It sort of worked, however the mousse took too long to set (overnight), and the coating was too thick. I did a ganache over the top, however I used a 2 part chocolate/1 part cream ratio, and I probably should have used a 1:1 ratio instead.
If I were to do this again, I'm do the following changes;
1) The mousse would simply be between the sponge layers, then I'd rely on a pouring ganache to seal the sides
2) More gelatin in the mousse
3) More strawberry in the mousse, or a stronger flavoured filling
Strawberry Mousse Cake - Recipe
- Pre-heat oven to 200'C
- Grease and line a Swiss Roll Tin with baking parchment
Sponge Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 100g caster sugar
- ½tsp vanilla essence
- 100g self-raising flour
1) Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla essence in a large bowl, and beat thoroughly with a hand-mixer until the mixture is light, pale and thick (it's done when you pull out the whisk, and it leaves a trail in the mixture...this will take 7-8 minutes...you can also use a stand mixer)2) Sieve and gently fold in the flour, making sure there are no pockets of dry flour in the mixture
3) Gently pour into the prepared swiss roll tin, and tip in gently to fill the corners, and get the mixture even
4) Bake in the oven for 8-9 minutes, until the mixture just starts to pull away from the sides
5) Remove to a wire rack covered with baking parchment, and flip out. Peel off the baking parchment and leave to cool
Mousse Ingredients
- 175g Strawberry purée (you'll probably need 250-300g of strawberries)
- 225ml double cream
- 5g gelatin powder (as noted above, I think you need more)
- 30ml hot water
2) Blend them thoroughly, until smooth
3) Push the blended strawberries through a sieve to remove the seeds
4) Weigh out 175g of the final mixture into a bowl. The rest can be kept in an airtight jar (it's nice with yoghurt as a snack!) - as noted above, I think this recipe could use more strawberry.
5) Add 60ml of the double cream to the strawberry purée, and whisk together
6) Take the rest of the double cream, and whisk to soft peaks
7) Put the powdered gelatin in a small bowl/ramekin, and add the hot water. Stir until dissolved, and allow to cool slightly
8) Add the gelatin mixture to the strawberry mixture, and whisk in.
9) Whisk the strawberry mixture into the whipped cream. place in a bowl, cover with cling-film, and chill until needed.
Assembly
Ganache Ingredients
- 40g double cream
- 80g dark chocolate
- Splash of milk (to slacken
- 2 strawberries (to decorate)
As noted above, I would suggest a 60g/60g mixture for a pouring ganache instead1) Take a 18cm cake tin, line the bottom with greaseproof paper, and the sides with acetate
2) Take a 16cm circular cutter, and cut out 3 circles from the sponge
3) Put the mousse in a piping bag with a small, round piping nozzle attached.4) Place a sponge circle in the cake tin
5) Pipe the mousse into the gap around the cake circle, then a layer of mousse over the top
6) place a second sponge layer in, and repeat the piping
7) If you have the mousse left, repeat with the third layer (I didn't do this)
8) Smooth the top of the mousse, and place in the fridge to set
Note - this took overnight for me, but I think more gelatin would set it faster
9) To make the ganache, break the chocolate up into chunks and place in a heatproof bowl10) Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just starts to boil
11) Remove from the heat, allow to cool for 30 seconds, and pour onto the chocolate
12) Stir the chocolate until it melts (you may need to heat the bowl up to melt all the chocolate, but do it gently on a soft heat, or the ganache will split)13) mix in a little milk to slacken the ganache
14) Remove the set cake from the cake tin, and remove the acetate
15) Pour the ganache over the cake, spreading it so it drips down the sides
16) Decorate the top with some sliced strawberry