Trio of Chocolate Cups with Berries

Please a crowd with three different chocolate options, milk, white and dark! These decadent chocolate cups are filled with a trio of fresh fruit macerated in a sparkling wine for a refreshing and beautiful dessert! Macerate berries for at least an hour. Macerate simply means soaking the berries. Try to select a sparkling wine that is on the sweet side and serve it as your beverage with the dessert. Try Rosa Regale Sparkling Dolce Red Wine (Banfi). It is sweet and it has a nice pink color for a wonderful presentation as your beverage pairing. What to try something different? Try a very sweet raspberry beer by Lindeman’s Framboise Beer (Belgium) to macerate the berries and get extra to serve as your beverage pairing. Please take note that it is very sweet, but is nice and it is corked, fizzes like a Champagne and is pink! This will yield three cups of each chocolate for four plates as shown below.

Ingredients

6 oz. of good quality milk chocolate
6 oz. of good quality white chocolate
6 oz. of good quality dark chocolate
1 1/2 tablespoons of butter divided
3 tablespoons of heavy cream divided
1 lb. container of fresh strawberries preferably organic
5.6 oz. container of fresh raspberries preferably organic
5.6 oz. container of fresh blackberries preferably organic
1/2 cup of your favorite sparkling wine or the beer recommended above
Mint leaves for garnish

Technique

Clean berries and place in a medium bowl. Slice strawberries into smaller pieces. Pour the sparkling wine over the berries, cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature. Stir occasionally and gently. Berries should macerate for about an hour.

When working with chocolate, you will need to work very quickly. Have everything in place to prevent chocolate from burning or getting hard too quickly. Prepare a muffin tin by placing 12 muffin papers in each cup. Have a small, preferably plastic spoon waiting and a place to put your hot pan while you work. Prepare each type of chocolate separately. For each type of chocolate use ½ tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of heavy cream. Prepare each type of chocolate one at a time. Melt one type of chocolate and 1/2 of a tablespoon of butter over low heat stirring constantly to prevent from burning or use a double boiler. Remove from heat and add 1 tablespoon of cream. Divide chocolate into 4 muffin cups. Smooth out the bottom and work your way up the edges. Remember to work quickly. Place muffin tin in freezer. Repeat process with the other two types of chocolate placing tin in freezer after forming. After all the cups have been formed, let the chocolate sit for at least 30 minutes in the freezer. Remove from freezer and work quickly, but gently to unwrap each cup. Place in freezer if chocolate starts to melt. Plate by placing one type of each chocolate cup on a plate and fill each cup with berries and garnish with mint. Another option is to plate all chocolates on a large platter filled with the berries for your guests to choose their personal favorite. Remember that chocolate will melt, so serve when they are to be eaten.

Suggested Beverage

Use the same Champagne, sparkling wine or beer that was mentioned above and was used to macerate the berries.  Other options for macerating the berries and serving with the dessert are Gruet Rosé Brut Méthode Champennoise Sparkling Wine (France) or Segura Viudas Aria Pinot Noir Brut Sparking Wine Cava (Spain).

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