This beautiful and delicious mousse is cradled in teardrops of chocolate and served with tuiles filled with whipped cream, and fresh fruit. The blend of passion fruit and raspberry is exotic and perfumy, and a perfect foil for the bittersweet chocolate wrapping.
Ingredients
Tuiles
1/2 cup
(1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup
confectioners' sugar
1 cup
flour
3 egg
whites
2 ounces
bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1
chocolate ribbon
10 ounces
bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Mousse
2 pounds
passion fruit, peeled and seeded
1 1/2 cups
sugar
2 cups
water
1 packet
gelatin
1/4 cup
water
1 pound
fresh raspberries
1 tablespoon
sugar
1 pint
heavy (whipping) cream
Garnish
1 cup
heavy (whipping) cream
1 tablespoon
sugar
1 cup
blackberries
1 pint
strawberries
2
mangoes, pitted and julienned
Instructions
To make the tuiles: Cut a 6-inch circle in a piece of cardboard or stiff plastic to create a stencil. In the bowl of a food processor or electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg whites one at a time. Fold in the flour. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 F. In the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water, melt the 2 ounces of chocolate. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Place the stencil on the prepared baking sheet and fill evenly with batter, spreading thin with the back of a spoon. Lift the stencil and repeat. Put the melted chocolate in a squeeze bottle or a plastic bag. Drizzle the tuiles with the melted chocolate and bake 2 to 3 minutes; do not let them become brown. Remove and immediately shape into cones. Let cool. If the tuiles become too stiff to mold, place them in the warm oven for a moment to reheat them.
To make the chocolate ribbon molds: Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap or parchment paper. In the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water, melt the chocolate. Lay 8 heavy flexible 2-1/2-inch-by-15-inch plastic strips on a work surface. Spread chocolate 1/8-inch thick on a plastic strip, let cool until the sheen disappears, then lift both ends of the strip and bring them together at one end, chocolate-to-chocolate, forming a teardrop shape. Hold the ends together with a paper clip. Repeat with the remaining strips. Stand on the prepared baking sheet and put in the refrigerator.
To make the mousse: Put the passion fruit pulp, sugar and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat, strain through a fine-meshed sieve, and place in a bowl set in a larger bowl of ice. Dissolve the gelatin in the water. Reserve 1/2 cup of raspberries for garnish. Purée the remaining raspberries with the tablespoon of sugar and press the pulp through a fine-meshed sieve to remove the seeds. Set aside 1/2 cup of each purée in separate containers for use as garnish.
Add the raspberry purée to the passion fruit purée and gently whisk the dissolved gelatin into the purée mixture. In a deep heavy bowl, beat the cream at high speed until firm peaks form. Gently fold the cream into the purée mixture. Fill the chocolate molds with the mousse and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
To serve: Beat the whipping cream with the sugar until soft peaks form. Place it in a pastry bag fitted with a medium star tip. Place one chocolate-wrapped mousse off-center on each dessert plate. Spoon one strip of mango purée, one strip of heavy cream, and one strip of raspberry purée side-by-side near the large end of the mousse. Pull across the sauces with the point of a sharp knife or toothpick, alternating directions, to create a design. Place a dot of raspberry purée at the thin end of the mousse and pull through it to form a star design. Pipe whipped cream into the tuile cones and place one on each plate.
Garnish the plate with fresh berries and a sprig of mint.
