'Liquid core' – white chocolate and cardamom mousse with pistachio sponge

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This spectacular raspberry and white chocolate recipe from Giuseppe di Iorio is reminiscent of 'fairy rings' where mushrooms sprout. Pistachio sponge offers a mossy accompaniment, while the domes themselves contain a liquid core of raspberry purée surrounded by white chocolate, cardamom and coffee mousse.

First published in 2016

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Raspberry core

  • 125g of raspberry purée
  • 1 tsp xanthan gum

Coffee and cardamom sponge

  • 4 cardamom pods
  • 175g of double cream
  • 50g of coffee
  • 30g of egg yolk
  • 50g of caster sugar
  • 3g of gelatine
  • 100g of white chocolate, 'Ivoire' 35%, broken into pieces

Crunchy white chocolate glaze

  • 100g of cocoa butter
  • 150g of white chocolate, 'Ivoire' 35%

Chocolate mushrooms

  • 750g of white chocolate, 'Ivoire' 35%
  • red food colouring, fat-soluable

Raspberry sauce

  • 125g of raspberry purée
  • 65g of Valrhona neutral glaze, 'Absolu Cristal'

Pistachio sponge

  • 100g of 0 flour
  • 100g of almond flour
  • 20g of icing sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 40g of pistachio nuts

To serve

  • pistachio nuts, very finely chopped into a crumb
  • 10 hazelnuts, toasted and halved
  • edible flowers
  • dill
  • 4 raspberries, halved

Equipment

  • 5cm demi-sphere moulds 8
  • 2cm demi-sphere moulds 8
  • Cooking thermometer
  • Hand blender
  • Piping bags 2
  • Acetate
  • Small siphon gun
  • N2O cartridge 4
  • Squeezy bottle
  • Microwave

Method

1
To begin, make the raspberry core for the domes by blitzing the raspberry purée and xanthan gum using a hand blender
  • 125g of raspberry purée
  • 1 tsp xanthan gum
2
Pour into the 2cm demi-sphere moulds and freeze at -18°C
3
To make the cardamom and coffee mousse for the moulds, place 50g of the cream, the coffee and the cardamom in a saucepan. Bring to the boil
  • 50g of double cream
  • 50g of coffee
  • 4 cardamom pods
4
Meanwhile, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl until pale and smooth. Soak the gelatine in cold water
  • 30g of egg yolk
  • 50g of caster sugar
  • 3g of gelatine
5
When the cream and coffee is almost boiling, pour a splash into the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Pour the egg mixture into the hot cream and coffee and stir until thickened and smooth
6
Pass the custard through a sieve and stir in the gelatine until fully dissolved. Add the white chocolate pieces and again, stir until smooth. Allow to cool
  • 100g of white chocolate, 'Ivoire' 35%, broken into pieces
7
Whip the remaining 125g of cream to soft peaks and gently fold into the custard to finish the mousse
  • 125g of double cream
8
Half-fill the 5cm demi-sphere moulds with the cardamom mousse and place the frozen raspberry purée demi-spheres in the centre. Fill with a little more cardamom mousse and smooth the base with a spatula
9
Place in the freezer at -18°C until frozen
10
When the cardamom domes have completely set, make the white chocolate glaze. Melt the cocoa butter in a saucepan and stir in the white chocolate
  • 100g of cocoa butter
  • 150g of white chocolate, 'Ivoire' 35%
11
Heat the mixture to 30°C and turn out the domes onto a wire rack. Pour the glaze over the domes evenly to create a smooth coating. Return to the freezer to set
12
To make the chocolate mushrooms, temper the white chocolate. Pour 250g of the white chocolate into a small siphon gun, charge with 2 N20 charges and pipe the stalks of the mushrooms into a container. Place in the freezer to set
  • 750g of white chocolate, 'Ivoire' 35%
13
Place a couple of spoonfuls of the tempered white chocolate into a small piping bag for the dots on the toadstools and set aside. Add a few drops of the red colouring to the remaining white chocolate
  • red food colouring, fat-soluable
14
Pour the coloured chocolate onto sheets of acetate to create small disks. Transfer the coloured white chocolate to a piping bag and cut a very small hole in the end. Pipe some small dots of white chocolate on top to create the toadstool caps and allow to set
15
Once the stalks and caps have both set completely, pipe some tempered white chocolate onto the top of each stalk and place a cap on top
16
Remove the dome desserts from the freezer and loosely pipe the coloured chocolate over the top, as pictured. Return to the freezer to set
17
To make the raspberry sauce, simply blitz together the ingredients with a hand blender and store in a squeeze bottle
  • 65g of Valrhona neutral glaze, 'Absolu Cristal'
18
To make the pistachio sponge, blend together all of the ingredients using a hand blender until smooth
  • 100g of 0 flour
  • 100g of almond flour
  • 20g of icing sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • 40g of pistachio nuts
19
Pour into a siphon, charge with 2 N20 charges and squirt the mixture into plastic cups. Microwave for 30 seconds, allow to cool and break into pieces
20
Remove the dome desserts from the freezer 10 minutes before serving
21
To serve, create a ring of pistachio crumb around the centre of each plate. Place 2 of the demi-spheres on each place, then dot the toadstools, sponge pieces, raspberries, hazelnuts, edible flowers and dill fronds around the plate. Pipe dots of the raspberry sauce around the pistachio ring and serve
  • pistachio nuts, very finely chopped into a crumb
  • 10 hazelnuts, toasted and halved
  • edible flowers
  • dill
  • 4 raspberries, halved
First published in 2016

Working in the centre of Rome overlooking the Colosseum, Giuseppe di Iorio's food is just as breath-taking as the view from the restaurant's dining room.

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