Food & Wine

Mandarin white chocolate mousse recipe

Mandarin dessert

RACV

Posted October 31, 2023

Elevate your at-home dining experience with this impressive mandarin dessert recipe from the RACV Club kitchen.

The world of culinary arts is filled with creativity, innovation, and a constant pursuit of perfection. In this spirit, RACV Club recently hosted a culinary event like no other, the Four Chef Showdown.

This exclusive event brought together three City Club chefs – Executive Chef Jason Camillo, Executive Sous Chef Craig Dowling, and Pastry Sous Chef Josh Cochrane – and Healesville Country Club & Resort’s Head Chef Himanshu Sharda to compete in a high-stakes culinary battle.

The audience had the pleasure of savouring each of the four dishes and then voted for their favourite, with Sharda’s fish curry taking out the title. Those who attended the event were keen to try making the dishes at home, and Cochrane shares his recipe here.

“I chose this dessert for the fond childhood memories I have of my grandpa’s mandarin tree, and for the fact my own mandarin tree at home was bursting with fresh mandarins – which we used the in the dessert on the night,” he says.

“For the best result you need to use a mandarin silicon mould. It’s how we achieve such a realistic looking finished product,” he says.

Mandarin white chocolate mousse recipe

Serves

8

Time to make

3 hours 

Difficulty

Moderate

White  chocolate mousse

Ingredients

  • 100ml water    
  • 50g castor sugar           
  • 3g vanilla paste
  • 6g gelantine sheets      
  • 350g white chocolate
  • 50g butter
  • 750ml whipped cream

Method

  1. Bring your water, sugar, vanilla to the boil.
  2. Semi whip your cream until soft peaks are achieved, set aside.
  3. Soak gelatine in cold water until bloomed. Set aside.
  4. Add bloomed gelatine to your hot sugar and water mix.
  5. Place chocolate in a heat proof bowl and pour hot mixture over chocolate.
  6. Add butter.
  7. Mix with a whisk until smooth.
  8. Using a ladle, fold mixture into the semi whipped cream.
  9. Pipe mousse into mandarin mould leaving room for the compote centre.
Chef making dish on stage

RACV chef Josh Cochrane in action at the Four Chef Showdown at City Club. Image: Matt Harvey

 

Mandarin compote recipe

Ingredients

  • 200g fresh mandarin segments
  • 120g mandarin juice     
  • 40g castor sugar           
  • 4g pectin NH

Method

  1. Peel and segment your mandarin removing seeds.
  2. In a non-stick pan make a light caramel with half of your sugar stirring with a heat-proof spatula.
  3. Once a nice caramel is achieved, add your seedless mandarin segments and stir though
  4. Then add your mandarin juice. Stir until all caramel is dissolved. Remove from heat.
  5. Combine the second half of your sugar and pectin. Sprinkle into mandarin mix and stir through.
  6. Place mix back on heat and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and place your compote mixture into desired mould before compote can cool.
  7. Freeze the compote so you can remove from mould.
  8. Once frozen, remove from mould and push into white chocolate mousse into the centre of mandarin mould.

Orange chocolate dip recipe

Ingredients

  • 100g white chocolate                           
  • 100g cocoa butter                                            
  • 2g orange food colour (fat soluble)    

Method

  1. In a pot, gently heat your cocoa butter to 50°C
  2. Remove from heat and add in the white chocolate and fat soluble orange food colouring
  3. Blitz with a stick blender until combined
  4. Use mixture at 35°C to coat your frozen mandarin mousse 
Four chefs on stage for cooking competition

Four RACV chefs vie to make the best dish at the Four Chef Showdown at City Club. Image: Matt Harvey

 

Chocolate crumb recipe

Ingredients

  • 50g butter                               
  • 50g raw sugar                           
  • 50g almond meal                     
  • 10g cocoa powder                    
  • 40g plain flour  

Method

  1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl until smooth.
  2. Crumble mixture onto a lined baking tray.
  3. Bake at 150°C for 15 minutes.
  4. Allow to cool and reserve for use when plating up your mandarin.

Mandarin gel recipe

Ingredients

  • 200ml mandarin juice
  • 20g castor sugar           
  • 3g agar agar powder

Method

  1. Combine sugar and agar agar powder.
  2. In a pot heat your mandarin juice.
  3. When juice is at 35°C add in your sugar and agar agar mixture.
  4. Bring mixture to the boil.
  5. Remove from heat, pour onto a clean tray and allow to cool until set.
  6. Once mixture is set firm, remove from tray and place into a food processer. Blitz until a nice smooth texture is achieved.
  7. Place into a piping bag and reserve for use when plating up your mandarin.

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