This is a recipe inspired by Cedric Grolet. Its peculiarity is to capture the full orange flavour with a reduced amount of sugar.
Equipment
Outer mold. I'm using Sphere Ø 55mm by Pavoni.
Inner mold. I'm using Sphere Ø 45mm by Pavoni.
Orange velvet spray or equivalent. I'm using Orange velvet spray by Silikomart.
Suggested schedule
Coating should be done one day before serving. This will allow all the creams to reach the perfect texture.
Day 1
Orange compote pt. 1
250g Orange juice
25g Powder sugar. This might be optional depending on the oranges sweetness and the result that you want to achieve. It might be still useful to combine with the agar agar and prevent lumps from creating while mixing with the orange juice.
4g Agar agar
In a saucepan bring half of the orange juice to simmer, then add the agar agar combined with sugar. You can also add agar agar alone but you should really proceed gradually, otherwise you might easily have lumps.
Add the remaining orange juice.
Let it rest in the fridge overnight.
Day 2
Whipped vanilla ganache (by Antonio Bachour)
90g Heavy cream (35% fat)
10g Invert sugar (or honey)
10g Glucose (or corn syrup)
1/2 Vanilla pod
70g White chocolate
125g Heavy cream (35% fat) cold
1.25g Gelatine sheet (platinum)
Rehydrate the gelatine in cold water for 5-10 minutes.
Put the 90 g heavy cream, invert sugar, glucose and vanilla pod into a small pot and bring to simmer.
Add the rehydrated gelatine, then gradually pour on the chocolate and stir until fully incorporated.
Add the cold cream and mix with a hand blender. Target is just to incorporate (and not to emulsify) so a few seconds are enough.
Let to set in the fridge overnight.
Orange compote pt. 2
Orange compote from Day 1
(optional) 1g Xanthan gum
(optional) q.s. Orange juice
12g Mint leaves (chopped)
280g candied oranges. Preparing candied orange at home is the preferred option but in case you can buy and use good quality ones.
100g orange segments (without peel)
Blend the compote to a soft texture with a hand blender and eventually add orange juice and xanthan gum to adjust. Target is to get something smooth and silky.
Add mint, candied oranges and orange segments and combine with a spatula.
Assembly pt. 1
Pour the orange compote in the inner mold. If you don't have a full spheres mold you can use a half spheres one and combine the two halves later on.
Let it rest in freezer overnight.
Day 3
Assembly pt. 2
Whip the vanilla ganache till medium peaks, then pipe it to fill half of the outer spheres in the mold.
Place a orange compote frozen sphere on the whipped vanilla ganache and close the mold.
Push the compote sphere gently so that it reaches the proper position. This should also allow to distribute the whipped vanilla ganache on the top part of the mold. You can still add some ganache if needed.
Let it rest in freezer overnight.
Day 4
Coating
100g white chocolate
100g cocoa butter
2g orange color (liposoluble)
q.s. Orange velvet spray. I'm using this from Silikomart.
Melt the cocoa butter on a low heat.
Pour over the chocolate and mix till smooth.
The mixture should be used at a temperature between 42°C and 44°C. If temperature is lower you can heat the whole mixture in the microwave at low power (you can use microwave even to melt the whole mixture if you want to use it on the following days). Also, in order to keep the temperature at the right level you can use kitchen film to cover the container and remove it only when you are ready to dip.
Use a skewer to dip the orange body into the coating and remove it immediately. In a few seconds the coating will set and you can remove the hazelnut from the skewer with hands.
Let it rest in the fridge for at least 6 hours (e.g. in a airtight container folded with tinfoil). Ideally you can dip in the evening and serve on the following day.
30 mins before serving use the orange velvet spray to create the orange peel effect and let it set. Don't perform this operation right after coating, otherwise the spray will melt.