These delightful and exotic petits gateaux are filled with creamy coconut, sweet caramelised pineapples and an acidic note given by the passion fruit and mango to create the perfect balance. The pineapple flowers on top make a simple yet effective edible decoration for these little mousse cakes.
Special material requirements
Silicone cylinder mould (5cm diameter & 6cm height)
Round cutter 4cm diameter
Round cake ring 17cm diameter
Big semi-sphere silicone mould (mine is 7cm diameter but can be any other size)
Acetate foil
Thermometer
Spray gun & compressor or yellow and white ready-to-use velvet sprays
Recipe
Yield: 8 pastries | Difficulty: hard
Ingredients
Coconut dacquoise
2 medium egg whites
48g almond flour
48g powdered sugar
50g desiccated coconut
30g sugar
10g flour
1/4 tsp salt
10g desiccated coconut
Caramelised pineapples
87g pineapple (finely chopped)
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp butter
Coconut filling
30g desiccated coconut
2 tbsp coconut cream (alternatively coconut milk)
1 tbsp + 2 tsp sweetened condensed milk
Mango passion fruit insert
70g passion fruit puree (10% sugar)
30g mango puree (10% sugar)
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 gelatine sheets
Coconut mousse
175g coconut puree (10% sugar)
110g heavy cream
62g sugar
1 medium egg white
2 1/2 gelatine sheets
1 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp egg white powder
Decoration
120g white chocolate
70g white cocoa butter
50g yellow cocoa butter
8 pineapple slices
10g white chocolate (extra)
Directions
Coconut dacquoise
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan and line the cake ring with baking paper.
Place 40g desiccated coconut, almond flour, powdered sugar, flour and salt in a bowl and mix.
In a separate bowl prepare a French meringue with the egg whites and the sugar. Start whipping egg whites and add the sugar gradually in thirds until you get stiff peaks.
Add a third of the meringue to the dry ingredients and mix until you get a paste. Then add the rest of the meringue and fold into the paste.
Transfer the dacquoise batter to the tart ring and spread evenly. Sprinkle the remaining 10g of desiccated coconut on top.
Place the dacquoise in the middle of the oven and bake for approx. 20-25 minutes, until lightly golden.
Let the dacquoise cool completely and then cut out 8x 4cm circles with the cutter.
Caramelised pineapples
Place the sugar in a saucepan and let it caramelise on low heat.
As soon as the sugar has a nice caramel colour, add the butter and stir.
Finally add the diced pineapple and cook on medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Coconut filling
Mix all ingredients together until well combined.
Mango passion fruit insert
Place the gelatine sheets in a bowl filled with cold water and let them soak.
Place the mango and passion fruit purees into a saucepan and heat up on medium heat.
In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch and sugar together.
Shortly before the purees start to boil, pour some to the cornstarch sugar mix and whisk until there are no lumps. Return this mixture to the saucepan with the purees and bring it to a boil while constantly whisking.
After the puree has thickened, remove it from the heat. Squeeze out excess water from the gelatine sheets and add them to the saucepan. Whisk until all gelatine has fully dissolved.
Transfer the puree into a bowl and cover it with cling film to touch. Let it cool down to approx. 35°C.
Coconut mousse
Place the gelatine sheets in a bowl filled with cold water and let them soak.
Place the coconut puree and 1/2 tbsp of sugar in a saucepan and bring it to a boil on medium heat.
After the puree boils, remove it from the heat. Squeeze out excess water from the gelatine sheets and add them to the saucepan. Whisk until all gelatine has fully dissolved.
Transfer the puree into a bowl and cover it with cling film to touch. Let it cool down to approx. 35°C.
Next, prepare the Italian meringue. Add the 62g of sugar and water in a saucepan and bring it to a boil on medium heat.
Simultaneously, start whipping the egg white with the egg white powder.
When the sugar reaches 118°C and the egg whites form soft peaks, slowly add the sugar syrup to the egg whites while still whisking. Keep whisking the meringue until the bowl is not hot anymore and you have stiff peaks.
Fold in the meringue to the coconut puree mix, which is at room temperature, in thirds.
Whip the heavy cream to soft to medium peaks and also fold into the mousse.
Transfer the mousse into a piping bag.
Assembly
With the help of the 4cm cutter, make 8 tubes out of acetate foil which have a 4cm diameter.
Add the cut coconut dacquoise at the bottom of the tube.
Then spread the caramelised pineapples on top. On top of the pineapples, spread the coconut filling.
Put the tubes in the freezer for 30-60 minutes.
Pour the mango passion fruit puree at room temperature on top of the coconut filling and put it in the freezer until firm.
Pipe the coconut mousse into the silicone cylinder form. With a spatula, spread the mousse alongside the walls of the mould, this will reduce the formation of air bubbles.
Remove the acetate foil of your prepared insert tubes and press them into the mousse (the dacquoise should be at the top, since it's gonna be the bottom of the petit gateaux when you remove it from the mould.
Remove any excess mousse from the mould, cover it in cling film to touch and place it in the freezer overnight.
Decoration
Preheat the oven to 100°C fan.
Remove the skin of the pineapple and cut it into 8 thin slices.
Place the pineapple slices on kitchen towels to remove excess moisture.
Place the pineapple slices on a baking tray lined with baking paper and place it in the oven for 1 hour, flipping the slices after half an hour.
Put the pineapple slices in the semi-sphere silicone mould and bake for another 45 minutes. Let them cool down in the mould.
Gently remove the pastries from the silicone mould and place on a plate and put them back in the freezer until further use.
Combine 70g of your white chocolate with white cocoa butter and heat it up to 50°C. You can either do this in a chocolate melting machine or in the microwave in impulses.
Add the chocolate-cocoa butter mixture to your spray gun, take the pastries out of the freezer and spray them until they are fully covered. I would spray half of the pastries at the time while the others are still in the freezer.
When they are fully covered, put the pastries back in the freezer and prepare the yellow velvet spray with the remaining 50g white chocolate.
Spray the bottom of the pastries with yellow velvet spray.
Glue the dried pineapple flowers on the side of the pastries with some melted white chocolate.
Let it defrost overnight in the fridge.
Notes
Decoration: while you prepare the velvet spray mixture, place the spray gun in the oven at 40°C. This will prevent the velvet mixture to crystallise in the spray gun too quickly.