Strawberry & pistachio mousse cake

Sometimes a girl just needs a girlie cake.  Something pink, light and fruity, ideally with a surprise in the center.  That is exactly what this strawberry and pistachio mousse cake is about.

This is another recipe from Hidemi Sugino's Le goût authentique retrouvé.  He calls this "Mariee".  I read somewhere that the ones he makes are so delicate that they have to be consumed at his shop and are not available for takeaway.  I'm not sure how true this is.  

I knew from my previous try at another one of his recipes that Hidemi Sugino tends to use very little gelatin in his mousses which is probably fine in colder and drier climates.  But with the mercury and humidity rising in Hong Kong, I was a little worried and used a little more gelatin than what was specified in the recipe.  The mousses still turned out tantalisingly soft.  The light green pistachio mousse centre is not visible until you cut into the cake, adding an element of sweet surprise.  The pistachio biscuit is unexpectedly moist and tasty - probably the best recipe for pistachio biscuit I've come across. 

Recipe below makes about 5 mini round cakes, adapted from Le goût authentique retrouvé by Hidemi Sugino (note: methodology below was inferred since I don't read Japanese, feel free to modify any step you deem appropriate)

Pistachio biscuit:

36g almond paste

15g pistachio paste

18g eggs

16g egg yolks

10g egg whites

For the french meringue:

- 32g egg whites

- 20g granulated sugar

18g corn starch

8g melted butter

Pistachio mousse:

80g whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks

8g pistachio paste

80g milk

1/10th vanilla bean

16g egg yolks

16g granulated sugar

1.2 piece gelatin sheet

Strawberry mousse:

170g whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks

170g strawberry pulp

97g italian meringue:

- 70g granulated sugar

- 18g water

- 35g egg whites 

3.6 pieces of gelatin sheets

34g eau de vie de framboise (raspberry brandy)

Sirop d'imbibage:
10g sirop à 30°B
5g water
5g eau de vie de framboise

Décor:

mirror gel

1. Pistachio biscuit:

Using an electric mixer, beat to combine almond & pistachio paste.  Add in eggs, egg yolks and egg whites gradually, whisking constantly until mixture is creamy and fluffy.  Fold in corn flour and melted butter.  For the french meringue, whisk egg whites and caster sugar together until stiff peaks form.  Fold french meringe into almond, pistachio & eggs mixture gradually in 3 batches.  Pour batter into baking sheet approximately 9 by 12 inch in size and bake in 230C preheated oven for 5 minutes.  Leave to cool before cutting out 5 x 5cm rounds.  There will be excess left over so you could use a smaller baking sheet and reduce the proportion of ingredients accordingly.

2. Pistachio mousse:

Place gelatin in cold water to bloom.  Heat pistachio paste, milk & split vanilla bean together in a pan until boiling, remove vanilla bean.  Whisk egg yolks & sugar together then pour in hot milk mixture, continuing to whisk to temper the egg yolks.  Heat milk & egg mixture until 84C, then mix in softened gelatin.  Strain pistachio cream and leave to cool.  Whisk whipping cream until soft peaks and fold into pistachio cream.  Pour into 7 inch round cake ring lined at the bottom with cling wrap.  Leave in fridge until set.  Cut out 4cm round pieces.  There will be quite a bit of excess left over but I found working with smaller proportions problematic. 

3. Sirop d'imbibage:

Mix all ingredients together.

4. Strawberry mousse:

Place gelatin in cold water to bloom.  Heat strawberry pulp but do not boil.  Mix in bloomed gelatin and leave to cool.  Mix in raspberry brandy.  Whisk whipping cream until soft peaks, set aside.  Prepare italian meringue by heating water and sugar until it reaches 118C.  At 115C, whisk egg whites until its foamy.  While continuing to whisk, pour in sugar syrup and whisk till stiff peaks form and italian meringue is ready.  Fold in italian meringue then whipping cream into strawberry puree.  

5. Assembly:

Ensure cake rings are well covered at the base with cling wrap.  Pour strawberry mousse into cake rings filling about 1/2.  Carefully place and center 1 piece of pistachio mousse disk into each cake ring, pushing slightly into the strawberry mousse to anchor but not all the way down.  Fill with remaining strawberry mousse until just slightly short of top of cake ring.  Brush pistachio biscuit with sirop d'imbibage before placing on top of strawberry mousse.  Wrap top of cake rings with cling wrap and press down with bottom of a baking sheet to flatten surface.  Leave to set in refridgerator.  Once set, turn over such that the end with the pistachio biscuit is at the bottom.  Top with mirror gel before removing from cake ring.  Decorate as desired.
 

Mini pistachio fraisier cakes

I received a pleasant surprise a couple of weeks ago from a good friend coming back from Switzerland.  He bought me a copy of Ladurée's Sucré: The Recipes!  

I've been wanting to get myself a copy for some time now, particularly after acquiring Ladurée's Savoury: The Recipes from a very charming bookshop in Duxton Hill (Singapore) called Littered with Books, which by the way is worth a visit.  The obvious lure of Ladurée recipes aside, these books are a delight to have for a number of other reasons: gorgeous pictures accompanying all recipes, it comes beautifully wrapped in soft crepe paper, has silver / gold page edges, velvety covers and packed in classic Ladurée pastel pink / mint green boxes.  You have to see it to know what I mean!  I almost bought a copy when I was in Ladurée's Zurich shop earlier in March but stopped myself when I realised it costs CHF60 and I could get it cheaper via amazon.co.uk at around GBP20.  Unknown to me my friend went to the same shop in Zurich a week after and got me a copy! I've now promised all sorts of dessert treats to him and his wife in return for the awesome gift!

The first recipe that I tried from the book is the pistachio Fraisier, which comprises almond génoise soaked with kirsch syrup, pistahio mousseline cream, fresh strawberries and pistachio almond paste.  The recipe is for an 8-inch round cake, but I had these new hexagonal mini cake rings that I've been wanting to use and decided to make mini versions of the Fraisier instead.  I also omitted the pistachio almond paste layer.

I thought the hexagonal shape moulds were quite suited given how the strawberries were laid out.  Taste wise, the pistachio mousseline turned out a little too sweet for my liking and I would definitely reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe if I were to make this again.  Other than that I think a pistachio lover would definitely take to this cake.  Strawberries could also be replaced with raspberries to make a Framboisier. 

Recipe below adapted from Ladurée's Sucré: The Recipes, makes around 3 mini cakes

Almond génoise cake

17g butter

67g cake flour

2 eggs

67g granulated sugar

17g ground almonds

Kirsch syrup

25ml water

25ml sugar

10ml kirsch liqueur
10ml raspberry liqueur

Strawberries
12 strawberries, of approximately equal size

Pistachio mousseline cream

45g butter

90g whole milk

1 egg yolk

25g granulated sugar

7g cornstarch

30g pistachio paste

Decoration
Gel mirror & fruits as desired

1. Almond génoise cake

Melt butter.  Whisk eggs and sugar over bain marie till it is about 50C, thick, pale and tripled in volume.  Remove from heat and continue whisking till mixture has cooled down.  Fold in flour, then ground almonds and butter.  Pour into cake pan (around 9-inch round to get 1cm thick génoise) and bake for approximately 20 minutes in 170C preheated oven.  Allow to cool before cutting out 3 pieces exactly the same size as the mini cake rings and 3 slightly smaller (i.e. 2 pieces per mini cake, 1 slightly smaller than the other).

2. Kirsch syrup

Bring water and sugar to a boil.  Allow to cool before adding in kirsch and raspberry liqueur.  

3. Strawberries

Slice 9 of the strawberries into halves, 6 halves for each mini cake.  Cut remaining 3 strawberries into thin slices.

4. Pistachio mousseline cream

Leave butter out to soften at room temperature.  Bring milk to a boil.  Whisk yolk and sugar till it pales slightly, mix in cornstarch.  Pour about a third of the hot milk into egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly throughout to temper the yolk, then pour mixture back into rest of milk and bring to a boil., stiring constantly.  Leave to cool for about 10 minutes before mixing in half of the butter.  When cream has cooled to room temperature blend in pistachio paste and other half of the butter, using a electric mixer if necessary, till cream is smooth. 

5. Assembly

Place larger pieces of cut génoise pieces at bottom of mini cake rings and lightly soak with syrup.  Pour a thin layer of pistachio mousseline cream over génoise up to about 1cm high.  Arrange strawberry halves along the inside of the cake ring (as shown in pictures), cut side against the side of the cake ring, pushing them down into the cream.  Fill centre with thinly sliced strawberries, also pushing into the cream.  Cover strawberries with more mousseline cream, then place in second (smaller) piece of cut génoise on the cream before filling with remaining mousseline cream till top of cake ring.  Refridgerate till set before removing from cake ring.  Top with gel mirror and fruits as desired.

Strawberry linzer cookies

I'm awfully excited about spending Christmas in my new home!! Due to move in 4 days, I've been busy ensuring the house renovations get completed in time, contacting the movers, and getting started on packing stuff into boxes... busy busy busy!!! Thank goodness things at work has lightened considerably.

Trying to clear as much as possible out of my fridge before the house move, I finally got down to baking those linzer cookie dough I prepared and kept in the freezer about 2 weeks ago. Linzer cookies are one of my favorites during the Christmas holiday season. I wish I had more time to make them into interesting holiday shapes... Merry Xmas everyone!!

Ingredients:

110 g ground almond

260 g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

227 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

135 g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

2 large egg yolk

zest of 1 lemon

3/4 cup strawberry preserves

Method:

Sift together flour, cinnamon and salt in a bowl, then set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add in the vanilla essence, egg yolks, lemon zest and ground almonds while continuing to beat. Add in the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Shape dough into a round ball and wrap in plastic. Keep in the fridge until firm (about 1 hour) or up to a few days. At this point the dough can also be stored in the freezer for a few weeks.

Roll dough between 2 baking sheets until about 0.6cm thick. Using 5cm cookie cutters of any shape desired, cut out pieces of dough, placing them on prepared baking trays around 2cm apart. Using a smaller cookie cutter, cut out the centers of half of the cookies. Bake for around 12 to 15 mins in a preheated 180 C oven. Cool on wire rack.

When ready to assemble cookies, place strawberry preserves in a saucepan and heat gently. Spread around 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of heated strawberry preserves on the bottom of a full cookie, top with a cookie without centers, sandwiching them together firmly.

Italian meringue & fruity macarons...

Much has been said about how temperamental french meringues can be when it comes to making macarons. Known as macarons au blanc monté, the french meringue method is definitely less of a hassle compared to its italian counterpart, but extremely sensitive to conditions such as humidity and temperature. Not a reliable choice for home bakers who have little control over weather conditions in the kitchen.

Most professional cookbooks recommend the italian meringue method, i.e. macarons au sucre cuit, which requires heating sugar syrup to exactly 118 C, then pouring it it gradually into a bowl of egg white while its been whipped. The rest of the recipe is pretty much similar to the french meringue method.

Last week I decided it was time for me to try the macarons au sucre cuit and find out for myself if its worth the extra trouble. A standing whisk is definitely recommended for this task for a couple of good reasons: (1) One has to start beating the egg whites while the sugar syrup is heating up; (2) The sugar syrup has to be poured into the egg whites while it continues to be whisked; (3) The egg white & sugar mixture has to be beaten for a good 10 to 15 minutes till it cools down and a firm meringue forms. I don't know about other home bakers, but I definitely couldn't have managed all these if I didn't have my standing mixer, which btw I've had for about 15 years now - I'm amazed its still working after all I've put it through!

So what were the key differences? When I got down to folding the dry ingredients & italian meringue together, the mixture was noticeably smoother compared to my previous attempts with the french meringue. It also took me less folds to get the dry ingredients properly mixed in, though I've read on the internet that it should take longer (hmm...?). Other differences were my shells took 5 to 10 minutes shorter in the oven to bake and had tidier & prettier looking feet (the latter made me jump for joy!).

My conclusion? I definitely prefer the italian meringue method. A little extra hassle with sugar syrup is definitely worth it for beautiful looking shells!

For those also interested to try it out, I made reference to Duncan's basic macarons au sucre cuit recipe posted on www.syrupandtang.com (He has also put together great tips and guides for macaron making.). I adapted his basic recipe to create strawberry and mango flavored shells, which I filled with strawberry chocolate ganache - bascially adding strawberry puree to a standard chocolate ganache recipe.

Pears and strawberries

It seems to me that when one is nursing a wisdom tooth extraction, one tends to crave for something cold, soft and sweet - that was how it was for me at least! Over the long Easter weekend I had my left bottom wisdom tooth taken out via a minor surgery and I've been gobbling down plenty of ice-creams, yogurts, puddings, etc ever since!

My craving for cold, soft and sweet yummies also led me to work on a new mousse cake recipe - creamy pear mousse placed on almond dacquoise base and topped with strawberry jelly layer. The entire ensemble was very light & fruity. I made the dacquoise base and pear mousse the night before so as to allow the mousse to set overnight in the fridge. The strawberry layer was cooled to room temperature before pouring over the pear mousse and allowed to set in the fridge. I've never matched pears with strawberries before so it was interesting to find out it does blend well.

Working on this recipe from scratch meant I had to try it twice before getting the respective quantities right - my initial attempt had the strawberry layer too thick and I felt it masked the taste of the pear mousse, not to mention it also weighed down too heavily on the pear mousse layer which is very light, almost fluffy. The second attempt is what you see here in the photos - the strawberry jelly layer was kept thin hence allowing primary focus (taste buds wise) to be on the pear mousse.