Mango Chocolate Mousse Cake

If I'm not mistaken, I made this cake for a little boy six years ago which I think he has no longer a little boy now but a big and tall teenager. Lately, my cell group had an April babies birthday celebrations and I would like to give this recipe a try again after so many years. 

I always very particular with mousse cake as I don't like it to be set too firm like jelly or not able to set after unmold from the cake tin. So using the right amount of gelatin is quite crucial. I want the texture to be just right soft that melt in the mouth naturally but set nicely. Choosing the right gelatin also very particular for me too as gelatin powder and gelatin leaves is different. I always go for gelatin leaves as it is adour free and I feel the mousse texture is nicer. Unfortunately,  during half way of the mousse making process, I found out I had not enough gelatin leaf. So I had no choice to add some gelatin powder that was after a quick browse from the Internet to get a right conversion of gelatin leaves to powder. I really cannot afford to fail this attempt as it is a birthday cake that going to serve many people. With that little guts of me by using two types of gelatins,  I pray that the cake will set nicely. 

Finally, I got the feed back for the mousse that set really nicely like no gelatin was added. It's melted in the mouth naturally unlike jelly. Oh! My heart feel settled after hearing that and  quickly had a mouthful of the cake. I'm very pleased with the result. As for me, I always reduce gelatin from any recipes that I follow to feed my taste bud but really need some guts to do it.

Recipe for a 9 inches spring form cake tin lined with transparent dessert paper around inside of the cake tin. 

Prepare an 8 inches cocoa sponge cake and divide into three pieces. You will need two pieces only. 

Follow the recipe of 8 inches.Cocoa Sponge Cake

Recipe for the chocolate mousse: 30g egg yolks / 45g sugar / 120ml melted butter / 225g dark chocolate (melted) / 375ml whipped cream

Whisk the egg yolk and sugar on a double boiler until pale in color and thicken. Mix in the melted butter.

Add the melted dark chocolate to the egg yolk mixture, mix until well combine.

Fold in the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture.

Place one piece of cake at the bottom of a cake mould. I brush some coointeau on the cake but you can ignore this, then fill in the chocolate mousse. Place in the fridge to set while preparing the mango mousse.

Recipe for the mango mousse: 300ml mango puree / 100g sugar / 30ml lemon juice / 4 1/2 pieces gelatin leaves/ 450ml whipped cream

Put the gelatines into a bowl of cold water. Wait until it soften.

In another sauce pan, warm the mango puree and sugar until the sugar dissolved. Mix in the lemon juice.

Drain the gelatins and add into the warm mango puree.

Wait until the mango puree cool down, fold in the whipped cream.

Add another layer of chocolate sponge on top of the mousse then add the mango mousse.

Refrigerate for at least 8 hours or best overnight. 

For the topping, warm 120g mango puree with 1 tablespoon caster sugar and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. 

Dissolve 1/2 teasppon corn flour with 1 teaspoon water then add into the warm mango puree. 

Layer on top of the cake once the mixture completely cool down. Garnish with some mango cubes and mint leaves. Unmold the spring form cake tin and take off the transparent dessert paper.

Slice the cake with a hot knife and mission complete. Enjoy!

Fun with fondue pot

I have just realised this little pot is actually  a really fun thing to play with especially for the weekend where everyone is relaxing at home or friends coming over for chit chat. It was such a waste I have been keeping few of them in my storeroom for  years until lately my son remind me he loves to blow candles. With this particular reason I have a reason for him to sit down and finish his meal with me and then he  is allowed to blow the fondue candle. It works! 

The first fondue I made is dessert fondue which serve along with my son's favorites fruits. Then the second is savoury cheese fondue serve with some vegetables. I personally like to dip the green apple with cheese, somehow I find the taste goes very well together. Nowadays,  playing with the fondue pot is something very special for my son, my hubby and me too! We are looking forward to have it every weekend, crazy us! Someone even request for curry fondue, isn't it crazy?

I discovered two quite nice and simple to made recipes for chocolate fondue and cheese fondue. Before I discover a better one, I will stick on this two recipes.

Chocolate Fondue:
I used half of the following ingredients for a small family like us.

3/4 cup heavy cream
8 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 to 4 tablespoons liqueur, such as chocolate (Godiva), hazelnut (Frangelico), almond (amaretto), orange (Grand Marnier), or coffee (Kahlúa)
Some favorites choices of fruits such as banana,  strawberry,  raspberry,  grapes, breadsticks etc.

Place the cream in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce the heat to low, add the chocolate, and whisk until smooth.
Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter until smooth. Whisk in the liqueur until incorporated and smooth.
Transfer to a fondue pot and serve with desired dippers.

Cheddar cheese fondue:

The following ingredients for serving 4 to 6 person. I used half of the ingredients for a small family like us.

2 cups milk

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons ground dry mustard

1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

6 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
some favorite choices of vegetables, garlic bread, tortilla chips etc.

Place a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix together milk, soy sauce, crusted garlic and mustard. In another bowl coat the  cheddar cheese with flour. Then add into the warm mixture. Cook stirring frequently, until melted, about 10 minutes.

Season with salt and black pepper. Continue cooking until all ingredients are well blended, about 10 minutes.
Transfer mixture to a double boiler or fondue pot to keep warm while serving.

Orange Chiffon

I have no idea how many decades that I have not bake chiffon. Looking at many baking buddies are busy with their chiffon baking that make my hand very itchy to have mine as well.  I really miss the light and flufiines of the chiffon  so this morning I quickily come out with this orange chiffon provided with the ingredients that are available in my kitchen. 

I am very satisfy with the result. It tasted very fragrant and the texture no doubt is soft and fluffy. I believe the orange zest play an important role in this recipe as well as the big amount of orange juice that had added in. 

It does not looks beaitiful but something very simple and refreshing cake. It was chilled before serve, what could I say, sometimes, simplicity is kind of satisfaction in life.

Recipe for 17cm chiffon pan:

110g egg whites

55g caster sugar

5g corn flour

40g egg yolks

36g orange juice

36g vegetable oil

2 orange zest

55g plain flour

2 tablespoon water

• Combine the egg yolk, orange juice, vegetable oil, orange zest, water and flour until well mixed.

• In another clean bowl, beat the egg white until soft peak then gradually add in the sugar and continue beating. Lastly add in the corn flour. Beat until nearly stiff peak and stop.

• Fold in the egg white into egg yolk batter in three batches untill well combine.

• Pour the batter into the chiffon pan and bake at 180C preheated oven for 30 minutes.

• Take out from the oven and place the cake upside down until completely cool down. Place in the fridge for an hour then unmold and serve.

Durian Log Cake

I would like to use this Christmas log cake to make a closing for this year food posting. Here is my first white Christmas log cake and I thought of why not use the durian flesh to make the dressing as everyone of my  guests is a durian lover. The feedback is good and very well accepted. This log cake is absolutely  for the love of durian!

Recipe for the cake 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷

2 peices of plain sponge (size 36cm x 26cm)

Unsalted butter 40g

Egg yolk 100g

Caster sugar 20g

Egg white 160g

Caster Sugar 75g

Plain flour 55g

Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper. Melt the butter than set a side to cool.

Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a double boiler until thicken and pale in color. In another bowl whisk the egg whites with caster sugar until peak foam.

Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites then gently fold in the shifted flour.

Pour some egg mixture into a clean bowl then mix in the melted butter until well combine.  Pour back into the egg mixture and mix gently until everything well combine.

Pour the batter into prepared baking tray and spread evenly. Bake at 190C for 12 minutes. Remove the cake from the baking tray immediate when it out from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Tear out the side of the baking paper and let it completely cool down and ready to use.

For the durian cream:

450g durian flesh (pureed)

400ml whipping cream (whipped)

300g custard (refer durian cake recipe)

Mix the custard with durian puree then fold in the whipped cream.

Cut the sponge cake into 10cm inch pieces (total 6 pieces)

Spread the durian cream on the cake and roll it up.  Keep in fridge until set. Serve immediately while it is cold from the fridge.

Framboise de Chocolat

I was given a privilege to make a birthday cake for a cell leader and requested that the cake has to be filled with plenty of cream and strawberries. Oh no! That's sound very much similar to the cake I did for my hubby last month. Well, I got to do something different as I will feel bored making the same thing again and this raspberry chocolate mousse cake come to my mind as I remember the taste was very well accepted by 200 folks in a pastor retirement ceremony 5 years ago. Woah! It was so long ago and I hope my skills is still there. 

Why framboise?  Fraimboise is the French word of raspberry and is often used to refer to alcohol distilled with the fruit which is one of my favorite ingredient for making cakes and desserts. Raspberry and chocolate are always the best combination. It bits of sour gives a ununique taste that refresh and lighten the chocolate mousse.

Ignore the strawberry and fresh cream on the cake which it is not suppose to be there but as for special request it ended up with this instead of raspberry. I couldn't manage to take a picture of the inner part of the cakes because it went off to everyone tummy in no time. Here is a sample of a piece of cut out cakes 5 years back and I manage to dig it out from somewhere. 

The previous cake was made with almond sponge base but this time I used my favorite cocoa sponge cake that I think will be suitable for asian taste buds. Other than the sponge base and the outlook of cream with strawberries; the mousse and the raspberry puree are still remain the same recipe. Again, this cake was very well accepted from everyone in the cell group.

Updated on 7th Dec:
A cell member manage to took this picture and pass it to me. Here give you an idea the look of a cut out cake.

Recipe for a 9 inches round cake

Two pieces of 8 inches cocoa sponge base

9 inches springform pan

70% dark chocolate 200g

Egg yolks 100g
Caster sugar 100g
Water 30g
Whipping cream 400g
Raspberry puree 170g (Puree with food processor and strain out the seeds)

For the garnish
250g whipping cream
A tablespoon sugar powder
85g raspberry puree (puree with food processor  and strain out the seeds)
25g caster sugar
half piece of gelatin leaves
Some fresh strawberry or raspberry

• Melt the chocolate at a double boiler.
• In another sauce pan, melt the sugar with water until it become sugar syrup.
• Beat the egg yolk in a mixing bowl with a whisk, adding the hot sugar syrup little by little until a think paste.
• Add in the melted chocolate follow by the raspberry puree until well combine.
• Whisk the whipping cream until the same consistency as the raspberry and chocolate mixture.
• Fold both ingredients together until well combine.
• Place a piece of cocoa sponge cake in the center of a cake pan. Pour half of the chocolate mousse on top then refridgerate until the mixture set. Add another piece of cocoa sponge on top and pour the remaining mousse mixture over the cake. Level them evenly and refrigerate until set.
• To make the raspberry topping, cook the raspberry puree with caster sugar until it simmering hot. Add in the gelatin leave which already soaked until soft. Stir until well combine. Set aside until it slightly cool down.
• At this stage, either pour the raspberry puree on the top of the cake evenly and refrigerate until ready to serve just like the last picture shown above or unmold the cake pan and do the fresh cream decoration. 
• Whip the cream with sugar powder until thicken then spread it evevly at the side of the cake as well as piping some curly cream at the top edges. Pour the raspberry puree at the top of the cake then refrigerate until all set. 
• Cut with a hot knife and serve.
• Enjoy!