Thursday, February 18, 2016

Blackberry Mousse Cake



When we were in L.A. over the holidays, my in-laws gave me a shopping spree at Surfas Culinary District for Christmas. Imagine a big warehouse stocked with anything a chef or a baker could ever want or need. Let's just say I was in baker heaven. One of the things I picked up were these cake rings for making mousse cakes, and this past weekend I finally tried it out.




Since it was my first time making a mousse cake, I thought I'd share what I learned:

- You will need either a cake ring or a spring form pan, so that you can release the sides easily. If you use a cake ring, make sure you have a cake round to put underneath. 

- To get those nice and sharp edges, you can cover the inside of the pan with plastic strips, called acetate sheets. Those are the clear ones you usually see on mousse cakes in bakeries. I've heard that plastic wrap around the cake ring should work too, but it might leave marks if you don't get it on smoothly.

- Let the berry syrup and gelatin mix cool slightly but not set, since whipped cream doesn't like heat.

- When making the mousse, fold the whipped cream very gently into the berry-gelatin mix. Use a spatula and fold around the sides of the bowl and over. You want to make sure you don't over mix, which will cause the mousse to get runny.

- Freeze the mousse cake before removing the cake pan and plastic strips to get a smooth finish on your cake. Since I missed this memo and only chilled mine, it got a sponge-like look. Note to self: freeze the mousse cake!




You can use your favorite recipe for a cake, and cover it with mousse to make a stunning (and yummy!) presentation. Make sure you make the cake smaller than the cake ring you are using, since you will want the mousse to cover the sides. I made a 4 inch cake inside of a 6 inch mousse ring. This one is a vanilla sponge cake, filled with a blackberry syrup and lemon curd, and topped with a chocolate ganache. Since the mousse has such a light and delicate blackberry flavor, I thought the lemon was a little overpowering. Next time I will go for a more subtle filling, like vanilla or chocolate.




Blackberry mousse

350 g blackberries
2 tsp sugar 
100 g confectioners sugar
4 gelatin sheets or 2 tsp gelatin
350 g heavy cream


Directions:

  1. Put the blackberries and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil. Mush the berries with a fork.
  2. Remove from heat and strain the pure into a bowl. Let cool.
  3. Reheat a little of the pure and mix with the gelatin. Mix the remaining blackberry with the confectioners sugar. Blend the two pures together.
  4. Whip the heavy cream and gently fold it into the blackberry pure. 
  5. Pour into a prepared mousse cake ring or spring form pan, and freeze for at least 4 hours.

Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Swedish Semlor



Today is Fat Tuesday, or as we also call it in Sweden, Semledagen (Semla Day). Semla is a delicious pastry made out of a cardamom bun, filled with almond paste and whipped cream. It's so popular, I would call it more of a semla season rather than day. My dad would start baking these at least a week ahead, and we would have them every night for fika until we ran out. And then he'd make some more.




Now, there're semlas and there are semlas. This recipe knocks it out of the park with its home made vanilla and cardamom custard almond paste. Making your own almond paste is super easy, fun, and it tastes better than the store-bought version.




The mommies from the playground put together a Valentine's Day party for the kids today, so the boys and I brought these heart shaped semlas as a treat. Sharing is encouraged with these, because it's easy to have one, and then another...




Semlor
from Roy Fares


Dough 

200 g of milk
260 g flour
30 g yeast

Warm the milk to lukewarm. Then mix it with the flour and yeast and run it in a kitchenaid with a hook until it form a dough, let rest for about 15 minutes.

Add

160 g wheat flour
55 g egg (1st)
2 g salt
5 g ground cardamom
100 g butter - room temperature
85 g granulated sugar

Mix in the remaining ingredients on low speed then a little faster in about 7-10 minutes, until the dough is shiny and elastic. Divide the dough in 14 equal pieces about 60 g / pc. Round the buns with your hands and place on baking sheet with parchment paper. Let rise under a cloth to double size of about 1.30 to 2 hours. Bake in the oven at 410 degrees F and bake for about 8 - 10 minutes, until the bun got a nice golden brown color.


Almond paste

200 g almonds - blanched
200 g caster sugar
possibly some water


Boil some water and pour over the almonds and let them soak for 15 minutes or overnight. Pour the almonds through a sieve and let drain. Add almonds and granulated sugar in a food processor and blend until the almonds begin to feel smooth and delicate, perhaps you may need to add some water if it feels dry. Knead the almond paste and wrap in plastic, store in the fridge.


Almond filling

400 g almond paste (the one you made above)
5 g ground cardamom
70 g of egg yolk (5)
90 g granulated sugar
30 g corn starch
1 vanilla pod
250 g of milk
15 g butter - unsalted

Mix the cardamom, egg yolks, sugar and corn starch in a bowl. Split the vanilla pod lengthways, scrape out the seeds and add them in a saucepan with the milk. Boil, stirring, and then pick up the pod. Pour the hot milk mixture into the bowl with the egg yolks and mix well. Pour everything back into the saucepan and heat over medium heat and constant stirring until it becomes a thick fine vanilla cream. Pour the cream into a bowl, add the butter and mix. Cover with plastic and let cool in the refrigerator at least 2 hours. Then mix little by little of the custard with the almond paste to a smooth and delicate cream.

1 l cream - whipped (should be on the semla)


Assembly

1. Cut into the bun with scissors a triangular top
2. Fill the hole with cream
3. Pipe on some cream
4. Put on the top and dust some icing sugar

Monday, February 08, 2016

Penguin Cake



This weekend I got to do this cute chocolate cake for our sons' buddy Tristan, who's favorite animal is penguins. I love making surprise cakes and seeing those happy smiles!




This cake was all chocolate, which is Tristan's favorite. I dressed it with fondant and piped a fuzzy fur with buttercream that I had colored. I also made a glittery snow base for the cake using fondant and clear sprinkles.

Wilton has come out with a new set of colors to color fondant and buttercream with, called Color Right Performance Color System. It includes eight ultra-concentrated colors that can be mixed into any hue you want, and you only need to use a tiny amount. This was my first time using it, and I love it! I can't wait to try and blend my own colors, especially those hard to find pretty pastels.




If you're looking for a great chocolate cake recipe, check out this recipe I posted a while back!


Monday, February 01, 2016

Buttercream Rose Cake



With all of the snowy and rainy weather we've been having this past week, it feels like spring can't come soon enough. So, as a Monday pick-me-upper, I thought I'd share this colorful buttercream rose cake I made a little while back for our friends Jim and Andrea's engagement party.




Aren't these roses pretty? Wilton has a great tutorial on their website on how to make buttercream roses. This was my first time making them, and it's actually not that hard to make with the instructions at hand. You will need a so-called flower nail, but they are super cheap and can be purchased at any craft supply store or baking store. Now, imagine how pretty these roses would be on mini cupcakes!