INSTANT TRIPLE - CHOCOLATE MOUSSE...the eggless way!

What do you do when you have a guest coming over for lunch in less than an hour? I will be doing the headless chicken dance between the appetizers, main course and of course, my favourite part of the meal, dessert. Oh yeah! I do elaborate meals when we have guests. Like how I had mentioned in my previous post, I think of dessert first. So, I made this instant chocolate mousse and left it in the fridge to set,then I continued my dance juggling  between the pots on the 4 burners :-)

Clank! Plonk! Bang! Sometimes they are music to my ears, not necessarily all the time!

Some of the best things in life comes in small sizes! And that can be very true sometimes! For eg: Mini Marshmallows are the life saver of this delectable dessert. If I were to use eggs like the traditional method, I would have had to wait for another 6-7 hours for the mousse to set (unless you use gelatin) and serve it for dinner rather than lunch! :-)

Mousse's have always been a favourite of mine.One of the first recipes that I blogged about was a Chocolate Mousse Cake. Whenever I make or eat a mousse, especially Chocolate, I always think of my college friend, Priyanka. We were the mousse eating partners :-)

INSTANT TRIPLE - CHOCOLATE MOUSSE
Recipe source: Nigella Lawson


Ingredients:
Mini marshamallows - 150 g (you can use regular marshmallows too)
Butter-50 g, softened
Chocolate- 250 g (I used a mix 70%, semi-sweet and milk), chopped into small pieces
Hot water-60 ml
Cream-284 ml
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Method:

• In a heavy-bottom saucepan, melt the marshmallows,butter,chocolate and water together, stirring every now and then.
• Meanwhile, whip the cream with vanilla until thick.
• Fold it into the cooling chocolate mixture until you have a smooth mixture. ( I let the chocolate cool very well for the fear that the cream might melt.)
• Pour into individual ramekins and let it set in the fridge for about 1 hour. 

Verdict: Silky smooth luscious wonderful heavenly decadent  perfectly textured dessert!

CHOCOLATE HAZLENUT MOUSSE CAKE.... for World Nutella Day.

So, once again I am going to talk about friendship ,beyond 'borders',in this case, I mean borders of states :) Avanika  and myself, we live in 2 different far-off states but, we have a lot of things in common, first being the love for food! I must describe her as a wacky, full -of- life 19 yr old passionate food blogger. And I must mention something else too, I am terribly jealous of her...she is SO young! Gosh, as my b'day is approaching (oh! it's actually 3 months away! ) I feel I am growing OLD! But, Jobin's b'day comes before mine, so I am better off! :P

Thank you Av ( as I always mention her on my twitter /chat msgs) SO much for accepting to 'feed' my ever - so -hungry blog! Now, it's not just the blog, it's the owner too! I am on a diet you see! ;) Because I am left with exactly 9 days more!



HAPPY WORLD NUTELLA DAY!!! This is by far, my most favorite holiday! I could literally LIVE on Nutella alone, so I just HAD to celebrate it. I've gifted my close friends jars of Nutella today, that's how much I love this day. And my aerobics instructor is absolutely loathing this day! :P For creating this wonderful holiday, I have to thank Sara and Michele.



Wait a minute now, ofcourse you're wondering who I am, and why you should listen to me gushing about Nutella so much! A little intro seems appropriate - I'm Avanika, fellow food blogger from Yumsilicious Bakes, and I like to consider myself as Ria's good friend, even though I never met her, we share a bond, and we talk about soo much stuff, it's weird!

Since she is getting married, in less than 2 weeks, she asked me to do a guest post, or 'feed' her blog. The very idea of guest posting scares me, I think, who'll want to listen to little old me? That's why I rejected 2 previous offers of doing guest posts, but when Ria asked me, I knew this was the time where I needed to step up. This is my small way of making her wedding a little bit easier! And plus, even if I screw it up, I know she'll still be my friend. Right Ria? :P

So in honour of Ria's upcoming marriage [CONGRATULATIONS Ria and Jobin], my first ever guest post, and World Nutella Day, I knew I had to go all out, and decided to make this fabulous cake. And fabulous it is. The silky smoothness of the mousse hits you first, after which the creaminess of the ganache combines, both of which are perfectly balance by the crusty base. It's an explosion of textures, right in your mouth :) I am so glad I made this, it's perfect for the occasion. I'm just going to give you the recipe now, so you can make it immediately.


Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Cake
Adapted from Epicurious

For shortbread base -

2 tbsp [30 g] hazelnuts, toasted and skins rubbed off
3 tbsp [70 g] sugar
1/2 cup [80 g] all-purpose flour
1/2 stick [1/4 cup, 55 g] unsalted butter, softened
2 tbsp [20 g] unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt

Special Equipment
8-Inch Springform Pan



Instructions -

1. Preheat oven to 350 F [180 C]. Line the springform with parchment paper.
2. Pulse the toasted hazelnuts and sugar in a food processor until finely ground.
3.  Add the flour, butter, cocoa and salt, pulse together until a dough forms.
4. Press the dough onto the bottom of the pan, and prick with a fork.
5. Bake for 18-20 minutes [mine took 17]. Cool pan on wire rack.
6. This step is important for convenience, once the base is cool, lift it off the pan, take out the parchment paper, and put it back onto the pan.

For mousse

• 1 tsp unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4-oz envelope)
• 3 tbsp cold water
• 1/2 cup [5 oz] Nutella
• 1/2 cup [100 g] mascarpone
• 1 1/2 cups [200 g] chilled heavy cream
• 2 tbsp [20 g] unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp [70 g] sugar

Instructions -

1. Once the crust is in the oven, begin making the mousse. In a large bowl, combine the gelatine and water, heat on the stove until all granules of gelatin dissappear. Whisk in the Nutella, take it off the heat.
2. Whisk in the mascarpone until combined.
3. Whisk together the cream, cocoa and sugar until soft peaks form. Whisk 1/3 of this cream into the nutella mixture, and then gently fold in the rest.
4. Spoon over the cooled crust, refrigerate until set [3-4 hours].

For ganache

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3 1/2 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped

Instructions -

1. Heat the cream over the stove in a small bowl, until it boils
2. Immediately pour this over the chopped chocolate, stir to combine. The chocolate will slowly melt with the heat of the cream.
3. Let this mixture stand for a while, about 20 minutes, for it to thicken. Make sure not to let it rest for too long, it may become too thick.
4. Remove the cake from the springform pan, slide onto a serving plate.
5. Pour the gananche over the mousse layer once its set perfectly, allowing some to drip over the sides. Don't hurry this step up, since the weight of the ganache will collapse your unset mousse, which is kind of what happened to me.
6. Serve, and ENJOY :)

BURP! Sorry! ;) I really loved this dessert! I am sure Jobin would love it too! Thank you Av! Mwwahhh!

Chocolate Mousse,Salted Caramel Ganache, Peanut and Banana Caramel Tarts

Happy Anniversary & a very very delayed post!

This post was due for May 30! Too late!! Hmph! Better late than never right ;) It was my parent's 27th wedding anniversary on May 30 and this is what I made for them! I fell in love with this recipe the moment I saw on Aran's blog! She is so talented and my tarts don't even look half pretty as hers! :)

It's very rare to find portion -sized baking tins here...but luckily I managed to find some 'Patties' shaping tin. And they had a loose bottom so I knew I could definately manage with it! Sooner or later I'll be known as the 'Substitution Queen' LOL! :D

And it's even more rare to find fresh cream...but found that as well. So everything fell in place and I went ahead making this for my most fav people on this planet!! :)

Warning: It's takes time to get the whole thing assembled! So make sure you plan it out real smart :)

Chocolate Tart Dough
Adapted from Johnny Iuzzini's "Dessert Fourplay" and re- adapted from Aran's blog
Note: you will only need part of the dough. Freeze the rest.

140 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
150 grams sugar
pinch salt
1 egg
1 egg white
310 grams flour
50 grams cocoa powder
4 grams baking powder

• Cream the butter, sugar and salt until light.
• Mix the egg white and egg together and add it to the butter. Mix and scrape bowl well.
• Add the sifted flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and mix until combined.
• Divide the dough into two balls, flatten them into disks, wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple of hours before rolling.
• Roll the dough into 1/8" thickness and fill 3" ring molds with it. Refrigerate the filled molds for at least an hour before blind baking.

Salted Peanut and Banana Caramel

100 grams sugar
40 grams glucose( I used liquid glucose)
50 grams butter
200 grams ripe bananas, mashed
50 grams salted peanuts, chopped

• Make a dry caramel with the glucose and the sugar. Add the softened butter and whisk until it melts. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the mashed bananas. Transfer to a clean bowl and let this caramel cool.
• We will add the salted peanuts when the banana caramel has cooled and right when we assemble the tarts.

Salted Caramel Ganache

25 grams bittersweet chocolate, chopped
50 grams unsweetened chocolate, chopped
75 grams milk chocolate, chopped
200 grams heavy cream
50 grams butter
10 grams glucose ( I used liquid glucose)
105 grams sugar
large pinch of sea salt

• Place the three types of chocolate in a large bowl. Place a large strainer over the bowl and reserve.
• In a small pan, heat the heavy cream and butter and keep it warm.
• In a separate tall pan, make a dry caramel with the glucose and sugar. Add the warm heavy cream and butter mixture slowly and whisk. The caramel will bubble up so stand away from the pan slightly and add it in stages if necessary. Whisk until all incorporated.
• Pour this caramel over the chopped chocolate through the fine sieve. Add the sea salt and whisk until ganache is formed.
• Be careful not to over whisk this ganache because it has a tendency to "break" if handled too much.

Chocolate Mousse

2 egg yolks
55 grams simple syrup ( which is nothing but equal proportion syrup)
100 grams bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
205 grams heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

• Place the egg yolks and the simple syrup in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk them together. Place this bowl over a double boiler and whisk the ingredients until light and foamy and thick. About 3-4 minutes.
• Remove the bowl from the double boiler and place it in the machine. Whip the eggs until the bottom of the bowl feels cool to the touch.
• Add the melted and cooled chocolate to the egg yolk mixture and whisk until combined. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl well.
• Fold in the soft peak whipped cream and mix gently until all incorporated.

Assembling the Tarts

• Blind bake the tart shells at 350F.
• When tart shells are cooled, spoon a bit of the banana caramel into them. Top with the chopped peanuts.
• Pour a thin layer of the salted caramel ganache into the tarts to cover the bottom layer. Refrigerate for a few minutes to set.
• Place the chocolate mousse in a pastry bag fitted with a number 5 tip and pipe it on top of the set ganache.
• Dust the tarts with a bit of cocoa powder, sprinkle with chopped peanuts and decorate with chocolate shavings.
• They are best served slightly at room temperature so the ganache has a chance to soften a bit, so pull them out of the refrigerator about 20 minutes before serving.

They came out beautiful ! I loved the mousse, it worked like a charm! BUT for some reason I caramelised the sugar a bit too much which resulted in a slightly bitter taste for the filling and I din't like it! :(

But my parent's din't even seem to notice it! :) So why should I be sad??? Afterall I made it for them :)

-Ria

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE

Whenever i hear the word 'Mousse'... be it any flavour,it reminds me of my D-A-H-L-I-N-G Priyanka! She is my best friend since my college days! We were so crazy about Sweet Chariot Mousse Cake and would never miss a chance to gobble up one!!

Now she is the UK and i miss her terribly!

So to cheer both of us and also to re-kindle our memories... I dedicate this post of mine to my lovely friend Priyanka Rudrappa!

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE

Ingredients:
For the chocolate cake: (courtesy: Hershey's)

Sugar - 2 cups
Flour- 1 3/4 cups
Cocoa- 3/4 cups
Baking Powder- 1 1/2 tsp
Baking soda- 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Eggs- 2
Milk - 1 cup
Vegetable Oil -1/2 cup
Vanilla Essence - 2 tsp
Boiling Water -!1 cup

Method:
1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla.
2. Beat on medium for 2 mins.
3.Stir in boiling water(batter will be THIN)
4.Pour and bake for 30-35 mins .Cool for 10 mins.
5.Remove from tin and cool completely.

For the chocolate mousse:
Bittersweet chocolate-4 1/2 oz (finely chopped)
Unsalted butter- 2 tbsp
Strong coffee- 2 tbsp
Cold cream-1 cup
Sugar-1 tbsp
Eggs-3 large,separated.

Method:
1.Whip the cream to peaks and refrigerate.
2.Combine chocolate,butter&coffee over hot water, stirring frequently until smooth.Remove from heat and cool to body temperature(dab a bit on your lower lip and is it is warm, thats it!)
3.Whip egg whites with sugar.
4.When chocolate is cooled add yolks. Stir.
5.Stir is 1/3 of cream, half of egg whites.Once incorporated , fold in remainining whites and finally cream.
6.Set for 8 hours in fridge.

Assembly:
1. Cut the cake into 3 layers horizontally.
2. Spread mousse on 2 layers and assemble them.
3.Spread the remaining mousse on top and sides.
4.The cake can be decorated further as per your wish!
Enjoy!