Chocolate Mud Pie – 80s Style
Crumbly biscuit base, rich chocolate mousse, ganache topping and piped whipped cream...This is the ultimate throwback 80s feast! Prepare in advance and enjoy in front of your favourite 80s film! Pure chocolate heaven!
Equipment
Food processor OR ziplock plastic bag and rolling pin
Tala Performance pie dish (9”)
hand-held mixer with whisk attachments
small saucepan
2 small microwave-safe containers
disposable piping bags (or reusable piping bags with the smallest tip nozzle)
Tala 3 star nozzles with icing bag
Ingredients
For the base:
200g Digestive biscuits
50g salted butter, melted
2 tbs cocoa powder
1 tbs light muscavado sugar
1 egg yolk (keep the white for the mousse filling)
For the chocolate mousse:
3 large eggs, separated into yolks and whites
extra egg white (from the base)
100g dark chocolate, melted
For the ganache topping:
100g milk chocolate, chopped into small pieces
100ml double cream
extra dark and milk chocolate (about 30g of each)
2 tsp vegetable oil
For the whipped cream topping:
200ml double cream
2 tsp vanilla paste
125g marscapone cheese
1. Preheat the oven to 170 Celsius, fan (338 Fahrenheit).
2. In a food processor, reduce the biscuits to fine crumbs. Add cocoa powder, sugar, butter and yolk and blitz again until you achieve dark crumbs that can be pinched together.
3. Tip the crumbs into the pie dish. Distribute evenly with your hands to line the pie dish and pack down as much as you can to make a pie crust. Bake for 12 minutes and leave to cool completely.
4. Place the yolks in the medium mixing bowl and the whites in the large mixing bowl. Strictly
in this order, whisk the whites to stiff peaks then set aside and whisk the yolks briefly.
5. Mix the melted chocolate into the yolks, adding two dessertspoons of water to loosen the mixture slightly.
6. Fold two tablespoons of egg whites into the chocolate mixture then add the rest, carefully folding to keep as much air in the mixture as possible.
7. Gently pour the mixture into the pie crust, spread it out, or tilt the dish to ensure even distribution and chill, ideally over night.
8. Heat the cream in the saucepan until steaming hot then turn off the heat and tip in the chocolate. Swirl, then stir until glossy. Allow to cool until still pourable but only just warm.
9. Pour the chocolate mixture over the chilled mousse, tilting the dish to ensure even coverage. Return the dish to the refrigerator.
10. Place the dark chocolate in a small microwavable container with one teaspoon of vegetable oil and microwave gently until melted. Repeat with the white chocolate. Stir both chocolates and transfer each to a separate disposable piping bag.
11. Snip the ends off the piping bags and pipe lines over the surface of the chilled ganache. I've opted for parallel lines, but feel free to get creative. Return the pie to the fridge when you have finished.
12. Place the double cream with the vanilla in the large mixing bowl and whip to soft peaks with the hand-held mixer. Quickly mix the marscapone before adding to the bowl and briefly whisk again.
13. Fit the piping bag from the Tala 3 star set with a nozzle of your choice before transferring the cream mixture to the bag.
14. Pipe star peaks in a ring around the top of the pie dish (squeeze, push down slightly and pull up to release each peak) and return your finished pie to the fridge until needed.
Tips:
• You don't need a food processor to make biscuit crumbs – instead place the biscuits inside a plastic bag and bash away with a rolling pin until you have fine crumbs.
• This is an intense chocolate experience! If you prefer milk chocolate, swap the dark chocolate for milk chocolate in the mousse for a lighter taste.
• Give the mousse filling plenty of time to set – overnight is ideal.