Chocolate tacos

Sarah Frankland chocolate taco recipe FINAL
  • medium
  • 12
  • 3 hours plus time for the sorbet to freeze
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These decadent chocolate tacos are full of different flavours and textures – crunchy popcorn, creamy ganache and pops of aerated chocolate, which Sarah makes herself but you can use a shop-bought version for ease. It's a delightfully playful dish.

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First published in 2023

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

White chocolate miso lemon sorbet

  • 295g of water
  • 11.5g of skimmed milk powder
  • 17.5g of caster sugar
  • 50g of atomised glucose
  • 1/2 lemon, zested
  • 15g of trimoline
  • 2g of Stabiliser Stab 2000
  • 110g of white chocolate
  • 7.5g of miso paste

Soft chocolate sponge

Caramelised popcorn

Cold-pressed rapeseed oil ganache

Malted milk chocolate chantilly

Caramelised white chocolate crémeux

Chocolate crumble

Garnish

Method

1

For the sorbet, first place the water into a pan and warm to 40°C

  • 295g of water
2

Whisk together the skimmed milk powder, caster sugar and atomised glucose

  • 11.5g of skimmed milk powder
  • 17.5g of caster sugar
  • 50g of atomised glucose
3

Add the dry ingredients to the water with the lemon zest, trimoline and stabiliser

  • 1/2 lemon, zested
  • 15g of trimoline
  • 2g of Stabiliser Stab 2000
4

Cook the mixture to 83°C

5

Mix in the white chocolate and miso paste, stirring well to ensure it’s well emulsified

6

Either freeze until solid in a vac pack bag and then churn in a pacojet, or chill overnight and churn in an ice cream maker

7

For the chocolate sponge, grease two gastropans and line them with baking paper. Preheat a steam oven to 100°C at 100% steam.

8

Make a sabayon with the egg yolks, trimoline and 285g caster sugar. Warm the ingredients over a double boiler, whisking constantly, until thick and increased in volume

  • 300g of egg yolk
  • 45g of trimoline
  • 285g of caster sugar
9

Sieve together the cocoa powder and cornflour

10

Whisk together the remaining 190g caster sugar and egg whites until it forms a meringue

11

Mix the sabayon and meringue together, then fold in the dry ingredients and divide between the two prepared trays

12

Steam in the oven for 10 minutes

13

For the caramelised popcorn, first pop the popcorn kernels

  • 70g of popcorn kernels
14

Warm together the remaining ingredients in a pan and cook to 150°C

15

Mix the popcorn into the caramel, and stir to coat well

16

Very carefully out onto a marble bench or greased baking sheet and, once hardened, separate into small pieces

17

For the rapeseed oil ganache, bring the whipping cream and salt to a boil, then pour over the chocolates and trimoline

18

Whisk together until smooth, and then whisk in the rapeseed oil

19

Emulsify the ganache with a hand blender

20

For the malted milk chocolate Chantilly, place the whipping cream into a pan and bring to the boil

  • 225g of whipping cream
21

Pour over the chocolate and malt extract

22

Whisk until well emulsified and then set aside to cool

23

Once cool, whip to firm peaks

24

For the white chocolate crémeux, place the milk into a pan and cook to 82°C as for an anglaise with the egg yolk and caster sugar

  • 120g of milk
  • 60g of egg yolk
  • 16g of caster sugar
25

Pour over the chocolate and miso paste and mix until well emulsified with a hand blender

26

Preheat the oven to 165°C to bake the chocolate crumble

27

Soften the butter and sugar together for the crumble

28

Mix in the dry ingredients to form a dough, then press through a grill to form large chunks

29

Bake in the oven for 12 – 15 minutes

30

Cut the steamed sponges into 12cm diameter circles

31

Roll out the sponges until slightly thinner between two pieces of baking parchment, then cut again with the 12 cm cutter

32

Place into a warmed waffle cone maker for 20 seconds, then allow to cool. If you don’t have a waffle cone maker, you can roll them out thinly between two pieces of baking paper. You won’t get the indentations, but they should be thin and pliable

33

Pipe a two cylinders of ganache onto the tacos, then insert them into taco holders

34

Pipe on the malted milk chocolate Chantilly and place on the chocolate crumble

35

Pipe on the caramelised white chocolate and sprinkle over the caramelised cacao nibs

  • cacao nibs, caramelised
36

Finally place a quenelle of sorbet onto the top of the taco, and serve topped with chocolate shavings, aerated chocolate, caramelised popcorn, edible flowers and micro mint

Pastry chef and chocolatier Sarah Frankland's philosophy is rooted in balance. As executive chef at Surrey's Pennyhill Park, she makes sure desserts blend sweetness with sour, bitter, salty and umami notes, an ethos shaped by her years working alongside the likes of Angela Hartnett, William Curley and Graham Hornigold.

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