If you’re not from Australia, you’ll probably have no idea what an Iced VoVo is. They can best be described as a rectangular biscuit, similar to a shortbread biscuit, which has two rows of coconut marshmallow either side of a line of raspberry jam. They’re an iconic Australian biscuit. As a child, I absolutely adored them. They were pretty, extremely sweet, and quite girly. I remember biting off the little rows of marshmallow and licking off the jam before finally devouring the biscuit base. If you still can’t picture it, here’s a link to what I’m talking about.
I wanted to recreate an adult version of the classic Iced VoVo. My version is more of a dessert rather than biscuit you have with your afternoon cup of tea. I’ve kept the biscuit base, added a layer of raspberry and vanilla jam, topped it with a coconut whipped ganache, raspberry mouse, baby pavlova drops and fresh raspberries. It’s seriously tasty and quite easy to eat because the raspberries add lightness and freshness to the dish.
This recipe needs to be started the day before as the coconut whipped ganache need at least 12 hours in the fridge to rest. It’s also essential to use couverture white chocolate, pure cream, and coconut cream that doesn’t contain any water.
Tell me everyone, what’s your favourite biscuit from your childhood?
Iced VoVo Tartelettes
Ingredients
For the Coconut whipped ganache
- • 160g of couverture white chocolate chopped into small pieces
- • 180g of coconut cream
- • 200g of pure cream cold
Shortbread biscuit base
- • 115g of flour
- • 60g of rice flour
- • 50g of caster sugar
- • Pinch of salt
- • 115g of cold butter in cubes
- • 1 vanilla pod seeds scraped
Pavlova drops
- – 150g of egg whites
- – 280g of extra fine caster sugar
- – ½ tsp of cream of tartar
- – 2 tsp of cornflour
- – ½ tsp of vinegar
- – Some pink food colouring gel
Raspberry and Vanilla Jam
- • 1 vanilla bean seeds scraped
- • 150g of raspberries
- • 30ml of water
- • 4g of pectin NH
- • 20g of sugar
The Raspberry mousse
- • 3 Gold-strength gelatine leaves
- • 300g of fresh or frozen raspberries
- • 30g of sugar
- • 240g of cream
- • 1 vanilla bean seeds scraped `
To assemble
- • 150g of fresh raspberries
- • edible gold leaf optional
Instructions
The Coconut whipped ganache
- Place the white chocolate in a bowl and set aside.
- In a small saucepan, gently heat the coconut cream until it starts to boil. Be careful not to heat it too quickly as it can stick the bottom of the pan and easily burn. Once it starts to boil, pour half over the chocolate. Whisk the coconut cream and chocolate together until almost all the chocolate has melted. Add the second half of the coconut cream and whisk again. Finally add the cold, pure cream and place in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
- The next day, whip the coconut ganache with an electric beater until stiff peaks form. Transfer into a piping bag fitted with a star tip and set aside in the fridge.
The Shortbread biscuit base
- Sift the flour, rice flour into a large bowl. Add the caster sugar, vanilla, salt and cold butter cubes. Use your finger tips to rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it becomes a sandy texture, then start to kneed it. At first this will be difficult as the mixture is quite dry and firm, but continue for approximately 5 minutes and it well eventually come together to form a firm dough.
- Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper, so that it’s approximately 5mm in thickness. Use a large round cookie cutter, 8cm in diameter, to cut out 6 circles. Place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake for 40 mins.
- Once you remove them from the oven they will still be a little soft to touch, but rest assured that they will harden as they cool.
The Pavlovas Drops
- Preheat the oven to 120°C
- Place the sugar in a food processor and blend for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, place the eggwhites in large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until foamy. Slowly add the sugar to the eggwhites, one spoonful at a time. Once all the sugar has been added, continue to beat until stiff peaks form (roughly 5 mins). Use a spatula to fold in the remaining ingredients.
- Fit a piping bag with large round tip. Take a paint brush and dip it in the food colouring gel then paint lines down the side of the piping bag. Fill with the pavlova mixture and pipe as many drop shaped pavlovas as possible onto a baking tray covered with baking paper. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
The Raspberry and Vanilla Jam
- Place the raspberries, water and vanilla in a saucepan, over low heat. Meanwhile, mix together the sugar and pectin. Use a whisk to add the sugar and pectin to the raspberries and mix continuously. Bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and place in the fridge to cool.
The Raspberry mousse
- Place the gelatine leaves in a bowl of cold water and set aside.
- Heat the raspberries, vanilla and sugar in a casserole over low heat. Bring to a boil, add the gelatine (make sure you squeeze out the water), then pour through a sieve to eliminate the raspberry seeds. Place in the fridge to cool slightly.
- Whip the cream so that it has a mousse-like texture and slowly pour in the raspberries. Continue to beat for a couple of minutes. It won’t become thick like a Chantilly so don’t worry if it won’t thicken a lot. Place in the fridge to set.
- Once the mousse becomes firm, give it a final stir then place in a piping bag fitted with a star-shaped tip. Set aside.
To assemble
- Take a biscuit and add a layer of the raspberry jam. Pipe some coconut ganache and raspberry mousse on top. Decorate with fresh raspberries, the pavlova drops and gold leaf.
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