Spiced Mandarin Mousse Tartlets

Moulds used: Silicone mould Petit Fours, diamonds from silicone moulds. (Links marked with * and 1 are affiliate / advertising links.)

Mandarin curd Soak the gelatine. Stir the eggs, sugar, mandarin juice and zest in a small saucepan and gently warm to 82 degrees while stirring. Then pass through a sieve and dissolve the squeezed-out gelatine in the hot mass. Add the butter and blend with a hand blender. Spread the mandarin curd over six wells of the silicone Petits Fours mould and freeze for 4-6 hours.

Chocolate biscuit (Bernd Siefert) Heat the oven to 180 degrees top/bottom heat. Separate the eggs cleanly. If necessary, warm the raw marzipan mass slightly so it is elastic. Add the egg yolk and beat until the blender becomes very foamy. Then beat the egg whites with the sugar in a separate bowl. Fold the egg whites and cocoa alternately under the yolk mass. Spread the chocolate batter with a large palette about 1 cm thick evenly over a baking tray lined with baking paper or, better, a silicone mat. Sprinkle with the brittle (krokant). Bake approximately 15 minutes at 180 degrees. Leave to cool and cut out 6 circles 5 cm in diameter.

Spiced mousse Soak the gelatine in ice-cold water. Boil the cream with the spices and let it rest for 15 minutes, then sieve. It should be 60 g; if necessary top up with a little cream and boil again. Melt the couverture in a water bath or microwave. Mix the egg yolks with the sugar in a separate bowl. Add the hot spiced milk and stir. Put everything back in the pot and heat to 82 degrees while stirring. Dissolve the well-squeezed gelatine in the hot cream and stir it in three parts under the melted couverture. Stir in the mandarin juice in a fine stream. Whip the cream until creamy and cool to about 30 degrees. (Serve with orange or mandarin marmalade.)

Assembly Fill the spiced mousse into the silicone mould (fill only three-quarters!). Remove the frozen mandarin insert from the tin and press it into the spiced mousse. Brush with a thin layer of spiced mousse. Coat the chocolate biscuit with orange marmalade and press into the mousse. Smooth off with a covering film and freeze overnight.

Mirror glaze Soak the gelatine in ice-cold water. Bring the glucose syrup, water and sugar to a boil in a pot (about 100 degrees). Then remove the pot from the plate and add, while stirring, the sweetened condensed milk, then let the gelatine dissolve in it and immediately add the white couverture. Wait one minute, then stir again until no lumps of couverture remain. Now stir in the food colouring. Blend the mass with a hand blender, avoiding any air bubbles! Then pour the glaze through a sieve to safely remove any last lumps. Cover the surface of the mirror glaze with film and place it in the refrigerator until use.

Chocolate ice crystals I recommend tempering the couverture so the crystals get a nice "snap". Place the template sheet on the table and cover it with a sheet of baking paper so you can see the star through it. Fill the tempered couverture into a small piping bag and cut off a little. Now "draw" the crystal outline with the chocolate. While the chocolate is still wet, dust with gold powder. Make 6 ice crystals this way (or a few more for safety). Store the ice crystals in the refrigerator until use. You can/should prepare them a day earlier so they harden well.

The next day - glaze and decoration Liquefy the mirror glaze in a water bath or microwave at 45 degrees. When it has cooled again to about 35 degrees, remove the frozen cakes from the dish and place them on a rack over a plate that can catch the excess glaze. Pour the mirror glaze over the frozen cakes and make sure each tartlet is completely covered. Carefully wipe off the excess glaze and decorate the lower edge with a spoon of brittle or gold crumb. Place each cake on a paper base or plate, sprinkle with gold powder and top with a chocolate ice crystal. Serve the cake the same day or at the latest the next day.

From https://maluskoestlichkeiten.de/2018/12/20/gewuerzmousse-toertchen-mit-mandarine-krokant/