My colleague celebrated her 60th birthday recently, so we needed a delicious cake for the breakroom. This was the result.
BROWNIE WITH RASPBERRY MOUSSE
12-14 SERVINGS.
BROWNIE BASE:
90 G DARK CHOCOLATE
115 G BUTTER
200 G SUGAR
2 EGGS
½ TSP. VANILLA SUGAR
1/4 TSP. FLAKY SALT
85 G ALL PURPOSE FLOUR
SALTED CARAMEL TO TASTE
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees celsius.
Line a 18 cm spring mold with parchment paper, butter the paper so the brownie won’t stick.
Roughly chop the chocolate and melt it together with the butter. Stir the mixture smooth and shiny with a whisk.
Whisk in sugar and then the eggs, one at a time.
Add vanilla, salt and then fold in the flour with a rubber spatula.
Pour the brownie batter into the mold.
Finally add dollops of salted caramel on top of the batter.
Bake the brownie in the middle of the oven for about 35-45 minutes or until the middle of the cake is no longer too wobbly and there is only a small amount of batter sticking to a toothpick, when testing if it’s done.
Allow the brownie to cool completely, before removing it from the mold. Then clean the mold and line it again with clean parchment paper in the bottom and the sides with a piece clear cake collar.
Place the brownie base back into the mold, make sure that the collar fits tightly around the brownie. That way the mousse will sit nicely in top, in stead of covering the sides.
RASPBERRY MOUSSE:
200 G FROZEN RASPBERRIES
100 G SUGAR
JUICE OF 1 LEMON
4 SHEETS OF GELATINE LEAVES
20 G ICING SUGAR
30 G PASTERURISED EGG WHITES
250 G 38% DOUBLE CREAM
SEEDS OF 1 VANILLA POD
Soften the gelatine leaves in cold water for 10 minutes.
Heat frozen raspberries, sugar and lemon juice in a pot until the berries are tender and the sugar has melted.
Squeeze the water out of the gelatine and melt it in the warm raspberry mixture.
Blend the mixture into purée and pass it through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds. Set the purée aside and let it cool down to a temperature of 40-45 degrees celsius. If you don’t have a thermometer, test it with your little finger, the purée should be a little warmer.
Whisk the egg white and icing sugar to a stiff meringue.
Fold it into the raspberry purée.
Whip the cream with the vanilla seeds to soft peaks and fold the whipped cream into the raspberry mixture.
Put the mousse into a piping bag and fill some of it into some silicone molds. I used diamond shaped (3 pcs), 4 cm semi-spheres (5 pcs) and 3 cm semi-spheres (7 pcs). Confer with the pictures.
Smooth the surfaces and cover them with cling film, before placing them in the freezer.
The rest of the mousse is poured over the brownie base and the top smoothed out to be level.
Place the cake in the fridge over night.
The following day, remove the cake from the mold, plastic and parchment paper, then place it on a serving tray.
DECORATION:
FRESH RASPBERRIES AND BLUEBERRIES
MINT LEAVES
SPRINKLES
Decorate with the frozen mousse spheres and diamond, you’ve carefully removed from the molds. Then add t fresh raspberries, blueberries, mint leaves and sprinkles.
If the cake is to be served within an hour or two, leave out on the table, so the brownie base can come to room temperature and the mousse spheres can thaw. If the base is too cold, then it will be heavy and firm instead of fudgy and soft.
If there’s longer until you are going to eat it, leave it in the fridge, but remember to take it out a couple of hours before it’s served.
