These delicious little gems of dessert goodness afford you a bite or two of extravagance at the end of a meal.

Recipes Rosa Matto | Styling Natalie Homan | Photographs Brendan Homan

Ruby Domes – Raspberry Velvet Cake
enough for 10, 30ml moulds

60g unsalted butter at room temperature
170g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
100ml sunflower oil
50ml pureed raspberries
125ml buttermilk
180g plain flour
50g cornflour
5g bicarbonate of soda
pinch salt
red gel food colouring, optional

Preheat oven to 180C. Beat together butter and sugar until pale, using an electric whisk. Add egg yolks, one at a time, alternating with sunflower oil. Mix in raspberry puree and buttermilk. Fold in combined and sifted flours, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Mix until just combined. If colour is not deep enough, add a few drops of red food colouring. Spread into a shallow 30cm x 20cm tin, lined with buttered baking paper. Bake for 25 minutes.

for basil marshmallow
4 sheets gold quality unflavoured gelatine (approximately 18g)
1/2 cup ice cold water + ½ cup extra
350g caster sugar
250ml  light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg whites
30g icing sugar
30g cornflour

Have all ingredients and equipment ready, because you need to work fast. Soak gelatine in the bowl of a stand-mixer with 1/2 cup of water. Combine remaining 1/2 cup water with sugar, corn syrup, salt and chopped basil leaves in a small saucepan. Using a sugar thermometer allow mixture to reach 115C. Once mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from heat. Turn mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour sugar syrup down side of the bowl onto the gelatine and water mixture. Once you have added all syrup, increase speed to high. Continue to whip until mixture becomes very thick and is cold; it should become three times the volume. Add vanilla during the last minute of whipping. Lightly grease a 30cm x 22cm Swiss roll tin. Combine icing sugar and cornflour in a bowl and then completely coat bottom and sides of pan, reserving a little for the top. Whip egg whites until soft peaks form and fold into marshmallow mixture. Pour into prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into pan.  Dust top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornflour mixture to lightly cover. Allow marshmallows to set for 4 hours and up to overnight.

for licorice sheet
100g soft licorice, chopped very finely
250ml water

Put licorice in a pan with water and simmer very gently, stirring often, for 15 minutes or until licorice has mostly melted and you have a dark, thick syrup; a few small pieces will not matter. Turn off heat and pour into a lined tray, 28cm x 15cm. Spread so it is super thin. Allow to set in refrigerator.

for raspberry mousse
250g white chocolate, finely chopped + 100ml cream
pinch salt
5 sheets gelatine
2 tbsp water
1 cup frozen raspberries (crushed)
2 tsp vanilla extract
250ml cream, extra

Melt white chocolate with 100ml of cream and salt in a bowl over the top of hot water, until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Pour into a large bowl, and let it cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Allow gelatine to soften in water for 5 minutes. Puree thawed raspberries in a blender, then strain puree into a bowl to remove most of the seeds. In a saucepan, heat a quarter of the raspberry puree and fully dissolve the gelatine in it. Strain again, into a bowl and add the rest of the raspberries and vanilla extract. Whip cream to soft peaks, then slowly fold it into the puree mixture in 3 parts. Make sure it is thoroughly mixed.

to assemble
100g white chocolate, melted
purchased raspberry cold mirror glaze^*
1 punnet fresh raspberries

Brush the inside of domed moulds with melted white chocolate. Allow to set, then coat again with the chocolate.

Pour in mousse to come up to no more than halfway. Allow to set in the fridge for 2 hours. Cut licorice sheet into rounds the same size as the base of the mould. Cover surface of the mousse with one of the thin liquorice rounds. Top this with marshmallow cut into discs of no more than 1cm in depth. Finish with raspberry velvet cake discs cut into just under 1cm in depth. Allow to rest in fridge for an hour before tipping onto a rack over a tray. Pour over mirror glaze and put back in fridge for one hour. If necessary, re-glaze and allow to set again.

Decorate with raspberries and edible gold or silver leaves.

*Available from cake decorating shops

 

This article first appeared in the September 2023 issue of SALIFE magazine.