Ispahan bavarois – a simple recipe

If you read our previous post, you probably figured that we fell in love with “ispahan” flavour: rose+raspberry+lychee.  And we always wanted to use this formula to create some other desserts (as discussed, there is no such thing as intellectual property rights in the dessert world LOL).

We organized a dessert class at our house for a ladies’ gathering event.  Although requested by some, macaron was out of questions with our little kitchen and 10+ participants.  Hence we chose this mousse dessert as it was easy to make and they can replicate at home without worrying about oven temperatures.

Bavarois is also called Bavarian cream, and it’s basically a solid form of whipped cream.  It’s very easy to make and you can incorporate any flavour you like.

Ingredients (for 8 servings):

Powdered gelatine - 1.5 packets

Rose water - 1 tablespoon

Water - 3.5 tablespoons

Milk - 150 mL

Whipping cream - 300 mL

Raspberries - 75 g

Lychee - 12 pieces

Sugar - 4 tablespoons

I created this recipe based on traditional and easy-to-make recipes.  You might have noticed that traditional bavarois recipes contain egg yolk.  Since there were expecting moms in our group, I modified the recipe to make sure it’s raw egg-free.

Now let’s start.

1. In a bowl, mix powder gelatine with rose water and water. Put the mixture in the fridge for 10 to 15 min. 

2. Chop the raspberries or use a blender to make raspberry puree.

3. While waiting for the gelatin to set, cut lychee into small pieces.

4. Remove the rose water gelatine from the fridge. Cut the gelatine into small pieces. Pour the milk into the bowl. Set aside.

5. In a stand or hand-held mixer, whip the cream in medium speed until stiff peaks formed.

6. Put the bowl with rose water gelatine and milk in the microwave for 30 seconds under approx. 500W, or until the gelatine has dissolved.  Because we were using powder gelatine instead of sheet gelatine, we needed to make “gelatine jello” first before dissolving it to the mixture.

7. Put raspberry puree into the whipped cream and use folding motion to incorporate. 

8. Put the milk with dissolved gelatine into the cream and continue folding until the mixture looks like a thick batter.  We were trying to explain to the ladies what it would look like and they all got it when one said “oh you mean like baby food”. =)

9. Put the mixture in small plastic cups. The lychee can be put in as a layer or mixed in. Cover with plastic wrap.

10. Freeze for 30 to 45 min. for quick serving. Alternatively, leave in fridge overnight.

11. To serve on a plate, put the plastic cup in hot water for 15 seconds. Use a knife to scrape around the edge. The bavarois will come off easily.

12. Put decoration on top as desired.  For this one we put a little buttercream flower (no egg yolk).  Some put the leftover raspberries.  The choice is limitless!

Enjoy~