Ideas for solid chocolate dessert served HOT

[phan1]

Hi, I'm brainstorming for a dessert and I want a chocolate component that's solid on a plate but is served HOT. I'm not having too many ideas at the moment, and so far I've got:

1) Cake/fudge/brownie/cookie

2) Gel

And keep in mind I'm still looking for something that can be made to order 1n 7 minutes, something that you can put in the microwave/oven. Unfortunately, agar is really the only food chemical I have in my arsenal right now. I can make a hot gel with it, but it's simply not going to be as delicious as a piece of fudge, which is my most likely route.

What I REALLY want is a chocolate mousse that can be served HOT! But I don't have a recipe or chemicals like methocel to do it. I'm not even sure if it's possible to to make an airy chocolate mousse that can be served hot...

[Tri2Cook]

I'm not even sure if it's possible to to make an airy chocolate mousse that can be served hot...

I think they call that a souffle.

[rooftop1000]

flourless chocolate cake

[Alex]

Variation on Baked Alaska or Bombe Alaska. Frozen chocolate mousse, cover with meringue, brown quickly in very hot oven. For da bombe, at tableside, flame some dark rum or other suitable spirit and pour over the meringue.

[IndyRob]

How about a chocolate flavored cultured cream (creme fraiche)? I've been thinking about mixing cocoa (or chocolate) and sugar with cream, adding a mesophillic culture (or some buttermilk). Like making cultured butter but stopping before the churning step.

My thought was to pour a layer on top of a room-temperature-stable pie and let it set before serving or refrigerating. It seems to me that it could be done thicker and might be able to be heated (I imagine this would have to be done gently).

My concern is whether the sugar or chocolate might prevent the bacteria from working - or worse, make them do something unwanted or even dangerous. I haven't been able to find anything on the interwebs about this.

[JeanneCake]

flourless chocolate cake

Lava cake is another option... make them in advance, bake or not, then freeze and either rewarm in a microwave or bake to order

[Teddy Devico]

you can use methycellulose to make a hot chocolate gel

[Sethro]

You can make really excellent warm ganache w agar agar. It will even hold its shape up to 180f. Used to do a chocolate "tart" that was just agar ganache on sable and we nuked it to order. Think it was agar at like 3%.

There's a bunch of different ways to get a hot mousse. I actually think agar is the best for that too. Like a hot chocolate fluid gel, add yolks directly to the blender and let it "whip" as it shears. Obviously not as airy as a real egg foam mousse but pretty airy for something thats served hot.

[phan1]

That sounds awsome guys. Thanks. I'll try making an agar agar ganache. Probably add some half&half to keep it creamy. I just don't want it to end up tasting like a brittle gel, as I'm not a big fan of that mouthfeel.

[Tri2Cook]

phan1: Agar-stabilized ganache is indeed tasty... I thought you were looking for "airy".

Sethro: I've never tried using a warm fluid gel as the base for a mousse. Sounds interesting.

[Sethro]

That sounds awsome guys. Thanks. I'll try making an agar agar ganache. Probably add some half&half to keep it creamy. I just don't want it to end up tasting like a brittle gel, as I'm not a big fan of that mouthfeel.

NP. You can inhibit the brittle quality of agar gels by the inclusion of sorbitol or locust bean. That brittleness is really a result of syneresis, not gelling properties. Its the same reason agar gels ten to sweat like a mofo; they are basically a broken emulsion. That's actually a desirable texture for some products, like the classic red bean yokan. Red beans are naturally grainy, so the brittleness of the yokan actually enhances the nature red bean. Same applies to other naturally grainy things, like pear or semolina. If you want to 86 the brittleness altogether, try reducing the % of agar in your gel and subbing some LBG. Also sorbitol at 5% or so seems to inhibit the sweating really well.

I would encourage anyone comfortable with fluid gels to think outside the box. Besides turning liquid into puree, what else is traditionally difficult to achieve in pastry, due to low viscosity bases? Think about the convoluted way we go about pate a bomb. Like raspberry puree is too thin, so we have to make a bomb paste to thicken it just so we can fold in whipped cream without making a runny mess. Imagine just making a fluid gel out of your base and then folding it directly into the cream? Toss in the fact that you can thicken warm bases as desired and the possibilities start to really unfold.

[aidensnd2]

I did a warm free standing chocolate molten center panna cotta once. Basically a standard panna with agar instead of gelatin. Nuked it at service so it was warm enough that the center melted but the exterior held up enough to unmold onto the plate. I thought it was kinda cool... Definitely unexpected.