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Featuring Chocolate-Tonka Mousse, Hazelnut Praliné Insert, Cacao Breton Shortbread & Mirror Glaze

🍫 Chocolate, Hazelnut & Tonka Bean Entremets

Featuring Chocolate-Tonka Mousse, Hazelnut Praliné Insert, Cacao Breton Shortbread & Mirror Glaze
This elegant entremets was born out of leftovers—hazelnut crémeux and praliné inserts, and a batch of chocolate mirror glaze sitting in the fridge. To bring it all together, a cacao sablé breton was chosen for the base instead of traditional sweet pastry, and the chocolate mousse was delicately infused with tonka bean. The result is a refined yet comforting dessert for hazelnut and chocolate lovers alike—delicate, balanced, and deeply flavorful.
💬 Introduction
Prep Time 2 hours
Cook Time 23 minutes
Servings 8 people

Ingredients
  

🍫 Chocolate Mirror Glaze

  • 150 g sugar
  • 150 g glucose syrup
  • 80 g water
  • 100 g unsweetened condensed milk
  • 75 g dark chocolate
  • 75 g milk chocolate
  • 9 g powdered gelatin
  • 54 g cold water for blooming gelatin

🌰 Hazelnut Crémeux

  • 60 g whole milk
  • 15 g heavy cream
  • 15 g hazelnut praliné
  • 15 g hazelnut paste
  • 2 g gelatin 1 sheet

🌰 Praliné Insert

  • 80 g hazelnut praliné
  • 30 g heavy cream

🍪 Cacao Breton Shortbread

  • 5 egg yolks
  • 135 g sugar
  • 180 g unsalted butter soft
  • 1 pinch fleur de sel
  • 16 g unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 255 g flour
  • 12 g baking powder

🍫 Tonka Bean Chocolate Mousse

  • 43 g heavy cream Part 1
  • 43 g whole milk
  • 17 g egg yolks about 1 yolk
  • 8 g sugar
  • 1 g gelatin
  • 6 g cold water for blooming
  • 84 g milk chocolate
  • 84 g dark chocolate
  • 171 g cold heavy cream Part 2
  • ½ tonka bean finely grated

Instructions
 

Chocolate Mirror Glaze

  • Bloom the gelatin in 54 g cold water for 10 minutes.
  • In a saucepan, heat water, sugar, and glucose to 103°C.
  • In a separate pitcher, place both chocolates (chopped), condensed milk, and bloomed gelatin.
  • Pour the hot syrup into the pitcher and blend with an immersion blender until smooth.
  • ❗ Avoid incorporating air to prevent bubbles in the glaze.
  • Strain through a fine sieve if needed. Cover with plastic wrap touching the surface and refrigerate overnight.

Hazelnut Crémeux (Insert – Day Before)

  • Bloom gelatin in cold water for 10 minutes.
  • In a bowl, mix praliné and hazelnut paste.
  • Heat milk and cream in a saucepan. Off the heat, add gelatin and stir until dissolved.
  • Pour over the hazelnut mixture, stir with a spatula, then blend for a smooth texture.
  • Pour into 3 cm diameter insert molds (~15 g each if possible).
  • Freeze for 30 minutes before adding the praliné layer.
  • 📝 Hazelnut paste is simply roasted hazelnuts blended until smooth—no sugar. You can replace it with praliné if needed.

Praliné Insert

  • Combine hazelnut praliné and cream.
  • Emulsify by adding cream in 3 additions and stirring between each.
  • Pour over the frozen hazelnut crémeux and freeze overnight.

Cacao Breton Shortbread

  • Whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy.
  • Add soft butter in small pieces and mix until smooth.
  • Sift in flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; fold gently with a spatula.
  • Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
  • Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment to 5 mm thickness.
  • Cut out 7 cm rounds using tart rings, and leave dough inside the rings.
  • Bake at 170°C for about 15 minutes. Cool, then unmold.

Tonka Chocolate Mousse

  • Bloom gelatin in cold water.
  • Heat milk, cream (Part 1), and grated tonka bean to a simmer.
  • Remove from heat, cover with plastic wrap, and let infuse for 10 minutes.
  • In a bowl, whisk yolks and sugar.
  • Reheat cream mixture, strain over the yolks, whisk, then return to heat.
  • Cook to 83°C while stirring constantly—do not boil.
  • Remove from heat, add gelatin, then pour over chopped chocolate. Stir to melt.
  • Blend with immersion blender until smooth.
  • Whip cream (Part 2) to soft peaks and fold gently into the chocolate base.

Assembly

  • Fill each Stone mold ¾ full with chocolate mousse.
  • Using a spoon, spread the mousse up the sides of the mold to eliminate gaps.
  • Freeze for 5 minutes if needed.
  • Insert the frozen hazelnut/praliné insert (crémeux side down), pressing gently.
  • Add more mousse, smooth the top with a spatula, and cover with plastic wrap.
  • Freeze overnight.

Decoration & Finishing

  • Reheat mirror glaze to ~30°C.
  • Unmold the entremets and place on a cooling rack set over a tray.
  • Pour glaze evenly over each frozen entremets, starting from the center.
  • Tap the rack gently to remove excess glaze.
  • Use a small offset spatula to transfer each entremets onto a Breton sablé, centering carefully.
  • Decorate the base with crushed hazelnuts.
  • Let defrost in the fridge for 2 hours before serving.