“May your life be filled, as mine has been, with love and laughter; and remember, when things are rough all you need is … Chocolate.”
Geraldine Solon
These are tiring days. Life seems cumbersome. Maybe it’s that time of the year, the heat and humidity; maybe the after effects of trying to pack too much into working days. I needed a break. That came today! I offered to guest post on Cookaroo to help ease her tiring days! This Baked Dark Chocolate Mousse seemed to be the thing! {Recipe here}
Had to send Ruchira’s blog some deliciousness while she works hard {read struggles} to get life up and running in her new world. The thought of doing something for this large hearted and fab girl injected some enthusiasm into me. With a spring in my step, I grabbed the camera early this morning. I knew just what would make her smile.
So grab your spoons and head straight for Cookaroo for these petite beauties. They’re a chocolate lovers dream come true. Deep, dark, sensuous, seductive … petite dark chocolate mousse with a drizzle of deep, dark, salted caramel. Need I say more?
“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.”
Benjamin Franklin
Some days I just dazzle myself with my efficiency, days that are few and far between, but it gives me confidence that I can still achieve quite a bit on better days!! It was a cake for my SILs birthday, AND macarons, all done on fast track. Inspiration came from our MacTweetstheme for January and the Bavarian mousse on this Chocolate Bavarian Mousse Cake; that is how this Strawberry & Kiwi Bavarian Cake with Razzle Dazzle Macarons came about to be.On a day like this I raced and baked a sponge, made a Bavarian cream, then a mousse, layered a cake and even had it chilling in a couple of hours!! Even more dazzling … got the macs piped even as the kids grumbled getting out of bed and into the shower; ffound ‘feet’ before 8am, just after I had banished the kids to school!! Cake demoulded, ganached and snazzed up with my macs and I was a happy baker! The ganache wasn’t in my plan, limited as it seemed because of the time crunch, but the daughter begged for chocolate to be included in the master plan. I think the cake would have looked beautiful without the dark chocolate hues, but teens need to be kept happy, so…The macarons ran with the basic colours of fruit in the cake, pink for strawberries and green for kiwi. I was lucky to find feet so early in the morning. For the boost of mac-confidence I have to applaud the uber talented Stella @ BraveTart…and she is brave. She bakes mean {readGORGOEUS!!} macarons, and did away with many mac myths in a second.Reading her post made me feel ultra confident, and a day old egg white out of the fridge did yield the frills or feet! I also dumped the granulated sugar in with the whites and whipped them altogether, but this time wasn’t nervous. Bravery is a strong emotion, and I was rewarded in under 10 minutes …pretty little mini macs.The sponge is a basic one, a 3 egg recipe that lives in my head… 3 eggs + 1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 cup flour. Minimal ingredients {with the seed of 1/2 a vanilla bean} and minimal fuss that results in a light airy sponge. This is my to-go recipe for a Swiss roll too!I did try to rustle up some shimmer and glimmer to jazz the macarons to meet the razzle dazzle theme, but the shimmer is rather muted! Well the thoughts {and my morning} dazzled in any case. The macarons were sandwiched with some dark chocolate ganache reserved from the frosting.Bavarian is fast becoming my choice of filling in cakes, one that finds its roots in a crème anglaise of sorts, as we still moan the lack of local whipping cream in India. The mousse compliments fresh fruit beautifully, and is delicately flavoured with vanilla bean. It was a little less firm in the filling as I used kiwi too {I think the high citric content in kiwi interferes with the setting of gelatin}. It did set though, but just. Next time I might stick to just strawberries to get a firmer mousse … like the one below!The weather that whole day {week actually} was cold and rainy, hence the cake pictures aren’t bright and happy. I had some mousse left over as the cake was taller than my desert ring, so I set some in glasses. I absolutely love the idea of doing individual portions like these that can be made ahead, and dressed up with seasonal fruit, as in this case strawberries perked up with some fresh basil!These were GOOD, oh so good! The Bavarian set perfectly, the little vanilla bean specks flavouring it beautifully. I topped the goblets with a strawberry puree, like the one layered in these White & Dark Chocolate Desserts with Strawberries. To add colour and flavour, I snipped in some fresh basil which I am fortunate to have these days. I left these in the fridge for a couple of hours again, and the strawberry, lime and basil flavours matured nicely!The play of textures and the visual appeal was great! Dolled up with a macaron and I have never heard the fridge door opening SO MANY times! The kids were constantly in and out of the kitchen to look at it longingly. The minute dinner was done, it was a race to the fridge again. Door opened again! “Now?”
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?
If you do, you are most welcome to join us for this challenge, or the next. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally do the round-up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!
[print_this]Recipe: Strawberry & Kiwi Bavarian Cake with Razzle Dazzle Macarons
Summary:A marriage of flavours and textures, 2 desserts, one basic mousse. Add in some fresh seasonal fruit, top with macarons and you have … Strawberry & Kiwi Bavarian Cake with Razzle Dazzle Macarons, & Vanilla Bavarian Mousse with Strawberries & Basil
1/2 vanilla bean scraped {or pure vanilla extract}
Basic Sugar Syrup
1/4 cup water
3 tbsp granulated sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lime
Vanilla Bavarian Mousse
4 egg yolks {large; 5 if small}
300ml whole milk
200ml low fat cream, room temperature
1/2 vanilla bean scraped
75gm sugar
1 1/4 tbsp gelatin {increase in warm weather}
200ml cream, chilled
2 tbsp powdered sugar
Chocolate Ganache
200gm dark chocolate bits {or chopped}
200ml low fat cream
1 tbsp honey
Fruit for filling
300gm strawberries, chopped {reserve 3-4 for garnishing
2-3 kiwi, peeled, chopped {reserve 1/2 for garnishing}
Vanilla Macarons
1 egg white, aged a day
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
1/4 tsp egg white powder
2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
Strawberry Puree for the Bavarian Mousse Goblets
300gm strawberries, chopped fine
2-3 tbsp powdered sugar {increase/decrease as per tartness of strawberries}
Juice of 1 lime
6-8 leaves fresh basil, chiffonaded
1tbsp water
Method:
Vanilla Sponge
Preheat oven to 190C. Line the base and sides of a 9″ round tin with baking parchment.
Beat eggs, vanilla bean and sugar over simmering water until the eggs are thick and mousse like, about 7-10 minutes. Once they triple in volume, remove from water, and continue to beat until the mixture cools dwon {about 5 minutes}
Fold the flour in carefully, in figure 8 moves, to ensure you don’t release the air.
Turn into prepared tin, and bake for about 30 minutes, until the cake is light golden and springs back when touched.
Remove from tin, take off parchment, and coole completely on rack.
Vanilla Bavarian Mousse
Bloom gelatin in 2-3 tbsp of water. Place in a bowl of hot water to dissolve fully.
Whisk the yolks with the sugar in a bowl.
Heat cream, milk and half the sugar {15gm} until simmering. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar with a balloon whisk, and add 1/3rd of the hot milk mixture over it, whisking continuously until well combined. Pour this back into the pan with the remaining milk mixture. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the cream is thickened and coats the back of the spoon. {Don’t allow it to boil}. It is important to constantly stir to prevent the bottom from curdling or burning. If that happens, take a balloon whisk and whisk vigorously. If you fear your custard curdled too much, remove from the heat and pass it through a fine sieve before proceeding with the recipe.
Thermomix: Place all ingredients in TM bowl, and cook at 90C, Speed 3 for 7 minutes.
Remove from heat immediately and stir the gelatin well into this hot mixture well, then quickly strain this into a bowl. Cool over a bowl of crushed ice, stirring frequently.
Once cool, beat the remaining 200ml chilled cream to soft peaks, and gently stir into the mousse.
Chocolate Ganache
Chocolate Glaze
Place chocolate in a bowl.
Heat the cream and honey in a pan until simmering. Pour over the chopped chocolate and stir until smooth. Reserve 1/4 cup ganache in a piping bag for macarons.
Assembling Torte
Cut the sponge horizontally into 3 layers. Place in dessert ring on serving platter. {Dessert ring should fit nice and snugly. I use this adjustable dessert ring I bought in Sydney.} Place one layer of cake, top with the strawberries and kiwi, then half the Bavarian mousse. Repeat with the next layer. Cover and chill overnight for the Bavarian to set.
Unmold from the dessert ring, frost with the ganache and garnish as desired. Chill until ready to serve.
Vanilla Macarons
Preheat oven to 140C.
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Blend the powdered sugar, almond meal, vanilla powder and egg white powder briefly in the bowl of your food processor to mix. {you can sift it too}
In a large clean bowl, beat the egg white and the granulated vanilla sugar till it becomes firm and holds peaks, about 2 minutes.
Carefully fold the dry ingredients into the beaten egg white with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and falls in ribbons like molten lave, stop folding. {Do not overmix}
Using a teaspoon, or piping bag, drop / pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1″ circles evenly spaced one-inch apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then rest for about about 15 minutes {to an hour}.
Bake them for about 15 minutes until the shells feel firm to touch.
Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.
To assemble macarons
Match equal halves of macarons, and keep together.
Pipe a tiny bit of the reserved ganache from above on the flat side of the macaron and sandwich with another half of the same size, squeezing gently. Leave to set.
Strawberry Puree for the Bavarian Mousse Goblets
Lightly crush the chopped strawberries with the powdered sugar with a fork until the strawberries release their juices. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and reserve in a bowl in the fridge. Distribute over the glasses once Bavarian is set, and chill until served.
Notes: I bake my macarons on the upper shelf in my oven, using just the lower element for heat. I also use double baking trays.
“CHOCOLATE CAKE may not fix everything but it’s a darn good substitute”
Time flies and how.It was her birthday a few days ago, the ‘not so terrible anymore {well almost}’ teen turned 16, a day she awaited eagerly. We did too as we have for every birthday, for us every year special. On request was a Chocolate Bavarian Mousse Strawberry Birthday Cake, a cake that looked really nice, and tasted good too.Strange beginning to the year. Just as I decided to get a handle on time management and better posting, we had a bad thunderstorm 2 nights ago, hailstorms, lightning, heavy downpour … the works. Lightning struck nearby and fried the modem and the poor motherboard of my dear computer! More needless running around, unnecessary expenditure {$$$}, and annoyingly, no internet!So while I sat in social isolation, I tried to type a blog post in 70 minutes, inspired by this post I read on BlogAdda just before lightning struck. Maybe it was meant to be. So heres a short-ish post {still can’t figure out why writers block hits me when the internet is kaput} for the birthday, and it’s back to the 2nd.As I said earlier, how time flies! The ‘now threatening to be terrible pre-teen‘ was most excited on his sisters birthday and lavished his love on her all day long. I have never seen him so excited and attentive to her outlandish and whimsical demands and behavior … but he was. The pooch followed suit!!The teen was uncannily willing to be clicked , of course that was after I literally begged her; she uncharacteristically relented. Job done and she declared like the Queen of England that the pictures were nice and I could use a few for my blog!Luck wasn’t on my side, and I accidentally deleted the whole lot before they had a chance to get copied onto the computer. I could have wept. No cake pictures, no pretty pink baby shoes vs big feet, and terribly enough, no record of her on her sweet 16th!! She hounded me … “How could you mother? You can’t be joking? Where did the pictures go …..”It was back to the Google Gods … how to recover accidentally deleted pictures from a camera card etc. I downloaded different softwares each promising the moon for dolts like me. ‘Just get me those pictures‘. I left the software to run through the night…Sweet success the next morning had software called Recuva recover all my deleted pictures. Lucky me!! I had all the pictures back, pink shoes and all! Gosh, how feet grow was all I could think!!Her love for strawberries is indescribable. She loves them to bits … right out of the box to enjoying them in desserts, diet or no diet! We are lucky enough to get fresh produce twice a year. Ah, the joys of living in a tropical country!So here’s the cake I made for her. It came out looking really pretty {if I may say so myself}, and was I glad the chocolate Bavarian mousse set!I also added a few tbsps of Ghirardelli hot cocoa mix to the Bavarian, the cocoa a gift from a sweet reader of PAB, Indrani. Her words touching and inspiring… “Thank you for all the lovely recipes you are churning out. I’m a better baker and it’s ALL thanks to you.”Thank you for the sweet gift Indrani. The kids have had a great winter slurping hot cocoa with Whole wheat & oat chocolate chip cookies!!Now onto the recipe which might seem a bit involved when you first read it, but it comes together fairly quickly. It’s always easier to bake the cake a day in advance {or a few hours earlier} if you are pressed for time {or electricity as my case usually is!}.
Summary: Chocolaty, chocolaty and chocolaty … a delicious luscious cake with the quintessential combination of strawberries and chocolate, complimented beautifully with a light airy chocolate Bavarian mousse.
150-200gm strawberries, halved for the sides {save a few for garnishing if desired}
Chocolate flakes, cocoa powder
Method:
Chocolate Cake
Sift the flour and cocoa. Reserve.
Whisk the eggs and sugar together, and then beat over a bain-marie {simmering} water for 8-10 minutes until it doubles in volume and become mousse like {don’t let it become too hot}. Once doubled, remove from water, and continue beating with an electric beater till it becomes cool, and the batter falls in a thick ribbon.
Gently fold in the sifted flour and cocoa in 2-3 batches, taking care not to release to much volume.
Quickly yet gently add the melted butter and pour the batter into the prepared tin.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until the sponge is firm to touch, and springy. Cool in tin to 10-15 minutes, then turn onto rack to cool completely.
Strawberry Cream Filling
Beat the cream with sugar to stiff peaks. Gently fold in the chopped strawberries.
Bavarian Chocolate Mousse
Soften the gelatin in a ¼ cup of cold milk. {Place in a bowl of warm water until dissolved}.
Place the chocolate in a large bowl.
Heat 200ml cream, milk and half the sugar {15gm} until simmering. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks with the remaining sugar with a balloon whisk, and add 1/3rd of the hot milk mixture over it, whisking continuously until well combined. Pour this back into the pan with the remaining milk mixture. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the cream is thickened and coats the back of the spoon. {Don’t allow it to boil}.
Remove from heat immediately and stir the gelatin into this hot milk mixture well, then quickly strain this over the chocolate. Stir until smooth. I added 2 tbsp of Ghirardelli hot cocoa mix into this. Cool over a bowl of crushed ice, stirring frequently.
Once cool, beat the remaining 200ml chilled cream to soft peaks, and gently stir into the mousse.
Chocolate Glaze
Place chocolate in a bowl.
Heat the cream and honey in a pan until simmering. Pour over the chopped chocolate and stir until smooth.
Assembling cake
Cut the sponge horizontally into 2 layers. Place in dessert ring on serving platter. {Dessert ring should fit nice and snugly. I use this adjustable dessert ring I bought in Sydney.} Place one layer of cake, top with the strawberries and cream mix, followed by the second layer of cake. Chill for about an hour while the Bavarian cools.
Line the sides of the dessert ring with strawberry halves, gently pour the Bavaria chocolate mousse into the ring and gently level it. Cover and refrigerate overnight preferably. Next morning, prepare the glaze and pour half of it evenly over the set Bavarian mousse. Chill for 30 minutes for the glaze to set, then top with flakes and strawberries, and dust the edges with cocoa powder.
Unmold from the dessert ring, slather the bottom half of the cake with the remaining glaze {optional} and chill until ready to serve.
Note: The setting strength of gelatin varies according to climate. You might want to increase it if the weather is warm. It was 5C here.
“To follow without halt, one aim; there is the secret of success. And success? What is it? I do not find it in the applause of the theater. It lies rather in the satisfaction of accomplishment.”
Anna Pavlova
The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.
It’s the Daring Bakers time of the month again, and I’ve just got it together in the nick of time. The challenge Dawnchose is primarily based on a recipe from Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard – Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. Chocolate Epiphany a book on my wish-list, and the name of the recipe so delicious, I was thrilled to see the challenge. What’s not to love about a chocolate pavlova!!
Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert named after the Russian ballet dancer Ánna Pávlova. Colloquially referred to as “pav“, it is a cake similar to meringue with a crispy crust and soft, light inner. The dessert is believed to have been created to honour the dancer during or after one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s.
It’s become some sort of a norm for me to usually get the DB challenge done early. I used to procrastinate for long before, but the last few challenges have had me up and going in the first week or so. Not this time though. It’s been a busy month, and I just didn’t get down to it. We were away into the Himalayas in the first week of June, then came the boys birthday, and then the hub came down with the nasty tummy virus. A potent combination of baking and blogging just not happening, but all the time I had chocolate pavlovas on my mind. Whether it was in Gangtokclimbing the hills to get to the monastery, or baking a Swiss Black Forest Cake for the son wondering if I could pass off a pavlova as a birthday cake, or the 3 days I spent in the hospital with Mr PAB who was not looking too good, strangely enough, all along I had Chocolate Pavlova fixation!
I’ve made Tropical Fruit Pavlova earlier from INDULGE – 100 Perfect Desserts by Claire Clark for a Blogger Aid fund raiser. That had been my first attempt and at the time I had wondered why it took me so long to get there. Many desserts later, I was thrilled to see this months choice for the challenge, chocolate pavlovas, something I’ve wanted to try forever! I didn’t get as far as the creme anglaise and mascarpone cream because of the lack of time. Also because it’s been far too hot in North India, and anything with a cream base just tends to run in seconds. I managed to stabilise my mousse with some gelatin, and that too barely. At 44C, nothing stays!!
In an attempt to keep it as light and refreshing as possible, I topped the stabilised mousse with a combination of preserved stone fruit. As time goes by, I seem to add more and more ‘passions‘ to my list. I am completely taken in by food photography, and also mad about preserving stone fruit, thanks to some jars I found in the market. Jars of the sort are not part of normal kitchen stuff available in India, so you could hear me whooping down the aisle! The past month has seem me in a frenzy pitting cherries and stoning peaches and apricots! I made a jar of brandied burgundy cherries from notes in The Cake Bible, and then went on to preserve a jar of regular cherries and peaches to make the most of the summer bounty! I was thrilled to be able to use them here, as Mr PAB couldn’t stop having a go at them!
All in all, a delectable summer combination. Chocolate and cherries offered the classic combination, and mascarpone chocolate mousse just made it better. For the record, I need to add that mascarpone doesn’t freeze well, at least not my homemade mascarpone. I made some a while ago and decided to freeze it before we left for Gangtok as I thought I would use it for the pavlovas. Ack. .. was strange and granular on defrosting when I returned, so I made a fresh batch from my post here. Nothing as simple and good as home made fresh mascarpone! Also, just for the record, a power cut doesn’t affect the baking of a meringue base. I know because the minute I popped the meringues into the oven… POP… off went the electricity for an hour!
I did have a bit of a time with the weather very hot at 44C, and so couldn’t get my mousse to behave. Once I managed to stabilise the mousse, the rest was FUN FUN FUN!! Thank you Dawn for something so ‘doable‘, and something so utterly divine! We loved it to the last crumb!! Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!!
Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse, Brandied Cherries and Peaches Recipe Source: Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard
Chocolate Meringue {for the chocolate Pavlova} 3 large egg whites ½ cup plus 1 tbsp white granulated sugar ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar {I powdered 1/4 cup sugar with 1 tsp cornflour}
1/3 cup cocoa powder
Method:
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 95º C. Line one baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. {The whites should be firm but moist}.
Sift the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white. Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into 6 rounds or whatever shapes you desire. Alternatively, you could just free form your shapes and level them a bit with the back of a spoon. {I made 6, but 8 would have been a good serving size too}
Bake for 2-3 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Sprinkle the gelatin over the milk in a small bowl, and place the bowl in a larger bowl of warm water till translucent.
Run the dark chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 1-2 minutes until soft. Add the cream, and run for another 20 seconds. Mix till well blended and let sit at room temperature until cool.
Whisk the mascarpone until smooth.{DO NOT OVER-BEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK}. Whisk in the melted chocolate mixture gently.
Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Add the gelatin quickly, but gently, and mix uniformly. Chill till holds form.
Spoon or pipe the mousse onto the pavlovas. Top with brandied burgundy cherries, peaches and cherries in syrup, and chocolate flakes.
♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥
Do stop by HERE and take a look at the marvelous pavlovas the rest of the talented daring Bakers have whipped up this month.
As I sign off, just a reminder for a giveaway I am hosting courtesy of CSN Stores. On offer is a one-time-use $80 gift certificate for one lucky winner to use as they wish on any of the CSN websites. Do leave a comment HERE if you wish to take part.
“The fact is that it takes more than ingredients and technique to cook a good meal. A good cook puts something of himself into the preparation — he cooks with enjoyment, anticipation, spontaneity, and he is willing to experiment.”
Pearl Bailey
On now to posting about the yummy dessert that was born out of the very yummy Honey Castella, a sponge cake made from this post at Manggy’s@ No Special Effects. I posted it here yesterday. I had a fridge full of mangoes (lucky ole me), a kilo & a half of yogurt that I had set & some low fat cottage cheese…all this fell at my feet while I was clearing the fridge. Single cream is something I always have on hand, so my natural instinct was to try something different! How wrong could I possibly go with a fruit dessert?, I thought. Even if my cheesecake/mousse didn’t set firmly, it didn’t matter; it was in a glass anyway.
The cottage cheese I used is a very smooth version that we get here. There is just one brand that makes this low fat cottage cheese here, & it is almost like a smooth, yet firm ricotta with no water content. It grates almost like mozzarella so was a nice choice for this dessert.
I often use this combination of ingredients to make my cheesecake as cream cheese is hard to come by here, & is quite expensive as it is imported. In this instance, I have used gelatin as a setting agent as this is a no bake version. At other times I make a baked version that uses eggs. Both work fine in their own little ways. I do enjoy this eggless version that uses a combination of locally available stuff.
Topped with a mango mirror…
In desserts like this one, I think you can play around with ingredients as you like. Everything safely sits inside the glass & so they can be even set up with left-over pound cake or a sponge, with cream cheese, or mascarpone, with or without some cut mangoes, & topped with whipped cream. You can never go wrong with a trifle + fruit + cream…so do experiment! It’s FUN!!
I made some servings in bigger glasses, & a some more in cognac goblets. Both looked really pretty, made for great dessert, & were devoured with pleasure. The mango season here is rapidly coming to a close…so sadly, very few mango opportunities left now.
Purrrrrfect Mango Mousse…or is it mouse?
Recipe…
For the basic sponge Honey Castella/ Sponge Cake recipe here
For the cheesecake
Ingredients:
Mango puree – of 5 mangoes (about 3 1/2 – 4 cups) (reserve 1/2 cup for the mirror topping)
Mango – 1 / chopped
Cottage cheese – 300 gms (low-fat / I use Le Bon); grated
Hung Yogurt – of 1 1/2 litres set yogurt (hung the yogurt overnight)
Cream – 300 ml
Gelatin – 3 tsps (the strength of gelatin we get here is quite low, so I didn’t get a very firm set cheesecake)
Gelatin – 1 tsp for mango mirror topping
Cream, Slivered pistachios, Fresh mint leaves etc for garnishing
Method:
Sprinkle 3 tsps gelatin over 3 tbsps of hot water & leave to stand.
Reserve 1/2 a cup of mango puree for the mango mirror topping.
Run the mango puree + cottage cheese + hung yogurt in the processor.
Taste for sweetness & add sugar if required.
Strain the gelatin into this & run the processor briefly again.
Whip the cream until firm & fold in.
Cut rounds of the Castella/cake with a cookie cutter, or cut out correct size pieces to line your serving dish / glasses/ bowls. Layer a glass with a slice of cake, followed with some cut mango pieces, then some cheesecake mix, another layer of cake, & then some more cheesecake mix.
Leave to set in the fridge for at least an hour or so.
For the mango mirror:
Sprinkle 1 tsp gelatin over 2 tbsp of hot water. Stir in well to mix. Cool.
Strain the reserved 1/2 cup of mango puree to get a smooth mirror), & strain the gelatin into it. Mix well.
Top each glass with 1 tbsp each of the mirror & leave to set in the fridge. Once the mirror is set, top with a 1/2 tsp of cream, swirl it, top with slivered pistachios, fresh mint etc.
