Brioche Cake w/ Belgian Chocolate Crème Recipe

It was Belgium’s turn in the Baking World Tour and I could not for the life of me find a unique bread recipe for it. Perhaps my searching was not effective enough. Regardless I decided to make up my own recipe using Belgian chocolate and a bread that is very popular in Belgium since it is so close to France.

Behold the dessert burger. An absurd idea, but the result is amazing. Super soft brioche bun filled with a smooth chocolate crème, vanilla whipped cream, and toasted hazelnuts.

It can be cut into wedges and served up or you could just pick it up and tuck in with no shame at all ?

The brioche recipe is the same one I use in most of my brioche videos. I have said it before many times, but I always like to say it again – brioche is the most versatile dough.

And if you would like to see more uses for it, then check out the Brioche playlist on my channel where there are plenty more delicious recipes.

In the video I make 5 buns, which require half of the brioche dough in this recipe. The reason for using only half is that I always like to save the other half for another project. And the reason for making a larger amount of dough to begin with is that my mixer (and most likely yours too) would not be able to pick up and mix a small amount of dough effectively.

So, I would suggest making the full amount of brioche dough and then either producing more chocolate filled buns, granted you must double the amount of ingredients in the rest of the elements in this dish, or you can use the second half of dough for another project which I have plenty of examples for on my channel.

The dough will take around 25 minutes of total mixing time so you must ensure that all the ingredients are stone cold before you begin. The eggs, butter, water, and flour! I even put my flour in the freezer, so it gets really cold alongside the dough hook. And I refrigerated the mixing bowl. Do not even attempt making this without chilling your ingredients because you will fail. To learn more about dough temperature control click here.

Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.

Ingredients

For the dough –

500g (1.1lb) strong white bread flour, chilled

45g (1.6oz) water, chilled

250g (8.8oz) eggs, chilled

13g (0.45oz) salt

60g (2.1oz) sugar

8g (0.28oz) instant dry yeast or 9.6g (0.33oz) active dry yeast or 24g (0.84oz) fresh yeast

200g (7oz) cold butter that has been pressed between baking paper to make it soft

For the chocolate filling –

150g (5.3oz) milk

150g (5.3oz) double cream

40g (1.4oz) sugar

25g (0.9oz) butter

2 eggs, around 100g (3.5oz)

40g (1.4oz) corn starch

10g (0.35oz) vanilla paste/syrup

180g (6.3oz) chocolate. I used Belgian milk chocolate with 34% cocoa. This produced a light flavoured filling. You can use dark chocolate instead to make it more intense or use a mix of both.

For the vanilla cream –

150g (5.3oz) double cream

30g (1oz) sugar

5g (0.17oz) vanilla paste/syrup

To top the buns –

1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon of milk for glazing

Hazelnut halves

Candy sugar

You can of course decorate your buns with whatever you fancy.

Chopped toasted hazelnut pieces to go inside the bun before serving.

Method

1. Make the dough. In a mixing bowl combine the water, salt, yeast, sugar, eggs, and flour. Switch the mixer on 2nd (slow) speed. Mix for 10 minutes. After the first 10 minutes start adding the butter in chunks. Mix for another 5 minutes scraping the sides of the bowl down if need be. Once the butter has mixed into the dough turn the speed up to medium which on my mixer is the 4th Mix for around 7 minutes or until the dough stops sticking to the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl. Turn the speed back down to the 2nd (slow) setting. Keep mixing for another 3 minutes. The total mixing time should not exceed 25 minutes. *Desired dough temperature 25 – 26C (77 – 79F).
2. Shape the dough into a ball, place it into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Fold.
4. Refrigerate for 1 more hour.
5. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and shape into balls. Wrap them in clingfilm and cold proof for up to 24 hours. One dough ball will make 5 large buns and that is what I made. I used the other half for another brioche project.
6. Make the filling. In a pan combine all the filling ingredients and place on medium heat. Cook whilst whisking for around 8 minutes or until it becomes nice and thick. At first you will not need to whisk it continuously, but as soon as all the chocolate has melted keep whisking gently to prevent the crème from sticking to the bottom of the pan and getting lumpy.
7. Pour into a bowl and cover with cling film so that it is touching the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill down in the fridge.
8. Divide the dough into 5 equal pieces. Pre-shape.
9. Rest for 20 minutes.
10. Final shaping.
11. Final proof should be around 3 – 4 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen. You could place the dough balls in a warmer area, but you do not want it to be too warm because this dough is loaded with butter and butter melts. During the final hour of fermentation preheat your oven to 160C (320F) fan on.
12. Brush the buns with the egg yolk and mix glaze. Leave to dry for 5 minutes, then brush again. Decorate with nuts and sugar.
13. Bake for around 25 minutes. You can turn the tray around halfway through the bake to get a nice and even crust.
14. Leave the buns to cool down completely. At least 1 hour.
15. Whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla and place into a piping bag. Stir the chocolate crème to make it smooth and transfer to a piping bag.
16. Slice your buns, fill them up and enjoy!

Keep in mind that the conditions in each kitchen are different, so fermentation times may vary for you. It is up to the baker to control the bread and react accordingly.

Your oven may be different too, so your baking time may vary.