Funnily, (three years later and  I'm still wondering if this is a word) the idea for this sorbet- themed dessert popped into my mind when I was sitting in my room with the AC turned on.  So, I had this stunned moment of having a great idea similar to a brain freeze but for a completely different reason! I wanted the dessert to be themed around a sorbet with a sweet sauce and some crunchy bits so I knew what I wanted to do and what it should look like right from the very beginning. This was really exciting to make because I was testing out a lot of new techniques- making tuiles and spun sugar for the crunchy elements. 

Tuiles are almost like a wafer; they’re very thin and add great crunch to both sweet and savoury dishes. The interesting part about them is that you can actually shape them into curls or cones straight out of the oven! You have to be ready to burn your fingers though because you can only shape them within a few seconds and after that they become brittle and can’t be shaped. Since this was my first time making them, I decided not to try to do a lot, so I broke them up into shards instead. 

Tuiles were great to make and all, but the MOST EXCITING part of this dessert was, without a doubt the spun sugar. Spun sugar is basically caramel but in thread form. You basically run a fork through caramel and flick it back and forth and you collect golden threads over a long spoon handle; really exciting and cool.

I didn’t want the dessert to be too sweet and the lemon sorbet was just the right ticket- tangy and sweet. But I must say the sorbet was the most time consuming element of all because I didn’t use a churner. If you’re like me and aren’t using a churner, I recommend starting the sorbet the afternoon before so it freezes in time. I wanted the plating to be a little fun, so with my sauce which is a mango coulis, I splattered it over the plate and then placed the sorbet with the spun sugar encasing one half of it!

Lemon sorbet:

• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp. lemon zest
• ¼ cup lemon juice

Place the sugar and water in a large pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a low, simmer for 2 minutes and remove from heat. Cool completely. Stir in the lemon juice and zest. Pour the mixture into a container and freeze uncovered for about 1 hour until semi solid (a layer of sugar crystals forms at the top). Mix to break up crystals and return to the freezer. Stir the sorbet mix once an hour for about 4 times before refrigerating for 6-7 hours (or overnight, if you’re patient) until firm. Alternatively churn in an ice cream machine. Scoop two large scoops and join them to form a sphere. Refrigerate until plating.

Tuile:

• ¼ cup plain flour
• ¼ caster sugar
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 40 gm. unsalted butter, slightly melted

Preheat oven to 180˚C. Blend all ingredients in a blender. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.  Thinly spread the mixture in a large sheet onto the parchment and bake for about 10-15 or until golden brown. Cool completely.

Mango coulis:

• 2 small mangoes
• 3 tbsp. orange juice
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp. granulated sugar, if needed

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Sieve the coulis.

Spun sugar:

• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• A pinch of salt
• A few drops of lemon juice

Evenly sprinkle the sugar and salt over the base of a heavy based pan and place over low heat. Add the lemon juice. Keep moving the sugar every 2 minutes to avoid burning. Melt the sugar over the heat slowly tipping the pan over to evenly melt. Once the caramel starts to colour, keep swirling until it turns and even golden brown. Remove from heat and place in a pan of warm water. Oil the handle of a long handled wooden spoon and rest each end on a tall jar so it remains suspended. Hold to forks back to back. Dip the prongs in the caramel and with the prongs pointing downwards flick forwards and backwards across the handle and sugar threads will form. Re dip the forks as necessary and flick until a reasonable amount of sugar draped from the handles. Carefully remove.

Plating:

• Lemon zest

Splatter the mango coulis onto a plate. Place the sorbet sphere on the coulis and top of with lemon zest. Break two shards from the tuile and place on the sorbet. Wrap the spun sugar threads around the sorbet.