Making a cracking alternative to traditional Easter desserts, those in search of a wildly unique Easter showstopper need look no further than ‘The Wild Bird’s Nest’ from Chef Joel Fredrick Ndungu of Great Plains’ Mara Plains Camp, Kenya.
A beautiful spun sugar nest filled with edible chocolate shells, inside each ‘egg’ awaits a creamy white chocolate mousse and juicy passionfruit centre.
The Resident Chef and ‘Dessert Extraordinaire’ at Great Plains’ Mara Plains Camp, Kenya – a Relais & Château and Great Plains Réserve-Collection property located in the private 35,000-acre Olare Motorogi Conservancy, Chef Joel Fredrick Ndungu pours creativity into every single one of his unique dishes.
A beautiful spun sugar nest filled with edible chocolate shells, inside each ‘egg’ awaits a creamy white chocolate mousse and juicy passionfruit centre.
Discussing his inspiration for the impressive recipe, Chef Joel said: “I grew up in a leafy environment and have always loved to hike. Oftentimes on my adventures, I would find fallen birds’ nests – usually a sign of conflicts between birds and predators, where mother bird would detach her nest to save the eggs. It was this memory that I drew upon for this dish, a representation of the circle of life seen all around our beautiful camp.
Great Plains has allowed me to explore my culinary creativity and reminisce on my life as a young explorer and chef, channelling this into delicious dishes for our guests while remaining true to our shared commitment to sustainability and conservation.”
Ingredients
For the spun sugar nest:
- 200g sugar
- 1tbsp water
For the chocolate bonbons:
- 25g dark chocolate
- ¼ cup cocoa butter
For the white chocolate mousse:
- 1 ½ cups heavy cream, cold
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
For the passionfruit jelly spheres:
- 100g passionfruit pulp
- 20ml water
- 20g sugar
- 3 sheets gelatine leaves, soaked in 20ml water to bloom
Method
- To create the spun sugar nest, mix the sugar and water and heat until a golden caramel forms. Using a fork and a well-greased mould, ‘spin’ the sugar around the mould to create a circular nest pattern, letting it cool completely before carefully detaching it.
- To make the chocolate bonbons, place the chocolate and cocoa butter in a bain marie and mix until well incorporated. Use a brush and an oval-shaped silicone mould to create the chocolate shell halves and place the mould into a freezer to cool completely before filling.
- To make the white chocolate mousse, place the chocolate and ½ cup of heavy cream into a stainless-steel bowl and use a double boiler/bain marie method until completely melted, then set aside to cool. Pour the remaining cup of heavy cream into a medium bowl and beat with hand-held or freestanding mixer until stiff peaks form. Then, slowly fold in half of the whipped cream with a large spatula until incorporated, before gently folding in the remaining cream.
- Carefully pipe the mousse into the chocolate shells until half full, then refrigerate for a minimum of an hour and up to overnight.For the passionfruit jelly spheres, mix the pulp, water and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil, stirring continuously to break up the pulp, before letting the mixture reduce by 50%. Remove the mixture from the heat and use a spatula and sieve to remove the seeds. Finally, add the gelatine to the sieved mixture and pour into miniature round silicon moulds, before placing in the freezer until set.
- For the final assembly, place the frozen jelly spheres inside the half chocolate shells, and use melted chocolate to seal the halves together. Dip in white chocolate and serve inside the spun sugar nest.
Start the adventure: About Great Plains’ Mara Plains Camp, Kenya
Mara Plains Camp is a Relais & Châteaux accredited Great Plains Réserve-Collection safari camp, located in the private 35,000-acre (13,300-hectare) Olare Motorogi Conservancy, just on the border of the Maasai Mara National Reserve. No other Maasai Mara-based camp offers the extensive traversing area of Mara Plains Camp, with access to a total of nearly 100,000 acres (40,000 hectares) of private conservancy land and the world-renowned Maasai Mara, home to the Great Migration.
Nightly rates at Great Plains’ Mara Plains Camp start from $1,445 and The Jahazi Suite at Mara Plains from $6,935 per night. For more information and to book, visit greatplainsconservation.com
Recipe courtesy of Chef Joel Fredrick Ndungu of Great Plains’ Mara Plains Camp, Kenya.
