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Chocolate and Praline Gâteau with Peanut Brittle

Layers of mousse and sponge topped with peanut brittle and served with a shot of liqueur make for an impressive dessert.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Chocolate and peanut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,279 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep2 hr
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, peanut, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Butter two 20cm (8in) sandwich tins and line their bases with baking paper. Beat 100g softened butter with 100g caster sugar until pale, then beat in 2 eggs.

  2. Fold in the self-raising flour, divide the batter between the tins, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden and springy. Cool in the tins, then turn out.

  3. For the praline, melt 50g caster sugar in a dry pan over medium heat until golden. Stir in 50g chopped hazelnuts, pour onto a buttered tray and cool. Blitz to a coarse powder.

  4. For the peanut brittle, dissolve 350g caster sugar in a splash of water over low heat, then boil without stirring until deep golden. Stir in 200g shelled peanuts, pour onto a buttered tray and cool hard, then break into pieces.

  5. Toast the 50g whole shelled hazelnuts in a dry pan until fragrant, cool, and roughly chop.

  6. Soak the 2 gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes. Melt the 200g milk chocolate gently over a pan of simmering water and keep warm.

  7. Whisk the 2 remaining eggs with a pan of simmering water in a heatproof bowl until thick and the mixture reaches 160°F (71°C). Off the heat, squeeze out the gelatine, stir it in with the melted chocolate and the 100ml Italian hazelnut liqueur.

  8. Whip the 300ml double cream and 150ml whipping cream to soft peaks, fold in the chocolate mixture, then chill for at least 2 hours until just set. Brush the cake layers with the 200ml vodka before filling.

  9. Sandwich the cakes with a third of the chocolate cream, spread the rest over the top and sides, press on the praline powder and chopped hazelnuts, and decorate with brittle pieces. Chill before serving.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Chocolate + peanuttop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-ethyl-3,6-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  2. Butter + milktop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Chocolate + hazelnuttop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together350 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together41,494 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Hazelnut + peanuttop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together18 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-ethyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, earthy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the hazelnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, egg, cream, milk, chocolate):

  1. Almondbetter flavor fit
  2. Pecansbetter flavor fit
  3. Peanutabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Hazelnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, egg, cream, milk, chocolate. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).