12 Types of Chocolate You Can Use in Your Creations
When walking down the chocolate aisle at a baking supply store, you may come across so many different types of chocolate that it might overwhelm you....
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If you love to bake, or just love to eat baked goods in general, you probably have come across mousseline cream. It is a type of filling that is most used in classic French pastry, such as Paris brest, eclairs and profiteroles. And, like a lot of dessert filling out there, one of the most popular flavors is none other than chocolate mousseline cream.
Read on to find out more about mousseline cream and how to make it.
What is Mousseline Cream?
Take 2 parts of the humble pastry cream and enrich it with 1 part softened butter, and you will get yourself an indulgent mousseline cream. It has a silky texture that remains firm, and when piped it gives pronounced edges, making it highly suitable for decorating.
It can be used not only to fill paris brest, choux pastry and other classic French pastries, but also for sponge cakes, as well as buttercream for frosting cakes and cupcakes.
Read more: How to Make Chocolate Ganache Without Cream?
Other Creams You Can Make With Pastry Cream
Pastry cream is a versatile custard-like cream with a thick texture. On its own, you can use it to fill cream puffs, mille-feuilles, and other desserts. If you need an inspiration for your pastry filling, here are two other creams you can make with pastry cream as a base:
- Diplomat cream: pastry cream + whipped cream and gelatin. This results in a light, stable cream that you can use as a filling for diplomat cakes, desserts and small cakes
- Chiboust cream: pastry cream + meringue and gelatin (optional). Also known as St Honoré cream, you can use it for chiboust tart, and for filling choux pastry and St Honoré cake
How to Make Chocolate Mousseline Cream
To make chocolate mousseline cream, we first need to make our pastry cream. Then, after it has cooled, we will combine it with whipped butter.
Milk Chocolate Pastry Cream
Ingredients:
- 40 g Egg yolk
- 150 g Milk
- 2 g Vanilla essence or extract
- 35 g Sugar
- 13 g Cornflour
- 10 g Custard powder
- 2 g Gelatin, bloom in 10 g cold water
- 80 g Embassy Azalea Milk Couverture Chocolate 34%
Preparation:
- Mix egg yolk, a bit of milk, vanilla, and all dry ingredients in a bowl
- Heat the rest of the milk until it simmers. Pour over the egg mixture and keep stirring to prevent scrambling
- Pour the mixture back into the saucepan. Turn on the stove, add the bloomed gelatin, and continue to stir until it thickens and comes to a boil
- Lastly, pour the hot mixture over the white chocolate and emulsify with a hand blender
After the pastry cream is emulsified, cover it with plastic wrap and let it cool completely to room temperature. If you don’t, the pastry cream won’t mix well with the room temperature butter when combined. Make sure the plastic wrap touches the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming.
Read more: Getting to Know 5 Types of Cake Icing
Mousseline Cream
Ingredients:
- 300 g Milk Chocolate Pastry Cream
- 75 g Hazelnut paste
- 150 g Butter
Preparation:
- At room temperature, mix the pastry cream with hazelnut paste
- Whip the butter until soft and light, then mix pastry cream mixture until well combined
This mousseline cream recipe is a part of our Gianduja Paris Brest recipe. Click here for the full recipe.
Tips to Make Chocolate Mousseline Cream
1. Don’t skip on the butter
A 2:1 ratio might sound like you’re using a lot of butter, but do not reduce its amount! If you don’t follow the formula, the mousseline cream won’t have the right consistency, and its flavor will also be compromised.
2. Optional: add flavor to your mousseline cream
If you prefer, you can add flavors to the base of your mousseline cream by adding liqueurs, lemon zest, dried fruits and/or nuts, or other flavoring you prefer. In the recipe we gave you, we went for milk chocolate to best complement the nutty taste of our Gianduja Paris Brest.