Mango Mousse Cake

Sometimes I try to get away with doing stupid things in the kitchen. For example the time I tried to make fondant without a thermometer or the time I put sugar syrup into the blender and it got rock hard. Most of the time, this is when my dad walks into the kitchen and asks me what on earth I’m doing. Truth is sometimes I just like to cheat hoping at the back of my mind that I can get away with it and everything will work out just fine. 

Take you back a month, I wanted to make individual lemon mousse cakes. Buuuuuut I didn’t have cake rings. After reading a few articles, I found out that I could probably use transparent plastic sheets and roll then into make-shift cake rings. Boy was I wrong!! Not a minute into pouring the mousse in the whole thing started dripping; all the mousse was on the tray. I had to serve something! So I scooped the mousse into little ramekins and got away with it... sort of... :D

I’ve had my fair share of failures in the kitchen and from what I’ve discovered I really need to learn to stick to the recipes! Especially when it comes to deserts. 

But sometimes you never learn :D

  Leaving Oman is making me all sentimental. Also it means finishing up all the ingredients that I’ve bought and till remain in the pantry. Got a tin of mango pulp and here goes mango mousse cake. 

I was trying to find a recipe for mango mousse and I couldn’t find one that I really liked so I decided to combine a few recipes into one makeshift recipe fuelled by a really informative article I read about using gelatine. I probably should have just stuck to one recipe but I didn’t anddddddddddddddddddd it turned out fabulous! Haha 

The reason I’m excited is that I was expecting

1.  The mousse to start dripping
2. The mousse not setting 
3. The whole thing collapsing when I took off the spring form cylinder 
4. The mousse breaking off when I removed the parchment paper

But none of that happened! So you see!! I deserve to be happy :D I suppose you could argue that a mousse cake is super easy to make bla bla but let me just bask in my happiness will you? :P

Mango Mousse Cake

For the cake

2 eggs

½ cup milk

1 cup sugar

1/8 cup butter

1 cup all purpose four

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

Beat the eggs in an electric mixer for about 2 minutes. Then add sugar and vanilla beating for another 3 minutes until light and fluffy.

Sift together all dry ingredients and add to the egg mixtures. Beat on a low speed till combined.

In a small saucepan, heat the milk and butter until the butter is melted. (Do not boil)

Add to batter and combine.

Pour into two 8” round cake pans

Baked at 160 degree Celcius for 15 minutes. 

For the mousse

3 cups mango pulp

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp lime juice

5 tsp gelatine bloomed in 50ml water

2 cups whipping cream

3 small ripe mangoes

Combine mango puree, sugar and lime juice.

Place bloomed gelatine in a small saucepan and dissolve over low heat. DO NOT boil

Refrigerate for half an hour

Whip cream until soft peaks form

Reserve 1 cup of the puree and folds in the rest of the puree into the whipped cream 

To assemble

Cut out a circle of parchment paper for the bottom of the springform pan (I did this because I was afraid of the mousse dripping).  Also cut a strip of parchment paper wide enough to line the inside of the pan extended 1 inch above the rim.

Place one cake at the bottom of the pan

Carefully pour onto the cake half of the mousse mixture.

Cut mangoes into strips and place over the mousse

Cover mangoes with the other cake

Spoon over the rest of the mousse and place in the refrigerator for about fifteen minutes*

Take the cake out and carefully spoon over the reserved mango puree forming a thin layer and place back in the refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours.

Once set remove the springform pan and slowly take off the parchment paper

·        

        *I placed the mousse in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before spooning on the topping as I was afraid the puree would sink into the mousse. I’m not exactly sure if this step is necessary but it worked well for me

 

Chocolate Espresso Mousse in Chocolate Cups

Chocolate cups!!! I can't describe how excited I am that these worked out so well!
Edible cups :D
I don't think I'd ever eat mousse or ice cream in normal cups again!

Chocolate cups can be made by tempering chocolate or using candy coatings. I've read a lot of articles where people use balloons to create a more round bottom chocolate bowl but I used silicone cupcake cups instead. I would advice you to use silicone cups because they are ridiculously easy to use. From what I've read you can make these using normal foil cupcake cups. I don't exactly know how because it seems a bit more complicated.

Now I've worked with a Dr. Oetker's scotbloc chcocolate before and it was a lot easier to use than ordinary chocolate especially to make chocolate decoration. The scotbloc melts faster but it cools down and becomes solid in room temperature which works perfectly for the decoration. To be quite honest I know that scotbloc is chocolate flavored cake covering but I don't know the real difference between this and a bar of normal chocolate. So if you do know.. please do tell me.

I melted the scotbloc in the microwave and painted on the chocolate onto the insides of the silicone cups using a normal pastry brush. Put it in the refrigerator for a few minutes and tada! Chocolate cups, how simple and fun!

A chocolate espresso mousse went in next topped off with a cherry pie filling. I wish I could say that I was super duper awesome and made the pie filling from scratch, but I didn't. Cherries are out of season in Oman right now and the Harley's Black Cherry Pie Filling is really tasty!

Chocolate Espresso Mousse and Cherries in Chocolate Cups

For the chocolate cups

•  200g Scotbloc Chocolate Flavored Cake Covering 

In an microwave safe bowl break Scotbloc into square and microwave for 90 seconds. Ensure that you stir the chocolate every 20-30 seconds
Dip a pastry brush into the chocolate and cover the insides on the silicon cup (as if you were painting with chocolate)*
Place cups in the refrigerator for a minimum of 10 minutes. 
Take the cups out and slowly run your nail between one edge of the chocolate and the cup. Once you have divided one edge if should be fairly easy to run your finger around the cup freeing it from the silicone. 


*While you are painting on the chocolate make sure that there are no bits dripping off the top of the cup. If it solidifies in this way, it make cause the cups to break while removing the silicone. 


For the Filling

• 130g milk semisweet chocolate
• 50 g butter
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp espresso powder
• 1 tin Hartley's Black Cherry Pie Filling

In a glass bowl set over simmering water, melt together the butter, chocolate, espresso and milk. Remove from heat and let cool for about 10 minutes and whisk in the egg yolk. 
With an electrical beater whip the cream to medium peaks and fold into the chocolate mixture.


To assemble


Spoon a bit of the cherry pie filling (without the whole cherries) into bottom of the cup.
Fill cup with about 2 tablespoons of the mousse and refrigerate. 
Once the mousse has set top with remaining cherry filling. 
Refrigerate til served.