Ingredients
Serves
Sponge Base
6 eggs, separated
60g plain flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
120g castor sugar
Raspberry Mousse
150g pure icing sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 gelatine leaves
350ml raspberry puree
500ml thickened cream, whipped to soft peak
Raspberry biscuit
50g unsalted butter, softened
100g pure icing sugar
50ml raspberry puree
25g plain flour
Pink spun sugar garnish
Red powdered food colour as needed
250g isomalt sugar or caster sugar
75ml water
Method
Sponge Base
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Line a shallow baking tray with baking paper, sprinkle with plain flour.
Whisk the egg yolks, flour, vanilla extract and sugar until pale and thickened.
In a separate clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until firm peaks form.
Fold the egg whites into the egg yolks mixture and pour into the prepared baking tray.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden on top and springs back when lightly pressed.
Remove from oven and cool.
Raspberry Mousse
Soak the gelatine in a bowl of cold water for 5 minutes.
Heat the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon sugar in a pan, squeeze the water from the softened gelatine sheets and add to the hot lemon juice, stir until dissolved.
Add the remaining sugar and stir. Mix in a small amount of raspberry puree, and then stir the lemon gelatine mix into the larger amount of the raspberry puree.
Ensure that the raspberry mix is completely cooled before folding in the whipped cream.
Once the cream is added pour mousse into the bowl or prepared moulds. Refrigerate to set.
For this dish it is best to make the mousse last, as all the other components take longer to make and the mousse can set once everything else is done.
Raspberry Biscuit
Pre-heat oven to 165ºC. Line a baking tray with silicon paper or a silicon baking mat.
In a bowl mix all the ingredients with a wooden spoon to form a smooth paste and refrigerate for one hour.
Spread a thin layer onto the prepared tray and bake for 10-12 minutes ? do not over bake so the biscuit should still resemble the original colour.
Remove from oven and rest for 1 minute and while still warm and pliable cut into desired shapes then let cool until crisp. Store in an airtight container.
Pink spun sugar garnish
Combine a teaspoon of the powdered food colouring with a small amount of water and set aside.
In a heavy based saucepan mix the isomalt and water and bring to the boil. Using a sugar thermometer take the mixture to 130ºC then stir in enough of the red food colouring to reach a deep pink colour.
Cook the syrup to 170ºC, remove from the heat and plunge the base of the pot into cold water to stop the syrup cooking any longer. Leave to cool slightly until the required viscosity is reached, about 5 minutes. If while using it thickens again, simply place back on the heat.
Place 2 wooden skewers over the edge of the kitchen bench with the ends weighted down with a pot. Cover the floor with newspaper.
Using a whisk with the end cut off or even a fork, dip the end in the syrup and swing quickly over the two skewers to form fine threads. Continue until enough sugar is spun to garnish the dessert.