I will be honest in that while I absolutely adore the Hoenn region, the Duskull line wasn’t something that I would say I particularly cared for. Of the various Ghost-types in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, I was more partial towards Sableye or Shedinja because of how unique each of them were. With Duskull, they are these little cartoonish, Grim Reaper-looking ghosts that consist of a cloak, a giant skull face, and a red dot inside of the skull that kind of looks like an eye, I guess? While I am pretty indifferent to the Duskull line, they do make for a fun dessert inspiration, especially for Halloween! I figured, why not incorporate skull-shaped shortbreads into a dessert? The wispy appearance of a Duskull could sort of be replicated in a creamy dessert, and I wanted to use black sesame and black cacao to echo that color. And just to be a little playful and to incorporate more floral notes to work off of the black sesame, I figured, why not use some earl grey tea? If I ever caught a Duskull, I would definitely nickname it that, since it is a name that actually fits with it! When it comes to a tea-based dessert, a free-form tea-ramisu sounded like a fun time, and since traditional tiramisu uses cocoa powder, it can tie in with the black cacao I wanted to use to begin with! Lastly, since Duskull has that little red eye-thing, I figured, raspberry. Raspberry pairs nicely with earl grey and it bridges the cacao with the tea in a way that works. This dessert features a whopping 4 flavors, in raspberry, black cacao, earl grey tea, and sesame, but it all comes together for a fittingly spooky dessert!

For the components of this dessert, we have a sesame shortbread cookie, a sesame sponge cake, black sesame-black cacao mascarpone whip, raspberry gelee, earl grey soak, and an earl grey gelee. Tiramisu is typically made by soaking ladyfingers or almond biscuits in espresso, and layering that up with a flavored mascarpone cream, and topped with cocoa powder. In this case, I used earl grey in lieu of coffee, sesame instead of almond, and added raspberry to the entire dessert to add some brightness and fruitiness that will play better with the black tea. Earl grey has notes of lavender and bergamot(citrus), which adds those zesty floral notes that work so well with fruit and chocolate. This dessert does take a decent amount of time to make, due to two gelees, a batter, and a dough, but the assembly was my favorite part, because it was exciting and fun to stack these things up and form the little Duskulls. I will say, making a free-form tiramisu-type of dessert can be a recipe for a mess, but so long as you are comfortable using an offset spatula(and warming it up in a warm, damp towel), you should be okay. All in all, these Duskulls were a ton of fun to make, and gave me a newfound appreciation for a semi-forgettable Pokemon!

Makes 3-4 tea-ramisus:
For the chiffon cake:
3 egg whites
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup ground toasted white sesame powder
1 egg yolks
1/4 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whip egg white with sugar to stiff peaks. Mix the other ingredients together. Fold both mixtures together to form your batter. Pour into a lined quarter sheet tray and spread into an even layer. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Cool down before attempting to use. Cut into 2-inch disks.

For the sesame shortbreads:
1/4 cup ground toasted white sesame powder
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
4 tbsp unsalted butter
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp cold water

In a food processor, blend the sesame, flour, sugar, butter, and salt into a fine, crumbly dough. Mix with the remaining ingredients to form a smooth dough. Freeze the dough for 10 minutes. Then roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/16-inch thickness. From the dough, cut out 3-inch skulls, 1/8-inch by 1/4 inch bones bones, and 2-inch disks from the dough, re-rolling as necessary. Bake the skulls and disks at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes, and the bones for 6 minutes at the same temperature. Allow everything to fully cool before attempting to use them.

For the earl grey tea:
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
3 earl grey tea bags
a pinch of salt

Steep the tea bags and salt in the water for 20 minutes, straining out the bags and reserving 1/2 cup of the liquid as a soak, and the rest for the gelee.

For the raspberry gelee:
4oz raspberry puree
1 tsp granulated sugar
2 tsp agar agar
a pinch of salt
1 tsp lemon juice

In a pot, bring everything to a simmer until everything is melted together. Pour the mixture into a shallow container and refrigerate until firm, roughly 20 minutes. Cut out 1/4-inch disks and use the rest for assembly.

For the earl grey gelee:
1 cup earl grey tea
2 tsp agar agar
2 tbsp granulated sugar

In a pot, bring everything to a simmer until everything is dissolved into the liquid. Pour into a shallow heatproof container, and refrigerate until firm, roughly 10 minutes. Cut into 1/2-inch disks.

For the black sesame-black cacao mascarpone:
8oz mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp confectioner’s sugar
2 tbsp black cacao powder
3 tbsp black sesame powder
a pinch of salt

Using a rubber spatula, mix everything until combined and smooth. Transfer to a piping bag.

For garnish:
Black cacao powder

Pipe a small dot of the mascarpone onto the shortbread disk and then press on one of the cake disks. Brush on roughly 1 tsp of the earl grey soak and then pipe a border of the mascarpone around the cake. Place on 1 tsp of the raspberry gelee. Place on another disk of cake, the soak, mascarpone, and gelee. Then place on top of that a third disk of cake and soak. Pipe more mascarpone around the cake, using a warmed offset spatula to smooth the exterior surface. Press the gelees, earl grey on the bottom, then raspberry on top, into the side of the cake and then the shortbread skull on top of that. Place two bones into the backs of each Duskull, arranged in the shape of an “=” sign. Pipe a dollop of mascarpone on top, and dust the top with black cacao to finish.