Easy life or everything in chocolate

• 300 g dark dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
• 6 eggs
• 150 g softened butter
• 200 grams of powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 175°C (regular) or 150°C (ventilated oven). Butter a 26 cm flat round pan. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt without stirring in a water bath or microwave (3 minutes on full power). Leave to cool. Add softened butter to the chocolate. Crack 2 eggs into a large bowl, add 4 more yolks to them, and pour the remaining whites into a separate bowl. While beating the eggs, add sugar until the mixture turns white and triples in volume .Slowly pour in the melted chocolate, lifting the mixture with a flexible spatula. into a mold, put in the oven and bake for 35 minutes. After removing the cake from the oven, leave it for 5 minutes. in the form, then put on a board and let cool for 20 minutes before transferring to a dish. Serve slightly warm. If the cake has had time to cool, reheat it for a few minutes in the oven or a few seconds in the microwave.

Dough

• 200 g flour
• 120 g softened butter
• 60 g sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 pinches of salt

Put the butter in a bowl, salt and, while adding sugar, stir with a spatula until the mixture turns white. Add the egg, then the flour and knead the dough with your hands until it becomes smooth and uniform. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours .Taking the dough out of the refrigerator, let it rest for 20 minutes. at room temperature. Roll out thinly and place in a 26 cm diameter mold (the mold should be flexible if possible so that it does not need to be lubricated with oil) or arrange in 8 molds with a diameter of 8 mm. Prick the dough several times with a fork, without piercing through, and 5 minutes. bake in an oven preheated to 175 ° C (with blower) or to 200 ° C (conventional oven). When baking, such a dough usually does not swell, but just in case it can be lined with parchment, and dry beans are poured on top.

Filling

• 250 g pecan kernels
• 125 g light unrefined sugar
• 200 ml corn syrup (it can be replaced with liquid honey or sugar syrup)
• 3 eggs
• 50 g softened butter
• 1 hours. L. vanilla sugar

Put the butter in a bowl, add the sugar and beat the mixture until it turns white. Continuing to beat, add corn syrup, vanilla and eggs (one at a time). Add the pecan kernels and stir, lifting the mixture with a spatula, then pour into the prepared dough dish. Place the tartlets in the oven for another 10 minutes, remove them from the mold, put it on the board.

Glaze

• 200 g dark chocolate (no less than 80% cocoa)
• 100 ml of mineral water
• 50 g butter

Without bringing to a boil, heat the water in a saucepan with a diameter of 16 cm; removing from the heat, throw the chocolate broken into pieces into it. When the chocolate is melted, gently stir it with a wooden spatula until smooth, adding butter.

Drizzle icing over tarts and serve still warm.

Water based glaze

It is necessary to get rid of the habit of melting chocolate in cream or milk. The cream makes the frosting heavy and oily and drowns out the delicate chocolate flavor.

Chocolate mousse with tangerine jelly and caramel sauce

For 8 persons. Preparation: 45 min.

They want

• 750 g fresh tangerines
• 150 g sugar
• 2 Art. l. lemon juice

Wash the tangerines thoroughly with a brush and dry them. Cut 300 g of unpeeled tangerines into circles 3 mm thick, removing the stones; Peel 200 g of tangerines and also cut into circles; squeeze the juice from the rest and strain it.

Pour tangerine and lemon juice into a stainless steel saucepan with a diameter of 20 cm, put all the tangerines cut into circles, sprinkle everything with sugar and let it brew for 30 minutes. Put the saucepan on the fire, bringing the contents to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for another 15 minutes .; then cool and refrigerate.

Mousse

• 300 g dark dark chocolate
• 75 g softened butter
• 4 egg whites
• 2 Art. l. granulated sugar

Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in a bain-marie or in the microwave (2 minutes on full power). Add the butter, stirring until smooth with a spatula. In three additions, fold the beaten egg whites into the chocolate, lifting the mousse with a spatula to keep the foam from falling off.

Sauce

• 100 g honey
• 100 g heavy cream
• 20 g of lightly salted butter

Pour the honey into a 16 cm saucepan and cook over low heat until it darkens and thickens. Add the cream, boil for 30 seconds, remove from heat and add the butter. Stir gently with a spatula and cool at room temperature.

Before serving, divide the tangerine jelly into bowls, cover with chocolate mousse and top with honey caramel.

Honey crispy biscuits

Amazing lacy cookies complete the picture.

Using a spatula, mix 50 g of melted butter, 50 g of honey, 50 g of granulated sugar and 50 g of flour. With a coffee spoon, spoon the batter onto a silicone pastry sheet or a lightly oiled non-stick baking sheet, making sure the portions are far apart. Roll them into oval cakes 1 mm thick and 5-6 minutes. bake in an oven preheated to 180°C. Remove from the pan with a thin flexible spatula and cool on a board.

Cupcake with dark chocolate, spices and brown sugar

• 4 large eggs (weighing over 70 g)
• 150 g dark cane sugar
• 175 g white wheat flour
• 1 hours. L. Razrыhlitelya
• 150 g butter
• 300 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
• 1 st. l. spices for gingerbread or gingerbread (ground cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg)

Butter a 27cm non-stick cake tin. Set the oven to 160°C (ventilated) or 180°C (conventional oven). power). Stir with a spatula, add the remaining butter to the chocolate in three to four doses. Break the eggs into a bowl with chocolate, add sugar and spices and beat the mixture until it triples in volume. After that, add flour and baking powder, lifting the mixture with a spatula. When the mixture becomes smooth and homogeneous, pour it into a mold and set to bake, reducing the heat to 3 ° C or 160 ° C, depending on the type of oven. Bake for 175-30 minutes. Check the readiness of the cake by piercing it with a thin-blade knife: if the blade remains dry, the cake can be removed. Let it rest for at least 40 minutes before putting it on the board. in shape. Serve slightly warm.

Spices for decoration

When the cake is not quite cool yet, you can sprinkle it with 100 ml of pre-ignited dark rum, then cover with melted apricot or raspberry jelly, decorate with whole spices (star anise, cinnamon sticks, vanilla pods, cloves, cardamom pods …), and sprinkle with powdered sugar on top .

To give the cake a fruity flavor, you can grate the zest of one fresh orange or lemon into the dough, add hazelnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, small orange or candied ginger.

We thank the confectioners and the administration of the Vertinsky Restaurant and Shop (t. (095) 202 0570) and the Nostalzhi Restaurant (t. (095) 916 9478) for their help in preparing the material.