This layered mango panna cotta is an absolutely delicious yet easy to put together dessert. A perfect way to use mangoes during summer and wow your guests.
I love panna cotta as a dessert. It is an easy to put together dessert, and always loved by everyone. What’s not to love- a luscious creamy pudding that you can prep in advance. Plus, it tastes great with fresh ripe fruits like strawberries, cherries, peaches and in this case mango.
Panna cotta is also easily adaptable to fit many dietary restrictions. It is gluten free in its most simple form, and with a few easy dairy replacements can be made vegan too.
So, what is Panna Cotta?
Panna cotta is an italian dessert, made from warming cream just enough to dissolve sugar and gelatin. It is served chilled, and is super easy to make. Panna cotta can be a very light, soft pudding using milk and fruit puree, or a rich, thick pudding using mostly cream. The basic core ingredients are inexpensive, and yet it tastes luxurious and looks beautiful.
Wikipedia cites the origins of panna cotta to a Hungarian woman in the early 1900s, though there is also a mention of a dish in an 1879 dictionary made of cream cooked with gelatin and molded. Whatever the origins, panna cotta is one dessert you should have in your recipe cards.
How do you make Panna Cotta?
Many are under the wrong impression that panna cotta is a complicated dessert. It isn’t. There are very few steps in the preparation of panna cotta, and the only way you can screw up is if you don’t dissolve the gelatin properly.
The steps to make panna cotta are pretty simple.
Warm the cream in a saucepan.
Add sugar, and heat the cream till the sugar dissolves. (Here is when you can get creative by infusing the cream with vanilla beans, or different spices or adding coffee or any other flavor)
While you are warming up the cream, soften the gelatin in a cold liquid.
Once the gelatin blooms, you add that to the warm cream mixture, making sure there are no lumps.
This mixture is then poured into molds, and allowed to set.
You can serve the panna cotta in the molds itself, or unmold and top it with your favorite toppings. Fresh fruit makes a lovely pairing with the creamy panna cotta.
The hardest part about making panna cotta is achieving the proper consistency and texture—it should be silky smooth and just firm, with a gentle wobble. Getting the cream to gelatin ratio helps in that. For every cup of cream, 3/4 tsp-1 tsp gelatin is the ideal ratio to get a good texture.
Eggless Black Forest Cake: Layers of eggless chocolate cake sandwiched with whipped cream and liqueur infused cherries.
Growing up black forest cake, and pineapple pastries or Pineapple cake and black forest pastries were the most popular cake/pastry options for birthday parties. We all have grown up on black forest cake for our birthdays or a relative’s birthday.
I have previously shared a Swiss Black Forest Cake recipe on the blog. These days a lot of my cake recipes are met with request for eggless versions. So I took it upon myself to try an eggless version of the black forest cake.
The recipe that I am sharing today while vegetarian is not entirely vegan- although with a few substitutions you can make this eggless black forest cake vegan too.
What is Black Forest Cake?
Black Forest gâteau or Black Forest cake is based on the German dessert Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.
The recipe I am sharing is my version for an Eggless Black Forest Cake.
This easy panna cotta recipe with toasted oat crumble and roasted peaches is a great summer entertaining dessert. Sharing a video tutorial on how to make panna cotta and get the slanted presentation look.
Summer is stone fruit season. Summer also means hot days. You want easy recipes that don’t take too much time in the kitchen. And if you are like me, you want to make use of all the stone fruits possible for fruit based desserts.
If you are entertaining and looking for an easy summer dessert recipe, panna cotta is a lovely option. Despite being cream based, panna cotta is a light dessert and when you pair it with roasted peaches and some toasted oat crumble you get a myriad of textures and flavors.
The slightly tart and sweet roasted peaches complement the creamy panna cotta. The toasted oat crumble gives a crunchy texture. I love desserts where you get to experience different textures. After watching multiple episodes of Masterchef Australia, I realized how just adding a few more elements with complementing flavors and textures can lift a dessert from being simple to wow.
Both the toasted oat crumble and roasted peaches come together quickly. Make the panna cotta first, since it takes about 4 hours to set, and while the panna cotta is setting, make the toasted oat crumble and roasted peaches. The only tricky part of this panna cotta recipe is mixing the warmed cream with the bloomed gelatin. You have to be careful not to get lumps. But in case you do, that too can be taken care of by passing the mixture through a sieve.
When you are ready to serve, do not forget to add the mint. It is what gives freshness to this dessert. Panna cotta is best served immediately after it is set. If let to stay for longer than a day or two, the gelatin makes the panna cotta rubbery. You could counter that effect by letting the panna cotta sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. But I don’t think it would last that long in the refrigerator!
Remember when I used to make food videos for the blog? I took a break in between and now while I make videos for clients, I hadn’t been making for the blog any more. I am planning to change that. Today, with the recipe, I am also sharing a short video tutorial for the panna cotta.
This video would not have been possible without the help of my friend Anubhav (you can follow his work here), who helped me with shooting the footage. We worked on another video together too, and I will share the recipe and the video for that soon. Hope you like the video. I would love to hear your thoughts on it.
The panna cotta recipe is the same as the one I used for the panna cotta with roasted strawberries (another great recipe to try this summer). There are so many ways you can serve panna cotta. And even though it looks super fancy, its very quick and easy to make. I hope you get to try it out. If you do try the recipe, do let me know. You can share your pictures by tagging me on instagram, facebook, twitter or by leaving a comment here.
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, or 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
4 tsp powdered gelatin
6 tablespoons (90ml) cold water
Fresh mint leaves, to garnish
For the roasted peaches:
6 peaches, cut into slices
1 tbsp honey
½ tsp lemon zest
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp water
2 tbsp bourbon/brandy
1 tsp vanilla
For the oat crumble
4 tbsp melted butter
4 tbsp whole wheat flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp oats
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp crushed almonds
¼ tsp cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
Instructions
For the Panna Cotta:
Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a saucepan.
Once the sugar is dissolved, and the cream is substantially warm, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
Lightly grease the custard cups or any mould that you are using for your panna cotta with a neutral-tasting oil.
Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium-sized bowl and let stand 5 to 10 minutes till it swells up.
Pour the very warm Panna Cotta mixture over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved.
Divide the Panna Cotta mixture into the prepared cups. If you are wary whether your gelatin has set or not, strain the mixture before pouring into the cups.
Chill the panna cotta until firm, which will take at least two hours but preferably let them set for at least four hours.
If you’re pressed for time, pour the Panna Cotta mixture into wine goblets so you can serve them in the glasses, without unmolding. To get the slanting look, hold the glasses in a slanting position with the help of loaf pan, or a dish that comfortably holds them at a slant. Pour the cream-gelatin mix mix into glasses until half full. Allow to chill in slanting position until set. .
To make Panna Cotta with sheet gelatin: Soften 25g (approximately six sheets) in a liter of cold water for 5 to 10 minutes. Wring the sheets out and stir them into the warm Panna Cotta mixture in step # 4, until dissolved.
For the peaches:
Preheat oven to 220 C. Slice the peaches and remove the stones. Arrange on baking tray. Sprinkle with brown sugar, honey, lemon zest, brandy/bourbon, water and add butter. Mix and bake in oven for 20 minutes or until peaches are soft and caramelized nicely.
For the oat crumble:
Preheat oven to 325/175.
In a large bowl mix the oats, flour, almonds, cinnamon nutmeg.
In another bowl, whisk the butter with the honey and vanilla; drizzle over the crumb topping and mix until well coated.
Spread the mix on a baking sheet. Bake for 25-30 minutes till golden brown. Let cool completely, about an hour.
To serve:
Run a sharp knife around the edge of each Panna Cotta and unmold each onto a serving plate.
Top each with a little of the roasted peach and toasted oat crumble. Garnish with 2-3 fresh mint leaves.
