Pumpkin Trompe l’Oeil

• This recipe makes 5 desserts: one for two servings.
  

Pumpkin Insert

• Peel, seed and cut pumpkin into small cubes. In a saucepan, heat up carrot, orange juice along half of the sugar, orange zest, grated ginger and star anis. Add the pumpkin cubes and cook for 20 minutes until cooked through. Drain and save the juice. Spread pumpkin cubes onto a tray lined with paper towels, and refrigerate. Combine remaining sugar with agar-agar, and add it to the liquid. Bring to boil and cook for 3 minutes, stirring every so often. Cool on ice water until liquid is completely set or refrigerate overnight. Last step, smooth out the chilled carrot-orange liquid using an immersion blender; the texture should resemble to thick honey. Fold in the pumpkin cubes.
  
• Fill up 5 cavities with the pumpkin insert mixture, and freeze overnight.
  

Pumpkin Ganache Montée Mousse

• Soak gelatin in cold water to soften and drain. Place white chocolate in a narrow container and slightly melt in microwave. Bring to a boil the first half heavy cream with the milk. Add it to the chocolate and mix with an immersion blender. Add the soften gelatin and mix. Add the cooked pumpkin pulp and mix. Add remaining and cold heavy cream and mix. Add allspice or pumpkin spice to taste and mix. Mild turmeric of food coloring may be added to enhance the pumpkin color effect. Refrigerate overnight before whipping to medium peaks.
  

Pumpkin Stems

• Use marzipan and cocoa powder. Use a garlic press to create marzipan vermicelle to mimic pumpkin stems. Cocoa powder gives a realistic final touch up.
  

Montage

• The silicone mold placed underneath the large half sphere silicone mold is there to stabilize it (optional). Whip half of the mousse to medium peaks. Fit pastry bag with a narrow piping tip. Fill cavities half way, and place frozen inserts pressing them down slightly. Coat tops with remaining mousse, and freeze for at least 3 hours.
  
• Whip the other half of the ganache montée. De-mold the frozen cakes. Fill silicone mold half way with the mousse again. Place spheres in the mousse upside down. Pipe out a dollop of mousse on top of each cake to create the base of the stem. Smooth out and freeze for a few hours.
  

Carving Pumpkin

• De-mold cakes and leave them in the freezer. With a paring knife (one at the time), scrape out any imperfection left around the spheres, and bottoms to stabilize cakes. Carve tops into more accurate stems. Keep frozen until ready to glaze. Pumpkin spheres can be make weeks in advance and stored wrapped in the freezer.
  

Chocolat Shell Glaze (Enrobage)

• Melt cocoa butter first and combine with white chocolate, mix with an immersion blender and sieve. Use at 113ºF/45ºC. Insert a bamboo skewer firmly inside the frozen cake, and immerse it in glaze. Lift up and rotate until the chocolate sets and place the finished dessert onto an upside down silicon mold. Carefully remove bamboo skewer and stick on the marzipan stem. Repeat until done. Pumpkin shaped dessert must thaw in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
  
• Bon appétit!