Sneak preview: David Everitt-Matthias's new book, Dessert

It's been three years in the making but David Everitt-Matthias's second book - the follow-up to 2006's Essence - is due out in April. Featuring Dessert recipes from the two Michelin starred Le Champignon Sauvage it promises to be box-office stuff. Here's a sneaky peak at one of the recipes:

Chocolate yoghurt with prune purée

The sweet and sour taste of the prune purée makes it a perfect partner for chocolate, while the lactic acid in the yoghurt helps cut the richness, creating a lighter dessert. If you want something a little richer, simply double the amount of chocolate. You could replace the prune purée with a banana one and the chocolate with thick caramel. You could also consider flavouring the yoghurt with different spices, but I do like to use cardamom in this dessert.
If you have problems finding the grue de cacoa, just grate a little of the bitterest chocolate you can find on top. It won't have the same crunch but it will taste fine.

Serves 8 as a pre-dessert

For the chocolate yoghurt

100g bitter chocolate (64 per cent cocoa solids), chopped
1 quantity of Cardamom Yoghurt

For the prune purée
250g Marinated Prunes in Armagnac plus 75ml of their liquid to serve
50g grue de cacao, roughly ground

Chocolate yoghurt
Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl and melt over a pan of simmering water or in a microwave. Divide the cardamom yoghurt in half and pour one portion on to the warm melted chocolate, whisking all the time. Set aside at room temperature until needed. Keep the remaining cardamom yoghurt in the fridge.

For the prune purée

Remove the stones from the prunes. Place the prunes in a liquidiser with the liquid and blend until smooth.

To serve

Layer some of the chocolate yoghurt, prune purée and cardamom yoghurt in 8 glasses.
Repeat until the glasses are almost full. Sprinkle over the grue de cacao. You can, if you wish, keep them in the fridge at this stage until needed. Just remove from the fridge 20 minutes before serving.

Book info: Published by Absolute Press, £25, ISBN 9781906650032