Year of Cakes- Like Water for Chocolate
After surviving the January Lemon Layer cake we were feeling a bit cocky & fearless. This February Triple-Chocolate Mousse Cakes we thought would be a cinch! We predicted we would only need half a day... but despite all our healthy self confidence, we were still taking the photos at 11:30pm! That is a total of nine hours, including a four hour chilling period. Needless to say, our feet hurt!
This treat was again a multi-recipe and construction experience. First we started with the cake base, which was uneventful to create & yummy... soft, springy & flavourful. We cheered "Good one Martha" when we pulled them from the oven... We popped them out of the ramekins and trimmed them (We love trimming, yummy tidbits!). I will definitely make these little cakes again!
Unexpected joy: Mini puffed chocolate cakes in red ramekins.
First mousse.
Neither Nicky or I had ever made mousse before so we were pretty pleased to be having a go. That's the thing about this project, last month it was our first layer cake... this month mousse. The result is good... smooth, silky and very choclatey.
Tip 1: We could only pipe the mousse onto the cake base once we had put the baking paper collars in place. This took four hands & a fair bit of Cirque du Soleil-like contorsions. Try this at home, but don't attempt alone!
Tip 2: Use a skewer to clean away the unwanted spurts of mousse on the baking paper... we avoided dark chocolate spots in our milk mousse layer this way.
Fear Overcome: The thought of pouring a boiling hot saucepan of corn syrup & sugar down the side of a still spinning Kitchen Aid bowl was a bit daunting. I had visions of a hot lava-like substance erupting around the room, branding anyone or thing that stood in its way... turns out I was just being a bit dramatic.
Mousse Two.
We had just finished making the second mousse (which was as good as the first) and Horlicks the dog who had been so patient up to this stage, started to try and scratch the paint off the walls... Climbing the walls, I believe is the technical term. It was my turn to pipe the mousse into the collar, but I had to forfeit and take him to the park across the road. When we returned in half an hour we discovered Nicky with a wild look in her eyes... the mousse had exploded out of the collars! It seems we had broken some law of Physics about pressure build up & flimsy baking paper. She was muttering something about not being able to find any string. So we shored up the sides with a non-ecologically friendly amount of masking tape. Crisis averted for 4 of the cakes... the others were sacrificed for tasting.
Tip 3: Use lots & lots of masking tape to hold the collars in place... and not just down the bottom around the base. In fact, just make the whole thing out of masking tape and you should be fine.
Tip 4: If you live in a hot country like we do, keep the aircon on freezing and on high to prevent the mousse turning into sludge. Then hopefully you can avoid the whole explosion scenario!
Career realization: We both were not put on this earth to be engineers and we should keep away from any form of dam construction.
After the chilling we eagerly whipped the baking paper collars off... we couldn't quite get the chocolate curl, more like long thin crumbs. Overall we are pleased with how they turned out. Here is the result.
Martha's Triple-chocolate Mousse Cake
Our Triple-chocolate Mousse Cake
And the taste? Very chocolatey & a great texture... We found it a bit overwhelming on the taste buds, you need a glass of water or a cup of tea to eat this one.
We are now looking forward to March's Cardamom Struesel Coffee Cake. How hard can it be? T
This treat was again a multi-recipe and construction experience. First we started with the cake base, which was uneventful to create & yummy... soft, springy & flavourful. We cheered "Good one Martha" when we pulled them from the oven... We popped them out of the ramekins and trimmed them (We love trimming, yummy tidbits!). I will definitely make these little cakes again!
Unexpected joy: Mini puffed chocolate cakes in red ramekins.
First mousse.
Neither Nicky or I had ever made mousse before so we were pretty pleased to be having a go. That's the thing about this project, last month it was our first layer cake... this month mousse. The result is good... smooth, silky and very choclatey.
Tip 1: We could only pipe the mousse onto the cake base once we had put the baking paper collars in place. This took four hands & a fair bit of Cirque du Soleil-like contorsions. Try this at home, but don't attempt alone!
Tip 2: Use a skewer to clean away the unwanted spurts of mousse on the baking paper... we avoided dark chocolate spots in our milk mousse layer this way.
Fear Overcome: The thought of pouring a boiling hot saucepan of corn syrup & sugar down the side of a still spinning Kitchen Aid bowl was a bit daunting. I had visions of a hot lava-like substance erupting around the room, branding anyone or thing that stood in its way... turns out I was just being a bit dramatic.
Mousse Two.
We had just finished making the second mousse (which was as good as the first) and Horlicks the dog who had been so patient up to this stage, started to try and scratch the paint off the walls... Climbing the walls, I believe is the technical term. It was my turn to pipe the mousse into the collar, but I had to forfeit and take him to the park across the road. When we returned in half an hour we discovered Nicky with a wild look in her eyes... the mousse had exploded out of the collars! It seems we had broken some law of Physics about pressure build up & flimsy baking paper. She was muttering something about not being able to find any string. So we shored up the sides with a non-ecologically friendly amount of masking tape. Crisis averted for 4 of the cakes... the others were sacrificed for tasting.
Tip 3: Use lots & lots of masking tape to hold the collars in place... and not just down the bottom around the base. In fact, just make the whole thing out of masking tape and you should be fine.
Tip 4: If you live in a hot country like we do, keep the aircon on freezing and on high to prevent the mousse turning into sludge. Then hopefully you can avoid the whole explosion scenario!
Career realization: We both were not put on this earth to be engineers and we should keep away from any form of dam construction.
After the chilling we eagerly whipped the baking paper collars off... we couldn't quite get the chocolate curl, more like long thin crumbs. Overall we are pleased with how they turned out. Here is the result.
Martha's Triple-chocolate Mousse Cake
Our Triple-chocolate Mousse Cake
And the taste? Very chocolatey & a great texture... We found it a bit overwhelming on the taste buds, you need a glass of water or a cup of tea to eat this one.
We are now looking forward to March's Cardamom Struesel Coffee Cake. How hard can it be? T
posted by Sweet Treat at 9:45 am
4 Comments:
delicious and ambitious.
you've inspired me!
Hi there! Thanks for inviting me to your Cakes of the Year group. I'm a bit behind on February's cake due to my sister's wedding coming up in 2 weeks, but I'll be sure to post my results as soon as I can. Thanks!
No probs Anne, take your time -glad you could join our group! Hope you have a great time at your sister's wedding!
Mmm - yummy - good for my tummy!!
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