Palmabella's Passions

I needed a dessert for my book club's dinner discussion of The White Queen. My first thought was to garnish something with a white rose, the York symbol. However, rain was pouring and plummeting my roses that day, so I came up with "Plan B".

This recipe is from Gourmet Today: More Than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen. It was a hit with my book club (and Brad ate all the rest). I chose it because it had enough chocolate to not tempt me into eating ANY.

Shortbread Base:
2 T. toasted hazelnuts
3 T. sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 stick (4 T.) unsalted butter, softened
2 T. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 t. salt

Place rack in center of oven and preheat to 350. Invert bottom of springform pan, lock side, and line bottom with circle of parchment paper. Pulse hazelnuts with sugar in food processor until finely chopped. Add flour, butter, cocoa and salt, and pulse until well-blended. Press mixture into bottom of springform pan. Prick with a fork and bake 18-20 min. Let crust cool completely before proceeding to next step.

Mousse:

1 t. unflavored gelatin
3 T. cold water
1/2 c. chocolate-hazelnut spread (Nutella)
1/2 c. marscapone
1 1/2 c. very cold heavy whipping cream
2 T. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3 T. sugar

Sprinkle gelatin over water in a 1-1 1/2 quart heavy saucepan, and let soften for 2 minutes. Heat gelatin mixture over low heat, stirring, until gelatin is softened, about 2 minutes. Whisk in Nutella until combined. Whisk in marscapone.

In mixer, beat together (with whisk attachment if using stand mixer) cream, cocoa powder, and sugar on low speed until combined. Increase speed to high, and beat until stiff peaks form. Gently fold whipped cream mixture into Nutella-marscapone mixture until combined.

Remove edge of springform pan, and carefully slide out parchment paper and crust from base of pan. Replace edge of pan and close around crust. Spread mousse filling evenly over crust and chill for at least 3 hours.

*Cook's Note: I removed pan bottom, but NOT the parchment for this step. I removed parchment after chilling, when transferring cake to serving plate.

Ganache:

5 T. heavy cream
3 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate (no more than 60% cacao), finely chopped

Remove cake from pan, and transfer to serving plate. Bring cream to a simmer in small saucepan. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate in a small bowl. Let stand for 1 minute, then gently whisk until completely smooth. Let cool, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, but still pourable (about 15-20 minutes).
Pour ganache over top of cake and spread to edges. Chill

*** After ganache cooled and cake chilled, I melted 1/2 c. chocolate chips, and using a small ziplock with a corner cut off, I drizzled the melted chocolate on top of cake to garnish. I quickly sprinkled a little edible gold on top for our "royal" theme.