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Sweet praline mice - our autumn recipe

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Ganache mice - conjure up cute chocolate animals

Everyone really likes chocolates and they come in all shapes and sizes. Basically, you can give chocolates any shape you can imagine. We have therefore opted for sugary sweet mice. They are made from a flavoured butter ganache, then coated with the finest couverture and decorated with a little fondant. We made our mice with alcohol, but you can also make an alcohol-free version and simply use a syrup instead of a liqueur. As these beautiful mice are also perfect as gifts and small presents, we have added a little extra decoration. You can place the mouse on a crispy "forest floor" at the end and stick a few chocolate mushrooms on top. So you really are giving away a true work of art.

So get straight to tempering your couverture and start making your little mouse family.

As always, you will find the recipe to download at the end of the article.

Most important key data

Quantity: 36 pieces (pralines only)

Cooling time: approx. 30 minutes

Difficulty level: Medium

Shelf life: 1 month

Butter ganache

Butter | soft100 g
Melting fondant100 g
Milk couverture | tempered270 g
Williams or hazelnut syrup50 g

Decoration and mushrooms

Fondant | Brown & White
Powder colour | Pink
Couverture | Dark, tempered
Couverture | White, tempered
Cocoa butter colour | Sangria red
Modelling chocolate | White
Cocoa powder

Crispy base

Couverture | Dark, tempered160 g
Hüppen flakes100 g
Hazelnut brittle100 g

Making the bottoms and eyes for the ganache mice

Before you can mould the mice, you need a small couverture base. This will make it easier for you to stamp the chocolates later.

Fill a cornet with tempered couverture and place small dots of couverture 4-5 cm apart on a sheet of baking paper. Then tap the baking paper (it is best to place a baking tray underneath) on your work surface so that the couverture spreads out a little and does not become too thick. Then leave it to cool in the fridge for 10 minutes and start making the ganache in the meantime.

To make the eyes, put tempered white couverture in a cornet and place small dots on baking paper. You can place the dots directly next to each other to make a complete pair of eyes, or you can make individual eyes. You can also make them different sizes for more variety. The pairs of eyes are also easier to attach. Then set the pupils of the eyes with dark tempered couverture. This will also automatically direct the mice's line of vision.

If you don't want to temper all the couvertures, you can also make the eyes out of cake icing.

Butter, soft: 100 g | Melting fondant: 100 g

Milk couverture, tempered: 270 g | Alcohol or syrup: 50 g

Making the butter ganache

Have all the ingredients for the butter ganache ready and correctly weighed. The butter should be very soft and preferably whipped briefly by hand. The couverture must also already be tempered. Then add the melted fondant to the whipped butter.

Stir the fondant well into the butter until the two ingredients have combined. This is a little difficult at first, but becomes easier and easier after a while until a smooth, homogeneous mixture is finally created. Now add the tempered couverture to the butter and fondant mixture in three parts. You need to work very quickly here, otherwise the couverture will set too quickly and the ganache will become too firm.

It's really important that you add the couverture in three stages, because if you add too much at once, the mixture can also thicken too quickly. As soon as you have a homogeneous mixture, add your alcohol or syrup directly. It is really important that you don't wait and leave the ganache to stand for a short time, as it will set quickly. It is best to add your liquid in two parts.

Stir the liquid very well into the mixture. You should end up with a creamy, but stable or mouldable homogeneous mixture. Using a rubber scraper, pour this ganache into a piping bag fitted with a 10mm nozzle. You can now start moulding the mice straight away.

Dressing the mice

As soon as the previously applied couverture drops have hardened, you can apply the ganache. To do this, hold the piping bag at a slight angle and pipe a hemisphere onto the couverture drop from the side. Once the hemisphere is large enough, stop pressing and pull the nozzle downwards to create a small nose tip (you can find a template for the mice and couverture drops in our downloadable PDF). Continue until all your drops have been coated with ganache. Leave the ganache to cool in the fridge for 30 minutes or in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Remove the cooled ganache mice from the baking paper and dip them upside down into the tempered couverture using a trempier fork. Turn the mouse once through 180 degrees and bob it briefly in the couverture to remove the excess chocolate. Then pull the stamping fork off the edge of the tempering device to remove the excess couverture from the bottom.

Now place the mouse on a sheet of baking paper. If it doesn't come off the stamping fork easily, you can help with a knife and carefully push it down. You can now leave the couverture to set. Clean the stamping fork from time to time with a piece of kitchen paper. Now stick the prepared eyes onto your mice using tempered couverture or cake icing.

Decoration of the mice

Mix the brown and white fondant and roll it out on a silicone mat using a rolling pin and some baking starch. You can also use modelling chocolate instead of fondant. Once the fondant is the desired thickness (we recommend approx. 0.5 mm), you can cut out small fondant circles using a 14 mm hole punch.

Place the cut-out ears on kitchen paper and brush some of them with a little pink powder paint. You then need to press the circles together slightly at the powdered area to create the typical ear shape.

Place small dots of tempered couverture (or use cake icing) on your mouse's head and stick the ears on.

Finally, shape the mouse's tail. To do this, simply roll a little fondant into a thin strand that gets thinner towards the back. Press the front part a little flat and then add tempered chocolate on top. Now you can place the mice on the flat part and stick the tail on.

Production of the mushrooms

The most important thing when working with chocolate moulds is always to clean them. Therefore, polish your chocolate mould thoroughly with a paper towel. In the meantime, place your cocoa butter colour in warm water (max. 40 ºC) so that it becomes liquid. Alternatively, you can melt it in the microwave in short bursts at low wattage. Fill a cornet with some tempered white couverture and place small dots in the half moulds. Leave them to set at room temperature for about 10 minutes.

Once the chocolate dots are firm, you can now brush the mould clean with the liquid cocoa butter paint. Then turn the mould over and wipe it several times on a work surface lined with kitchen paper. This is the best way to clean the mould. Then leave the paint to set at room temperature for 10 minutes. You can also leave the mushrooms completely white. Then you can go straight to moulding.

Fill the praline mould completely with the tempered white couverture and tap against the mould with the back of a spatula or a chocolate mallet so that the chocolate is evenly distributed. Then use your spatula to thoroughly remove the excess chocolate from the mould and return it to the tempering device.

Pour the remaining chocolate out of the mould and tap the edge of the mould several times to ensure that the chocolate flows out evenly and the shells are nice and thin. Finally, clean the mould by running your spatula over the surface. The cleaner the mould is, the easier it will be to remove the chocolate shells. Now place the mould in the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes.

It is best to use modelling chocolate for the mushroom stems. First mould a ball. Then take it between your hands and mould it into a small cone. Always try to shape the cones differently so that not every mushroom ends up looking the same.

Place the finished mushroom stalks on baking paper and leave them there. Take the chocolate mould out of the fridge and bend it slightly at the edges to loosen the chocolate.

Set up the chocolate mould and quickly tip it onto the table. The shells should come off by themselves. If this is not the case, put the mould back in the fridge for another 5 minutes. Once all the shells are out of the mould, you can now stick them onto the prepared sticks. Simply put some tempered white couverture on the top of the stalks and place a mushroom head in the centre.

Couverture, dark, tempered: 160 g | Hüppenflakes: 100 g | Hazelnut brittle: 100 g

Crispy base

Prepare a dessert ring, a spoon and the tempered couverture (we opted for dark couverture this time) with the ingredients. Mix the crunchy ingredients well with the couverture and then pour the mixture into a dessert ring with the help of a spoon.

Press the mixture down using the stamp provided with the dessert ring and turn it back and forth so that the surface is nice and even. Continue this process until the mixture has been used up and leave the finished bases to cool in the fridge for approx. 15 minutes.

Now take the finished bases out of the fridge. If you have made white mushroom caps, we recommend dusting them with a little cocoa powder.

Now place all the decorations on the Knuper base. We recommend sticking the mouse and the mushrooms on with a little tempered couverture to prevent them from slipping.

Storage & shelf life

The ganache mice will keep for about a month at room temperature. Just bear in mind that the fondant becomes very hard after a certain time and should therefore no longer be eaten. The crispy base and mushroom caps have a shelf life of up to three months. It is best to store everything at room temperature.

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Posted in: Sweet recipes, Chocolate and pralines, Pralines

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