Liquorice honeycomb with lemon pâte de fruits, lemon sponge cake and fennel sorbet

Serves 10

Fennel sorbet

• 5 g                 Fennel seed
• 3 g                 Star anise
• 300 ml            Milk
• 100 g              Sugar
• 30 g                Glucose syrup
• ¼                   Vanilla pod
• 4,4 g               Agar agar
• 20 g                Sugar
• 300 ml            Sour cream

Roast the fennel seed and the star anise in a pan until they turn brown, add milk, the first amount of sugar, glucose and vanilla pod. Simmer for 15 min. Mix the small amount of sugar with agar agar and add it to the batter. Heat until it just starts to boil (first bubble). Strain the liquid and cool to room temperature. Combine it with the sour cream and churn in the ice cream machine.

Lemon pâte de fruits

• 200 ml            Lemon juice
• 250 ml            Sugar
• 30 g                Glucose
• 18 g                Pectin
• 50 ml              Sugar
• 12 g                Vodka

Cook lemon juice, the large amount of sugar and the glucose to 120°C. Add the pectin with the small amount of sugar and stir to remove any lumps. Add the vodka. Strain the mixture onto trays covered with silicone sheets and sugar. Let the mixture set in the fridge and cut it into thin strips. Leave in the fridge until serving.

Fennel chips

• 1                    Lemon
• 200 ml            Sugar
• 100 ml            Water
• 20 g                Vodka
• 20 g                Pernod
• 2                    Fennel

Peel the lemon and squeeze it. Simmer the sugar, water, vodka, pernod and lemon (peel+juice) on low heat for 15 minutes to obtain a syrup. Slice the fennel as thinly s possible using a mandolin and place the slices on a silicone sheet. Brush the fennel with the syrup and dry in the oven at 100°C. Keep the remaining syrup for the cake.

Liquorice curd

• 4                      Egg yolks
• 40 g                Lemon juice
• 70 g                Liquorice paste
• 120 g                Room tempered butter

Whisk the egg yolks with lemonjuice and liquorice paste in a pan on medium heat until the cream reaches 83 °C (important to whisk continuously!). Add the butter while stirring and pour the curd into a piping bag to cool.

Sponge cake

• 1                    Egg
• 100 ml            Sugar
• 150 ml            Wheat flour
• 1 tsp               Baking powder
• 25 g                Butter
• 60 ml              Milk
• Butter & breadcrumbs

Whisk the egg and sugar until fluffy. Melt the butter and add the milk. Mix flour and baking powder. Fold the dry ingredients into the egg mixture. Add the milk mixture. Pour the batter into a piping bag. Grease and bread the moulds. Fill them with batter and bake 10 mins at 180°C. Divide the cakes and dip them in lemon syrup.

Liquorice honeycomb

• 100 g              Sugar
• 18 g                Glucose syrup
• 32 g                Honey
• 7 g                 Bicarbonate
• 8 g                 Black food colorant
• 10 g                Liquorice paste
• –                     Liquorice granulates

Cook sugar, glucose and honey to 165°C. Add the liquorice paste and the food colorant. Add the bicarbonate. Whisk until the batter starts to foam intensly and transfer to a tray lined with a silicone sheet. Leave to harden and sprinkle with liquorice granulates.