat melted look.

I put it in the freezer for 10 minutes to firm it up before slicing. Wipe the knife in between slices for cleanest effect.

Comments

[Zarah Maria]

Wauw! So pretty! And so inspired. I'll have to try this some time...

[melissa]

YUM! Thanks for posting the recipe. This looks like a fabulous holiday dessert idea!

[AJ]

Superb! It's so beautiful!!

[Cathy]

Looks delicious! You can never have too much chocolate!

[Clement]

Looks very elegant and delicious! Using such good chocolates must have made it taste amazing!

[Kitchen Chick]

The chocolates were incredibly rich with complex deep flavors. I love dark almost-bitter chocolates, but I know that's not everyone's cup of tea.

[Maureen]

Just wanted to let you know that your chocolate terrine was the hit of the Thanksgiving dessert table. Instead of a loaf pan, I did use a slightly taller than wide decorative mold which I had greased very well with melted butter. The buttered mold was placed in the refrigerator to set while I mixed the various layers. In the hot water unmolding the chocolate layers did melt slightly onto the layer below it. This gave the dish an exotic look rather than a chocolate hazard. Fresh raspberries surrounded the chocolate mold. Next time I think I would make a raspberry sauce to serve with the terrine. Thank you - this was a fun dessert to make and wonderful to taste.

[Kitchen Chick]

You're very welcome! Glad it worked so well for you, and thank you for dropping a note to tell me about it. The raspberry sauce sounds like an intriguing idea, too.