This rich, decadent chocolate marquise is the perfect dessert for serious dessert lovers. Accompanied by roasted kumquats, they make one delicious couple with all the best bits- rich, satisfying, dreamy, light & extremely flavourful. Throw in a splash of Amaretto and we’ve got ourselves a party ;)

First things first, let’s talk about what the hell marquise (pronounced as mahr-keez) actually is?!

Marquise is a French chocolate dessert (surprise, surprise), that is kinda like a mousse, but not exactly. The best way to explain this is if cremeux and mousse had a baby, they would call it marquise. It’s rich and satisfying and chocolatey like a cremeux, but not so heavy and light-ish …just like a mousse. So it sits somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. You know what I mean?

In short-it’s got the best of both worlds and it is absolutely delicious. Like a chocolate orgasm, ya know?

Why is this dessert so freaking good?!

Well, for starters, it’s chocolate. Then we’ve got a few things going on here that really elevates that flavour. Before we jump onto that, I do want to mention how important it is to use good quality chocolate here. If you use a shit chocolate, no matter the frills, your dessert is going to taste…well shit. You can’t put in a bad input, and expect a good output. It’s that simple. So please, please use a good quality chocolate here.

Coming to our frills, first up, we’ve got Amaretto. Amaretto is an Italian liqueur that tastes like bitter almonds. It’s my favourite alcohol to work with because it pairs so beautifully with desserts in general. Amaretto gives this dessert such a wonderful and unique taste as well as aroma. It’s a background flavour that adds a certain je ne sais quoi. I’ve used Amaretto in both the chocolate marquise as well as the kumquats for synchrony & doubling up on flavour.

Then, we’ve got our kumquats. If you’re a chocolate fanatic, and the idea of pairing chocolate with literally anything else sounds absurd to you, hear me out. First of all, grow up..I kid. Second of all, this is nothing like you’ve imagined. Roasting the kumquats gets rid of that jarring citrusy flavour that turns most people off. Plus, preserving them in an Amaretto syrup does something magical to them that makes them extra delicious, and a very very good companion to this dessert.

If you appreciate a really good dessert, this is it. It’s so flavourful, so well balanced that you’re gonna be reaching for seconds in no time. Here are couple of my tips to make sure you get this right:

• Make sure to whip your eggs enough. There is no gelatine in this, so the eggs, together with the chocolate is what give the marquise it’s structure, as well as lightness.

• Only add your cocoa powder once you’re ready to finish the whole thing. Adding your cocoa powder too early to your chocolate mix will make it thicken a lot, making it very difficult for you to fold anything.

With that, you’re ready to bake. Happy baking!

Recipe

Serves: 6

Ingredients

For the chocolate amaretto marquise:

• 75g good quality dark chocolate (I use Callebaut 54.5%)

• 30g unsalted butter, cubed

• 25g good quality dutch processed cocoa powder, sifted

• 2 whole eggs

• 50g caster sugar

• 20g water

• pinch of salt

• 20ml Amaretto

• 150g heavy cream

For the roasted kumquats in syrup:

• 240g kumquats

• 35g caster sugar (a)

• 50g caster sugar (b)

• 100g water

• 40ml Amaretto

For the mascarpone whipped cream:

• 75g heavy cream

• 75g mascarpone (or sub heavy cream)

• 15g caster sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• cocoa powder, to dust on top

Method

For the chocolate amaretto marquise:

• Grease 6x 6cm cake rings with butter. Coat with caster sugar. Keep aside. Alternatively, you can also assemble these in individual dessert glasses or 1x 16cm cake ring.

• Whip the heavy cream to soft-medium peaks. Keep refrigerated.

• Melt the chocolate and butter together over a double boiler. Keep warm.

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, add the eggs and whip on a medium-high speed until pale in colour, and doubled in volume.

• Meanwhile, in a small pot, add the sugar and water and place over high heat. Cook to 115°C.

• Reduce the mixer to low, and pour the hot sugar syrup into the whipping eggs, in a single stream.

• Turn up the speed to medium-high, and continue whipping until the mixture cools down to room temperature.

• Add the Amaretto to the melted chocolate-butter mix. Mix to combine.

• Add cocoa powder and mix to combine well and no lumps remain.

• Add a quarter of the egg mix to the chocolate mix and stir to combine well.

• Add in the remaining egg mix and fold gently using a spatula.

• Lastly, add the semi-whipped cream and fold gently.

• Transfer the mix to a piping bag.

• Place the individual cake rings on serving plates. Fill with the marquise mix. Gently tap on the counter to remove any air bubbles. Refrigerate for minimum 2 hours or until ready to serve.*

For the roasted kumquats in syrup:

• Make a day in advance: Preheat oven to 150°C.

• Cut the kumquats in halves (or thirds if they’re large) and remove the seeds.

• Place them on a baking tray. Add the sugar (a) and stir to coat the kumquats with sugar.

• Bake for 30 mins or until the kumquats are soft yet hold their shape and slightly caramelised on the edges.

• Meanwhile, place the sugar (b) and water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Cool down completely.

• Add the Amaretto and stir to combine.

• Add the roasted kumquats into a glass jar and top with the Amaretto-syrup. Refrigerate overnight or until ready to serve. You can preserve this for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

For the mascarpone whipped cream:

• Place all the ingredients in a bowl and whip to medium-stiff peaks. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

Assembly:

• To serve: remove the cake ring from the chocolate marquise.

• Spoon the roasted kumquats on the side.

• Place a quenelle (watch tutorial here) of the whipped cream on top of the marquise. Dust with cocoa powder and serve.

Notes:

*- If you’d like, you can also freeze them for up to 2 weeks in the freezer. Remove the ring when frozen, and defrost overnight to serve.

If you enjoyed that and tried it at home, please tag me at @myyummyspatula on Instagram so that I can see all your bakes! For more BTS stories, updates and fun, you can follow long here: