Kirsten Tibballs - Chocolate: Luscious recipes and expert know-how for biscuits, cakes, sweet treats and desserts

THE QUEEN OF ALL THINGS CHOCOLATE HAS DONE IT AGAIN!

MasterChefs George Calombaris

Dark and luxurious or creamy and light drizzling, oozing or baked there are many ways to enjoy chocolate, but there is only one Queen of Chocolate. Kirsten Tibballs, world-renowned chocolatier and pastry chef, has devoted her life to the pursuit of delightful desserts, perfecting her techniques and creating decadent treats that make people happy.

Whether youre after a knockout chocolate mousse cake, sticky chocolate doughnut or the best brownie youve ever tasted, Kirsten has you covered. Her favourite chocolate recipes, road-tested at her cooking school, and detailed explanations of steps and techniques will instill confidence in the most kitchen-shy of chocolate lovers. So, go on melt that bowl of chocolate, line a baking sheet and relax ...
Youre in the hands of a professional .

For Mum, who is my inspiration.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

As a child, my mum would make sweet treats a few times a week from recipes passed down from her mother, such as steamed puddings, golden syrup dumplings, Scottish shortbread and many other personal favourites from her childhood. From a young age I discovered the joy that food can bring. Cooking with my mum was always a weekend activity that we looked forward to.

At fifteen years of age I started my apprenticeship at a small patisserie in Mornington, Victoria. My parents were fully supportive of me starting full-time work so young, as it had been a long-time dream of mine to become a pastry chef. I would start work at 2 am and finish when the job was done. My dad was tasked with driving me to the patisserie, leaving home at 1 am, five days a week, for the 50-minute drive to drop me at work before heading back home to grab a couple of hours sleep before getting up again for work himself. Mum would pick me up after she finished work at the end of my workday, which could be any time between 5 pm and 10 pm. She would patiently wait for me to call, unable to go out in case I finished work late (of course, there were no mobile phones at this time), and would often come into the patisserie to help me wash dishes and clean the floor so I could get an extra hour of sleep. My parents did this for three years until I was old enough to get my drivers licence. Their unwavering support and commitment to me is the reason I am as successful as I am today. The intensive work hours, often up to 20 hours a day, fast-tracked my skills and gave me a great start as a qualified pastry chef.

I love what I do and I love instilling my passion in others and watching them develop their own skills and abilities. This is why I opened Savour Chocolate & Patisserie School in 2002; to share what I know and love with people from all over the world.

I chose chocolate as the main theme for this book for its diversity and my love of it, from the cocoa bean through to a finished brownie. I travel the world demonstrating and teaching new and innovative techniques to other professionals, but it is often the simple products that are the most enjoyable. This book contains a variety of really simple recipes through to more complex ones. But the complex recipes can be broken down into simpler components and not every element has to be made on the same day.

Chocolate is hard enough to resist in its purest form, and even harder when you add more sugar and cream! If we are going to indulge in sneaky guilty pleasures, why not make them sensational? Thats my philosophy behind this book. If youre going to put in the effort to make one of my recipes I will make sure it is worth your while by giving you a deliciously decadent chocolate experience that you may find difficult to share.

I hope you love making and sharing my favourite chocolate recipes.

notes on THE recipes

Creating recipes at home should be easy and rewarding. You dont need expensive gadgets or hard-to-obtain ingredients to achieve incredible food. Delicious desserts and cakes are best made with simple ingredients. I confess Im a little fussy about particular ingredients, but these can make a world of difference to the end flavour and texture. Here are a few tips about how to select and use ingredients to get the most scrumptious results from your chocolate creations, as well as a few explanations of terms you will see in this book. For information about some key kitchen tools used in this book, have a look at the .

Butter: I generally use unsalted butter in my recipes, which gives me the ability to control how much salt Im adding. Its easier to work with the butter if it is chopped into cubes prior to adding it to a recipe.

Cocoa & Dutch-process cocoa powder: There are two types of unsweetened cocoa powder on the market: standard and Dutch process. Ive only used Dutch-process cocoa powder for the recipes in this book. Dutch process refers to the cocoa being alkaline treated, making it richer in flavour, darker in colour and more easily dissolvable than standard cocoa. There are various grades of Dutch-process cocoa powder, but look out for varieties with around 24% cocoa butter, which will help keep the baked goods delicious and moist.