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Mango, Passionfruit and Rum Sorbet; Raspberry Mousse Nest; Vanilla Ice Cream Choux Buns

This is a spectacular finale to a dinner party, but it needn’t be too stressful. Make everything in advance, then finish the choux buns with the caramel sauce just before serving.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 34 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and raspberry match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 948 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl benzoate, which smells fruity, sweet. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Make the sorbet: boil the 300g caster sugar with the 150ml water for 2 minutes, cool, then stir in the mango, passion fruit, white rum and granulated sugar. Churn in an ice cream machine or freeze in a tray, forking every 30 minutes.

  2. Make the vanilla ice cream base: warm the 250ml milk, 250ml double cream and split vanilla pod. Whisk the 4 eggs with 125g caster sugar, pour in the warm milk, then cook gently to 160°F (71°C) and stir in the 1 tsp vanilla essence.

  3. Chill the custard, remove the vanilla pod, then churn in an ice cream machine or freeze, stirring well during freezing until firm.

  4. Make the choux: heat the butter with the 4 tbsp milk, 4 tbsp water, ½ tbsp caster sugar and pinch salt until boiling. Remove from heat, beat in the 75g flour, then beat in 3 eggs one at a time.

  5. Pipe the choux into small rounds on a lined tray and bake at 200°C (400°F) for about 20 minutes until puffed and golden. Cool on a rack and split them.

  6. Make the nest: beat the 50g butter, 50g icing sugar, 2 eggs, vanilla essence and salt, fold in the 50g flour, then pipe rings on a lined tray and bake at 170°C (340°F) for 10 minutes until golden. Cool.

  7. Make the raspberry mousse: soak the 2½ gelatine leaves in cold water, squeeze, then warm with the 160ml raspberry until dissolved. Cool slightly, fold into the 300ml double cream whipped with 50g icing sugar. Chill until set.

  8. Assemble the nests: spoon mousse into the cooled rings, top with the mixed berries and fresh raspberries, then scatter with desiccated coconut, julienne stem ginger and fresh mint. Serve with a choux bun and a scoop of ice cream and sorbet, all chilled.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Vanilla + raspberrytop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together948 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).

  2. Rum + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together727 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Vanilla + milktop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together19,175 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Cream + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together41,494 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs