Gooseberry Fool Entremet

These are some little entremet desserts featuring an almond joconde sponge with brown sugar decor paste stripes, a gooseberry compote centre and an elderflower chilled souffle topping. They are decorated with crushed syrup biscuits.

The main challenge I had with this bake was the fruit I used. I had envisaged a chilled souffle top with gooseberries folded through but didn't fancy using the red ones I had in my freezer. I therefore decided to buy a tin and they weren't green either, but instead a dirty brown colour. This meant I changed my plans and made a sweetened gooseberry compote instead which is inside the sponge circle. The topping is therefore just creamy and lightly flavoured with elderflower, a perfect accompaniment to the tart gooseberry filling. The brown stripes on the joconde needed to be a little darker, and I also need to perfect my ability to place the sponge into the moulds without it cracking, but on the fourth try I had almost mastered it! I am very pleased with the outcome of the final dessert and have to say, they are better than I expected when I opened my tin of gooseberries!