I have the technical bits of it down pat, but whenever I go for the assembly I tend to make one or two critical failures...in this case it was not letting the white chocolate ganache set enough before pouring it over the cake. This is something I need to sort out...my presentation is constantly letting me down.
In terms of the mousse, it came out pretty well, though my timings need work. I made a compote this time as the fruit base, and the flavour came out pretty well. I was also able to use some of the compote in the cake, to give more flavour. I used more gelatin, and the set was much better, to the point where I could probably have poured it, rather than piping. I should have made the gelatin mixture earlier in the process, as cooling the compote/cream mixture down took a bit of time (I ended up chucking it in the freezer for 10 minutes, which did the business).
I think you'd get a better finish if you baked cake rounds, rather than cut from a sheet.. I will probably try this next time...or I might try doing slices, though I would need a square, high-sided tin for that.
Blueberry Mousse Cake
- Pre-heat oven to 200'C
- Grease and Line a Swiss Roll Tin with baking parchment
Sponge Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 100g caster sugar
- ½tsp vanilla essence
- 100g self-raising flour
2) Whisk hard for 7-8 minutes, until light and fluffy, and when the whisk is removed a trail is left on the surface
3) Sift and fold in the flour, ensuring that there are no pockets of dry flour left
4) Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, and tilt to fill the corners, and level the surface
5) Bake for 7-8 minutes, until the cake is just pulling away from the sides of the tin.
6) Remove to a wire rack, and carefully remove the tin and paper, before allowing to cool
Mousse Ingredients
- 400g blueberries
- 100g caster sugar
- 250ml double-cream
- 1 sachet powdered gelatin
- ~40ml hot water
1) Place the blueberries and the sugar into a food processor with the blade attachment
2) Whizz until puréed
3) Pass the purée though a sieve to remove the seeds/lumps4) Heat the purée in a saucepan until it just starts to boil...simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from the heat to cool completely
5) Place 175g of the compote in a bowl (keep the rest in jar in the fridge)
6) Add 50ml of the cream to the compote, and whisk in
7) Place the hot water (just boiled) into a small bowl, and sprinkle the gelatin over the surface. Stir occasionally to get everything dissolved
8) Allow the gelatin mixture to cool9) Add the gelatin to the compote and cream, and whisk in thoroughly
10) Place the mixture into the freezer for 10-15 minutes, until it just begins to set
11) Take the rest of the cream (200ml), and whisk to soft peaks (I do this by hand, as it's easy to take it too far using a mixer)
12) Remove the gelatin mixture from the freezer, break it up, and fold it into the whipped cream
13) Place in the fridge to firm up
Assembly
- 180g white chocolate
- 80g double-cream
2) place the mousse in a piping bag with a 1cm round nozzle attached
3) Place a sponge circle on a plate4) Pipe a ring of mousse around the top, right on the edge
5) Spoon a couple of teaspoons of the compote into the ring, and spread out (this will soak into the sponge, and enhance the flavour)
6) Fill in the ring with more mousse7) Place a spange circle on top, and repeat the mousse and compote on top of this
8) Place the final sponge circle op top
9) Smooth the sides with a palette knife
10) Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it just begins to boil
11) Pour onto the white chocolate, and stir until dissolved12) LET IT SET! The ganache will be very runny, and it needs to be firm enough to not just run off the cake. This will take longer than you expect.
13) Pour the ganache over the top of the cake, allowing it to dribble down the sides.