Chocolates à la Carte

Executive Pastry Chef Daniel Bourgeois Opryland Hotel and Convention Center

Chocolate Houses with White Chocolate Mousse, Green Apple Coulis and Chantilly Cream with Fresh Berries

Recently, The Opryland Hotel hosted a convention of 12,000 residential interior decorators. With two galas scheduled for 6,000 people each over two evenings, executive Pastry Chef Daniel Bourgeois developed a dessert with a chocolate house, especially created for the occasion by Chocolates à la Carte. He filled them with white chocolate mousse, rosettes of Chantilly cream with berries. "The guests loved it when they saw the chocolate houses coming to their tables and were pleasantly surprised when they took off the house roots and found the goodies inside, says chef Bourgeois.

Here is his recipe for a quick and simple white chocolate mouse for approximately 250 portions.

Ingredients:

10 quarts heavy cream
22 pounds white chocolate
40 gelatin sheets
10 quarts heavy cream

Procedure:

In a large pan, boil 10 quarts of heavy cream. Add 22 pounds of white chocolate and stir until smooth to make a ganache.

Soak 40 gelatin sheets in cold water; strain and melt in a double boiler. Add to ganache. Mix well and cool.

Whip 10 quarts of heavy cream until they are soft peeks and fold into cooled ganache.

Pour mousse into houses and make rosette for garnish with fresh berries.