Championnat de France du Dessert Plated Desserts Recipes

Cold Citrus Fruits plated dessert with yuzu, sudachi, and mandarin orange sauce by Clément Réauté, Champion de France du Dessert 2025

Clément Réauté (Fleur de Loire in Blois) is the winner in the professional category of the Championnat de France du Dessert 2025. A victory that “represents the culmination of all my years of work. This competition has been a wonderful experience, with an excellent atmosphere and a particularly high level of quality.”

The chef won over the jury with Cold Citrus Fruits, a dessert in which he wanted to use citrus fruits, as well as their leaves and flowers, for their refreshing, herbaceous, and fresh notes. “Thanks to their diversity, I was able to offer exquisiteness and freshness, limiting myself to trees whose hardiness was below 8°C.”

With this proposal, Réauté’s goal is to showcase “citrus fruits adapted to our climate and with lesser-known flavors. In addition to the fruit, I wanted to represent the different leaves that the citrus fruits from my orchard and Fleur de Loire can have. Furthermore, the mandarin orange sauce creates a parallel with the cold, which allows the citrus fruits to acquire a warm color, giving them softer, sweeter notes.”

Cold Citrus Fruits

Yuzu, sudachi, and citrus leaf sorbet

70 g yuzu puree
100 g sudachi puree
170 g water
100 g powdered sugar
45 g dextrose
1 g Stab 2000
20 g citrus leaves

Heat the yuzu puree and water. Mix the powders and add them to the mixture, then bring to a boil. Let the leaves infuse for 5 minutes off the heat. Strain, blend, and add the sudachi puree.

Citrus leaf oil

250 g sunflower oil
70 g citrus leaves
40 g spinach

Mix and pass through a sieve and strainer.

Mayonnaise

35 g egg yolk
100 g citrus leaf oil (prepared)
15 g honey
10 g caster sugar
25 g sudachi puree

Make a mayonnaise by mixing the yolks, caster sugar, and honey with the citrus leaf oil. Add the remaining puree.

Royal icing

50 g egg white
260 g caster sugar
8 g sudachi puree

Beat until the mixture begins to foam. Spread lightly over the fresh citrus leaves. Let it dry at 70°C for about 2 hours.

Citrus Leaf Biscuit

65 g whole egg
2 g baking powder
60 g sugar
20 g ground almonds
35 g T45 flour
45 g 35% fat cream
25 g citrus leaf oil
1 g lime zest

Beat the eggs with the sugar. Add the ground almonds, baking powder, and flour. Then add the lime zest, single cream, and citrus leaf oil. Place a 20 cm diameter, well-greased baking tin and add 250 g of sponge cake per tin. Bake at 160°C for 10 minutes.

Candied Citrus Segments

400 g citrus segments
80 g powdered sugar
7 g NH pectin
7 g gelatin mass

Heat the segments and add the pectin and sugar. Bring to a boil, add the gelatin mixture, and let cool before using.

“Sour” Cream

35 g sudachi puree
12 g powdered sugar
13 g gelatin mixture
250 g 35% fat cream

Heat the sudachi juice with the sugar and melt the gelatin mixture. Pour over the cream while stirring constantly. Let it set and swell before mixing.

Mandarin orange Sauce

100 g citrus zest
25 g honey
35 g yuzu limoncello
400 g mandarin orange puree
1 g zest
1 g overripe citrus blossom
3 g citrus leaves
3 g tea
1 g citrus blossom
8 g gelatin mixture
2 g NH pectin

Brown the citrus zest in the honey, flambé with the limoncello, and drizzle with the mandarin orange juice. Add the zest, overripe citrus flowers, and pectin. When the sauce has reduced, stir in the tea, citrus leaves, and flowers for 2 minutes. Add the gelatin. Strain and chill.

Opalina citrus leaves

120 g glucose
180 g fondant
1.5 g dried spinach
1.5 g dried citrus leaves
1 g citrus zest

Cook the fondant and glucose at 150°C. Spread on a Silpat, mix with all the ingredients, and blend once cooled. Shape into three leaves for plating.

Candied citrus zest (made in the moment)

200 g water
250 g sugar
250 g citrus peel

Scald the citrus peel once. Mix everything in a saucepan and cook at 90°C until translucent (calamansi and citrus trimmings).

Burnt Citrus Powder (prepared in situ)

One mandarin orange
100 g coarse salt

Place the mandarin orange on a baking sheet with coarse salt and place in the oven at 170°C for several hours. Grind until a powder is obtained.

Seasoning

Sichuan pepper
Citrus bunch
Burnt citrus (prepared in advance)
Fresh citrus

Assembly

First, sprinkle the burnt citrus leaf over the plate and shape it with your hand.

Place the cut biscuit to the left of the plate, and spread the sour cream around it and the candied wedge on top.

Spread the mayonnaise over the burnt citrus powder and use it to form the branch for the royal icing leaf.

Place the candied citrus: the hollowed-out calamansi, the citrus blossom, and the seasoning.

Place the royal icing leaf with burnt citrus powder and the three-leaf opaline.

Pour the sauce into the sauce boat.

Swirl the sorbet and place it on the plate for serving.