Food From a Hungry Ghost

My current project is a pie based on hot chocolate someone had in Northern Virginia. Chocolate, cardamom, orange, and cinnamon combined and topped with whipped cream and star anise.

As a point of reference I’m going to start here. That cardamom chocolate chess filling looks remarkably close to what I’m trying to achieve, so in the first test I’ll be focusing on the flavor and texture of the custard itself. I’ll modify the base recipe according to my tastes and then I’ll do a second round of testing with the new custard in with three different crusts: rye, chocolate rye, and spelt. Once I have my notes from the second round of testing I’ll do a third test incorporating a stabilized whipped cream topping.

As of this moment I think I’ll be able to get most of the flavor components into the custard – adding a little cinnamon shouldn’t be that much of a stress on the ratios. I’m not sure if I want the star anise note to come from the whipped topping or the crust, but for initial testing at least I’m going to plan for it in the whip.