6 delicious desserts to present in cups

These desserts can be both for your own enjoyment and to delight our guests. They are also a good resource to enrich and accompany the taper that you take to work.

Where does the fashion of taking desserts in cups come from? Who was the first person who decided to put a dessert in a glass? Well, it turns out that it was not exactly a pastry chef who invented them, or at least, who created this trend.

The credit goes to a British pharmacist named James Horlink, a specialist in the development of nutritional supplements for the health of newborns. In 1873, the Londoner moved to the United States to open, together with his brother, a factory of these cereal-based supplements, and what began as porridge ended up being smoothies, ice cream and, finally, the famous desserts in glasses.

DESSERTS IN A CUP: A PRACTICAL FASHION

Desserts in a cup are the latest fashion. Thousands of bakeries and restaurants around the world are serving them, although in reality it is not something new.

It is a perfect way to introduce desserts that you could not normally make in the form of a cake, either because of the very liquid textures or because the layers would not support their own weight. They are also very easy to preserve and transport, let alone eat.

In general, dessert cups are usually composed of at least three different layers, among which the ones we will see below stand out.

• Delicious bases. They can be biscuits, with common flours, wholemeal, gluten-free or nuts, which make a difference. Cookies in their different forms (crumbles, biscuits sables or cookies …) are an ideal base. You could also make puff pastries, profiteroles, toast …
• Sophisticated creams or sauces. They are essential, since a creaminess and adequate amount will make the final experience in the mouth pleasant and balanced. Sometimes the cream is the protagonist, others will accompany cookies or biscuits a little dry. Of course, always thinking that all the ingredients make sense both in texture and taste.
• A touch of fruit. It is ideal that they have some fruit, natural or cooked, as a main part of the dish or as a complement. They provide a fresh touch and are a fantastic natural sweetener to replace or reduce sugar in the recipe.

Any classic dessert can be transformed to fit in these cups, such as tiramisu, cheesecake, carrot cake… and even the famous sacher cake. They are also known as verrines, which in France means jar, or trifles, desserts formed by many layers and currently also served in glass.

We encourage you with these 6 original recipes.

CUPS OF CHOCOLATE CAKE, PEANUTS AND ROASTED BANANA

Ingredients for 6 cups

For the cake:

• 50 g coconut butter
• 75 g dark chocolate coating
• 80 ml soft olive oil
• 100 ml soy milk
• 100 g brown sugar
• 160 g rice flour
• 1 g baking soda
• 1 g yeast
• 2 g salt
• 5 g flax powder

In addition:

• 100 g salted peanuts
• 50 g brown sugar
• 3 ripe bananas

Preparation (45 minutes)

For the cake:

1. Melt the coconut butter with the chocolate coating and mix with a few rods until the mixture is dissolved and homogeneous.
2. Add the oil, soy milk and add the rest of the dry ingredients sifted until they are well integrated.
3. Bake for about 20 minutes in a mold at 180 ºC.

For peanuts:

1. In a skillet, put the brown sugar until it melts (without stirring) and then add the peanuts.
2. Stir until the peanuts are covered with the caramel and stretch them on baking paper to dry well.

For bananas:

1. Bake the unpeeled bananas at 180 ºC until you see that the skin acquires a blackish tone.

For the presentation:

1. Cut the cake irregularly.
2. Place chocolate cake pieces interspersed with pieces of roasted banana, cut into slices, and salted peanuts in the cup.

COCONUT PANNA COTTA, RASPBERRY COMPOTE AND PECAN CRUMBLE

Ingredients for 6 cups

For the coconut panna cotta:

• 500 g coconut milk
• 25 g xylitol
• 18 g cornstarch
• 0.75 g agar-agar

For raspberry compote:

• 100 g raspberries
• 10 g brown sugar

For the pecan crumble:

• 60 g rice flour
• 60 g pecans
• 60 g non-hydrogenated bio margarine
• 60 g coconut sugar
• A pinch of salt

Preparation (45 min + 3 h rest)

For the coconut panna cotta:

1. Dissolve well in coconut milk, with a few rods and cold, xylitol, cornstarch and agar-agar.
2. In a saucepan, while stirring, heat everything until it boils.
3. Then dose quickly in cups and let it get in the fridge.

For raspberry compote:

1. Meanwhile, in a frying pan cook the raspberries with a little sugar until they acquire a jam texture. Reservation.

For the crumble:

1. Process the pecans into a powder, and then mix it with the coconut sugar and rice flour with a pinch of salt.
2. Make a dough with all the ingredients and margarine; It has to be like a kind of “earth”, which you have to spread on a baking paper.
3. Then put it in the oven at 170 ºC for 5-7 minutes or until you see that it is golden.
4. When you take it out of the oven, you break it well so that it ends up having that form of “earth” that we seek to give it.

For assembly:

1. Serve on the cups of panna cotta that you have previously molded, a generous tablespoon of raspberry compote.
2. When serving, sprinkle the crumble.

GLASSES OF CARROT CAKE, BROWN RICE TOFFEE AND CARROTS IN LICORICE SYRUP

Ingredients for 6 cups

For the carrot cake:

• 90 g corn flour
• 20 g cornstarch
• 9 g yeast
• 10 g flax powder
• 60 g brown sugar
• 100 g carrot juice
• 40 g grated carrot
• 100 g soy milk
• 20 g olive oil
• 3 g cinnamon
• 1 g nutmeg
• A pinch of salt

For the toffee:

• 100 g vegetable milk
• 25 g cooked brown rice
• 20 g dates
• 1 g vanilla powder

For carrots in syrup:

• 100 g mineral water
• 50 g brown sugar
• 50 g baby carrots
• A sprig of licorice

Preparation (1 hour)

For the carrot cake:

1. Blend the carrots until you get the necessary juice on one side and the pulp on the other.
2. Mix the result obtained with soy milk and olive oil, and then add all the sieved solids. Spices can vary depending on taste.
3. Bake at 175 ºC in a pan for about 15 minutes.

For toffee:

1. Make the toffee in a saucepan from a cold vegetable drink with dates and rice, until it boils.
2. Then crush with a turmix or food processor and let it cool.

For carrots in syrup:

1. Prepare a syrup with water and sugar. Boil until the sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Leave it for a minute along with the licorice over low heat.
3. Peel the baby carrots and incorporate them into the syrup. Let the carrots cook for about 30 seconds.

For assembly:

1. Cut the carrot cake cubed about 2 cm on each side.
2. At the base of a flat cup place a generous spoonful of toffee serve about 3 cubes of carrot cake along with 3 half baby carrots and let it cool.

LEMON CREAM, EARL GREY TEA CAKE AND CARDAMOM JELLY

Ingredients for 6 cups

For the lemon cream:

• 150 ml lemon juice
• 150 ml water
• 60 g rice syrup
• Lemon zest
• 15 g kuzu
• 1 g turmeric

For the Earl Grey cake:

• 115 g flour
• 45 g soft oil
• 3 earl grey tea bags
• 50 g panela
• 130 g soy milk
• 1 g baking soda
• 2 g yeast

For cardamom gelatin:

• 100 g water
• 20 g xylitol
• 7 g cardamom seeds
• 1/2 orange peel
• 1 g agar

Preparation (1h + 1h rest)

For the cream:

1. Dilute the kuzu in 50 ml of juice and 50 ml of water and put in a saucepan the remaining 200 ml with the syrup, turmeric and zest.
2. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and add the kuzu mixture stirring with rods.
3. Once thickened, remove the cream and cool it protected with film in contact with the surface.

For the cake:

1. Boil the milk and infuse the tea bags (soak them in water first).
2. Mix the infusion once cold with the oil and incorporate the rest of the ingredients varillando.
3. Bake 25 min in a flat, spacious pan at 180°C.

For gelatin:

1. In a saucepan, cold mix the water, agar, xylitol, seeds and orange peel.
2. Rod well and bring to a boil.
3. When it boils, strain it, dose it into a mold and let it gel.

For the presentation:

In each glass put a layer of sponge cake, another of cream and a few cubes of gelatin, repeat and finish with the lemon cream and gelatin.

MANGO CREAM, ORANGE SABLÉ AND CRUNCHY CHOCOLATE

Ingredients for 6 cups

For the custard:

• 2 ripe mangoes
• 3 ripe bananas

For the orange sable:

• 110 g rice flour
• 100 g almond powder
• 2 g baking soda
• 80 g panela
• 70 g non-hydrogenated organic margarine
• A pinch of salt
• Orange peel zest

For the crunchy:

• 100 g vegan white chocolate

Preparation

For the custard:

1. Peel and crush the mangoes and bananas well until you get a puree.
2. Let it cool in the fridge, in a container or in a piping bag.

For the orange sable:

1. Mix the ingredients except the zest, bake the cookie on a paper tray, 6 minutes at 170 ºC.
2. Once out of the oven, chop it and grate the peel of an orange.

For the crunchy:

1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl.
2. Stretch a layer of chocolate as thin as possible on a baking paper and let it crystallize in the fridge.
3. Then cut the chocolates by hand and store in a container at room temperature.

Presentation:

1. Place the mango cream in each cup.
2. At the time of serving, put a few pieces of orange sabléde, some white chocolate bars and a little orange zest.

PEA TIRAMISU, MATCHA AND WHITE CHOCOLATE

Ingredients for 4 cups

For the cake:

• 100 g flour
• 20 g organic margarine
• 15 g matcha tea
• 75 g xylitol
• 25 g sunflower oil
• 70 ml soy milk
• 70 g pea smoothie
• 1 g baking soda
• 2 g yeast

For matcha tea bath:

• 100 ml vegetable drink
• 10 ml matcha tea

For the chocolate mousse:

• 100 g vegan whipping cream
• 25 g white chocolate

Preparation (45 minutes)

1. For the cake, mix the dry in a bowl. Add the soy milk and pea smoothie and mix well. Add the melted margarine and finally the oil. Mix well with rods and let stand 5 minutes. Place it in a pastry frame or a square mold.
2. Cook in the oven at 180°C for 20 minutes without opening the door and let cool on a rack. Then, unmold, remove the edges and open in half. With the help of a brush, wet with the matcha tea bath.
3. For the matcha tea bath, bring to a boil and let cool.
4. For the white chocolate mousse, melt the chocolate in a water bath. Whip the cream a little and add the melted chocolate.
5. Finish assembling and reserve in sleeve to fill the cake.
6. Cut to taste, sprinkle matcha on top and serve with pea sprouts.

HOW TO GET THE CRISPY LAYER OF THE CUP

In general, dessert cups are usually composed of different layers (a base, a cream or sauce and some fruit …) and you cannot miss one that presents a crunchy texture.

To achieve that texture, we can resort to:

• Cookies. You simply have to crush them to get a crunchy and delicious base.
• Nuts. It is the healthiest option. Toasted hazelnuts, walnuts and pistachios break a little with the delicacy of creams and biscuits.
• Chocolate sheets. They provide that crunchy structure and complement with almost any sweet.