Chocolate Terrine Dessert

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for exact amounts and instructions. I recommend making this recipe as written for the best results. 

Dark chocolate: use a high-quality 70% cocoa dark chocolate: Scharffen Berger dark chocolate or Valrhona dark chocolate. Couverture dark chocolate is the best for this recipe.

Sugar: use granulated white sugar to make the dessert.

Eggs: use large chilled eggs to separate the egg whites from the yolks. And egg separator helps at this step.

Whipping cream: use whipping cream with at least 30% fat content.

Gelatin: use gelatins sheets with a strength of 200 bloom.

Meringues: use store-bought meringues or make meringue cookies yourself. Follow the recipe for meringue mushrooms to make meringue kisses.

Icing sugar: make it out of granulated sugar using a coffee grinder or use powdered sugar.

How to make a chocolate terrine

To make a chocolate terrine, melt dark chocolate cut into pieces in a bain-marie/water bath, occasionally stirring with a rubber spatula, and let it slightly cool.

Soak gelatin sheets in cold water for 5 to 10 minutes. Break the meringues into small pieces.

Separate egg whites from the yolks. Beat egg yolks with granulated sugar until the mixture whitens (photo 1).

Whisk egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with the use of an electric mixer until firm (photo 2).

Bring whipping cream to a boil. Remove a saucepan from the heat, add the drained gelatin, and mix.

Pour this mixture over the melted chocolate and combine with a rubber spatula (photo 3). Add pieces of broken meringues (photo 4) and gently mix.

Fold the egg yolks/sugar mixture into the cooled chocolate mixture with a rubber spatula (photo 5).

Fold the beaten egg whites carefully into the chocolate mixture (photo 6).

Pour the preparation into a silicone half-sphere mold (photo 7), smooth, fold the plastic wrap over the top, and place in the freezer overnight.

The next day, to make the caramel sauce, heat icing sugar with water in a saucepan over low-medium heat to get the brown caramel.

Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the soft butter in pieces and hot whipping cream, always mixing (be careful with splashing!)

Heat the mixture for a few seconds and take it off the heat (photo 8).

Serving terrine, turn it out of the mold, and let thaw for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Pour the caramel sauce on top of each dessert and serve immediately.

Expert tips

1. Use a top-quality 70% cocoa dark chocolate: Scharffen Berger dark chocolate or Valrhona dark chocolate.
2. To eliminate concern about eating raw eggs, use pasteurized eggs. However, consuming raw eggs is not advisable for pregnant women and babies.  
3. To make the chocolate terrine shaped like a cake, double the recipe. Pour the chocolate mixture into a terrine mold (or a nonstick loaf pan) lined with a plastic film. Refrigerate the dessert overnight (do not freeze it.) On the day of serving, remove the dessert from the mold/pan, cut it into thick slices and serve with the caramel sauce.
4. Use a hot knife to get clean slices.

Frequently asked question

Love chocolate desserts? Try these next!

• French Chocolate Ganache Tart
• French Chocolate Mousse
• Royal Chocolate Cake – Trianon
• Nutella Cake Roll (aka Nutella Swiss Roll)

Recipe card

Chocolate Terrine Dessert

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★★★★★

5 from 5 reviews

Enhance your holiday table with this rich and decadent dark chocolate terrine dessert. This amazingly delicious treat shaped like half-spheres and poured with the caramel sauce is a great party dessert idea. What's more? It is gluten-free!

• Total Time: 1 hour (plus freezing time)
• Yield: 8 1x
• Category: Gluten-Free Desserts
• Method: No Bake
• Cuisine: French

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the chocolate terrine:

• 8.8 oz (250 g) dark chocolate
• 3 ½ tablespoons (50 g) granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 7 tablespoons (100 ml) whipping cream
• 3 gelatin sheets
• 1 oz (30 g) store-bought meringues

For the caramel sauce:

• ⅔ cup + 2 tablespoon (100 g) powdered (icing) sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons water
• 3 ½ tablespoons (50 ml) whipping cream
• 1 ½ tablespoons (25 g) unsalted butter

* If needed, please refer to Baking Conversion Charts.

Instructions

1. To make a chocolate terrine, melt dark chocolate cut into pieces in a bain-marie/water bath,  occasionally stirring with a rubber spatula, and let it slightly cool. Soak gelatin sheets in cold water for 5 to 10 minutes. Break the meringues into small pieces.

2. Separate egg whites from the yolks. Beat egg yolks with granulated sugar until the mixture whitens. Whisk egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with the use of an electric mixer until firm

3. Bring whipping cream to a boil. Remove a saucepan from the heat, add the drained gelatin, and mix. Pour this mixture over the melted chocolate and combine with a rubber spatula. Add pieces of broken meringues and gently mix.

4. Fold the egg yolks/sugar mixture into the cooled chocolate mixture with a rubber spatula. Fold the beaten egg whites carefully into the chocolate mixture.

5. Pour the preparation into a silicone half-sphere mold, smooth, fold a plastic film over the top, and place in the freezer overnight.

6. To make the caramel sauce the next day, heat powdered (icing) sugar with water in a saucepan over low-medium heat to get the brown caramel. Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the soft butter in pieces, and hot whipping cream, always mixing (be careful with splashing!) Heat the mixture for a few seconds and take it off the heat.

7. Serving terrine, turn it out of the mold and let thaw for 30 minutes in the fridge. Pour the caramel sauce on top of each dessert and serve immediately.

Notes

1. Use a top-quality 70% cocoa dark chocolate: Scharffen Berger dark chocolate or Valrhona dark chocolate.
2. To eliminate concern about eating raw eggs, use pasteurized eggs. However, consuming raw eggs is not advisable for pregnant women and babies.
3. To make the chocolate terrine shaped like a cake, double the recipe. Pour the chocolate mixture into a terrine mold (or a nonstick loaf pan) lined with a food film. Refrigerate the dessert overnight (do not freeze it.) On the day of serving, remove the dessert from the mold/pan, cut it into thick slices and serve with the caramel sauce. 
4. Use a hot knife to get clean slices.

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 half-sphere
• Calories: 311
• Sugar: 31.2 g
• Sodium: 90 mg
• Fat: 16.8 g
• Saturated Fat: 10.7 g
• Carbohydrates: 34.3 g
• Fiber: 1.1 g
• Protein: 6.8 g
• Cholesterol: 90 mg

Keywords: chocolate terrine, dark chocolate terrine, chocolate terrine recipe, terrine dessert

The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator such as Verywellfit.com and is intended for informational purposes only. These figures should be used as a general guideline and not be construed as a guarantee. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should independently verify it using your preferred tool. Under no circumstances will Baking Like a Chef be responsible for any loss or damage resulting from your reliance on the nutritional information. You are solely responsible for all decisions about your health and ensuring that any nutritional information provided is accurate. Please, read the disclaimers in our Privacy Policy.

The recipe was adapted from https://gourmand.viepratique.fr/. It was originally published on April 02, 2019. The recipe has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.