Jasmine Cream Tea Mousse Cake With Chocolate Chiffon

 

This cake was for a friends birthday. What better present than a cake.

When I set about making the cake I never intended it on being a mousse cake; I was actually planning on coating it in jasmine tea whipped cream, however when the cream doesn't whip you go about making mousse cake, voila, and no one will ever know! I have my flat mate to thank for saving the cake as she was the one who told me this rather nifty little mousse cake trick. Basically I think that the cream didn't whip to stiff peaks because I may have heated it too much when infusing the jasmine tea, so be sure to remove it from the heat just before it starts to simmer.

Even tough this cake has a lot of cream, it actually tastes quite light and was a real contrast to the other very chocolate cake which we had. What surprised me was that people kept asking me how I got the cake soo smooth on the sides, and how everything was soo even; if only they knew how easy it was and the real story behind it, they may not have been so impressed! As the saying goes 'when life gives you lemons make lemonade' or mousse cake is just as good.
 

Recipe

Ingredients

Chocolate Chiffon
2 cups plain flour
2 1/2tsp cream of tartar
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
2tbsp cocoa powder
pinch of salt
6 medium eggs separated
1/4 cup sugar
1cup water
1/2 cup oil (I used sunflower, you can also use canola)
1tsp vanilla extract

Jasmine Tea Mousse
1136ml double cream
5tbsp jasmine tea (add more if you want a stronger flavour)
6tbsp icing sugar
2 1/2 sachets gelatine powder
75ml hot water
Optional chocolate flakes/chocolate chips

Method

Chocolate Chiffon
1. Preheat oven to 160C.
2.Sieve the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix (flour, 2tsp cream of tartar, baking pwdr, baking soda and salt).

3. Beat the egg yolks, sugar, oil, vanilla essence and water.

4. Add the egg mixture to the flour and mix well till smooth and even.

 

5. Whisk the egg whites. Add 1/2tsp of cream of tartar when the mixture is starting to become light and frothy. Whisk till stiff peaks form.

6. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg whites and carefully fold in trying to keep as much air in the mixture as possible.

 7. Pour this mixture into a cake pan and bake for around 1hr till a knife through the centre of the cake comes out clean. When you take the cake out of the oven let it cool upside down on a wire rack.

Jasmine Tea Cream Mousse
1. In a pan heat the cream, jasmine tea, and remove from the heat just before the mixture comes to the simmer.

2. Strain the mixture and leave to cool to room temperature. Then place in the fridge for a few hours to chill.
3. When cool, whip the cream with the icing sugar till it is 3/4 done (soft peaks, not stiff peaks).
4. Do this stage when you are just about to assemble the cake: make the gelatine mixture by adding the gelatine powder to the hot water and mix till it is is all dissolved. Add this mixture to the whipped cream and combine. 

Assembly
1. Cut away excess cake to make the cake even and flat on all sides.

 2. Cut the cake in half.

3. Make the diameter of the cake smaller so that it is smaller that the cake pan (I took around 2cm from the sides). Place 1 layer of cake in the middle of a cake pan with the base lined with baking parchment or tinfoil.

4. Pour in the jasmine cream tea mixture so that it covers the sides and 0.5-1cm above the chocolate cake. Sprinkle some chocolate flakes/chips only above the cake (not the sides). Chill in the fridge for 10mins.

5. Now place the second layer of cake on top of the base layer. Pour the rest of the cream mixture over the cake and around the sides. You can cut the cake and make it shorter if you think there will not be enough cream mixture to fill everything. 

6. Chill in the fridge for at least 3-4hrs, preferably overnight. To remove the cake from the pan, just carefully push the base up (or open up the pan slowly if its spring-form).

 7. Decorate as you wish.

Source:
Chocolate chiffon cake: Nigella


A post from Fullest of Life

Cheat's Healthy Peach Crumble

 
I've been trying to eat 'healthily' lately, which means that I've tried to cut down on the desserts, and sugar. In order to do this I forced myself not to buy the weekly block of butter and bag of sugar. I have to admit that this hasn't been going too well as I have such a massive sweet tooth that I literally crave sugar everyday, however I've managed to satisfy these cravings with alternative healthier concoctions. That's the story of how this crumble recipe was born, it uses no flour, butter or sugar and if you've made crumble you'll know that these ingredients are pretty much the basis of the recipe! The most important thing about crumble topping is that it's crunchy and sweet right? Well, what if you could make crumble without the classic ingredients but still get a similar flavour and texture- perfect right?! The secret is granola mixture, and the best bit is that it's even easier and quicker to make than a normal crumble!

Preparation time: 30mins
Serves: 2-3

Recipe

Ingredients:
1 can of tinned peaches
1 cup of granola (I used one with nuts in)
2 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Line an oven proof dish with the peaches.

3. Mix the granola with the honey and ground spices.

4. Sprinkle the granola mixture over the peaches.

5. Bake for 20-25mins till the granola browns slightly.
6. Serve warm with custard or ice-cream.

A post from Fullest of Life

Chocolate Flourless Soufflé

I've been meaning to make a soufflé for a while now, and the chocolate ones I made definitely fit the bill. I looked up a few recipes and most of them used flour and butter, and had a long ingredient list, however I like to keep things simple, and also the fact that I only had a teaspoon of butter remaining in the fridge, made me choose a recipe I found on prestat. When you make a molten lava cake you want the centre to be cooked to gooey perfection, similarly with soufflés it's all about the perfection in getting it to rise aswell as it being light and airy. I've not made loads of soufflés before but when I have, I've had a 50:50 success rate; it may come out perfectly one time, but the next time I make it, it just seems to fall flat, luckily this attempt was a success, so I reckon this is a fairly safe recipe to use, even for the novice soufflé makers out there. I was surprised at how light this soufflé was, and it was chocolately but not 'rich' which actually made it taste kindda healthy dare I say, and I just wish that I had some cream or ice-cream to eat it with; that would literally be heaven on a spoon. Unlike with most other baked goods you have to eat soufflés as soon as they come out of the oven (yay!), and these soufflés kept their height for a good few minutes which was rather impressive, but don't despair if they go cold because I found out that they are just as delicious when chilled in the fridge.

Preparation time- 30mins
Serves- 4

Recipe

Ingredients:
100g plain chocolate
3 eggs separated
50g caster sugar
butter to grease ramekins

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Grease 4 ramekins with the butter, then coat with the sugar.

2. Melt the chocolate by either placing on a double boiler or by microwaving it (be careful not to burn the chocolate).

 3. In a bowl whisk the egg yolks and remaining sugar until it becomes light and pale in colour.

 4. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites (make sure that you thoroughly wash and dry the wisk so there is no egg yolk or water left on it) until stiff peaks form.

 5. Pour the melted chocolate into the  egg yolk mixture and whisk in quickly.

 6. Add half of the egg whites and fold in, then fold in the remaining (try to keep as much air in the mixture, and don't mix it too much).

 7. Carefully fill the ramekins with the chocolate mixture, try not to get the mixture all over the sides as this will affect the rising of the soufflé.

8. Bake for 15 minutes.

9. Eat immediately!

Source:
Prestat


A post from Fullest of Life