Chocolate-Avocado Entremet

The avocado-chocolate combination stuck to my mind ever since I saw it on Asha's blog Fork Spoon Knife. I love avocados, but since far I've never tried them in sweet variations. I'm glad I fixed that since this combo happened to be extremely good. Rich and fresh at the same time.

I had some doubts if the avocado mousse will keep it's nice colour long enough after assembling the entremets. This is why we did our best to eat them the same day we made them, and honestly, it would have been hard not to do so, since the taste was addictive. However we left one of the pieces as an experiment to see how long it would keep it's colour – 24 hours after the avocado mousse was made it's colour was still nicely green although not as fresh as in the beginning. We couldn't keep it any longer. It was crying to be eaten ;)

With the sponge layer we improvised with the ingredients we had on hand but we liked how the orange flavour and walnut taste and crunchiness combined with the chocolate-avocado duo. The recipe makes too much if it's to be cut into just 12 rounds, like we did, so we had a lot of leftovers, but we used them in another recipe.

Chocolate-Avocado Entremet Recipe:
Serves 6

For the Spongy Layer:

• 90 gr sugar(divided);
• 4 egg whites;
• 3 egg yolks;
• 40 gr millet flour;
• 30 gr rice flour;
• pinch of salt;
• 50 gr butter(melted and cooled);
• 35 gr walnuts(roughly chopped);
• 15 gr candied orange peels(finely chopped).

Note: For a non gluten free version substitute cake flour for millet and rice flours.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Line with buttered and floured paper a 28 cm round baking pan.

Sift together flours and salt, set aside. Beat egg yolks and half of the sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in butter, then flours, walnuts, orange peels. The mixture is quite stiff but don't worry, the egg whites will fix it.

Beat egg whites and the other half of the sugar to firm, glossy peaks. Fold a third of the egg whites into the above mixture to loosen it, then fold the rest of the whites. Transfer to the prepared baking pan and flatten the mixture to an even layer. Bake for around 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack.

For the Simple Syrup:

• 40 gr sugar;
• 40 gr water;
• orange zest.

Combine the ingredients and bring them to a simmer to dissolve the sugar. Stain through a fine sieve and discard the orange zest.

For the Dark Chocolate Mousse:

• 120 gr dark chocolate 75% cocoa (we used Cacao Barry's Tanzanie);
• 35 gr sugar;
• 10 gr powdered glucose;
• 40 ml water;
• 2 egg yolks;
• 280 ml heavy cream.

Make pate a bombe - beat the yolks until very pale in colour. On medium heat cook the sugar, glucose syrup and water to 118°C. Drizzle the syrup over the yolks beating all the time. Beat until cool. The batter should be thick and foamy.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave, watching out not to burn it. Then fold it into the pate a bombe.

Whip the cream until soft peaks. Fold 1/3 of the cream into the chocolate-yolks mixture. Then fold in the remaining cream. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip. Use as fast as you make the mousse since it sets really fast.

For the Avocado Mousse:

• 1 ripe avocado;
• 1 ½ Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice;
• pinch of salt;
• 20 – 30 gr sugar (according to your taste);
• 10 gr water;
• 80 ml heavy cream.

Heat sugar and water to dissolve the sugar, let it cool. Whip the cream to soft peaks. Puree the avocado, lemon juice, salt and sugar syrup. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a star tip.

To Assemble:

Prepare 6 rings – 5,5cm in diameter and 6cm tall. Cut 6 cellophane strips - the height of the rings and 20cm long – use them to line the inner walls of the rings.

Using one of the rings, cut 12 spongy rounds. Place a spongy round at the bottom of each ring, brush it with simple syrup, then pipe a decent quantity of the chocolate mousse. Place another spongy round and repeat the procedure, piping chocolate mousse till the rim of the ring. If you wish you could flatten it with an offset spatula. Place in the fridge for at least an hour.

Remove the rings and peel off the cellophane strips. Pipe the avocado mousse. Refrigerate for half an hour before serving.