Ingredients for 12 individual black forest gateaux

Chocolate sponge
100g warm melted butter
125g 70% dark chocolate, melted
150g egg white
100g caster sugar
100g egg yolk
20g  cocoa powder
200g Griottines or kirsch Morello cherry

50g grated dark chocolate (using a peeler)

Vanilla and white chocolate mousse
100g white chocolate pistoles
1 gelatine leaf, soften in cold water and pressed
200g fresh double cream
2 vanilla pods, split and seeds scraped
300g fresh double cream, softly whipped

Dark chocolate délice
125g whole milk
125g fresh double cream
50g egg yolk
25g caster sugar
175g 55% dark chocolate pistoles, melted
100g fresh double cream, softly whipped

Morello cherry sorbet
1 litre of Morello cherry purée
250g caster sugar
100g water

Feuillantine
100g praline paste (50% hazelnut – 50% almond)
25g milk chocolate
50g Feuilletine
For 12 individual black forest gateaux using a 60mm pastry ring.

For the chocolate sponge

Whisk the egg whites in an electric mixer set at medium speed. Slowly add the caster sugar when the egg whites start to increase in volume. Continue to whisk until the meringue has reached peak.

In a large bowl, sift the cocoa powder over the egg yolk. Combine with a whisk than add the warm melted butter followed by the melted hot chocolate.

Fold in the whipped egg whites 1/3 at the time. Spread out the chocolate sponge on 2 trays covered with silicon mat, 1cm thick and cook at 170ºC for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool it down, peel the sponge off the silicon mat and cut the 12 individual bases using 12 pastry rings. Use a 60mm pastry cutter to cut 12 pieces of sponge that will be used for the middle layer. Keep aside.

Drain the griottines between a cloth and reserve the kirsch liquor. Soak the chocolate sponge base with the kirsch from the griottines using a pastry brush.

For the vanilla and white chocolate mousse

Place the white chocolate pistoles and the pressed gelatine leaf in a large bowl. Bring to the boil the fresh double cream with the vanilla. Pour the vanilla cream over the white chocolate and gelatine leaf through a sieve. Stir with a spatula until the chocolate is melted.

Leave it cool to 35-37°C, (it mustn’t feel hot) and fold in the softly whipped fresh double cream. The mix must be runny.

Pour 0.5cm of white chocolate mousse on the top of each black forest gateau bases and add 7 Griottine halves. Cover them with the second layer and chocolate sponge, press gently to seal and soak the sponge with kirsch liquor using a pastry brush. Set in the fridge for 2 hours.

For the dark chocolate délice

Combine the cream and milk in a pan and bring to the boil. Meanwhile, whisk together the yolks and sugar in a large bowl until smooth and pale in colour.

Slowly add the cream mixture to the yolks and sugar while whisking continuously. Return the liquid to the pan and stir on the heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon ( 85°C). Pass through a sieve and weigh out 500g.

Make an emulsion with the robot coupe (or by hand with a spatula) by adding the hot crème anglaise in 3 parts on the top of the hot and melted chocolate.

Allow to cool to 35°C, stir occasionally, and incorporate the softly whipped fresh double cream. Fill up the ring to the top. Set in the fridge for 2 hours.

For the feuillantine

Melt the praline paste and the milk chocolate in Bain Marie (in a bowl place over a simmering pan) then add the feuilletine. Roll it between 2 sheets of greaseproof paper, set in the freezer and cut 12 rings of feuillantine using a 60mm cutter. Keep in the freezer.

For the Morello cherry sorbet

Combine the water and caster sugar in a pan, bring to the boil and cool down. Measure 250ml of sorbet syrup and mix it with the Morello cherry purée using a hand blender. Pass it through a very fine sieve (chinois) and churn it in an ice cream maker. Keep in the freezer.

Presentation of the dish

Blow torch and lift up to remove each ring of the black forest gateaux. Take a feuillantine disc from the freezer and place it underneath a black forest gateau using a little bit of vanilla cream in between to stick them together. Prick the gateau with a wooden stick right in its middle and use it to roll the side of the gateau into the grated chocolate. Place it onto the plate and repeat this step with each gateau.

Decorate with white chocolate and vanilla cream and fresh cherry. Serve with Morello cherry sorbet.