Dark chocolate panna cotta with blackberry coulis and vanilla bean cream

Chocolate, blackberries and cream.

I haven't made panna cotta for a long time, so I was really excited to have an excuse to make it again. I've done this one with dark chocolate a few times now. It's a Donna Hay recipe; I use dark 75% cocoa Lindt chocolate though.

Panna cotta ingredients.

I thought a blackberry coulis would be a bit more interesting than raspberry, which I've used in the past. I needed something tart and sweet to even out the bitterness of the dark chocolate. 

Frozen blackberries are also good because they hold their shape nicely when defrosted, unlike frozen raspberries. They're much better as a garnish.

Everything in the pot.

The dessert also needed something creamy. I had actually prepared some thick cream with vanilla paste through it, but unfortunately it didn't hold its shape. The idea was to quenelle it, which was of course impossible with runny cream. I served it on some cocoa dust (with a bit of icing sugar in it) so that it didn't disappear into the white plate.

I ended up using mostly plain cream which was a bit of a shame. Next time I will add a bit of gelatine. Meanwhile, I have two prep bowls of vanilla bean cream in my fridge. Hmmm. 

Edible flowers.

To garnish, I used some of the extra blackberries, a bit of mint from my garden and some pansies. Where did I get pansies from? Erm, I may have stolen them from next door's garden. Well, what was I supposed to do if Harris Farm wasn't stocking them yesterday?! I put them to good use. 

I want to make it again.