It should be obvious: the best French toast starts with the best bread. Chocolate French Toast is not just any old bread griddled up in a pan and doused with chocolate sauce. It starts with homemade chocolate bread, made with cocoa powder plus two kinds of chopped chocolate baked right in the dough. Those dark and craggy spots in the cut loaf below are not holes, they’re chunks of semisweet and milk chocolate.
Maybe it sounds like a lot of work to bake your own bread to make into French toast – but if you’ve ever baked bread to have for sandwiches or in a bread basket, then what’s the difference, really? You bake the bread ahead of time, even days in advance. When it comes time to put together this spectacular dessert (or brunch), the process of soaking the bread in an eggy custard and browning it on a griddle until it’s crispy on the outside and pudding-soft on the inside takes mere minutes. Drizzle it with a dark, semi-sweet chocolate sauce, sprinkle on some fresh raspberries or strawberries, and finish it with a dollop of cool mascarpone whipped cream.
Don’t bother using a pastry bag to pipe the mascarpone cream onto the French toast. I actually tried that for these photos but the mascarpone cream is too soft to hold a fancy shape, so it just settled into a creamy cloud beside the toast – which is fine, the Chocolate French Toast itself is so beautiful it doesn’t really need any adornment. You could even omit the mascarpone cream if you must, but I like the way its creamy coolness contrasts with the darkness of the chocolate and the custardy moistness of the bread. The fresh berries bring tart juiciness for another layer of flavor and texture.
Maybe we should talk about the ideal time to serve this Chocolate French Toast. (If you’re thinking “now”, I’m right there with you.) I originally created this as a dessert, and recently served it after an intimate Saturday night seafood dinner with John. But it would also make an over-the-top brunch dish for a special occasion such as Valentine’s Day or New Year’s Day.
Making this ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- As I mentioned above, bake the bread well in advance – at least several hours ahead so that it’s completely cooled before you slice it, and up to several days ahead. If you need an even bigger head start, freeze the bread for up to one month.
- Make the chocolate sauce in advance, too, and serve it cold or at cool room temperature. It will thicken as it chills and reach its best, pourable-but-not-runny consistency. You probably won’t use all the sauce for four servings of French toast; leftover sauce will keep for weeks and is great drizzled over ice cream, pound cake or other simple cakes, or fresh fruit.
- The mascarpone cream will hold for a couple of hours in the fridge, so it’s convenient to get that step out of the way early, too.
- You can serve the French toast either hot out of the pan or at room temperature. When it’s warm, the French toast will heat up the chocolate sauce and the mascarpone cream, turning everything all gooey and melty (in a good way). When the toast is cool, everything stays a little firmer and more separated, as in the photos in this post. What I like about serving this Chocolate French Toast at room temperature is that I can griddle the toast before dinner and let it sit and cool while serving the main course. Then when it’s time for dessert, all the work is done and all I have to do is arrange everything on the plates.
- If you end up with leftovers of the French toast, they can be enjoyed cold, or reheated in the microwave or a low, 300-degree oven.
- Leftovers of the chocolate bread make out-of-this-world toast. With a little butter and raspberry or strawberry jam, it makes a truly special light breakfast or snack with coffee or tea.
Chocolate French Toast
Plan ahead to bake the Chocolate Bread at least several hours and up to several days in advance.
Ingredients
- 3½ ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 3 tablespoons Lyle’s Golden Syrup or light corn syrup
- ¼ cup water
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- ¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract, divided
- ¼ cup mascarpone
- ½ cup heavy cream, divided
- 2 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
- ½ cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- Four 1-inch-thick slices of Chocolate Bread (recipe follows)
- 1 cup fresh raspberries or thickly sliced strawberries
Directions
- Step 1 Make the chocolate sauce. Put the chopped semisweet chocolate in a small sauce pan over low heat and add the syrup and water. Heat gently, stirring frequently, until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter and heat, stirring, until the butter is melted. Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in ¼ teaspoon of vanilla. Let the sauce cool to room temperature, then chill for at least 2 hours until the sauce is thickened and very cold.
- Step 2 Make the mascarpone cream. Put the mascarpone, ¼ cup of the heavy cream, the confectioner’s sugar, and the remaining ½ teaspoon of vanilla in a small bowl and beat with a hand mixer on medium high speed until the mixture is thick and creamy. It will not develop peaks or get as fluffy as whipped cream. Chill the mascarpone cream until needed.
- Step 3 Measure the whole milk and the remaining ¼ cup heavy cream into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, add the eggs and granulated sugar, and whisk until combined. Pour the custard into a shallow baking dish large enough to hold the bread in a single layer. Lay the bread slices into the custard and soak the bread, turning frequently so it soaks evenly on both sides, until the custard is absorbed, 5 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over slightly less than medium heat (4 out of 10 on your stove’s dial).
- Step 4 Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in the pan, then add the soaked bread. Toast the bread slices until the bottom sides are golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Turn and cook the other side until both sides are browned and the center of each slice of bread is slightly puffy, 10 to 15 minutes total.
- Step 5 Cut each slice of bread on the diagonal into 2 triangles. Arrange 2 triangles on each of four plates. Stir the chilled chocolate sauce to loosen it, then drizzle it generously over the French toast. Add a dollop of the mascarpone cream, and scatter the berries over and around the toast.
Chocolate Bread
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus additional for the bowl and pan
- ½ cup whole milk
- ½ cup warm water (between 105 and 120 degrees)
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- ¼ cup granulated sugar, divided
- 3½ cups (14 7/8 ounces/420 grams) all-purpose flour, plus additional
- ¼ cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder (such as Valrhona)
- ¾ teaspoon Diamond Crystal brand kosher salt (or 3/8 teaspoon Morton’s)
- 1 large egg
- 3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 ounce milk chocolate, chopped
Directions
- Step 1 Butter a large bowl and a standard (8½ x 4½ inch) loaf pan, and set them aside. Heat the milk and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until the butter is melted and the mixture is lukewarm. Meanwhile, add the yeast and a pinch of the sugar to the warm water, whisk to combine, and set the yeast mixture aside until it develops a layer of foam on top of the water.
- Step 2 Put the remaining sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, along with 1 cup of the flour, the cocoa powder and the salt. Stir with the mixer on low, just to combine. Add the milk and butter mixture and stir to combine, then add the egg and beat on medium speed until the mixture is smooth. Add the yeast mixture and beat on low speed until combined.
- Step 3 Add 1 cup of the flour, beat on low until combined, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Switch to the dough hook and start adding the remaining flour, a little bit at a time, until the dough comes together in a ball that pulls away from the side of the bowl. Stop adding flour and let the machine run for 2 minutes to knead the dough, then start adding flour again, about 1 tablespoon at a time, just until the dough re-forms into a ball and pulls away from the bowl. Add both kinds of chopped chocolate and give the machine a few turns, just to blend the chocolate into the dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead very briefly by hand, adding flour if needed until the dough is smooth and firm, but still slightly sticky. Transfer the dough to the buttered bowl, turn it to coat it on all sides with butter, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for 1 hour.
- Step 4 Gently shape the dough into an oblong shape and lay it in the buttered loaf pan. Drape the pan with a kitchen towel and let the dough rise for 45 minutes to an hour, until it has risen to 1 inch above the top of the pan. Meanwhile heat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Step 5 Bake the bread for 45 minutes. Turn the bread out of the pan and onto a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.
