Mousse au Chocolat

The featured blog for Tried & Tested July 2008 is Meeta's blog - Whats for lunch honey?. Tried and Tested is an event started by Zlamushka of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen and has everyone interested, cooking from a chosen blog, each month. As everyone is familiar with Meeta's blog I dont have to describe how beautiful her blog is and how fantastic and tempting her pictures are. Since I am a dessert lover, I chose her Mousse au Chocolate (Chocolate mousse) recipe for T&T.

Chocolate mousse is enjoyed by everyone, I guess, because of its looks, texture and taste. The texture is smooth, airy and fluffy because of the beaten egg whites and cream gently folded in (rather than stirred) to maintain its aeration. This is literally a "melt-in-your-mouth" creation which can be whipped up in minutes. Then comes the agonising wait for the dessert to chill. I assure you that nobody would be able to resist the temptation of this sinful dessert. Do try this out soon. The perfect dessert for a special occassion or to impress some guests or loved ones. I couldnt help myself from posting all these beautiful pictures. We enjoyed it a lot and so will you! à bientôt !! (See you!).

Recipe:

Bittersweet chocolate - 100-120 g (an exclusive chocolate preferably with 71% cocoa)
Butter - 15 g
Eggs - 2 , separated
Heavy cream - 200ml, beaten till stiff

Method:

Place a bowl over a pot of water and bring to a boil. Make sure the bowl does not touch the water in the pot.

Melt the chocolate and butter in the bowl.

Mix well until the chocolate and butter are melted and combined well, without any lumps.

Set the mixture aside and stir to cool for 30 seconds.

Add the egg yolks and mix together. The mixture will take on a thicker consistency.

Allow to cool further.

Gently fold in the whipped cream.

Beat the egg whites until stiff.

Fold the whites carefully into the chocolate-cream mixture.

Make sure that everything is mixed until smooth, fluffy and well-blended.

Transfer the mousse to individual serving bowls or a large single bowl.

Chill for several hours before serving.

Tips:

1. How to put chocolate designs on a glass/serving bowl ? In this case, since the mousse was going to be dark colored, I decided to go with white chocolate design. Melt some white chocolate in the microwave and transfer to a ziploc/sandwich bag. Cut off an end very close to the tip. Hold the glass tilted in your hands and pipe any design that you would like on the bottom and/or inner walls of the glass/serving bowl. In this picture I just piped random lines at the bottom of the glass and spaced dots on the walls. Allow to set in the refrigerator for a few minutes. These dressed-up glasses can be used to serve desserts/drinks that are not hot!



2. Meeta used chocolate with 71% cacao. I used a 4 oz (113g) Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate bar with 60% cacao. I would try this with bittersweet 71% cacao chocolate next time.
3. My chocolate-egg yolk mixture became a bit (and yes, just a bit) lumpy probably because I added the yolks too early?. For the fear of deflating the cream and whites, I didnt mix too much. This didnt affect the taste at all, but I had a few chocolate lumps, which I enjoyed just as much! :-)
4. Just for the presentation, I dusted the top with some cocoa powder and used a bit of whipped cream, with white chocolate pipings.

I am sending this sinful Chocolate Mousse also to "Sweet Series - Cool desserts" event at Mythreyee's Paajaka.

Dont forget to check out my Apple Swan too! ;-)

How to boil an egg straight from the refrigerator

This is how to boil an egg straight from the refrigerator, without cracking the shells while cooking.

Recipe:

Eggs - 2
Water - to cover the eggs

Method:

Take the eggs from the refrigerator and place them in a medium sized saucepan.

Add enough cold water to cover the eggs. (The cold water is added so that the eggs and water are at the same temperature).

Bring the water to a boil over high heat.

Once the water starts to boil, reduce the flame to medium and allow to boil for 15 minutes.

Shut off the flame, drain the water and allow to cool.

Remove the shells carefully.

Use as needed.

Vanilla buttercream frosting

Recipe (12-16 servings, about 1 3/4 cups):

Powdered sugar - 3 cups
Butter or margarin, softened - 1/3 cup
Vanilla - 1 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1-2 tbsp

Method:

Mix powdered sugar and butter in medium bowl with spoon or with electric mixer on low speed.

Stir in vanilla and 1 tbsp of the milk.

Gradually beat in just enough remaining milk to make frosting smooth an spreadable.

If frosting is too thick, beat in more milk. If frosting becomes too thin, beat in a small amount of powdered sugar.

Generously frosts a 13" by 9" cake or frosts and fills an 8" or 9" two-layer cake.

Source: Betty Crocker Ultimate cake mix cookbook.

How to make a basket-of-berries cake

I would like to share how I decorated the basket-of-berries cake. To see the actual posting, click here. The decorating techniques can be changed to personal preference by changing the color of the icing or filling the top of the basket with buttercream, fondant or gum-paste flowers. Enjoy decorating your cake and dont forget to share your experiences and tips with me.

Decorating a basket-of-berries cake:

Single layered easy two egg 8" round cake- 1
Vanilla buttercream frosting - 1 3/4 cups
Strawberries - as needed
Cake board - to assemble the cake
Basket-weave tip and open star tip, decorating bag
Curved craft wire to shape the handle

Method:

If the baked cake is highly domed, trim it down to form a slighlty smaller dome. (My cake was pretty much uniform on top).

Cut the round cake along its diameter into two to form two semi-circles.

Place one of the semicircles top down. Spread about 1/4 cup of frosting on the cake half.

Place the other half over the frosted half, so that the flat cut surfaces are aligned.

Now cut the curved side of the cake sandwich, parallel to the flat side of the cake so that it forms a level base when the cake is placed vertically.

Dab a tablespoon of icing over the cake board and keep the cake basket vertically with smaller flat surface touching the cake board.

Now crumb coat the entire surface of the cake with a thin layer of thin consistency icing.

Allow the icing to crust for a few minutes.

Color the rest of the medium consistency icing with orange color and incorporate well.

Place the basket-weave tip in a decorator's bag and pipe the basket-weave around the cake.

If you are not familiar with this technique, check this out.

Replace the basket-weave tip with a star tip and pipe stars around the upper rim of the cake.

Make a handle using a curved wire and ribbons or thread gumpaste balls on the wire to from a beaded handle.

Insert the edges of the wire, covered with foil, towards the narrower ends of the upper rim.

Place the strawberries on the basket cake to complete the decoration.

Slice and serve!!

How to make shaped chocolate garnishes

Shaped chocolate garnishes can be used to spruce up the visual appeal and taste of most of the desserts. Here is a tip on how to make simple chocolate art.

Place some milk chocolate or chocolate chips in the microwave for 15 seconds. Stir the chocolate. If using a small quantity, it must be melted by now. Microwave the chocolate for 10-15 sec at a time, until it is entirely melted. Take a small plastic sandwich bag and spoon the melted chocolate into a corner of the bag. Keep a piece of parchment paper ready for the chocolate pipings. Cut off the bag at the tip to make a tiny hole and pipe the desired shapes onto the paper. Keep the parchment paper on a plate and allow it to set in the freezer. When set, gently detach the shapes from the paper using a knife or an offset spatula. Use as needed.

How to toast nuts

Method:

Heat oven to 350F. Spread nuts in an ungreased shallow pan. Bake 6-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until light brown.Watch carefully because nuts brown quickly.

It can also be toasted in an ungreased heavy skillet over medium heat 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently until nuts begin to brown, then stirring constantly until light brown.

Source: Betty Crocker Christmas Cookbook.

Tips:

1. I toasted some almonds using the skillet method. In about 3 minutes on medium heat, the almonds started to brown, so be careful and stir constantly.
2. The almonds in the picture were just toasted for about 5 minutes.