thepassionatecook: Raspberry & white chocolate mousse with raspberry milkshake

Another stunning recipe out of my Formulas for Flavour book… I love threesomes when it comes to eating: three incarnations of a theme, be that an ingredient or a technique, always make for a good dinner party trick. Never mind how easily you can put things together, when there are three different items on a plate, your guests think you've really gone to town for them - they just love the idea of you getting into a sweat, don't they!
John Campbell suggests that when planning a dinner party, you should opt for one of the recipes in the book only, complemented by simpler dishes so you don’t end up in a nightmare of preparations. Most of the dishes are actually quite easy to put together and don’t need a lot of expertise, but there are quite a few individual components to them and your guests are likely to appreciate the plate more if there is just one complex dish. But if you think you can outshine all the best head chefs and their brigade of kitchen staff, by all means, go for it! You might have to borrow some plates/bowls/storage containers from your neighbours in the course of your preparations, though…
The present recipe is a perfect example of a stunning dessert that looks like you’ve gone to a lot of trouble, but the various components are really easy to put together and most of it is prepared well in advance, leaving only the plating to worry about when it comes to the grand finale of the evening – and what a finale furioso it is!
First, a delicate white chocolate mousse that momentarily looked like it was never going to set, but believe me, it firmed up in under an hour (the only nightmare occurring when I tried to whip single cream, which just doesn’t stiffen, and I had to run out to buy whipping cream instead, minutes before the shops closed). This is rich, I am not kidding you, and if serving this as part of a multi-course meal you might want to only make half… 5 cm rings should be plenty to satisfy even the sweetest tooth. With fresh raspberries on the bottom and white chocolate shavings and a mint leaf on top, this is dressed to impress.
Second, and no less attractive, a three-tiered milkshake: raspberry coulis and framboise liqueur at the bottom of a shot glass, carefully topped with warm raspberry milk and a head of foam. Campbell suggests serving this with a short straw to have the different textures and temperatures hit your mouth one after another. My raspberry milk didn’t froth enough, so I ended up whisking some more milk, which quickly collapsed: next time, I am going to whip just a tiny amount of single cream with a tsp of sugar to aerate it enough – that foam should keep long enough at least to transfer the plates from the kitchen to the dining room. I am not sure why the recipe even states skimmed milk: surely the lack of fat makes the foam even more difficult to produce?
Third, a few slices of lemon & nut biscotti that can be prepared weeks in advance, if you like: crunchy, twice-baked biscuits with lemon zest (yes, I am discovering a flavour/texture I used to loathe), almonds and pecans – I halved the recipe and still had enough to accompany my espresso moments for a good couple of weeks.
In short, rather a lot of steps involved, but none too difficult to master even for a relative novice, and certainly a winning formula for a spectacular end to a meal. Definitely a keeper.

This post is a submission to the Garten-Koch-Event hosted by Astrid of Paulchen's Foodblog?!. The theme is raspberries and noone can doubt that I have met the brief ;-)

Raspberry milkshake, white chocolate mousse lemon & nut biscotti*
(serves 6, biscotti yield 2 loaves with 16 - 20 slices each)

Lemon & nut biscotti (make up to a month in advance)
30 g butter
1 tbsp (unwaxed) lemon zest
30 ml lemon juice
2 medium eggs
1 egg yolk
150 g sugar
1 heaped tsp baking powder
325 g pastry flour
80 g pecan nuts (roughly chopped)
80 g blanched almonds (roughly chopped)

Melt butter in a saucepan and add lemon zest and juice. Leave to infuse for at least 30 minutes.
Pre-heat oven to 140C.
Beat the eggs, yolk and sugar until pale and creamy. Add the lemon butter, baking powder and flour, then fold in the nuts.
Place dough on a floured surface and roughly shape two rolls of about 30 by 5 cm.
Transfer onto a lined or buttered baking tray and bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Take out, raise oven temperature to 180 C. Wait until the rolls are cool enough to handle. Cut into 1-2 cm slices, then transfer biscotti onto a wire rack on a baking tray and bake for another 5 minutes or so until golden brown.
Store in a metal tin (not an airtight container, as they will go soggy) for about a month.

Raspberry & white chocolate mousse (needs to be prepared at least 2 hours in advance):
180 ml semi-skimmed milk
½ vanilla bean
1½ leaves gelatine
250 g white chocolate (finely chopped)
300 g raspberries
250 g whipping cream

Slice the vanilla bean open and gently scrape out the seeds. Transfer the seeds and bean to a saucepan with the milk and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for about 3 minutes until the have softened completely. Reheat the milk, discarding the bean. Pour 120 ml over the white chocolate and stir to melt it. Drain and squeeze out any excess water before you dissolve them in the remaining warm milk.
Stir the milk with the gelatine into the white chocolate sauce and leave to cool, but not to set.
Meanwhile, beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Fold one third into the white chocolate sauce, then fold in the rest to achieve a homogenous mass.
Place six dressing/food rings (8 cm diameter) on individual squares of baking parchment, just larger than the rings, on a baking tray. Carefully arrange a layer of raspberries on the bottom, making sure that it is tightly packed, but careful not to bruise the berries.
Spoon over the white chocolate mousse in equal measure, pressing down gently to get rid of any air pockets that might be forming. Gently smoothe the top.
Transfer tray to the fridge and leave to set (this will probably take 1-2 hours)

Three-tiered raspberry milkshake (can partially be prepared the day before)
Raspberry coulis (can be made the day before):
200 g raspberries
200 g icing sugar
Bring to a boil in a saucepan, then leave until sugar has dissolved completely. Puree with a handheld blender and pass through a sieve.
Keep in the fridge.

Raspberry base (can be made the day before):
50 ml raspberry coulis
50 ml Framboise liqueur
Combine coulis and liqueur and store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Raspberry milk:
250 ml semi-skimmed milk
remaining coulis
Blitz in a blender.
Warm just before ready to serve. (optional)

Froth:
50 ml single cream
1 tsp caster sugar
As the very last step, when the glasses are already filled with the coulis and the milk and everything has been arranged on plates, whip the cream with the sugar using an electric whisk to produce lots of light foam. You can do this in a gourmet whip, if you prefer.

To arrange the milk shakes, pour a sixth of the raspberry base into each shot glass. I like to use a funnel filled with the coulis/framboise mixture, sealing the bottom off with a finger, holding it over the centre of the shotglass, releasing the finger until a sixth of the mixture end up in the glass (the shotglass should be filled by just over a third). Proceed to the next glass.
Now carefully spoon the warmed raspberry milk onto the cold raspberry base. You could use a funnel in the same way as before. The glass should now be just over two thirds full.
Now whip the single cream with the sugar and spoon the froth onto the milkshakes up to the brim.

To serve:
15 g white chocolate (shaved thinly)
6 mint leaves or small sprigs
50 ml chocolate sauce (50 ml water, 75 g sugar, 20 g cocoa: heat to dissolve, then cool until ready to serve)

Plating your dish:
To arrange the plates, squeeze decorative lines of chocolate sauce onto the plates.
Carefully lift up the mousses and, hodling them in the palm of your hand, run a thin skewer or sharp knife dunked in hot water around the egde to release them. Lift off the ring, gently pushing down on the mousse with the index finger, lifting with the remaining fingers. Remove the parchment paper and place mousse on the plate.
Top with white chocolate shavings and a mint leaf/sprig each.
Arrange 2-3 biscotti on the plate before you assemble the milkshakes.
Place the milk shakes on the plate and serve immediately.

* adapted from John Campbell “Formulas for Flavour”, p.120

Comments

Johanna, what a feast for my fruity sweet tooth. I can relate to your likings of threesomes. Me too. This all look incredible!

Posted by: Meeta | Jul 25, 2007 at 08:48 AM

Yumm, although I don't like white chocolate that much, this looks really like I might like it;-) Re: skimmilk for the froth; I know it from cappuccino foam that skimmilk is better and easier. Look around in italian bars, almost all use skimmilk. Here is an explanation:
http://www.coffeegeek.com/guides/frothingguide/milk

Posted by: Hande | Jul 25, 2007 at 09:21 AM

Oh Lord, we are the Borg!! I made a raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake on Sunday - maybe I'll submit it to this even too, if there's still time... And I had to laugh when I read about your attempt at whipping single cream - been there, done that. It is so frustrating! Back home there's cream, thick cream and sour cream - none of this single/whipping/pouring confusion! Great post - seems like everything from Formulas for Flavour is just fabulous.

Posted by: Jeanne | Jul 25, 2007 at 03:20 PM

Johanna, I'm drooling! I love the combination of white chocolate and raspberry! Mmmm...Now I want dessert with my lunch :)

Posted by: Hillary | Jul 25, 2007 at 07:50 PM

wowee! That looks amazing! it is definitely what I would order off a menu!

Posted by: Holler | Jul 25, 2007 at 11:21 PM

Oh my word, that looks simply divine! The combination of raspberries and white chocolate is tempting enough, but I absolutely adore milkshakes. Will have to give this a try!

Posted by: Andrea | Jul 26, 2007 at 01:39 AM

Joanna, this looks divine and the colors of the two dishes are beautifully tantalizing..a feast for the eyes and then the palate as well.
The froth..a lower percentage fat in the milk actually does creat better froth than full cream. I use demi-ecreme and it creates beautifully almost creamy froth, but I must admit, sometimes the froth just dies down and sometimes it stays an Everest...maybe it has something to do with our moods?
Ronell

Posted by: Ronell | Jul 26, 2007 at 02:17 PM

I totally agree that guests will be in awe of you if you serve a multi-component dessert like that. I love the idea of complementary tastes and textures comprising one dish. I checked out that book on amazon and it looks like a good one. My cookbook collection is truly closed for now, though.
Julie

Posted by: Julie O'Hara | Jul 26, 2007 at 10:16 PM