My Mousse Cake

My firt plated dessert in class - A mousse cake.

*Somthing I'd make again when I need to get my mind off something, this will definitely keep me busy.

We've made a number of desserts in class but we haven't really been plating. We had one day to experiment and I got excited with this one. It lacks a little bit of finesse though. But I think it's not so bad.

The mousse cake can be deconstructed and each layer can be a dessert on it's own. I love it!

In preparation for the cake assembly,
we started baking various cake components in class:
To line the sides of the molds: Joconde
To fill the mousse cake: Banana Cake
To line the base of the pan: Choc Hazelnut Feuilletine
To fill the base of the cake: Chocolate Mousse
To fill the top layer of the cakes: Caramel Mousse
To finish the top of the cake: Chocolate Gellee















Biscuit Joconde
5 oz Almond Flour
6 oz Granulated Sugar
1.5 oz Cake Flour
7 oz Eggs
3.5 oz Egg whites
1.5 oz unsalted butter

Total batter weight: 1# 8oz

Method
1 - In a bowl of mixer fitted with a whip, combine the almond flour, 5 oz of sugar, cake flour and half of the eggs. Whip the mixture for 2 minutes. Stop the machine, scrape down the bowl, then whip for 3 more minutes

2 - Gradually add the remaining eggs. Whip on medium speed for 5 more minutes.

3 - In a clean mixing bowl, whip the egg whites and remaining sugar to medium peaks.

4 - Remove the bowl of almond mixture from the machine and fold in the melted butter with a spatula

5 - fold in 1/3 of the whipped egg whites to lighten the batter, then fold in the remaining whipped egg whites. Do no over-mix

6 - Spread the batter over a silicone baking mat placed on a sheet pan. Level it carefully with a long offset spatula

7 - Bake at 450F until the jaconde bounces back when lightly pressed approximately 6-8 minutes

*Jaconde may be decorated by chocolate flavored Tuile batter.















Banana Cake
7 oz Cake Flour
6 oz Sugar
3/4 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
*Triple sift dry ingredients
------
5 oz butter
8 oz bananas
2 oz eggs
1 oz sour cream
1 vanilla

This cake is made using a 2 stage method, again this is done by pouring the liquid ingredients in the creamed batter in 2 stages.

Notice that there’s a great percentage of sugar here. Sugar acts as a tenderizer by breaking protein or gluten strands

Method:
1 - Use the food processor to blend together bananas, sour cream and vanilla

2 - Add eggs when the mixture is smooth

3 - Triple sift all the dry ingredients

4 - Aerate dry ingredients then add butter and still until dough consistency is reached

5 - Prepare the mold by lining it with parchment, putting a parchment on top, spraying it again and flouring it. Ensure that all the flour is taken out before the cake batter is poured into the mold.
This ensures that the cake will not stick on the mold when baked

6 - Add bananas, vanilla and sour cream mixture into the dough and stir until smooth












Chocolate Hazelnut Feuilletine

To make the bottom lining of the cake ring, simply mix together pate a glaze, hazel nut or any nut butter and Feuilletine. this creates a nice nutty and rich crust. Be careful however that hazel nut or any nut butter can be very hard with refrigerated so try not to put too thick of a base.


Chocolate Mousse

- I like it rich!
1# chocolate
4 oz butter
6 oz yolks
8 oz whites
2 1/2 oz sugar
8 oz heavy cream

Caramel Mousse will go on top of the torte

Cool thru an ice bath. When the caramel is cold enough, stir in gelatin, cool further then stir in the whipping cream

If the mousse becomes too thick because the gelatin has set prematurely, the mousse can be reconstituted by heating the mixture to melt the gelatin back or by adding more cream.

At this point, only the Gelee to finish the cake is missing. The mousse cake has to be frozen first before being finished to make sure there will be no ridges when gellee is applied

















Chocolate Gelee:
1 cup water
1/4 cup Valhrona[R] cocoa powder
2 ounces Valhrona[R] bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier[R]
6 sheets gelatin, softened in 6 cups cold water

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the reserved cooking liquid (in this case water), cocoa powder, chocolate and Grand Marnier to a boil. Reduce the heat, whisk in the gelatin, and simmer until dissolved and well combined, about three minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly. Pour on top of the frozen mousse cake.

Work fast as this will set immediately. Don't make ridges.

Now that's busy! Keeps your mind off of what worries you. Something I would make for when I'm stressed out.