Replicating Three Musketeers Filling...

[RuthWells]

Hi all,

My son is turning 10, and asked me whether I could make his birthday cake "like a Three Musketeers bar." I'm thinking a chocolate marshmellow filling, but I don't want it to set up as firm as homemade marshmellows do. Any suggestions would be most appreciated!

Thanks.

[Patrick S]

A whipped milk chocolate ganache would be something like 3 Musketeer filling.

[miladyinsanity]

If you pour melted chocolate into the marshmallow mixture, it probably shouldn't set up so firmly, right?

[Patrick S]

FYI, here's what 3Musketeers website says about the candy bar:

The 3 MUSKETEERS® Bar ingredients: milk chocolate (sugar, chocolate, cocoa butter, lactose, skim milk, milk fat, chocolate processed w/ alkali, soy lecithin, artificial and natural flavors), sugar, corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, less than 2% - cocoa powder processed with alkali, salt, egg whites, soy protein, artificial flavor. Allergy information: Manufactured in a facility that uses peanuts.

. . .

Nougat is made by whipping egg whites until they are light and frothy. Sugar syrup is then added, stabilizing the foam and creating "frappe." A number of other flavoring ingredients are then added to the frappe; each ingredient creates nougat with a different taste. These nougats are then ready for use in the manufacture of specific brands as the filling in the bars, which is included in the delicious 3 MUSKETEERS® Bar.

Sounds like chocolate is added to Italian meringue, right?

If you wanted to go the marshmallow route, you could just reduce the amount of gelatin to make it less firm.

[K8memphis]

My son, (formerly known as chef-wanna-be) Chef-boy, just told me yesterday how he is into adding air to everything. He was saying how he takes like for example a margarta. Let's see you take like a small portion of it and add a bunch of gelatin sheets the rest you put in the freezer or umm, you put that in the freezer--oh shoot I can't remember all that stuff he does. But anyway he blends the bejeezus out of it and makes quarts of product out of it. Who would go through all that y'know??

Anyway I do have an idea--use a firm cake and for real 3 muskateer bars as a filling. Maybe chopped up a bit.

But it would be fun to peel the chocolate off the bars and blend it up a bit with something...like ah...cream maybe...or ahh...melted ice cream.

Oooh, wonder what you could come up with by putting the peeled 3 muskateer bars on top of warm cake. That might just make them rubbery when the air dissipates out of the candy. But it still would be fun to play.

OK--one more hair brained (brainstorm type) idea. Peel the candy bars, chop & freeze the rest. Blend the frozen chunks into some whipped cream. maybe

Edited March 29, 2006 by K8memphis (log)

[SweetSide]

Something in the back of my mind (from some show I watched) is telling me that there is also malted milk in the 3 musketeers filling. Not just whipped chocolate in it.

There used to be three bars in each pack, each a different flavor. The one we now know what was the favorite and is the one that survived.

Also, somewhere in the back of my mind I know I saw a recipe that said something to the effect that it was just like the middle of the 3 musketeer bar. I wish I could remember which book it was...

[Patrick S]

Doesn't malted milk powder have wheat in it? The ingredient list I posted from the the manufacturer's web site doesn't include wheat (unless I missed it), and the allergy information mentions that 3Ms are made in a facility that uses peanuts, but doesn't mention wheat.

[JustKay]

This is a T&T recipe for 3 Musketeers bars that a friend gave (coz I love 3 Musketeers but they're not sold here).

Here's the recipe for the filling:

Ingredients

3 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup light corn syrup

3/4 cup water

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 egg whites

1/3 cup semisweet chips

Directions:

-In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, and salt heat, stirring, using a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature.

-In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they are stiff and form peaks. (Do NOT use a plastic bowl for this)

-When the sugar solution comes to 270 degrees F, or the soft-crack stage, remove from the heat and pour the mixture in thin streams into the egg whites, blending completely on low speed.

-Continue to mix until the candy begins to harden to the consistency of dough. This may take as long as 20 minutes. Sometime in between, melt the chips or chocolate.

At this point (when it's become doughy-like), add the melted semisweet chocolate chips. Remember that the candy must already be at the consistency of dough when you add the chocolate; the nougat will thicken no more after the chocolate is added.

-When the chocolate is thoroughly blended and the nougat has thickened, press it into a greased 9x9-inch pan. Refrigerate until firm, about 40 minutes.

edited coz I forgot melting the chocolate part

Edited March 29, 2006 by JustKay (log)

[Patrick S]

Cool, thanks JustKay!

[chiantiglace]

Nougat is where its at. Unfortunately the ^upper^ recipe isn't styled for nougat because usually you seperate your invert sugars with the sucrose. The reason being a 270degree cornsyrup/glucose/honey/trimoline/etc incorporates easier in the egg whites without hardening. Then after the invert sugar has been properly added the sucrose is then poured in the hot thick hot meringue.

The higher the temperature of the sugar the stiffer the nougat will be. If you want you can even use caramelized sugar for added flavor.

I have a few recipes for nougat, a couple with honey that should add significant flavor to milk chocolate.

Never the less, no matter what recipe you use, nougat is your best bet for a proper reconstruction of the 3 musketeer.

I must say also, be very careful with chilling and bringing back to room temp. From my experience nougat is very forgiving with moisture gain.

Edited March 29, 2006 by chiantiglace (log)

[RuthWells]

A whipped milk chocolate ganache would be something like 3 Musketeer filling.

←

Good thought, but I should have mentioned that my son's a sophisticated chocolate consumer -- he knows the difference between ganache, whipped ganache, chocolate buttercream, and the like. I don't think I'd be able to slip that by him.

<When I suggested a fancy chocolate decoration for the top of the cake, his comment was, "It must be of quality." When I asked him to expound, he said, "The good chocolate. Dark. The darker the better. You know, quality.">

Edited March 29, 2006 by RuthWells (log)

[RuthWells]

If you pour melted chocolate into the marshmallow mixture, it probably shouldn't set up so firmly, right?

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That's my *guess*.......

[RuthWells]

This is a T&T recipe for 3 Musketeers bars that a friend gave (coz I love 3 Musketeers but they're not sold here).

←

JustKay, THANK YOU!! This sounds like just the ticket, with K8's wonderful suggestion of chopped 3Musk bars in whipped cream (or maybe whipped ganache?) as a back-up plan. Chiantiglace, many thanks for your input as well -- I like the idea of controlling the final stiffness by adjusting the sugar temp. As this will be used as a cake filling, I think I'll ratchet the sugar syrup down to hard-ball and see how that goes. Don't want anyone's bridgework falling out.......

Edited March 29, 2006 by RuthWells (log)

[Patrick S]

chiantiglace, I'm interested if you have a 3M-like chocolate nougat recipe that you are willing to share.

[chefette]

I would be concerned that if you thought marshmellow hardened up too much to be a pleasant filling then the nougat would really be too much.

I guess I would talk to your son about what aspects of the 3 Muskateer filling he likes best: Its flavor or is he attracted to the sweetness or to the sort of fluffy/chewiness.

For a good filling consistency I would think that maybe you would be best off going with a mousse or maybe a french buttercream or even (shhh) a milk chocolate malt flavored whoopie pie type filling - you know with the crisco and marshmellow and powdered sugar.

Might be cool to actually make the cake more of a milk chocolate, coat with a dark milk chocolate glaze, pre-slice and then top each slice with a tiangle of tempered chocolate leaning on a rosette of the filling - even use the tiny bite size 3 Muskateers as a decor piece on each slice

Edited March 29, 2006 by chefette (log)

[SMW]

Slightly off-topic reply - malted milk powder has barley malt in it - no wheat, but it does contain gluten, which isn't one of the top eight allergens that's now clearly listed.

[Patrick S]

Slightly off-topic reply - malted milk powder has barley malt in it - no wheat, but it does contain gluten, which isn't one of the top eight allergens that's now clearly listed.

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According to the Wikipedia entry for malted milk, "Malted milk is malted barley, wheat flour and whole milk evaporated into a powder." And several web sites discussing wheat allergy (example1 example2 example3) list malted milk as a wheat-containing product. Is it possible perhaps that some do and some don't?

[Patrick S]

I would be concerned that if you thought marshmellow hardened up too much to be a pleasant filling then the nougat would really be too much.

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Yeah, the only nougat I have made is extremely chewy, like taffy, and wouldn't work at all in a cake.

[chiantiglace]

Patrick, I do not have a "3Musketeer" recipe, sorry. I do have a correct nougat recipe.

Also, the pull you experience is a softer nougat. I did explain that Ruth could do a harder nougat. The harder the nougat the easier it will "break" at the seem.

Also, chefette, I dont think they meant marshmallow was too hard opposed to nougat, I think they meant that it was "tougher" meaning it has a pull to it and has a stiff mouth feel. Think about what you do when you put a large marshmallow in your mouth. The first thing you do is squash it over and over and over. You dont do that with nougat. You half chew/ half suck or "rub between your tongue and roof of your mouth". So the whole mouth feel thing is what we are looking for to replicate a 3 musketeers. If I were to do it, I would use nougat and a stiff one at that.

[JustKay]

Nougat is where its at.  Unfortunately the ^upper^ recipe isn't styled for nougat because usually you seperate your invert sugars with the sucrose. 

Yeah, the only nougat I have made is extremely chewy, like taffy, and wouldn't work at all in a cake.

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Oh, the recipe above isn't exactly for a proper nougat nougat .... the chewy taffy like nougat.

It's a little softer and fluffier. Not as chewy at all.

[JustKay]

So the whole mouth feel thing is what we are looking for to replicate a 3 musketeers.  If I were to do it, I would use nougat and a stiff one at that.

But 3 Musketeers filling isn't stiff/chewy/pull-y like a 'proper' nougat (unless maybe if the 3M bar has just came out of the fridge )

It's softer and kinda fluffy but the texture isn't at all like marshmallow.

Edited March 30, 2006 by JustKay (log)

[JustKay]

JustKay, THANK YOU!!  This sounds like just the ticket, with K8's wonderful suggestion of chopped 3Musk bars in whipped cream (or maybe whipped ganache?) as a back-up plan. 

What about using 3M bars to make a chocolate mousse filling? Then cover the cake with a dark chocolate ganache?

Edited March 30, 2006 by JustKay (log)

[RuthWells]

JustKay, THANK YOU!!  This sounds like just the ticket, with K8's wonderful suggestion of chopped 3Musk bars in whipped cream (or maybe whipped ganache?) as a back-up plan. 

What about using 3M bars to make a chocolate mousse filling? Then cover the cake with a dark chocolate ganache?

←

I am keen to try your from-scratch recipe, so I'm going to play a bit tonight. I'll let y'all know how it goes!

[RuthWells]

JustKay's recipe is chilling in the fridge as we speak. I only took the sugar syrup to 248*F (figure 250* with carry-over cooking) and the texture seems right for chewability, though perhaps not as fluffy as a true 3M bar. The mixture almost behaved like fudge after I got it into the pan; the surface skinned up a bit. I'll report further after it gets consumed on Sunday.

[chiantiglace]

250 degrees is probably far too low. Also it will form a skin as you see if you dont handle it properly. Dust it with some confectionery sugar when using. Most nougat is rolled out that way and the cut.