Makes: 6 spheres (~8cm in diameter)

Time required: 3 hours over 3 sessions (~1 hour at a time)

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

Inspired by one of my favourite chocolates when I was young – the iconic Ferrero Rocher. It was something that would feature in almost every birthday party or Kris Kringle … a nicely packaged gift under $20. Since moving to Hong Kong, I’ve slowly been adjusting to the Hong Kong supermarkets, but I still get excited every time I see a product in the same packaging that we get back home in Australia – Ferrero Rocher chocolates being one of them!

Elements for the cake from centre to outside of the ball:

• Inner dome: hazelnut vanilla mousse
• Inner coating: Nutella and crushed wafer
• Outer dome: chocolate mousse
• coated in chocolate and hazelnuts

Although every element of this cake is very easy to make, it does require preparation to make and freeze each of the layers

Ingredients:

Hazelnut Vanilla centre:

• 150m cream, whipped
• 100ml milk
• 1tsp vanilla bean paste
• 100g hazelnuts, crushed
• 1 gelating leaf
• 2 egg yolks

Nutella and wafer coating:

• 100g nutella
• 100g wafers, crushed

Chocolate mousse:

• 400ml cream, whipped
• 100g dark chocolate, melted
• 100ml milk
• 2 gelatin leaves

Chocolate hazelnut shell:

• 400g milk chocolate
• 150g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Instructions:

Hazelnut Vanilla centre:

1. whisk together egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale
2. bring milk and vanilla to a boil
3. pour half the milk into the egg mixture while whisking then return the egg and milk to the pot and bring to a simmer, while still whisking
4. remove from heat and stir in the gelatin
5. once cool, gently fold in the whipped cream and hazelnuts
6. pour mousse into 12 small dome moulds (~2.5cm in diameter) and set aside in freezer

Nutella and wafer coating:

1. once the hazelnut and vanilla mousse is frozen, unmould the domes
2. heat the nutella in the microwave for 10 seconds to soften it
3. working quickly while the mousse is still frozen, spoon the nutella over each dome and dip it into the crushed wafers
4. immediately return the domes to the freezer

Chocolate mousse:

1. bring milk to a boil and pour over dark chocolate to melt
2. stir in bloomed gelatin
3. when slightly cool, fold in the whipped cream
4. pour the chocolate mousse into large dome moulds (~8cm in diameter) around 3/4 full then place one of the smaller mousse domes in the centre of the larger dome
5. place the domes in the freezer to set for 5-10mins and when the mousse as slightly set, join the moulds together to create a sphere/ball. Use some leftover mousse to help stick the domes together if needed

Chocolate hazelnut shell:

1. melt the chocolate over a double boiler and stir in the chopped hazelnuts
2. unmould the mousse balls and roll this in the melted chocolate, covering the whole sphere and return to the freezer immediately to harden the chocolate shell. After several minutes, take the balls out of the freezer and spoon more chocolate over any gaps in the shell
3. set aside in the fridge for the mousse to thaw before serving

 

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