Honestly, this dessert was inspired by me seeing a TON of these cute pink petit gateaus that were floating around on Instagram, made by pastry chefs at a Mandarin Oriental. This dessert in particular was on my to-do list for a hot second, but I had the pleasure of making it with my friend Ann over the weekend! The components include a sable base, a yuzu-mascarpone mousse, a raspberry gelee insert, pink mirror glaze, and a tempered white chocolate disk. Ann wanted to learn how to make a mirror glaze, and I was more than happy to help! I mean, mirror glazes are basically my specialty, after all(I literally have an entire recipe category dedicated to mirror glazed cakes!). For the version Ann and I made, the mousse was a tad light on the yuzu flavor, so I changed the recipe for this post so that it will be more amped up and prevalent. All in all, it’s a cute little dessert, and definitely as dainty as I envisioned it to be.

Makes about six servings:
For the raspberry gelee disk:
1/4 cup raspberry puree
3 tablespoons agar agar
a pinch of salt

Reduce the three ingredients by about half and then pour into a small, shallow tray. Set in the freezer, about 5-8 minutes, then cut out into 1 inch disks.

For the mascarpone mousse:
zest from 1 yuzu
juice from 1 yuzu
1 packet gelatin powder
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
8 oz mascarpone cheese
1/3 cup heavy cream, whipped stiff
2 egg yolks
a pinch of salt

Reduce yuzu juice with zest and pour, while warm, over the gelatin powder to bloom it. Once bloomed, mix into water and sugar and bring to a simmer. Whip into your egg yolks and whip over medium-low heat for 2-3 minutes. Sieve and whip in your mascarpone first, and then fold in your heavy cream. Pipe into petit gateau molds, halfway, and then place a disk of your set gelee, then pipe in the rest of your mousse. Freeze these solid, about 2 hours, before attempting to unmold and glaze.

For the sable:
1 cup flour
1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg yolk
a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine into a dough and roll out between two baking sheets. Bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes at 375 degrees F, rotating the pan halfway through to guarantee even baking. Punch out 2 inch circles from the dough when it is at room temperature. When you unmold the still-frozen mousses, place onto each cookie, smooth side of the mousse facing up.

For the chocolate disk:
white chocolate
silver luster dust
a pinch of salt

Melt white chocolate and salt over a double boiler. Once it reaches 90 degrees F, take off heat and stir in about 1/3 of the amount that has been already melted in. Once that has incorporated, pour onto an acetate sheet and spread using an offset. Allow to cool in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes, before cutting out shapes and brushing with luster dust to finish. Keep refrigerated until it is time to assemble.

For the mirror glaze:
1 cup white chocolate
2 packets gelatin powder + 1/4 cup water
1/3 cup heavy cream
a pinch of salt
2 tablespoons pitaya powder
2 tablespoons raspberry puree

Melt gelatin, pitaya, and salt into heavy cream and raspberry puree. Pour over white chocolate, while the liquid is still warm, and allow that to sit for a minute before stiring and passing through a sieve to remove any lumps. Keep the glaze at 90 degrees F until it is time to use.

To garnish:
Fresh raspberries