October 13th will see luxury Belgian chocolatier Godiva, host the final of its second annual Godiva Chocolate challenge.
This nationwide competition seeks to discover the country’s best amateur patissier, whilst raising awareness of Breast Cancer.
The final of the competition takes place during Chocolate Week in October, which coincides with the launch of Godiva’s latest collection Mousse Meringue AND Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 10% of future sales of the Mousse Meringue in the UK are being donated to Breast Cancer Now.
Here's what I came up with to showcase Chocolate, Meringue and a touch of pink!
You will soon realise, I rarely do sweet cooking and so the list of ingredients were perhaps a little more left-field than most. Yes, they're peppers; what's life without a little spice eh!
Next step, melting the chocolate. Yes I should have used a bain-marie for the purists, but the microwave worked great. 2 mins for each bowl. Done.
As you can see, bang on. What's interesting is that because I didn't over heat the chocolate, the consistency was a dream to work with. Especially good for a melting chocolate novice!
This is where the fun part starts. I used a blowtorch (get a decent one from B&Q not a crappy small kitchen one), although should I do this again, I'd roast the peppers first do draw out more of the sweet flavour.
Cooled (important) dipped (twice) and filled with meringue and strawberry mix. Certainly more interesting than I'd have guessed, and if you swap out a pepper for a jalapeño you can have a game of Russian Godiva Roulette!
The sweetness of the peppers is good with the chocolate and other flavours, although they are quite a flavour-hit so 1 or 2 per person is about right. Would love to know how to make sure the chocolate doesn't melt so readily once set - I'm sure there's a trick to it, but still it was fun, and good on Godiva for supporting Breast Cancer Awareness.
Do send your thoughts to me @GodivaUK, @BreastCancerNow and @LuxxPR with #GodivaChallenge
