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White Chocolate Panna Cotta (with Coconut and Hibiscus Syrup Pearls)
5 from 14 votes

White Chocolate Panna Cotta (with Coconut and Hibiscus Syrup Pearls)

White Chocolate Panna Cotta is a smooth dessert set with gelatin that combines coconut milk, half-and-half, white chocolate, and vanilla. Served with delicate hibiscus syrup pearls formed using sodium alginate and calcium lactate, it offers a creamy texture with floral, citrusy burst from the spheres for a refined experience.

Servings: 7 panna
Course: Dessert, Baked Goods, Others
Cuisine: European

Ingredients

White Chocolate Panna Cotta
  • 400 mL coconut milk or cream
  • 300 mL half-and-half
  • ⅓ cup water
  • 113 white chocolate chopped
  • 2 ¼ tsp gelatin 1 packet
  • 60 white sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
Sodium Alginate Bath
  • 450 distilled water
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1 sodium alginate 2g
Hibiscus Syrup and Spheres
  • 500 distilled water
  • 120 g white sugar
  • 20 dried hibiscus flowers
  • 10 cardamom pods optional
  • 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
  • 3/4 tsp Calcium Lactate 1/2 sachet - 2.5g
To serve
  • raspberry optional, a few

Instructions

White Chocolate Panna cotta (make this a day ahead)
    Cup of Yum
  1. Lightly oil seven, ½ cup ramekins or dishes and place them on a tray. Set aside.
  2. Pour the water into a small dish and sprinkle the gelatin evenly on top and mix it with the water using a toothpick. Leave the gelatin to bloom for about 10-15 minutes.
  3. Place the half and half in a saucepan and heat on medium-heat until you start to see steam. Then add the chopped white chocolate and sugar, lower the heat and stir until the chocolate and sugar have completely melted.
  4. Next add the coconut cream and vanilla and heat till you start to see steam, or till it gently simmers. Do not boil the mixture.
  5. While mixture is on low-heat, add the bloomed gelatin and continuously stir until the gelatin has completely dissolved. DO NOT BOIL THE MIXTURE, as this will affect the gelatin.
  6. Pour the mixture into the prepared ½ cup ramekins. Cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge to set overnight.
Sodium Alginate Bath (make this a day ahead)
  1. Blend 450 mL (2 cups) of distilled water and sugar with 1 sachet of Sodium Alginate (2g). Blend for a few minutes until the additive has completely dissolved. The bath should be viscous and a little cloudy - i.e. thick but fluid (hasn't formed a gel).
  2. Cover and let it rest in the fridge for 12-24 hours.
Hibiscus Syrup Pearls (make the syrup a day ahead and the pearls the next day, however the pearls can be made and stored in the right solution for up to 24 hours)
  1. Bring the water to a boil and add the hibiscus, sugar and cardamom.
  2. Simmer on low-heat, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
  3. Strain and measure out 260 mL / 8.8 floz of the hibiscus syrup. Save the rest in the fridge (you will need it to store the spheres).
  4. Blend in a generous ¼ tsp of Xanthan gum into the hibiscus syrup using an immersion blender or a regular blender.
  5. Add ¾ tsp of the Calcium Lactate (about ½ of the sachet) and blend it in for a few minutes until it has dissolved and dispersed through the liquid.
  6. Cover and let it rest in the fridge till the bubbles disappear (at least for a few hours, since the liquid is thick, it will require a longer time. I left mine overnight, and still there were bubbles.)
  7. The next day, set up your workplace, with all the tools and ingredients you need. The Hibiscus syrup solution (with calcium lactate), bowl with sodium alginate solution, bowl with distilled water, bowl/cup with saved hibiscus tea, Molecule-R measuring spoons, pipette and slotted spoon.
  8. To make the spheres, drop the liquid (hibiscus syrup solution) into the alginate bath. Make sure the spheres don’t touch. Gently swirl them in the solution, to make sure they sink to the bottom and that they do not touch. Wait for about 2-3 minutes and then collect them with the slotted spoon and rinse them in the water bath. Transfer them to the saved hibiscus tea (you need to test the first batch of each size of sphere to make sure the membrane is sturdy. If it’s too fragile and it breaks, keep the spheres in the alginate bath a little longer.) Please see notes regarding different sizes of spheres.
  9. Once the spheres are made and transferred to the hibiscus tea, cover and store in the fridge.
Serving
  1. Run a sharp, warm, thin knife along the side/edge of the panna cotta to loosen it. Then move the ramekin around to make sure the panna cotta pulls away from the ramekin. Turn out the panna cotta onto a serving dish. Serve with 1 or 2 large spheres and top with smaller spheres and a few raspberries (optional).
  2. WITHOUT MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY - Alternatively, just pour some of the thickened Hibiscus syrup (made using Xanthan gum) on to the panna cotta with a few raspberries on top.

Notes

  • Use a pipette or measuring spoons to control the size of hibiscus syrup spheres for desired presentation.
  • Do not overcrowd the sodium alginate bath to prevent the spheres from sticking together.
  • Prepare the panna cotta at least the day before to allow proper setting time.
  • Gelatin should be fully dissolved without boiling the mixture to preserve texture.