Broken Ice Floe Chocolate Discs

It's up to you.

15 detailed steps, from preparation to service.

1. Prepare the fruits and oven

   Turn on the oven at 150 °C in conventional oven setting (no fan). Spread the 24 almonds and 24 hazelnuts on a baking sheet covered with baking paper, without overlaying them. Weigh 30 g of raisins and 30 g of candied orange peel separately; keeps the white chocolate reserved for the decor away from the dark chocolate of the base.

2. Roast and cool the nuts

   Bake the almonds and hazelnuts for 8 minutes, stirring the baking tray halfway through the cooking process with a spatula. They should smell lightly toasted without turning brown. Take out the baking tray with oven gloves and pour the fruits into a baking tray to stop cooking; wait until they are completely cold before putting them in the chocolate.

3. Preparing the small inclusions

   Chop the cooled almonds and hazelnuts in small pieces of 2 to 3 mm with a knife. Also cut the raisins and orange peels into small pieces so that they do not protrude too much from the pallets. Mix these four toppings in a bowl and then visually divide them into 24 small portions; all fruits will be used.

4. Prepare the bain-marie and weigh the chocolate

   Chop the 250 g of dark couverture chocolate. Put about 167 g in a dry bowl and keep the remaining 83 g apart; this reserve will be used to cool the melted chocolate. Pour 2 cm of water into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer, then lower the fire; the bottom of the bowl placed on top should not touch the water.

5. Melt the dark chocolate

   Place the bowl on the bain-marie and stir slowly with the spatula until completely melted. Follow the tempering curve indicated on the package; for a classic black blanket, heat to 50-55 °C by checking with the thermometer without touching the bottom of the bowl. Tempering involves melting and then cooling the chocolate in a controlled way so that it hardens more clearly.

6. Cool with reserved chocolate

   Remove the salad bowl from the pan and wipe its underside. Add the 83 g of chopped chocolate reserved several times, stirring continuously and scraping the edges to distribute the temperature. Let it go down to 28-29 °C, or the manufacturer’s low temperature; no unmelted piece should remain before continuing.

7. Back to the working temperature

   Replace the bowl on the bain-marie for just a few seconds, then remove and stir. Often temperature control: Aims 31-32 °C for dark chocolate, unless otherwise stated on the package. If you significantly exceed this temperature, repeat the cooling and reheating; always keep the spatula and bowl perfectly dry.

8. Check the socket and prepare the plates

   Spread a small drop on a piece of baking paper: in a cool room, it must begin to harden in a few minutes without remaining sticky. During this test, cover two baking paper baking tray or flat planks. Regularly stir the chocolate in the bowl to maintain a homogeneous temperature; if it thickens, it heats up very briefly without exceeding its working temperature.

9. Form the twenty-four bases

   Place a small spoonful of chocolate on the paper and push it with the back of the spoon to draw an irregular plate with five or six sides, 4 to 5 cm wide. Aim for a thickness of 2 to 3 mm, without making a thick tablet. Proceeds by four plates at a time to have time to lay the fruits before taking, and spread the 250 g on the 24 bases.

10. Add the fruit while the chocolate is soft

    Spread a portion of the fruit mixture over each freshly spread base. Press very lightly with the back of a small spoon to push down the bottom of the pieces, without covering them completely. Continue with the other bases until using the 24 servings; the garnish remains on only one side of each chocolate discs.

11. Allow to harden without moving the pallets

    Leave the plates flat for about 1 hour in a cool room, away from the sun and any heat source. The chocolate must be firm throughout its thickness before handling it. To take it off, lift a piece of paper and gently fold the paper under the pallet, instead of abruptly pulling the chocolate up.

12. Melt the ice layer

    Chop the 100 g of white chocolate and put them in a small, perfectly dry bowl. Pour 2 cm of water into a saucepan, heat until it simmers and then lower the heat. Set the bowl over the pan without letting it touch the water. Stir with a spatula and remove as soon as the last pieces melt. Wipe the bottom of the bowl: no drop of water should fall into the chocolate. Let cool by stirring for a few minutes so as not to melt the bases. Prepare a clean toothpick before you dab: cracks are immediately traced, while the white layer is still soft.

13. Two-thirds of every chocolate discs

    Place the chocolate plates on the fruit side upwards. Place a little white chocolate on two-thirds of each and spread it very finely with the back of a small spoon, without looking for a regular edge. Spread the 100 g between the 24 pieces; keeps some of the fruits and dark chocolate visible so that the plate remains identifiable as a chocolate discs.

14. Trace two large cracks

    Pass the tip of the toothpick in the white layer to draw two simple and irregular lines that cross it. Slightly spreads the white chocolate in the passage to reveal the dark chocolate below; avoids the networks of small veins. Wipe the tip between the pallets to keep sharp lines, then leave each plate in place.

15. Allow to be taken and served

    Let take another 30 minutes in the cool room. Take off the pallets by the paper and arrange them in a single layer, or separate the layers with baking paper in a box. To present the pack ice, bring some plates closer together leaving spaces between them; do not stack them in high construction.