Today I would like to be inspired by one of the most scenographic figures present in the Carnival floats to create a beautiful cake: the Dragon. It will be a good and nice dragon, which will drive the children crazy: it will be fun to bring the joy of Carnival to the table too!
Video of the Recipe
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Identity Card of the Recipe
- 453 KCal Calories per serving
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Ingrediants
For the dragon
- 220 g of dry biscuits
- If necessary: a few tablespoons of milk
- 50 g of hazelnuts
- 20 g of powdered sugar
- 20 g of bitter cocoa
- 50 g of dark chocolate
- 150 g of mascarpone
For decoration
- About 50 g of colored sugared almonds or chocolate sprinkles
- About 30 g of sliced almonds
- A handful (8-10 pieces) of pine nuts
- 10 g (1 piece) of dried apricots
- A handful of Goji Berries
Materials Needed
- Plastic bags
- Rolling pin
- Bowl
- Wooden spoon
- Platter
- Cooking pan
- Chopping board
- Knife
Preparation
- In a pan, toast the hazelnuts taking care to mix them often to avoid burning them. Coarsely chop the hazelnuts.
- Crumble the dry biscuits: to facilitate this procedure, it is advisable to gather the biscuits in a plastic bag and reduce them into irregular crumbs with the help of a rolling pin.
- Chop the chocolate and melt it gently in the microwave.
- In a bowl, mix the biscuit crumbs with the hazelnuts, the icing sugar (optional), the melted chocolate, the sifted bitter cocoa and the mascarpone: mix everything until you get a dough that is workable with your hands, but not sticky. If the dough is too dry, add a few tablespoons of milk; vice versa, if the dough is sticky, add some crumbled biscuits.
Did you know that
The precise doses of dry and wet ingredients depend on the type of biscuit chosen. In this recipe we used light biscuits without butter; mascarpone is a substitute for eggs and butter, two ingredients that are usually used in the preparation of chocolate salami.- Work the chocolate mixture with your hands until you get a sausage. Model the salami to give it the shape of a snake, taking care to thin one end and make a tip (to get the tail), and to maintain the " opposite extremity more swollen (to derive the head).
- To get the dragon's mouth open, divide the end with your hands or spoon into two horizontal sections: to keep the mouth open, you can insert an aluminum ball inside.
- While waiting for the dragon's mouth to solidify, dedicate yourself to decorating the body by inserting almond slivers along the sides and coloring the back with sprinkles.
- If the dragon's head is still too soft, place it in the fridge for about ten minutes. When it has solidified, it is possible to finish the decoration: remove the aluminum ball from the mouth and get the eyes with goji berries or sugared almonds, the teeth with pine nuts and the tongue with a dehydrated apricot (better if cut for create the forked effect).
- Put the snake back in the fridge for at least one hour. Serve the sliced Carnival dragon.
Alice's comment - PersonalCooker
If you liked the idea, you can be inspired by this recipe but use the dough to create other fun Carnival figures or model the chocolate salami to obtain toy cars, dolls or whatever your imagination dictates.Nutritional values and Health Comment on the recipe
The Carnival Dragon is a food that falls into the group of desserts.
It has a very high energy intake, provided above all by lipids, followed by carbohydrates and finally by proteins.
The fatty acids tend to be unsaturated, the carbohydrates above all complex and the proteins mainly of medium biological value.
The fibers are well present and cholesterol is not very relevant.
The Carnival Dragon is a food that does not lend itself to the diet against overweight, hyperglycemia and hypertriglyceridemia; it is also contraindicated in case of lactose and gluten intolerance.
It could be included in the lacto-ovo vegetarian diet, but not in the vegan one.
The average portion of Carnival Dragon is about 15-30g (70-135kcal).
