Yuzu Curd & Vanilla Shortbread

STEP 1: VANILLA BEAN SHORTBREAD BASE

Rub the cold butter into the flour, icing sugar and salt until the mixture looks sandy, then work in the vanilla bean paste and egg yolk just until it clumps — do not overwork, or the sablé turns tough. Press into a flat disc, wrap, and chill for 30 minutes. Roll to about 4 mm and cut discs sized to the base of your domes. Bake at 325°F (160°C) for 12–15 minutes until pale gold and just firm. Cool flat.

STEP 2: YUZU CURD

Bloom the leaf gelatine in cold water. Whisk the yuzu juice, zest, sugar, whole eggs and egg yolks in a heatproof bowl set over barely simmering water until thick enough to coat a spoon (about 80°C / 176°F). Off the heat, squeeze and stir in the bloomed gelatine, then whisk in the butter a few cubes at a time with a pinch of salt until glossy. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve.

STEP 3: RASPBERRY JELLY INSERTS

Bloom the leaf gelatine in cold water. Warm the raspberries with the sugar and lemon juice until collapsed, then sieve out the seeds. Stir the bloomed gelatine into the warm purée. Pour a thin layer into a small ice-cube or mini-dome tray and set firm in the fridge, about 1 hour — these become the jewel centres.

STEP 4: BUILD AND SET THE DOMES

Fill each silicone dome cavity about two-thirds with yuzu curd. Press a set raspberry jelly insert into the centre of each, then top with more curd to fill, leaving room to cap with a shortbread disc. Press a sablé disc flush onto the open face (it becomes the base when unmoulded). Freeze solid, at least 3 hours — the domes must be frozen hard for a clean spray finish.

STEP 5: MERINGUE ACCENTS

Whisk the egg white to soft peaks, then rain in the sugar and whisk to a stiff, glossy meringue. Pipe small kisses onto a parchment-lined tray and either dry low in the oven (200°F / 90°C for about 1 hour) or torch lightly just before serving. Keep these as the small exterior accents.

STEP 6: REINFORCED CHOCOLATE TWIGS

Temper the dark chocolate. Pipe slender, tapered branch shapes onto an acetate sheet, then go back over each one a second time to build a thicker central spine for strength. Set firm in the fridge and keep them cold. Make these ahead and prepare a few spares — the doubled spine and cold storage are exactly what the fragile originals lacked.

STEP 7: THIN WHITE VELVET

Melt the white chocolate and cocoa butter together to about 40°C (104°F) and load the spray gun, or use an aerosol velvet spray. Set the frozen domes on a rack and apply the lightest even coat — a whisper, not a shell. This single thin pass replaces the heavy enrobing, keeping the white dome look while letting the yuzu lead. Let the domes come up from frozen to fridge-cold before serving so the curd is sliceable.

STEP 8: ASSEMBLE AND PLATE

Set each dome shortbread-side down on the plate. Weld two or three chilled twigs to the crown with a dab of melted chocolate so they appear to grow from the dome, and tuck a few meringue kisses at the base. Plate just before serving and serve cold — the result keeps the whimsical garden silhouette, now with balanced sweetness and décor that holds.