“At first glance, this dessert looks very delicate and beautiful. But when you crack it open, it oozes out a red shiny coulis from the middle of the rose. And when you taste it, it’s a perfect combination of crispness which you get from the meringue, softness from the chantilly, sourness from the raspberry coulis, fruitiness from the apricot bavarois and then the vanilla ice cream has a nostalgic taste.”

• Danna Vu

Meringue

75g Egg whites 75g Sugar 56g Powdered sugar

Vanilla ice cream

200g Cream 130g Milk 1 Vanilla bean 15g Glucose 15g Trimoline 80g Egg yolks 65g Sugar 1g Gelatin

Raspberry and lemon coulis

130g Sugar 70g Raspberry juice 70g Lemon juice 15g Lemon zest 20g Glucose 4g Fresh thyme 20g Limoncello

Apricot bavarois

300g Apricot puree 15g Lemon juice 70g Sugar 60g Egg yolks 3g Gelatin 150g Cream

Chantilly

2g Gelatin 250g Cream 1 Vanilla bean 25g Sugar 150g Mascarpone

Meringue

Make a swiss meringue with the egg whites and sugar by heating the egg whites and sugar over a bain marie until they reach 60°C. Whisk until it forms stiff peaks. Sift in the powdered sugar.

Vanilla ice cream

Heat the cream, milk, vanilla bean, glucose and trimoline together. Mix the egg yolks and sugar and temper the cream with the egg yolks. Heat everything together until it reaches 82°C. Add the gelatin. Let the ice cream base cool down and churn it in an ice cream machine.

Raspberry and lemon coulis

Heat everything together except the thyme and limoncello. Add the thyme. When cooled down add the limoncello, and remove the thyme.

Apricot bavarois

Reduce the apricot puree by half (until 150g remains). Heat the reduced puree and lemon juice, mix the sugar and egg yolks and temper the warm puree with the eggs. Heat the mixture until it reaches 82°C. Add in the gelatin and let it cool down to 30°C. Whisk the cream until you are able to make soft peaks and then fold into the puree.

Chantilly

Soak the gelatin in water. Heat the cream, vanilla and sugar together. Add the gelatin and stir until it dissolves. Let the cream-mixture cool down and add the mascarpone.

“I wanted to create something beautiful, with a pretty advanced piping technique. And I also wanted to make a dessert that something happens when you break it with the spoon. It feels like an event.”

• Danna Vu

1. Pipe the chantilly on to the meringue and bavaroise.

2. Fill the meringue with the ice cream.
3. Scoop out some of the ice cream in the centre of the meringue.
4. Fill the hole with the coulis.
5. Put the bavarois on top of the meringue.

Words by Sophie Miskiw. Photography by Johan Ståhlberg.
Illustrations by Maria Basea and Kazia Pacia.