Today we are going to prepare a seasonal mousse cake, made of fresh sweet cherries. It is light, refreshing, and delicious. We will preserve the flavor and aroma of fresh cherries in the mousse and combine it with a layer of milk chocolate mousse. Moist chocolate sponge with pistachios will be the base of the cake.
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients for the cherry mousse
- 250 g fresh cherry puree
- several drops of fresh lemon juice
- 40 g white sugar
- 6 g gelatin (3 sheets)
- 200 g heavy cream (min. 35%)
Directions for the cherry mousse:
- Place the sheets of gelatin in cold water.
- Place the cherry puree (mixed with several drops of lemon juice to protect the color) in a saucepan and add the sugar, mix, and heat to 85 °C ( 185°F)
- Do not overhit the puree, otherwise, you will get a jam and the special aroma of fresh cherries will be lost.
- Remove from heat. Squeeze the gelatin leafs and add them to the puree, mix well to blend it completely.
- Let the mixture cool a bit (to appx. 30 – 35°C (86- 95°F).
- Whip the heavy cream into soft peaks.
- Add the whipped cream, fold it gently, to keep the mixture fluffy.
- Pour the mousse into a round silicone mold, fill it to 1/2.
- Make some movements with a silicone spatula along the bottom and the sides of the mold to ensure that the mousse will spread evenly and the surface of the cake will be perfect.
- Sent to a freezer for 2-3 hours.
Ingredients for the chocolate sponge base:
- 60 g sifted all-purpose flour
- 10 g almond flour
- 15 g dark rich cacao
- 50 g sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 1 tsp of baking powder
- 50 g unsalted softened butter at room temperature
- 1 whole egg (size L)
- 30 g chopped unroasted pestachios
Directions for the chocolate batter:
- Mix together the all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking powder, salt and cacao in a mixer bowl.
- Cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, about 6-8 minutes.
- Add the egg, mix well at medium speed.
- Add the mix of dry ingredients in 3 steps, mix at medium speed after each addition until combined, but do not overmix.
- Add chopped pistachios and mix.
Baking the sponge:
- Pour the batter into a metal ring about 1,5 cm high,
- Bake at 180°C (356°F) for 10-12 minutes.
- Let the sponge cool down completely, than remove from the ring.
- If the base is higher than 1,5-2 cm cut the top with a sharp knife.
Ingredients for the milk chocolate mousse:
- 85 ml whole milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 15 g white sugar
- 100 g milk chocolate (take 50 g of dark and 50 g of milk chocolate if you prefer the mousse to be a bit less sweet)
- 2 sheets of gelatin
- 150 ml heavy cream (min.35%)
Directions for the milk chocolate mousse:
- Place the sheets of gelatin in cold water.
- Chop the chocolate into fine pieces.
- Combine the egg yolks and the sugar and beat the mixture slightly.
- Heat the milk in a saucepan. When the milk comes to a boil, temper the yolks slowly by beating in the hot milk in a thin steam.
- Return all to the pan. Cook the mixture to 85°C (185°F) being careful not to exceed this temperature. Remove from heat.
- Add chopped chocolate, mix well to let it melt and blend completely.
- Squeeze the gelatin sheets and add them to the mixture, mix well.
- Let the mixture cool down to appx. 35 – 40°C (95- 104°F).
- Whip the cream into soft peaks.
- Add the whipped cream, fold it gently, to keep the mixture fluffy.
- Pour the mousse into the mold on the top of the first layer (it should be frozen and firm!)
- Make some gentle moves with a silicone spatula to ensure that the mousse will spread evenly and the sides of the cake will be perfect.
- Place the sponge base on the top, press gently. Align the surface of the cake with a spatula and some more mousse.
- Sent to a freezer for minimum 6 hours. The cake should be completely frozen before glazing.
Ingredients for the mirror glaze:
- 50 ml water
- 100 g sugar
- 100 g liquid glucose
- 65 g condensed milk
- 100 g white chocolate (fine chooped)
- 6 g gelatin (3 sheets)
- Pink and white food colouring (whatever colour you like, of course, but it should be intense water-soluble colouring in paste)
Directions for the mirror glaze:
- Combine water, glucose and sugar, in saucepan and heat the mixture to 103°C (217.4°F). It is important to respect the temperature in order to get the desired result, so it is very recommendable to use a thermometer.
- Place condensed milk in a bowl and add the heated sugar mixture, stir well.
- Add the fine chopped white chocolate. Stir well to melt it and blend it completely.
- Squeeze the gelatin sheets and add them to the mixture. Mix well, the gelatin should melt and blend thoroughly. If the mixture has cooled to much you can heat it a bit in a microwave, but be careful.
- Devide the mixture into two parts.
- Add the colouring, one part should be pink and the other – white. There is no exact amount, because it depends on the intensity of the colour you wish to get. I always go adding a bit and mixing until I like the colour.
- Blend the mixtures with a hand blender to make it smooth and homogeneous. Immerse the blender carefully and at an angle to avoid pouring air bubbles in the glaze, we need to have as little bubbles as possible, the best of all – none.
- Let the glaze cool to 35-36°C (96.8°F)
- Take a glass measuring cup and pour some pink glaze into it, then add some white glaze on top, then another layer of pink and etc. Do not mix! Just pour a layer after layer. This will help us to achive “a marble effect”, beautiful irregular stripes on the surface of the cake.
Glazing the cake with the mirror glaze.
- Take the cake out of the freezer, demold it and place on a wire rack, put a plate or a tray under the wire rack.
- Make sure that there is no ice ot the surface of the cake, if there is any – swipe it away with a finger.
- Pour the glaze on the top of the cake, glaze will flow down, spread evenly by itself and cover the sides as well.
- Let the icing set for several minutes, carefully neaten the bottom edge with a sharp knife and than remove the cake from the rack over a tray.
- Send to a fridge for 4-6 hours to defrost and set.
- Decorate to your taste, in this case I’ve add some chopped almonds at the bottom and placed a white chocolate leafs with fresh cherries on top.
More Pastry Techniques and Recipies:
