Chocolate Easter Mousse Cake

Easter is a time of celebration and I strongly feel that it is no coincidence that food-wise, this involves chocolate. Chocolate is luxurious so it is no wonder, that historically when it was tradition in Christian countries to give gifts over Easter, that this used to often be a gift of choice. And if anything, its decadence and deliciousness is all the more increased after the fasting of Lent. (I never fail to delight in chocolate anyway, but try going without it for six weeks and eating it for the first time after that is definitely a heavenly experience!)

Anyway, this year, I decided to go all out on the chocolate experience, and one day, at work, in a state of chocolate-deprived delirium, I got to designing a dream chocolate cake that I could indulge in on Easter Sunday.

Also, I have always loved the idea of working with chocolate, which I had always heard was quite difficult.

But there we go, always one for a challenge, I was not to be deterred. I had too often seen the delicious chocolate collared cakes in Melissa's food and coffee shop and longed to create the same. (That following the more immediate thought of wanting to surrender to ordering a piece of that chocolate wonderness with my coffee!)

But I digress: back to the mousse cake, which, initially was supposed to consist of a layer of cake, then a layer of mousse, a layer of chocolate pavlova and then whipped cream, topped with profiteroles and then more chocolate and spun sugar. (Spun sugar being something else that I have been so keen to try out - a few months ago I went out to buy a candy thermometer in anticipation of doing this one day - look out for when I make a creme bouché!)

But then I came across the Woolworths Taste Magazine in which South African Masterchef judge Peter Goffe-Wood had put together a three-layer chocolate mousse cake. A layer of chocolate brownie as the base - decadent with six eggs and then a layer of white chocolate mousse - which is possibly one of the most divine things that I have tasted though I am not all that hugely fond of mousse. Then a layer of dark chocolate mousse.

The white Chocolate Mousse worked out wonderfully - a basic combination of melted white chocolate (500g) to two and a half cups of cream that has been slightly whipped. After the chocolate has been melted and has cooled slightly, mix in the cream. A smooth consistency forms as the mixture increases in volume. It also thickens slightly as the chocolate cools down and then becomes quite manageable as you pour it over the chocolate brownie layer.

Pop this in the fridge for a few hours and it would have set.

The Dark Chocolate mousse proved to be a little more challenging and the first time I made the mousse, in exactly (I thought) the same way as the white chocolate mousse it curdled. The ratio of chocolate to cream is also different (300g chocolate to 3 cups of cream). On the second try I allowed the chocolate to cool for longer and the cream to be more consistently whipped and a little warmer. All went well but as I had the about the last cup of cream to add, I noticed the same thing happening. So I just stopped adding and thankfully, had a relatively smooth dark chocolate mousse.

Pop that on top of the white chocolate mousse and
back in the fridge.

In the mean time I made come chocolate easter eggs  (out of  rugby ball moulds as it turns out since all the smaller egg shapes were sold out!)

Finally it was time to attempt the profiteroles. Puffy rounds of choux pastry delights.

Except, that from the recipe that I followed (since I had not made choux pastry, literally in years, was not all that up to scratch. The egg to flour and water and butter ratio was a bit out. Subsequently I found another recipe and it worked out beautifully!  So here are some tips:

• Add a little more water if your butter is cold as it will take longer to melt and if too much of the water evapourates, there is the steam that makes your choux pastry rise.

Allow the dough to cool sufficiently and stop mixing as soon as it forms a ball.

• Add one egg, already beaten, at a time once your mixture is cool.




• Then work quickly with the mixture and pop them into a pre-heated oven - the oven should be heated to hotter than 180 and when you have piped out your pastry and put them in, you can reduce the  heat. Let them cook for 25 mins and then leave in a hot oven to dry out a little more - it is almost impossible to dry them out too much but you will get a lovely crispy shell! 

Fill with cream.

Lastly, assemble the chocolate collar: Put the  tempered chocolate on a plastic film and position around the cake. When it is solid, peel off the plastic.

 Top with profiteroles and then drizzle them with chocolate

Lastly: top with painted Easter eggs and wait for dessert time!

Voilá!

Easter Pavlova

Easter came as a wonderful time for culinary indulgences. After mass, we started off the morning with a traditional Dutch dish called an uitsmuiter. This is basically an egg on top of a good piece of ham, like gypsy ham on top of a white roll. On the side you have cut up tomato and pickles like picked gherkins, piccalilli, and pickled onions all with a good seasoning of salt and white pepper.

Then I had lunch with friends, which was a delightful spread of greens, a roast chicken and a roast lamb!

But dessert was my department and I made sure not to disappoint. I made, most appropriately because of all the eggs it uses, I thought, a Pavlova. I’d never been very good with meringues, but, as it turns out, the trick is to let them dry out in the oven. Getting the ratio of sugar to egg-whites is also pretty important. Too much sugar and you’re sure to end up with a chewy mess! Baking is always a little more of a science than cooking. Sure you can do it to feel, but then you’d better make sure that you feel more towards accurate measurements rather than not!

Lastly, it also helps to have a clean stainless steel bowl since this will make sure that the egg-whites stiffen.

Anyway, the recipe that I used was great and I’ll repeat it here now. Be warned though, this takes time. Four hours all together!



What you need is:
8 egg-whites
440 g of caster sugar
2 cups whipping cream
Fruit of your choice. Berries work well or any other combination of tropical fruit, I used mango, litchis, banana and granadilla pulp. I wouldn’t have minded a bit of papaya in there too! Cut these up into fruit-salad sized pieces and I let them wallow in 3 tablespoons of white dessert wine.

Heat the oven to 140 degrees Celsius. Make sure that the rack is in the middle of the oven.

With your egg-whites in the stainless steel bowl, froth the eggs with the hand-beater on low. Once the whites are frothy, put the mixer on high speed and beat until the egg-whites form stiff peaks.

Now start adding the sugar, a little at a time, all the while beating the egg-whites with the beater on a high speed, making sure that the sugar dissolves each time. Eventually the mixture will get very stiff.

On a baking tray that is covered with wax wrap (the non-stick side up) and bake for 1 hour. Then turn the oven off and leave the meringue in the oven for another 3 hours to dry out.

Whip up the cream and spread over the top of the meringue just before you’re about to serve. Top with the fruit or fruit salad and then with the granadilla pulp.





 I served mine with a Môreson Brut sparkling wine. The dry taste complimented the granadilla and tropical fruits and balanced off the sweetness of the meringue beautifully. And well, the bubbles just complimented the lashings of cream and the general fun sense of extravagance and indulgence that eating such a decadent dessert brings!