The Dessert & Bubbly Event

Lemon infused tart filled with an apple mousse, and a cranberry coulis, topped with candied apple slices

This was the dessert that I served at our Dessert Pairing event that we hosted in March. It was paired with three different bottles of bubbly. I was a bit worried about it clashing with three different bottles but the choices of bubbly that we decided to go with have some flavour notes in common

The types of bubbly that we had available was Prosecco, Brut and Sweet Nectar. The flavour notes that they have in common are apple, citrus and berries.

Apple Mousse Tips

To make the apple puree I used green apples, removed the core of the and let that cook in the pot with a little water. Once it’s soft you will then blend it till smooth. I didn’t add any sugar to the puree because I wanted the apple flavour to really come through and not be overpowered by sugar.

The flavour of the apple mousse is not intense but subtle, when eating the tart the flavour dances on your palate and settles in after the creaminess of the mousse dissipates.

When assembling the tart I spread some of the apple puree on the base before adding the mousse on top. This gave the tart an extra tartness to the dessert and played really well with the citrus that was infused into the tart base 

Cranberry coulis

The cranberry coulis was made from dried cranberries. I was struggling to find fresh or frozen ones but they did the job once they were hydrated I didn’t add any sugar to the coulis, there really was no need as they carry their own sweetness.

Tart base

The lemon infused tart base is a recipe that I’ve shared previously, you can find it by clicking on the button below

Candied Apple Slices

I’ve definitely become a big fan of candied fruit and veg. I’ve done quite a few  candied ingredients with carrots and beetroot, which will always be my favourite because of how it tastes and looks like rose petals. 

I placed two cups of sugar and one cup of water in a pot and let that boil. I used that sugar syrup to candy quite a few whole apples, roughly five whole apples but I definitely could have kept making more if I needed to. The process is very similar if not the same to how I make the candied beets.

Directions

• Prepare your oven tray by lining it with baking paper 
• preheat the oven to 100 degrees
• Slice your apples with a mandoline or a peeler to get thin slices 
• Cook the apple slides for ten minutes before transferring them on to your oven tray 
• Bake them for 5-10 minutes.
• When they are ready they won’t be too sticky to touch 

I struggled a bit to remove the apples from the baking paper at first because I let them harden before removing them which was a mistake. I assumed that it was going to be easy to remove but the trick is to leave the tray in the oven and peel them off the oven tray while they are still warm.

I cleaned the counter top and then placed them on there. It helps them to cool quite fast and they won’t stick to the counter. When storing them you want to keep them in a cool dry place and in a sealed container. If you store them in a moist area they will become soft and lose their crispiness.

When plating the dessert I realized that the apples also lose their texture if plated to far in advance which ended up being a happy accident according to all the guests that enjoyed the dessert. It added the right amount of sweetness to the dessert that didn’t clash with the bubbly but complimented it quite well, to have both the crispy and soft apple slices on the tart.