This is a bit of a throwback, since this dessert I made when my friends, Bri and David, were visiting during the 4th of July! I dubbed the dessert “sweet escape” as a reference to that! We were preparing dishes for Bri and I’s first pop-up, and while we had already decided on what dessert we were going to do, I figured teaching them a new dessert would be fun too! So we went with castella, which is a honey sponge cake, and we garnished it with an opal apple-yuzu kanten jelly, sautéed custard apple, a bee pollen milk crumble, yuzu-shaved apples, and a golden syrup-mascarpone sorbet(sadly, the sorbet was made ahead of time so I couldn’t teach David or Bri how to make it, but I’ll include the recipe here so that anyone reading this can!).

For the castella:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons brown butter, cooled down to room temperature
a pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whip eggs, honey, salt, and vanilla to stiff peaks. Sift in your flour and fold. Fold about 1/4 of your batter into the butter and mix everything bake together. Pour into a lined sheet tray and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Cool down completely before removing from the sheet tray and slicing into cubes.

For the bee pollen crumble:
2 tablespoons brown butter
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons bee pollen
a pinch of salt
1 tablespoon goat milk powder

Saute panko with salt, honey, and brown butter until golden brown. Finish with the goat milk powder and the bee pollen, stirring that in for 1 minute. Cool the crumble completely before using.

For the kanten jelly:
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon yuzu juice
2 tablespoons agar agar
a pinch of salt
3 tablespoons finely diced opal apple

Combine everything but the apples and bring to a simmer. Take off heat and add in your apples. Pour onto a lined sheet tray and set. Slice with a knife into smaller cubes.

For the sautéed custard apple:
1 custard apple, peeled and pitted
3 tablespoons brown butter
2 tablespoons honey
a pinch of salt

Saute the pieces of cherimoya/custard apple in the brown butter, honey, and season with salt. Cool down completely before using.

For the sorbet:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups water
juice from 1 lemon
8 oz mascarpone cheese
a pinch of salt

Bring sugar, 1 cup of the water, and salt to a boil. Add in the lemon juice and continue cooking on low heat for about 40 minutes. At that point, add in your remaining water, and puree in the mascarpone cheese, off heat. Pour into an ice cream maker and churn, following the instructions on the machine. Pour into silicone half dome molds and freeze until firm.

For garnish:
1 opal apple
salt
yuzu juce

Peel and shave the opal apple thinly. Toss with yuzu juice and salt to prevent the apple from browning.