I really came up with this dessert because I was inspired by snow globes initially. I wanted to make this pretty snow globe wagashi situation, and that was what this would have been originally. But on the night I was making it, I looked up and saw a full moon peeking out of the clouds, and my mind went straight to there instead. I figured making a dessert that resembled the moon coming out of the night’s sky would be infinitely prettier than just a snow globe. So I went that route instead. I did two simple gelees that surrounded a yuzu jelly. The top is a clear kanten jelly, the center is a softer yuzu gelee, and the bottom is the same clear kanten jelly, just mixed with a little yuzu and butterfly pea tea to give it a prettier purple color. I love that kanten jelly-based wagashi can not only be beautiful, but also vegan and gluten-free as well, so this is a really accessible dessert! I will admit that these gelees were a bit time consuming in that you have to freeze the cores solid first, but I can guarantee that they are worth the wait. It is a ton of fun biting into these and letting the gelee ooze out like a molten lava cake, while the yuzu adds a fragrant tartness to everything.

Makes about 6 wagashi:
For the yuzu gelee core:
10g yuzu juice
3g agar agar
10g water, in two parts
3g white sugar
1g salt

Combine your ingredients together, sans 10g of water, and bring to a simmer. Once the sugar and agar is fully dissolved, pour the mixture into a heatproof container and set in the refrigerator. Puree the gelee with the remaining water to form a pipe-able gelee. Pipe this mixture into 1-inch silicone half dome molds and freeze solid overnight.

For the kanten jelly:
60g water
15g agar agar
5g white sugar
1 g salt
a pinch of edible glitter
1g butterfly pea tea powder
2g yuzu juice

Combine all of the ingredients except for the glitter, tea powder, and yuzu juice and bring to a simmer. Once the agar is fully dissolved into the liquid, take it off heat and swirl in the glitter. In 2-inch silicone half dome molds, pour the liquid one third the way up for 6 of the cavities, reserving the rest of the liquid and keeping that warm. Allow the molded mixture to cool down for 2 minutes, and then press into the molds your frozen yuzu gelees. Transfer that back into the freezer. With the remaining liquid, reheat it with the yuzu and butterfly pea mixture until dissolved and warm, adding 5g of water if necessary to return the mixture to a liquid. Once everything is mixed together and dissolved again, allow it to cook down slightly before pouring it into the 6 cavities, and re-freezing until set again.