It’s very ugly to say that I only saw the film because Chocolate Courtesan? O Grand Budapest Hotel is a work directed by Wes Anderson. At the 2015 Oscars, he was nominated in nine categories and won in three.
O courtesan is, in essence, the assembly of three carolinas in different sizes filled with chocolate pastry cream. It couldn’t be simpler. But we can’t deny the aesthetics of the dessert. Simple, beautiful and delicious.
The inspiration came from another dessert, Religieuse. Also made with choux pastry (two carolinas of different sizes) filled with chocolate or coffee confectionery cream, and the decoration is made with butter cream with the same flavors. In French religious It means religious and the sweet received this name because the brown colors of the decoration resembled the nuns’ clothes. And do I really need to say courtesan? Oh, mr. Anderson!
Pre-preparing all the necessary items is the easiest and most peaceful part. What takes the most time and requires a certain amount of patience is precisely the decoration and assembly.
O glaze is the traditional Royal icing colored in four colors. The promotional video released by Fox indicates using milk. I replaced it with water, the flavor is more neutral and the chance of it turning sour decreases.
To achieve a uniform thickness and color, it will take several dips in the icing, but this doesn’t happen with just one pass. Due to the nature of the icing, it runs and becomes lighter when it dries than the wet color. Have faith and patience.
For the lavender, I started with a darker tone (read: more dye fell than ideal). I used part of it like this and then diluted it with more water and icing sugar. It was a happy mistake, the first layers were dark and the last layers were light. This helped to even out the color.
Chocolate arabesques are very simple to make, the shape is up to each person. But wait for the icing to dry before applying. The same goes for the blue icing that glues the pieces together. This needs to be thicker so it doesn’t run too much and dries faster.
O staging is important. I don’t know anything about design, but I really liked the aesthetics of the film and the fictional Mendl’s in its pink tones. So much so that the pink box with the Mendl’s emblem is a replica made here at the Mendl’s HQ. Prato Fundo! Since it’s to be done, right?
As you can see, the video is a little different to accompany this dessert
Courtesan au Chocolat: bomblets filled with chocolate cream
Makes: 6 units
CHOCOLATE PASTRY CREAM
- 100 g semisweet chocolate (or 50g milk chocolate and 50g dark chocolate)
- 2 excited
- 25 g crystal Sugar (I)
- 10 g wheat flour
- 10 g maize starch
- 5 g cocoa powder (100% cocoa)
- 250 mL skimmed milk
- 25 g crystal Sugar (II)
CHOUX PASTRY
- 125 mL water
- 57 g butter without salt
- 10 g crystal Sugar
- 0,5 g refined salt (pinch)
- 70 g wheat flour
- 2 eggs (shakes)
ASSEMBLY AND DECORATION
- 250 g impalpable icing sugar (frosting)
- 50 mL water (frosting)
- Food coloring: purple/lavender (lime/leaf green, pink, anise blue)
- 50 g chocolate branco
- 100 g impalpable icing sugar (blue tail)
- 30 mL water (blue tail)
- Cocoa almond or chocolate chip
1 cup: 250mL | 1 tablespoon: 15mL.
CHOCOLATE PASTRY CREAM
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave or bain-marie, set aside.
- In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, granulated sugar, wheat flour, cornstarch and cocoa powder. Beat with a whisk until a very homogeneous cream.
- In a pan, heat the milk with crystal sugar II until it starts to boil, with small bubbles.
- Pour about 1/3 of the hot milk over the egg yolk and cocoa cream, mixing very well. Add another 1/3 and stir well. Return the entire mixture to the pan, still stirring.
- Return the pan to low heat, stirring well to cook the yolk, flour and starch. It will thicken suddenly, keep stirring. Cook for about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the melted chocolate to the cooked cream and mix well.
- Leave to cool in the refrigerator before using. If desired, before use, pass through a fine sieve to make it more delicate and remove any lumps.
- Transfer to a piping bag with a smooth tip (~0.5cm diameter).
CHOUX PASTRY
- In a pan, combine water, butter, sugar and salt. Let the butter melt completely.
- When it starts to boil (small bubbles on the sides) add the wheat flour all at once. Stir the entire mixture vigorously.
- The dough needs to be cooked for a few minutes, when the bottom of the pan has a light film and the dough becomes more uniform. Remove from heat and remove dough from pan.
- With the dough slightly hot, add the beaten eggs little by little, mixing well so that the dough incorporates them. It will seem like it won’t, but it will. Keep stirring. To use the pan, wait for it to cool slightly.
- The dough should be creamier and more elastic. However, it must maintain the format. Therefore, add the eggs little by little.
- Heat the oven to 180ºC. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Transfer to a piping bag with a smooth tip (1cm diameter). The quantity is enough to assemble 6 ready-made sweets. There will be a little dough left over, but not enough for one more. The yield is an estimate, it depends on the size of each ball. The dough expands during baking.
- Make balls on the previously prepared mold.
- Bake in an oven heated to 180ºC until golden. By size: small (10-15 minutes), medium (20-25 minutes) and large (30-35 minutes). I recommend making each size in different batches.
- Remove from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
DECORATION
- Fill the large and medium pieces with chocolate cream. Fill the pieces at the base, you can pierce them with a knife or with the nozzle of the chocolate cream sleeve.
- Use the icing sugar to make the icing/glaze. The amount of water varies, add little by little. It should be fluid, but not run easily.
- Divide the icing into three portions to dye with the dyes. Portions may be disproportionate, as the pieces are different sizes. You will use more for the large and medium ones, the small ones will be left over. Add the dye little by little to reach the desired shade.
- Dip the pieces in the corresponding icing. Large (purple/lavender), medium (green) and small (pink). It will take several dips to have a uniform layer in thickness and color. Wait for it to dry slightly between each one and wipe up any spills for a better finish.
- The white chocolate arabesques (melted and tempered) should be applied when the icing is dry to the touch. Drying time will vary as it depends on thickness and local humidity.
- Wait for the chocolate to harden before assembling.
ASSEMBLY
- With the other part of the icing sugar and water is for the blue glue that sticks the pieces together. It should be less fluid than the top icing. It should be firmer.
- Apply the blue icing to the large piece and place the medium piece on top, pressing lightly. Then, apply the blue icing to the medium piece and place the small piece on top. In the small one, the cocoa bean or chocolate drop will also be attached to the blue icing.
- Filling: if you want to fill it after dipping it in the icing, you can do that too, especially if it’s a hot day.
- Storage: must be kept in the refrigerator because of the filling, but the humidity will dissolve the icing. It may also dissolve outside if you live in a place with high humidity.
- Source: film The Grand Budapest Hotel.
