So this is my first Gastronautics blog posting and I keep hearing Anthony Bourdain's comments about food bloggers (let's just say he has some choice words about them) in my mind. I'm also amused that my first post is about a dessert, but it seems that I've been doing quite a few things on the dessert front recently.
Inspired by a post on Khymos about edible cocktails made with gelatine and having a little time to experiment this past weekend, I set about making a B52 that you can eat with a fork. The B52 I found particularly enticing because of how visually striking the three layers of Kahlua, Bailey's and Grand Marnier look.
Making the edible version of this cocktail was simplicity itself. Simply acquire a small bottle of Kahlua, Bailey's and Grand Marnier followed by a few sachets of gelatine. I used powdered gelatine rather than the blooming sheets, and found that one sachet gave exactly the results I was looking for when I used 250mL of each of the liquors.
One point of interest is that it almost looks like the Kahlua subliminates during storage of the cocktail. I thinking I should replace the gelatine with agar next time I attempt this and create something akin to a cheesecake, but have no idea how EtOH will affect the gelling process -- although I've found agar to be resistant to high pH levels in my lime-based terrine and am hopeful that EtOH and agar are equally friendly.
So, my recipe is as follows:
250mL of Kahlua
250mL of Bailey's
250mL of Grand Marnier
3*sachets of Knox brand gelatine (7g per sachet)
75mL of water
In a small (360mL) saucepan add a small (25mL) amount of water and dissolve the gelatine in it over low heat. Add the Kahlua and warm until you start noticing liquid loss, but not at a high enough heat you boil the mixture. Pour into a loaf tin lined with cling film (using a little butter/margarine/oil to help the cling film smooth and line the tin). Place loaf tin in fridge. Repeat process with Bailey's, but be sure to let the Bailey's solution cool to close to room temperature before pouring on top of the set Kahlua. Then repeat process with Grand Marnier.
Adding a little Microplane'd lemon zest would make for an attractive presentation. Consume fairly quickly as product seems to loose shape and density after a couple of days in a cold (3c) fridge.
Enjoy!
