Sinful chocolate dome, exotic Hawaiian burger & more: Gear up for New Year party

With the year coming to an end and festivities at full swing, impress your guests or family with self-made chocolate mousse, whisky chocolate or a Hawaiian veggie burger.

Gaurav Chadha, in-house chef for Dr. Oetker India Pvt. Ltd, Rahul Dhavale, Executive Chef at The Westin Mumbai Garden City, and Shivan Khanna, Executive Sous Chef at The Taj Mahal Hotel, New Delhi, have shared a few recipes:

Chocolate mousse

Soak gelatin in chilled water for four to five minutes then warm on low heat for a minute until all the granules melt. In a bowl, add whipped cream, dessert topping chocolate, gelatin and mix well. Pour in three glasses. Leave in a refrigerator for 30 minutes to set. Then serve.

Hawaiian veggie burger

Heat butter in a griddle pan on medium flame. Grill the rings of pineapple and onion until caramelized and there are nice grill marks on both sides. Spread one tablespoon mayonnaise on each half of burger bun.

On the bottom half of the bun, place lettuce leaf, followed by burger patty, onion rings, pineapple (a dollop of mayonnaise on pineapple) and top it up with other half of the bun. Serve.

Tuscan panforte

Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius and grease a pan with butter. Roast almonds and hazelnut separately. Mix raisin, black currant, date and sultana. In a sauce pan, mix honey and maple/corn syrup, bring it to boil or 116 degrees Celsius.

Take a bowl, add roasted nuts and remaining ingredients together and pour the boiled syrup and mix with the help of spatula. Once the whole mass comes together, put it in the baking mold and bake it for 15 minutes on 160 degrees Celsius. Let it cool, cut it into pieces and serve.

Whisky chocolate and gianduja dome

For sponge: Boil brown sugar and water. Add in the coffee powder. Melt together dark chocolate and butter and mix in stand mixer at a slow speed. When the mix is at room temperature, add eggs and egg yolks.

Fold in the flour and baking soda with a paddle in stand mixer at a slow speed. Bake at 160 degrees Celsius.

For ganache: Boil cream and glucose, stir in the chocolates and mix in a stand mixer with a paddle at a slow speed. When at 35 degrees Celsius, emulsify soft butter and whisky. Blend with hand blender until smooth.

For glaze: Boil water, cream, sugar and glucose. Add cocoa powder and cook for 10 minutes. Add in the pre-soaked gelatin and strain.

For assembly: Layer the mud sponge with whisky ganache in a dome-shaped fleximould and allow to chill in the deep freezer overnight. Bring the glaze to 40 degrees Celsius, hand blend and pour on top of the cake and garnish with fresh berries (blueberries/red currants/ black berries) and meringues.