About 5 years ago(which is such a weird preface to say out loud because man, time FLIES), I made a dessert that featured rhubarb and elderflower. Ironically, it featured strawberries as well, so I opted to not even include rhubarb or elderflower in the name of the dessert. The cake itself featured elderflower mousse, and this gorgeous rhubarb lattice on top. Since it is peak summer, aka rhubarb season, now is the perfect time to make another rhubarb recipe! And I really just wanted to bring that rhubarb lattice back, but in a fun way. I figured, how pretty would it be to make this gelee that encapsulates the entire lattice in it? And that was where the initial inspiration for this dessert came about. In terms of what flavors to pair the rhubarb with, I wanted to veer away from the strawberry, and focus more on the elderflower. Elderflower liquor is floral and sweet, while the rhubarb is tart. The only real things missing are something creamy, and something crunchy. So for the creamy, I figured why not yogurt, while for the crunchy, almond just made sense. Rhubarb, yogurt, and almond sounds like a great time, while the elderflower really brings them together to make something special.

With the components of these little petit gateau, I went with the rhubarb lattice gelee on top, which is made by poaching shavings of rhubarb until soft, making them into a lattice, then cutting them and encapsulating them into a gelee. In the reel I made for these, I poured the gelee onto the lattice then cut circular disks out after the gelee set on top of the lattice, but I found that to be a lot more manual work and a lot more rhubarb that could not be re-purposed. Fun fact, I found out that poaching rhubarb into a simple syrup causes the syrup to take on a gorgeous pink hue. I kind of embraced that with this dessert, using that rhubarb-elderflower poaching syrup in the gelee, the confiture, and the glaze! As mentioned already, we have a rhubarb confiture, and elderflower glaze, and also we have an almond shortbread base, and an elderflower-yogurt mousse. To finish, I took some of the shaved rhubarb that I poached, and baked them off into these little rhubarb ribbons that I enrobed the entire petit gateau in to give them a fun finish. The final dessert came out pretty nicely, with the white color of the yogurt mousse being contrasted by the dark, rich pink color of the rhubarb lattice gelee!

For the poached rhubarb gelee:
2 stalks rhubarb, shaved on the thinnest setting on the mandolin
2 tbsp elderflower liquor
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
a pinch of salt
2 tsp agar agar

Poach the rhubarb in elderflower, sugar, water, and salt for about 4 minutes. Once the rhubarb completely limp, fish it out and allow it to cool, reserving the poaching liquid.

Arrange the rhubarb ribbons into “lattices” and trim out 1-inch disks of it. You will need 6 lattices in total. Place the lattices into a shallow container, and reserve the scraps of rhubarb for the confiture and any remaining intact shavings for the ribbons.

Taking 1/2 of the reserved poaching liquid, heat that up in a pot with agar. Once the agar is dissolved into the poaching liquid, pour it over the rhubarb lattices, adding in just enough gelee base to cover them. Freeze until the gelee is set then cut out 1-inch disks of the gelee containing the lattices inside of them. Transfer the gelees into silicone petit gateau molds.

For the rhubarb confiture:
Reserved scraps of the poached rhubarb
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 of the reserved poaching liquid
a pinch of salt

Chop up the poached rhubarb that was not used for the lattices into small pieces. Cook down on low heat with the other ingredients until fully soft. Pour into silicone 1/4-inch sphere molds and freeze solid for assembly.

For the almond base:
2 tbsp almond flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp granulated sugar
a pinch of salt

Mix together to form a dough. Roll out to about 1/8-inch thickness and cut out 1-inch disks. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes, allowing the bases to cool completely before removing from the tray and attempting to use in the initial assembly.

For the elderflower-yogurt mousse:
2 tbsp elderflower liquor, in two parts
1 tbsp cornstarch
2 tsp gelatin powder
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
8oz Greek yogurt
4oz heavy cream, whipped stiff

In a pot, heat up one part of the elderflower with cornstarch, gelatin, water, sugar, and salt until they form a thick paste. Whisk the paste into the yogurt with vanilla and the remaining part of elderflower. Then fold into that the cream.

For initial assembly:
Take the petit gateau molds with the rhubarb lattice gelees and fill them up halfway with the yogurt mousse first. Then place in the frozen rhubarb confiture, the remaining mousse, and press in the almond base. Freeze these for at least 2 hours before attempting to unmold, keeping them frozen for glazing.

For the rhubarb ribbons:
Reserved intact poached rhubarb shavings

Place the rhubarb shavings between two pieces of parchment and roll up into a scroll. Bake at 200 degrees F for 2 hours, then transfer the ribbons into an airtight container.

For the elderflower glaze:
1 tbsp elderflower liquor
2 tsp gelatin powder
a pinch of salt
Remaining rhubarb poaching liquid

Heat up the ingredients until they are fully dissolved together. Bring down the temperature of the glaze to about 90 degrees F before pouring over the petit gateaus.

For final assembly:
To glaze, put the still-frozen gateaus over either an icing rack or on a small elevated surface(I used flat sided Russian piping tips) and pour the glaze over them. Let the excess glaze drip off the gateaus and let them sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes just so the glaze can set before transferring to another surface to thaw. Garnish the sides with the rhubarb ribbons.