Ranevskaya said that those who want to lose weight should eat naked and in front of the mirror. Modern confectionery art allows you to neglect the accessory and eat the most delicate mousse cake, looking into a piece covered with glaze. Yes, not ordinary, but mirror! By the way, filling from a light confit will soften remorse.
Let's find out how the amazing and popular dessert appeared today and learn how to cook it, following our detailed step-by-step instructions.
History of occurrence
Mousse cake is a French invention. Translated from the language of love, the word mousse means "foam", which perfectly conveys the main characteristic of the consistency of the dessert.
The history of mousse began in 1984. At that time, French chefs whipped vegetable and fish snacks, fixing the texture with gelatin. It was these dishes that were originally considered mousse.
Surprisingly, it was not the cook or even the confectioner who invented the sweet variation, but the artist Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, who lived in the 19th century. A well-known painter throughout the country turned out to be a gourmet who considered making dishes the same art as painting. It was he who came up with the idea to combine chocolate with proteins. The resulting mixture was called Chocolate Mayonnaise. Dessert has become popular not only in France, but throughout the world. Later, a new name appeared - chocolate mousse.
It was possible to invent mousse based on white chocolate only in 1977. To date, confectioners have tirelessly experimented on taste and texture characteristics. So there were recipes where the proteins were replaced with cream, and the list of ingredients included butter and sugar.
Today, mousse cake is the most popular dessert, which is loved for its tenderness, lightness and amazing taste.
How it works
As a rule, a treat should consist of several layers.
1. The basis of the mousse cake. It could be:
- any type of biscuit: vanilla, honey, chocolate;
- shortbread dough: sukre, samblé or breeze;
- exotic biscuits: almond, pistachio, hazelnut;
- "Emmanuel" - a delicate base, supplemented with fruits or berries.
2. Mousse. The options are endless. Beginners are recommended to start with the basics: from whipped cream and different types of chocolate. More experienced confectioners prefer:
- creamy;
- based on Italian meringue;
- from walnut paste.
To enhance the taste of the juice, add citrus juice and zest to this layer, and also aromatize with the help of herbs: tarragon, peppermint, sage, rosemary and basil.
3. Filling. More often used: confit - medium density and with a uniform texture, parfait - with slices of berries and fruits, coolie - the most tender, tastes like a gelled sweet sauce.
4. Crispy layer - the highlight of the mousse cake. It can be crumble, waffle chips, shtreisel, pralines, crustilate or nougat.
5. Coverage. Finally, we got to the final stage of creating a dessert. The delicacy is covered with a glaze, better known as mirror glaze. Less commonly use chocolate velor. The first option should have a glossy surface so that you can see your own reflection in it. The second is created using a special apparatus - a spray gun. As a result, the cake is obtained with a small velvety coating, which you just want to touch.
6. How to decorate a mirror icing mousse cake? Fresh berries, freeze-dried flowers, confectionery gold or standard chocolate decor are usually used as decor. This dessert itself is very elegant, so with the design you need to know the measure and not go too far.
We will not lie, prepare a dessert consisting of 5 layers, the task is not easy. But everything will work out if you know the nuances of cooking and follow the instructions exactly.
Choosing forms for mousse cakes
Perhaps, from the current assortment, Silikomart has earned the trust of customers. Based on numerous reviews, we can safely say that the confectionery equipment of the Italian company, although flexible, is very durable. Tearing these forms is simply impossible. No wonder they are used during the world championships in confectionery art. Therefore, if you decide to cook a dessert, know that the ideal appearance of the future goodies directly depends on the quality of the form.
Silicone molds for mousse cakes have the following advantages:
- universality of use - can be used not only for freezing, but also for baking;
- resistance to temperatures - "working" range from -60 ° to +230 ° ;
- safety - silicones are odorless, do not emit toxic substances and do not harm human health;
- durability and easy care - with proper use, they will last for more than one year.
Cooking mousse cake at home: recipe step by step
The brightest and most delicious layer can be made from strawberries, cherries, currants, raspberries. No less original will be a blueberry confit. It all depends on your taste preferences and the products at hand.
Step-by-step cooking process:
- Pour gelatin granules with cold water. Read the instructions: manufacturers indicate the exact time for swelling on the packaging.
- Pour berries (seedless) with sugar and put on medium heat until the last ingredient is completely dissolved. Sweat for another 3 minutes. Cool slightly and beat with a blender.
- In the berry mass (80 ° C), enter gelatin and cognac (can be replaced with rum). Mix well. The mixture should be homogeneous without lumps of gelatin.
- Pour the mixture into a silicone mold and refrigerate for solidification.
Brownie
Cooking sponge filling:
- Melt the chocolate butter in a water bath or microwave. Enter sugar and start whipping the ingredients at a slow speed.
- Beat the egg.
- Slowly add two kinds of flour.
- Lubricate the mold liberally with a piece of butter. Pour in the dough.
- Bake at 170 ° C for approximately 25 minutes.
- Wrap the finished biscuit in cling film and put it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
Glaze
Step-by-step process:
- Pour gelatin with water.
- Add crushed or grated chocolate to the condensed milk.
- In a saucepan, mix glucose syrup with sugar. Fill with water. Put on medium heat and bring the mixture to 102 ° C. Small bubbles should appear on the surface. Never bring to a boil.
- Cool to 85 ° C, combine with gelatin and condensed milk.
- Beat the mixture at low speed until smooth.
- Cover with foil and put in the refrigerator for several hours.
The process of making a mousse cake for beginners can turn into a problem - the lack of ready glucose syrup at hand. Do not worry, the situation is quite fixable. It can be replaced by invert. How to cook is described in the video.
Secrets of Perfect Glaze
First you need to know that only mousse cakes cover mirror glaze. In this case, the dessert should be very frozen. This is the only way to get a perfectly even coating.
A small headache is delivered by small vesicles. When whipping with a blender, try to achieve not a foamy state, but the appearance of a funnel. If bubbles still form, be sure to strain the icing through a fine sieve.
You can achieve color density using titanium dioxide. Add the powder a little until the desired shade is obtained. For golden or silver color use kandurin. But it should be very much. Usually a serving takes a whole pack.
If condensation forms on the finished product, blot the surface of the dessert with a paper towel. By the way, the advice is relevant for velor coating. The main thing is to do it as accurately as possible.
Many people wonder how to cover a cake with icing. Watch the video and you will understand that there is nothing complicated in the coverage.
And finally, the latest and most important advice. Often, for beginners, confectioners have a problem: icing slides with a huge layer from the surface of the mousse cake. This situation is difficult to correct, but it is quite possible to prevent it. Glassage slides because a frozen dessert is often covered in a thin, barely noticeable layer of ice. Now answer what happens when it melts? That's right, it turns into water and, of course, flows from the surface of the dessert along with the icing. Therefore, after you get the cake from the freezer, smooth it with your hands. Under the influence of heat, the ice layer will melt and all that remains is to begin to glaze.
Cooking Mousse
Cooking process:
- As usual, dilute gelatin with water and leave to swell.
- Grind the chocolate with a knife or grater.
- Take the brownie out of the refrigerator. Cut a circle out of the formation. It should be several centimeters smaller than the diameter of the silicone mold in which you plan to collect the cake.
- Rub the yolks with sugar and vanilla.
- Heat 5 tablespoons of cream to 70 ° C. With a thin trickle with constant whipping, enter the yolks. Cook until thickened.
- Add chocolate and gelatin. Beat until the mass has cooled to 25 ° C.
- Separately, whip the remaining chilled cream until foam. Gently enter to the rest of the components.
Assembly
Finally, the recipe for a mousse cake for beginners has reached the final stage! If you could not get a silicone mold, then you can replace it with a regular detachable one. But first wrap its edges with cling film to prevent layers from sticking.
Assembly Instructions:
- Pour a little less than half the chocolate mousse into the prepared container and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Put confit on the central part. Pour a small amount of mousse so that it slightly covers the berry layer.
- Lay the brownies on top and pour out the rest of the mousse.
- Put the cake overnight in the refrigerator.
- In the morning, warm the glaze to 30 ° C and fill it with dessert. How this is done was shown earlier in the video.
- Return to the refrigerator until completely frozen.
So, our cake is ready. Now we face a difficult task: to transfer the mousse cake to the substrate. How to do this without damaging the coating? It will be a little difficult, but we can handle it. First, transfer the cake to the spatula (pastry spatula). Carefully place on the backing. Slightly raise one edge of the dessert and place the kitchen knife. Take out the spatula, lower the cake, and then slowly do the same with the knife. If necessary, you can slightly bend the edges of the substrate.
FAQ
Agree that making a mousse cake is not one hour. Nevertheless, looking at the result of my work, I want to conquer new peaks of confectionery art. To make your path to conquering the "Mousse Olympus" a little easier, let's take a look at 5 popular questions asked by beginning confectioners on thematic forums.
1. How to cut a mousse cake? For a beautiful cut (for example, for a photo) you need to use a slightly warm knife. It is enough to dip in boiling water or heat over a fire. Remember to wipe the blade every time so as not to smear the layers.
2. Shelf life. In the refrigerator - no more than three days. If you decide to put it in the freezer, then in this case the dessert will last a whole year! The main thing is to pack it well in film.
3. The most successful flavor combinations? With dark / white / milk chocolate: raspberries, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, apricots. Creamy mousse goes well with banana or caramel.
4. How to assemble a multi-tiered mousse cake? Just like a regular one. To do this, you need skewers or cocktail tubes. Without retaining structures can not do. Otherwise, the top layer will push the bottom.
5. Is it possible to replace gelatin with agar-agar? Sure. That's just such a cake can not be frozen, and the mousse will be very fragile.