Dessert
Today we see a Catalan cream, but an alternative one.
What does it mean? I called it alternative because I didn't make it in the classic pans but served it in a modern way with a piping bag.
I decided to make it with dark chocolate, I used a medium dark chocolate, not an extra dark one which has a cocoa % of around 50, so it's quite sweet.
After cooking the cream, I immediately pour it into the piping bag and let it cool and solidify in the fridge for a few hours. I keep it this way until I need to use it.
When it's time for dessert I take it from the fridge and start creating it, with the piping bag we can have fun, we can make a spiral, straight lines, an S, in short you can give space to your imagination. For practicality, however, I advise you not to make thin lines but rather to join several lines together so that it is easier to flame the sugar and create the classic caramelized crust.
I then wanted to add some fresh fruit and in my opinion peaches in syrup go very well with chocolate but also raspberries to give a little acidity since we have the caramelized crust which is very sweet.
Then a touch of crunchiness with the oat crumble.
The dessert must then be served immediately, it cannot be put back in the fridge otherwise the caramel crust will melt.
Method
Prepare the cream, weigh all the ingredients separately.
Mix sugar and cornstarch together and then pour into milk.
Blend with an immersion blender to dissolve the powders well, or mix with a whisk.
Cook on low heat or on low power on induction, during cooking always mix with the whisk and bring to around 85˚, it will thicken slightly, it won't have much structure like custard.
Add the chocolate and mix well first with the whisk and then with a spatula. When you have a nice smooth and homogeneous cream, transfer it into a piping bag.
Close it well and let it cool and harden in the fridge for at least 3 hours. It can also be prepared the day before for the following day.
Prepare the crumble.
In A chopped mixer blend the biscuits until a coarse powder is obtained. If you use whole oat flakes, they also blend these, if instead you buy those already a little chopped it is not necessary.
Then mix the crushed biscuits with the oat flakes and add the melted margarine. Mix well with a spatula.
Prepare all the components for plating, then drain and dry the peaches in syrup a little and cut into slices.
Then take the piping bag again, cut the tip, take the plate and create the design you prefer.
In this first plating, 5 S-shaped lines were made.
Add a couple of teaspoons of sugar and sprinkle well, flame with the torch until all the sugar is well caramelised and the caramel crust is created.
So complete with a little crumble, peaches in slices and some raspberries.
Serve the cake immediately, you cannot put back in the fridge otherwise the caramel melts.
For the second plating, however, I created a spiral and then continued in the same way, caramelizing the sugar and then adding a little crumble, peaches, raspberries and currants.
