Chocolate Rose Recipes

Steps:

• Start by making the pastry. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl, using an electric whisk or a wooden spoon, until pale and light. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the vanilla seeds. Stir in the flour, then bring the dough together with your hands until it forms a ball that leaves the bowl clean. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins or overnight.
• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and grease a 23cm loose-bottomed, deep fluted tart tin. Lightly dust your work surface with flour, then roll out the chilled pastry and line your tin with it, making sure there's a slight overhang. If the pastry tears, use your fingers to push the pieces back together (it will fuse back together neatly in the oven). Put a piece of baking parchment on top of the pastry and weigh it down with baking beans. Bake for 15 mins, remove the parchment and beans, and return to the oven for a further 15 mins until crisp and golden.
• Trim any excess pastry with a serrated knife, so the edge sits flush with the tin, and let cool completely.
• Mix all the rose & cassis layer ingredients in a bowl, using enough food colouring to turn it dusky pink. Pour the mixture into the pastry case and chill for 10 mins to firm up.
• Meanwhile, for the cheesecake layer, break the chocolate into pieces and tip into a large, heatproof bowl. In a small pan, gently heat the double cream and cream cheese until piping hot and melted together. Quickly pour the mixture over the chocolate, let it sit for 1 min, then stir until completely smooth and melted. Pour the mixture over the rose & cassis layer, then return the tart to the fridge.
• To make the chocolate ganache, put all the ganache ingredients in a heatproof bowl and microwave in short bursts until melted. (Alternatively, heat all the ingredients in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.) Pour over the cheesecake layer and chill the tart for at least 30 mins, or overnight if you prefer. Just before serving, carefully remove the tart from the tin and put on a serving plate or board. Decorate with a pinch of sea salt flakes and a few rose petals. Cut into slices and serve.

Steps:

• How To Make Chocolate Clay Dough: In a shallow bowl, melt the chocolate in the microwave for 2 minutes; stir. Be careful so that the temperature does not exceed 100 degrees F. If chocolate is not completely melted, return to microwave for 30 seconds at a time and stir until smooth. Learn different techniques for How To Melt Chocolate. Add corn syrup to the melted chocolate and mix well (scrape all the corn syrup into the chocolate with a rubber spatula). Using a rubber spatula, stir and fold mixture, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl well, until no shiny syrup is visible and the mixture forms a thick ball. Pour mixture onto a waxed paper sheet and spread with the spatula until it's about 1/2-inch thick; let it sit and stiffen, uncovered, for approximately 2 hours. Use at once or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month. How To Make Chocolate Roses: Knead a handful of dough at a time on a work surface until it is soft and pliable (like Play-Dough). Roll dough into twelve (12) 1/2-inch diameter chocolate balls. For one full-sized rose, you will need 12 balls, and for rosebuds, you will need 4 to 5 balls. The size of the ball will determine the size of the rose. For small roses use small chocolate balls, for large roses use large chocolate balls. Place the balls on waxed paper or plastic wrap about 1-inch apart. Using your fingers, press on the center and then on either side of each chocolate ball, flattening the disk into 1-inch round flat disks about the size of a quarter (leave the top edge thinner than and bottom edge). Repeat with the remaining chocolate balls. Remove one prepared disk and curl it into a "teepee" shape, narrow at the top and wider at the bottom, (this will be the center of the rose). Wrap the next disk around the opening of the teepee and the third disk at the back of the teepee - this is the rose bud. Continue adding disks which will look like petals, placing them in between slightly lower than previous row. For a fuller flower, continue adding petals in this manner. As you form petals, you gently roll or curl the right edge of the petal downward. Pinch off any excess chocolate clay at the base of the rose to make more balls. Roses will harden after a few days and can be saved by storing in a cool, dry place.

Steps:

• Soften the white chocolate plastique so that it is malleable. Knead the mixture on parchment paper as if it were bread dough. It should feel dry to the touch like Play-Doh, and you should be able to mold small chunks of it without it sticking to your fingers. If it is too sticky, you can sift some cornstarch over it to dry it up. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 different disks if you plan to knead in food coloring. To color the plastique, use parchment paper over your work surface and latex or vinyl gloves. Add a few drops of food color to each disk of white chocolate plastique to create different hues for roses and leaves. Knead the color in until it is fully incorporated and you achieve the shade you like.
• For the roses, roll out a disk of the plastique on parchment paper with a rolling pin as if it were a pie dough. Roll it until it is thin, about 1/4 inch. Then, make small circles using the back of a pastry bag tip. If you don't have a pastry bag tip, you can use a bottle top from a milk jug or anything that will cut uniform circles about 1-inch in diameter. Separate the circles (which we will now call "petals") on the parchment paper, and flatten the outer edges of each petal with the back of a spoon to make them almost transparent.
• Peel up the first petal off the parchment paper (a small offset spatula helps with this job) and roll it tight, like a cigar. Pick up the next petal and wrap it around the first one. Each petal should get successively looser and wider, mimicking the way a rose in full bloom opens. You can attach as many petals as you like to create the style of rose bouquet you want. Place each completed rose on a plate covered with parchment paper, wrap the plate with plastic wrap, and put in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them.
• To make leaves to round out your bouquet, add a few drops of green food coloring to a disk of the white chocolate plastique, roll it out thinly as above, then use a paring knife to cut free-form leaf shapes. Once you have completed a number of roses and leaves, you can form a bouquet in a plastic cup that fits inside a flower vase.

Steps:

• In a shallow bowl, melt the chocolate in microwave for 2 minutes; stir. NOTE: Be careful so that the temperature does not exceed 100 degrees F. If chocolate is not completely melted, return to microwave for 30 seconds at a time and stir until smooth.
• Add corn syrup to the chocolate and mix well. Using a rubber spatula, stir and fold mixture, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl well, until no shiny syrup is visible and the mixture forms a thick ball.
• Pour mixture onto a waxed paper sheet and spread with the spatula until it's about 1/2-inch thick; let it sit and stiffen, uncovered, for about 2 hours. Use at once or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.
• TO MAKE CHOCOLATE ROSES: Knead a handful of clay at a time on a work surface until it is soft and pliable like Play-Doh.
• Roll dough into twelve (12) 1/2-inch diameter balls of clay. Place the balls on waxed paper or plastic wrap about 1-inch apart. Using your fingers, press in the center and then on either side, flattening the disk into 1-inch flat disks about the size of a quarter (leave the top edge thinner than and bottom edge. Repeat with the remaining disks.
• Remove one disk and curl it into a "teepee" shape, narrow at the top and wider at the bottom, (this will be the center of the rose. Wrap the next disk around the opening of the teepee and the third disk at the back of the teepee - this is the rose bud. Continue adding disks which will look like petals. Continue adding petals, placing them in between slightly lower than previous row.
• For a fuller flower, continue adding petals in this manner. As you form petals, you gently roll or curl the right edge of the petal downward. Pinch off any excess chocolate clay at the base of the rose to make more balls.
• NOTES: If the clay balls or petals become too soft from your body heat, let sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes. To periodically cool you hands, grasp a cold glass. To make larger roses, make larger chocolate clay balls.