Hazelnut Shaped Dessert

Soft Caramel
  165 g Heavy cream

  45 g Milk

  25 g Sugar

  25 g Corn syrup, glucose

  2 g Fleur de sel, or Kosher salt

  5 g Vanilla paste

  75 g Sugar

  100 g Corn syrup, or glucose

  55 g Butter

Caramel For inserts

  300 g Soft caramel

  50 g Milk

Hazelnut Butter
  150 g Hazelnuts, toasted

  10 g Oil
Praliné
  300 g Hazelnuts

  180 g Sugar

  2 g Salt

Hazelnut Mousse
  6 g Gelatin sheets

  200 g Milk

  80 g Hazelnuts, toasted

  125 g White chocolate

  80 g Hazelnut butter

  250 g Heavy cream, hot

  250 g Heavy cream, cold

Hazelnut Sponge
  50 g Butter, softened

  50 g Hazelnut paste

  80 g Egg yolks (4)

  30 g Sugar

  90 g Egg whites (3)

  50 g Sugar

  6 g Flour

  6 g Corn starch

  50 g Hazelnuts, crushed

Chocolate Shell Glaze

  300 g Milk chocolate

  300 g Cocoa butter

Chocolate Hazelnut Leaf

  300 g Dark chocolate couverture

1
 Use Silikomart sphere mold Ø58, and half mini-sphere silicone mold (Available on the
Shop Page).

Soft Caramel

2 Heat up cream, milk, sugar, corn syrup, salt and vanilla; keep hot. Meanwhile, make a
caramel with sugar and glucose. Carefully, when the caramel is ready – turn the heat off
and pour the hot cream mixture in thin stream (wear gloves to prevent burning). Turn
heat back on and cook the caramel mixture to 221ºF/105ºC. Pass through a sieve and
cool to 158ºF/70ºC, add butter and blend well. Set aside.

Caramel For Inserts

3 Mix soft caramel with milk and chill.

Hazelnut Butter
4 In a food processor, blend until it turns to paste.

Praliné

5 Toast nuts in 350ºF/180ºC oven for about 12 min; cool. In a hot saucepan, cook sugar
to caramel stage. Toss in nuts and transfer caramelized nuts on a silicone mat. Let cool
and break into pieces. In a running food processor, add a pinch of salt and turn
caramelized nuts into paste.

Hazenut Mousse
6 Soak gelatin sheet in cold water to soften, and drain. Heat up milk, throw in toasted
hazelnuts and blend well. Cover and let infuse 20 min. Drain pressing down solids to
extract as much flavor as possible. Save solids for later use if desired. Add one-third of
the heavy cream into the hazelnut-milk; heat up (almost to the boiling point) and pour in
white chocolate and blend well. Add gelatin and the hazelnut paste; blend well. Add
remaining chilled heavy cream and blend. Chill overnight. Whip to soft peaks before
using.

Hazelnut Sponge

7 Cream butter and hazelnut paste. Separately, beat yolks and sugar and combine both
mixture. Meanwhile, make a meringue with the egg whites and sugar. Fold meringue into
the yolk-hazelnut mixture. Spread onto a small baking tray lined with a greased
parchment. Top evenly with crushed hazelnuts and bake at 350ºF/180ºC for about 18
minutes.

Hazelnut Praliné Insert

8
8 Use a 1.18''/3cm diameter cookie cutter, and cut out hazelnut sponge disks; save
leftovers. Pipe out a dollop of hazelnut praliné inside each mini half-sphere silicone
mold, add hazelnut sponge disks and more hazelnut praliné – smooth out and freeze to
harden. Remove from mold and keep frozen.

Montage

9 Fill each half sphere mold with the whipped hazelnut mousse. Freeze for about 30
minutes. Using a small ice cream scoop, create a cavity the same size as the half mini-
sphere silicone mold. Fill cavities with the soft caramel for inserts and freeze for 30 min.
Top with a frozen praliné insert. Enclose with the silicone mold lid. Fill up each cavity
with the remaining mousse. Freeze for at least 6 hours or overnight. Remove from mold,
and shave off bottoms a bit to stabilize the cake. Pipe out a dollop of hazelnut mousse
on top of each cake and carve out to mimic the shape of the hazelnut and freeze to set.
Wear gloves, and smooth out the surface of each cake. Keep frozen.

Chocolate Shell Glaze (Enrobage)

10 Melt cocoa butter to 175ºF/80ºC first and pour in milk chocolate, blend and sieve. Use
at 113ºF/45ºC. Insert a bamboo skewer in each frozen hazelnut cake (one at the time),
immerse in milk chocolate shell glaze. Lift up and rotate until the chocolate sets.
Brush off the sides of the glazed cake using a wire brush. Remove bamboo skewer.
Dust gold powder and refrigerate. Repeat until done.

Hazelnut Chocolate Leaf

11 Cut out plastic acetate sheet into 10 each 7.5''x2''20x5cm strips. To temper dark
chocolate couverture: Melt dark chocolate over water bath to 122ºF/50ºC. Refrigerate
a few minutes until temp reaches 79ºF/26ºC. Carefully, rewarm chocolate to
87.8/32ºC. Spread some dark chocolate on the plastic strip, brush off sides to mimic
hazelnut leaf – place the finished hazelnut cake in the center and wrap in contact
carefully without any excessive pressure. Refrigerate to set. Thaw 6 hours in the
refrigerator prior plating. Enjoy!