
Summertime Sensation Dessert
Recipe courtesy of Brandon Testi, Executive Chef, Las Colinas Country Club (Irving, Texas)
Ingredients
- Ingredients for Lemon Curd:
- zest from lemons - 3 ea.
- white sugar - 1 1/2 cups
- unsalted butter - 1/4 lb., room temperature
- eggs - 4 ea .
- fresh lemon juice - 1/2 cup
- kosher salt - 1/4 tsp.
- Ingredients for Pound Cake:
- whole milk - 3 Tbsps.
- eggs - 3 ea.
- vanilla extract - 1 1/2 tsp.
- cake flour - 1 cup
- powdered sugar - 3/4 cup
- baking powder - 3/4 tsp.
- kosher salt - 1/4 tsp.
- butter - 3/4 cup, melted, cooled
- Ingredients for Raspberry Coulis:
- raspberries - 12 oz., fresh or frozen
- granulated sugar - 1/3 cup
- water - 3 Tbsps.
- fresh lemon juice - 1 tsp.
- Ingredients for Mascarpone Whipped Cream:
- heavy whipping cream - 2 1/2 cups, cold
- powdered sugar - 1 ¼ cups
- vanilla extract - 2 tsps.
- mascarpone cheese - 16 ozs., room temperature
- kosher salt - 1/4 tsp.
Instructions
Procedure for Lemon Curd:
- Start by zesting the 3 lemons. Place the zest and the sugar into a food processor and blend until well-mixed and a very potent lemon sugar is created.
- Whip the butter with the lemon sugar. Add in eggs one at a time. Once all four are in, slowly mix in the lemon juice.
- Once completely mixed, add into a small saucepan. Cook over low heat until thick, approx 8-10 minutes. Stir consistently.
- Remove from heat and chill immediately. Keep in the fridge for no less than four hours, but overnight is best. It needs to be entirely cold.
Procedure for Pound Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, mix in all the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together butter, eggs, vanilla and milk.
- Begin by slowly adding in the dry to the wet ingredients, whisking to ensure it doesn't become clumpy. Once everything in well-mixed, pour in a nonstick pan of your choice. Traditionall,y the pan is a 8 ½ x 4" loaf pan.
- Place the cake in the oven for approx 45-50 minutes or until the skewer is inserted into the middle and comes out clean.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for another 5-10 minutes before removing. Turn out onto a cooling rack for another 30 minutes to cool completely.
Procedure for Raspberry Coulis:
- Mix everything together in a small sauce pan and cook on medium heat until the raspberries are soft and syrupy. Approx 7-10 minutes. Stir a few times during the 7-10 minutes.
- Transfer to a blender and puree on high until smooth.
- Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Chill immediately.
Procedure for Mascarpone Whipped Cream:
- Add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and whip on high speed until soft peaks form.
- Add the mascarpone cheese to the whipped cream and whip until stiff.
- Move mixed cream into a piping bag, ready for use.
To Plate:
Chef's note: This dish can be plated in a variety of ways. We choose to plate this as a "hands-on" style by keeping the poundcake off to the side, allowing someone to either pick up the cake and dip or cut them up and mix into the rest.
- The lemon curd is put on the bottom of the dish to create a nice base for everything else to rest on top of.
- We then build the dish by piping in some of the sweetened mascarpone, slicing some fresh raspberries, squeezing some of the coulis, sprinkling some freeze-dried raspberries pieces and picking some micro mint tops all over the lemon curd.
- The next step is to align the butter griddled pound cake next to the curd.
- Finally, dust the cake pieces with dehydrated raspberry powder for the final pink blast of color.