An easy, make in advance chocolate show stopper?

[WalkinBye]

For Christmas lunch.
As an addition to Christmas Pudding I'd love to present a lavish looking chocolate affair. I'm a decent cook but my presentation is not great.
Any ideas that could be made in advance and frozen or at least made the day before?
I once did a Nigella Cheat chocolate trifle with a jar of cherries soaked in booze and ready made custard that went down a storm.

How about a chocolate Bavarian torte?

Make chocolate cake in thin layers (or Normal layers then slice horizontally, obv)

Mix up a creamy filling - I think I used brown sugar, vanilla extract, a little bit of salt, some double cream, some cream cheese.

Pile up layers, cream, layers etc, I got to 8 layers one time but usually 6. At the top cover in the cream and then whatever you like eg just cover it in maltesers or chocolate gratings etc.

It looks showy and you can definitely make it day before and keep it in fridge.

We have Josceline Dimbleby's Iced lemon souffle in a chocolate case. Looks spectacular, has plenty of chocolate but is light, easy to eat and very yummy.
This is the recipe
www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/frozen-lemon-souffle-in-a-chocolate-shell/
You can make it a couple of weeks in advance and leave it in the freezer (it's what I do)
I found a stray slice from last Christmas in the freezer a couple of weeks ago, and it was still very yummy.

Nigella's chocolate log. Takes a bit of time but is easy. I usually make it on Christmas eve but you can make it earlier and freeze it. Any errors are covered in icing!

Well thank you, all three of those look amazing.
@Grooticle, I'm hopeless at slicing a cooked sponge without going at an angle, any tips or would 4 regular sponge layer work?
@Ariela that does look like a show stopper. The chocolate case looks tricky, is it really as easy as paint it with a pastry brush?
@Ihatesandwiches, I fear my log would not look like Nigellas but I do have a big platter and fir cones.
I might do a trial run of all three.
Thanks again.

These all sound lovely.

Haha! Mine never looks like hers either, but it is gobbled up by my chocolate loving family - and I don't even have fir cones :-)

@walkinBye Even easier, I ladle the chocolate on and splurge it round the sides with a silicon spatula. Doesn't have to be even, or have a neat edge, that's the beauty of it. You can make the case one day and make the rest another. Also I don't do the fruit slices if in a rush, I carefully curl off bits of the remainder of the bar of dark chocolate with a sharp knife into a big heap in the middle. Takes 5 mins (including eating the last bit of chocolate) as opposed to 15-20

I'd do a no-bake chocolate torte/ chocolate truffle in log shape. basically melted chocolate, sugar, cream, crushed biscuits, optional dried fruit/ crushed nuts/ rum or brandy.

You could decorate with chocolate shavings, maltesers, praline, whatever, or just dust with icing sugar or edible gold/silver powder.

Also would be lovely served with fresh raspberries, or cherries in syrup, and whipped or poured cream.

Thanks @Ariela. Stupid question, when you line the tin I presume you use one big piece of parchment rather than separate ones for the bottom and sides?

I make a fresh cream chocolate roulade and decorate with chocolate shavings, icing sugar and raspberries. Keep lovely in the fridge.

Hah I have a tool for slicing! Like a cheese slicer - a wire between two handles and you just use that to slice cake horizontally :)

@WalkinBye

Thanks *@Ariela*. Stupid question, when you line the tin I presume you use one big piece of parchment rather than separate ones for the bottom and sides?

I have a large spring sided tin, so I just do a circle of greaseproof for the bottom, and lightly grease the sides with butter (so it disappears flavour-wise into the chocolate) . Largely because I CBA with faffing with cutting strips!

Just do Nigella's trifle again.

My easy go-to is a chocolate cheesecake. You could make that in advance. For presentation I'd top with walnuts dipped in chocolate and chantilly cream swirls.

Nigellas chocolate pavlova

Nigella Nutella cheesecake!

@yearinyearout

I make a fresh cream chocolate roulade and decorate with chocolate shavings, icing sugar and raspberries. Keep lovely in the fridge.

What recipe do you follow? Sounds lovely

River café chocolate nemesis, with a shake of cocoa over the top, is simple but spectacular.

If you already have Christmas pudding, why not do a display plate of decorated chocolate coated strawberries? We did this one year, it was a nice, lighter, additional dessert.

Nigella's ice cream cake with hot chocolate and peanut butter sauce is amazing. www.nigella.com/recipes/ice-cream-cake
It's gorgeous to eat snd super easy to do, but it doesn't look that spectacular with just crushed peanuts and chocolate biscuits on the top.
BUT if you put halved chocolate fingers all around and concentric circles of maltesers all over the top, (can you get white chocolate ones, I wonder?) or different coloured Lindors you could make it look fantastic with very little effort.

Thank you so much for these, great puddings are not just for Christmas!

Nigella smoked salt chocolate torte. A taste sensation. Just the tiny bit of smoked sea salt is a game changer.

I'd probably set chocolate mousse in individual glasses, then pipe a swirl of whipped cream and grate chocolate and put gold leaf on the top just before serving.

Name change but reporting back. I ended making Nigella's Smoked Salt Chocolate torte and it was a winner. Easy to make the day before but looked impressive and tasted delicious.
I've booked marked loads of your recommendations for sometime in the future- dinner parties. Thank you.

@Timefornewyear

Name change but reporting back. I ended making Nigella's Smoked Salt Chocolate torte and it was a winner. Easy to make the day before but looked impressive and tasted delicious. I've booked marked loads of your recommendations for sometime in the future- dinner parties. Thank you.

I made the same (do every year) was it me that recommended it?!

You definitely don't need much but it delivers. I used 90% cocoa chocolate this year and it's a wonderfully luxurious dark colour 😋

@MirandaMarple just checked and yes it was you, fabulous suggestion!
I used G&B 70%.
It's a keeper of a recipe.