Chocolate Bavarian Cream or bavarois

Bavarian cream, or bavarois in French, is a silky and creamy dessert that is perfect for a Valentine's day meal or other special occasion.

Although, it may look difficult to make, it is remarkably simple and easy to make in advance.

The plain chocolate makes this dessert truly decadent and delicious for a real treat.

Bon appétit!   

This is a classic French dessert that was traditionally made without eggs and left to set in a large fluted mould. I think it is much more elegant served in individual dariole moulds. These are little aluminium dishes that are also great for making individual hot sponge puddings.

I love this bavarois cream because it's a restaurant quality dessert that you can easily make at home to impress your guests.

Although it's often a made as vanilla flavoured dessert, I've pulled out all the stops and used plain chocolate for a little luxury. It's actually less sweet than it looks, which is perfect after a rich meal.

The ingredients are quite simple, but do include gelatin. I always used to get nervous using gelatin, but this recipe couldn't be simpler. In addition, there is no lengthy setting in the fridge, just a quick blast in the freezer and it's ready to serve!

Jump to:

• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🍽 Equipment
• 🔪 Instructions
• ⏲️ Chilling Time
• 🥗 Serve with
• Substitutions
• 📖 Variations
• Storage
• FAQs
• 📋 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

🥘 Ingredients

• Milk - semi-skimmed or whole milk for a creamy flavour.
• Cream - double or whipping cream.
• Eggs - egg yolks only.
• Sugar - caster or super fine sugar.
• Chocolate - plain or semi sweet chocolate with a cocoa content of between 55 -75%.
• Raspberries - fresh raspberries for garnish.
• Oil - neutral oil such as vegetable for greasing the dariole moulds.
• Gelatine - leaf gelatine.

See recipe card for quantities.

🍽 Equipment

• Saucepan - medium sized saucepan.
• Whisk
• Dariole moulds - 4 dariole moulds (120 ml capacity), or other shaped moulds.
• Parchment paper - to line the moulds
• Pastry brush
• Vegetable peeler
• Wooden spoon

🔪 Instructions

Fill a small bowl with cold water and add the gelatine for 5 minutes to allow it to soften.

Whisk together the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until well mixed.

💭 Top Tips for separating eggs

• It makes it easier to separate the eggs if you put them in the fridge for 30 minutes before using them.
• Use 2 ramekins or small bowl and separate one egg into them before adding to your mixing bowl. This makes it easier if you have dropped a piece of shell or if one egg is bad it won't contaminate the rest.

Break the chocolate into pieces.

Put the milk in a medium sized saucepan, bring to a simmer then turn off the heat.

Tip in the chocolate and stir to dissolve.

It will tend to look rather grainy, but will totally mix in when the custard is heated.

Pour the melted chocolate slowly into the egg mix, whisking continuously.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.

Cook over a medium heat, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens. This will take about 3 to 5 minutes.

Squeeze out the excess liquid from the gelatine and stir through the chocolate until it melts.

💭 Top Tip

• When you are working with gelatine it is important not to boil the mixture as this can make the end result stringy or not set sufficiently.

Allow the custard to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.

Put the cream in a bowl and whisk to soft peaks.

Stir a spoonful of cream into the cooled custard and fold in the rest of the cream.

⏲️ Chilling Time

Divide the mixture between 4 dariole moulds and leave in the freezer for 30 minutes to set.

💭 Top Tip

• Put the moulds on a small tray as this makes it easier to put them in and out of the freezer.
• Freezing the dessert before the gelatine has naturally set allows for a firmer result in a shorter space of time, otherwise it would take 2 to 4 hours to set in the fridge.

The Bavarian cream should now be set and ready to serve.

If you are making these in advance to serve later, remove them from the freezer and place in the fridge.

To unmould the dessert, run a sharp knife around the top edge and the briefly run the outside under a hot tap.

Place a serving plate over the mould and invert to release the dessert.

Serve with the raspberries to the side. Shave the remaining chocolate with a potato peeler and scatter over the top of the bavarois.

🥗 Serve with

• fresh fruit such as strawberries, cherries or blackberries
• a drizzle of single cream or a dollop of whipped cream

Substitutions

• Gelatine - swap leaf gelative for powdered gelatine. 4 leaves is the equivalent of 12g of powdered, so you will need 4.5 grams.

📖 Variations

• Vegetarian - swap gelatine for agar agar powder, which does need to be boiled. As a rough guide you will need 0.9 grams for each 100 grams of liquid, so 4.5 grams for this recipe.
• Chocolate - use white chocolate or orange flavoured chocolate.

Storage

• Refrigerator - cover the moulds with cling film and keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. The cream is best unmoulded an hour before serving.
• Freezer - store for up to 2 months in the freezer.

FAQs

Let me know what you think in the comments or you can post a picture and tag me on Twitter @chezlereve, Instagram @chezlerevefrancais, or Facebook @chezlerevefrancais

More French desserts to try

• Raspberry Parfait
• Baileys Sabayon
• Chocolate Mousse
• Salted Caramel Mille Feuille
• Lavender Creme Brulee

📋 Recipe

Food Safety

• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat.
• Wash hands after touching raw meat.
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
• Never leave cooking food unattended.
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds.
• Always have good ventilation when using gas.

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