Mochi Dumpling London Fog Tea

As seen on TV
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Who made this dish?
London Fog Tea with Chocolate-Filled Mochi Dumplings, Citrus Posset, Candied Cocoa Nibs, Dried Mandarin Peel, and Digestive Biscuit
Cara's final course is her story of the future — fusion of her Chinese heritage, her English wife's culture, and the children that represent her family's tomorrow.
Cara: "My future is my children and fusion because I am a mix of Chinese and American. My wife is English. Together we make something better than what we are."
Cara: "When I think of my future, I think of my children. My wife is English, and so the idea is very traditional English dessert, but then adding this sort of Asian twist to it."
Beverly Kim: "This is a posset. We use tangerine juice, a little bit of fig leaf kind of steeped in there as well."
Cara: "Simple."
Beverly Kim: "It's super simple. It's kind of like a panna cotta, but no gelatin."
Cara: "Listen, we're gonna crush it. Second place is not good enough. I want to win. It's do or die."
Cara: "In my mind, I'm thinking of three things that are representative both of me and my wife mixed together, and the future that holds. It's a playful dessert. This is intentionally playful. Children are playful inherently. The only thing that's made me cry this whole time I've been away is thinking about my daughter. I just miss her."
Cara (presenting): "My wife is English and I'm Asian, so this is sort of a fusion. When I think of my future, I think of my children. Hopefully we'll be three — we have one on the way, and my wife plans to have the next one. So there's three major components: the digestive biscuit, and you have it with tea. It's a play on a London fog. In the tea are three chocolate-filled dumplings, and then you have a posset, which is just barely set custard, and a little bit of candied cocoa nibs and dried mandarin peel on top of that."
Michael Cimarusti: "I love the dumplings — or the ganache. It's really balanced. It's not cloying, it's not overly sweet. The posset — I like the clean, fresh, potent flavor of the citruses that you put in it."
Eric Ripert: "It's very sophisticated, very well balanced. Great flavors. The tea, I wish [it were] not as thin in terms of texture, except that it's really delicious."
Daniela Soto-Innes: "This beautiful and elegant little teacup is so pillowy and delicious. And I've learned in this past two days the journey that you've had and your family as well — it's all present here."
Padma Lakshmi: "I love how you pair unexpected things together. To put mochi dumplings with chocolate ganache inside my tea was just genius. Nobody else could have made this dish. It is so personal and specific to you and your story that no one could have executed it with this kind of imagination. And you've done a beautiful job, not only today, but this whole season, and I commend you for that."
Padma Lakshmi: "I personally liked how homey this dessert was."
Wylie Dufresne: "This was a proper British spread. It was very clever."
Final result: WINNER of America's Culinary Cup by 4 points out of 360 — $1 million prize.

