Delicious winter mandarin & vanilla dessert

We're going to make a beautiful mandarin & vanilla dessert. It's a caramelized mandarin fluid gel with a mandarin cremeux, a vanilla mousse and a mandarin tuille.

The caramelized mandarin gel

6	mandarins
100 grams	sugar
	agar powder

Start by cutting the mandarins in half. Then transfer the sugar in a big pan and caramelize it on a medium heat. Once it’s a golden caramel place the mandarin’s flat side down on the caramel. Then cut a vanilla pod in half and scrap out the seeds. Add both the seeds and the empty pod to the pan and caramelize it till the mandarins start to color. Then turn off the heat and use the back of a spoon to press all the juice out of the mandarins. Now transfer it on a sieve and press all the liquid out of the peels. Then pour it in a saucepan and weight the total amount of liquid. For every 100 grams of liquid, you’re going to add 1 gram of agar powder. This is a basic rule for fluid gels. If the liquid for a gel has more acidity, you’ll need to add more agar. But for now I use 2 grams of agar powder for 200 grams of liquid. Mix it well and bring it to a boil for 1 minute. Then transfer it into a bowl and let it cool down completely in your fridge. After that transfer it into a blender and blend it till smooth. Then keep it in your fridge for later.

The mandarin cremeux

4	mandarins
2 leaves or 3.3 grams	gelatin
100 grams	cream
30 grams	sugar
40 grams	egg yolk
10 grams	corn starch

First remove the peel from the mandarins and dry it at 60 degrees Celsius. Then cut the mandarins in half and juice them. After that soak the gelatin in cold water. Then pass the mandarin juice through a fine sieve. In total you’ll need 130 grams. Also add the cream, the sugar, the egg yolk and the corn starch. Mix this well and while stirring bring it to a boil. Once thickened dissolve the gelatin. Then fill your desired mold. All the molds I use in this dish are from Mold Brothers. Now remove any excess cremeux and let it set in your freezer.

The vanilla mousse

1 leaf or 1.6 grams	gelatin
60 grams	cream
15 grams	sugar
0.5	vanilla pod
80 grams	cream

First soak the gelatin in cold water. Meanwhile pour the 60 grams of cream in a saucepan together with the sugar. Now cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds to the saucepan and bring it to a boil. Then turn off the heat and dissolve the gelatin. Let it cool down till it’s at room temperature. Meanwhile pour the 80 grams of cream in a bowl and beat it till it has a yoghurt consistency. Then slowly mix the vanilla cream with the beaten cream and fold it together. After that fill your desired mold, clean the top and let it freeze till solid in your freezer.

The mandarin tuille

	dried mandarin peels
60 grams	egg white
10 grams	butter
50 grams	sugar
50 grams	flour
2 grams	salt
40 grams	​neutral oil, I use sunflower oil

First transfer the dried mandarin peels in a blender and blend it till it’s a fine powder. Keep it for later. Then transfer the egg white in a blender together with the butter, the sugar, the flour, the salt and the neutral oil. Now blend this till smooth. Then transfer it on a silicon mold and spread it. Cover the top with a thin layer of the mandarin powder and bake it at 160 degrees Celsius for around 20 minutes till golden. Remove it from the mold when it’s still hot to prevent it from breaking.

The chocolate brush

150 grams	cacao butter
150 grams	white chocolate
	​Orange fat soluble coloring powder

First melt the cacao butter on a low heat and then pour it on the white chocolate. Now also add a little touch of an orange fat soluble coloring powder. Mix it with a hand blender till it’s one smooth mixture. Then pour it in a brush machine. Now place the mandarin cremeux on a metal tray and brush a thin layer of the chocolate brush on top.

How to finish the dessert

First use a round cutter and the gel to make a circle on the plate. After, place three cremeuxs in the middle and place three vanilla mousses in between the cremeuxs. Let this defrost. Then pipe one big dot of gel in the middle of the plate and three smaller dots on the mousse. Decorate it with marigold flowers and then place the tuille on top. Now I serve it with some delicious mandarin juice. Nothing fancy, just some fresh juice with I’ve binded with some Xanthan powder.