Chocolate moelleux by Dominique Lory & his pastry Chef Sandro Micheli

A must-have for family meals, Dominique Lory’s and his pastry Chef Sandro Micheli chocolate moelleux is perfect way to end your Easter menu on a delicate, chocolatey and sticky sweet note...with an oozing centre and a crisp outside, this is comfort food at its best!

Step by step... 

Cream the butter (mix the butter using a flat beater to make it creamy and slightly more pliable than regular butter) and add the icing sugar, dry ingredients, and egg yolks in that order. Roll out for 2 mins, refrigerate, and cut into 10 cm rounds. Bake at 160 °C for 6-10 minutes and leave to cool.

Making the feuillantine:

• 100 g 70% cooking chocolate 
• 400 g 50/50 praline (50% sugar and 50% hazelnuts) 
• 200 g feuillantine 

Melt the chocolate with the praline in a water bath and add the feuillantine. Spread the mixture as thinly as possible – around 2 mm thick – on a sheet of greaseproof paper, lay another sheet over the top and transfer to the freezer. Cut into 10 cm rounds when firm.

Making the cake:

Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave. Whip the egg whites, stiffen them with the sugar, and add the egg yolks last. Combine the two mixtures and put into a piping bag. Leave this in the fridge to cool. Place the biscuit base into a copper sauté pan, and add the chilled feuillantine disc and a pinch of Fleur de Sel. Pipe the mixture in the piping bag on top – about 55 g per portion. Bake at 180 °C for 4.5-5 minutes. Once out of the oven, add shavings of Java dark chocolate and caramelised cocoa nibs to serve. 

Making the caramelised cocoa nibs:

• 100 g cocoa nibs
• 40 g sugar
• 20 g water

Roast the nibs in the oven at 170 °C for 5 minutes. Heat the sugar and water to 121 °C and add the nibs. Caramelise, and leave to harden.