Ingredients

For the Salted Caramel Baked Cream:

• 275g Caster Sugar
• Pinch of Salt
• 950g Double Cream, warm
• 85g Dark soft Brown Sugar
• 280g Egg Yolk

For the Macadamia Cremeux:

• 8g Bronze Gelatine Sheets
• 250g Double Cream
• 100g Chopped Macadamia Nuts
• 260g White Chocolate
• 300g Double Cream, cold

For the Tonka Whipped Ganache:

• 230g Double Cream
• 1/2 Teaspoon Grated Tonka Bean
• 5g Bronze Gelatine Sheets
• 115g White Chocolate
• 210g Double Cream, cold

For the Macadamia Chocolate Shell:

• 200g White Chocolate
• 100g Cocoa Butter
• 150g Macadamia Nuts, toasted & chopped

Tools

• kMix Stand Mixer
• Triblade Hand Blender

Method

For the Salt Caramel Baked Cream:

1. Begin by making a dark caramel with the caster sugar over a medium heat. Once it begins to colour and smoke, add the double cream in stages, whisking throughout, to create a ‘caramel cream’.
2. Meanwhile, combine the egg yolk & dark soft sugar.
3. Pour the hot caramel over the eggs/sugar and whisk to emulsify.
4. Return to the heat, and ‘cook out’ over a low temperature, adding in the salt to taste. Bring the mixture to 80 degrees Celsius, remove from the heat and strain through a sieve.
5. Pour the mixture into your desired mould or tray, remove any air bubbles from the surface with a blow torch. Bake at 110 degrees Celsius for 20-40 minutes, dependant on the size of the mould or tray, until the ‘baked cream’ resembles the visual consistency of a crème brulee. Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully in the fridge.

For the Macadamia Cremeux:

1. In a jug, combine the white chocolate & soft, strained gelatine sheets.
2. Heat the 250g double cream until lightly simmering before immediately pouring into the jug also.
3. Use a hand blender to emulsify fully ensuring all the chocolate & gelatine has dissolved/melted.
4. Pour in the 300g cream and emulsify again, before finally adding in the chopped macadamia nuts and processing in a ‘pulse’ setting to just break them up slightly more, ensuring your don’t lose all texture.
5. Pour the cremeux into your chosen mould/tray and allow to set fully before removing.

For the Tonka Whipped Ganache:

1. Soak the gelatine sheets until soft, strain away excess water and place in a jug with the chocolate & grated tonka bean.
2. Bring the 230g cream to a light simmer, before pouring over the contents of the jug. Process with a hand blender until smooth, add in the 210g cold cream and process once more to incorporate.
3. Leave to set in the fridge before whipping to soft peaks when ready to use.

For the Macadamia Chocolate Shell:

1. Toast and chop your macadamia nuts lightly before placing in a metal bowl with the chocolate and cocoa butter.
2. Over water, heat the bowl to melt the contents, stirring to combine. Once melted, add some fat soluble white colouring if you desire and store ready to use.
3. Use at 40 degrees Celsius, reheating the mixture if required throughout the process to ensure a thin coating on each chocolate bar.

For the Assembly:

1. There are a couple of ways you can produce this ‘chocolate bar’, the easiest being to construct each of the two main components within the same mould.
2. I used the Pavoni ‘pastel’ mould to bake my salt caramel cream, filling half of the mould, before allowing to chill in the fridge. Use the macadamia cremeux to fill the remainder of each. This was then left to set, demoulded, and the ends trimmed to create the chocolate bar shape.
3. You can make each component in separate trays and then press the two together once demoulded, but doing it the way I have decreases the chances of having any gaps between the layers.
4. Next, prepare your chocolate ‘dip’ and use skewers to submerge each bar, allowing excess to run away, before scraping the chocolate bar on the work surface to ensure it can sit flat when presented.
5. Remove the skewers, prepare your tonka whipped ganache and pipe a generous amount on top of each. Finish with grated tonka bean, finely chopped toasted macadamia nuts and edible gold leaf.