Blackberry Mousse Cake

Blackberry Mousse Cake1

I’ve been wanting to make a mousse cake for a while and I knew when I made one, I would make one based off of Verdade de sabor (an awesome Russian blog I stumbled upon).   The recipe below is a transcribed/ modified version the translated recipe from Verdade de sabor: torta rubus. Lots of things didn’t make sense with the straight translation, so I made sure to list my modifications.

Heads up, it’s a very long process. Lots of freezing/ cooling wait steps. Not for the faint of heart. However, the blackberry mousse and gel is really good. So if you’re going to make anything, make those. :D

There are 6 components: the chocolate sponge (sort of like a Jaconde sponge), blackberry jam, blackberry mousse, blackberry gelée, vanilla cream cheese mousse, and a mirror glaze. This recipe is for a circular cake around 7.5 - 8 inches diameter).

1. Chocolate Sponge:

  • 70 g almond flour
  • 70 g powdered sugar
  • 70 g egg yolk
  • 30 g egg white (1)
  • 130 g egg white (2)
  • 45 g sugar
  • 55 g flour
  • 20 g cocoa powder
  • 25 g melted butter
  1. Preheat oven to 440F. Get a sheet pan and lie down some parchment paper of silpat.
  2. Mix almond flour and powdered sugar.
  3. To that same bowl, add the yolks and the whites (1) and beat until smooth.
  4. Add the sifted flour and cocoa powder.
  5. Make a meringue by whisking the second egg whites (2) with the sugar to stiff peaks.
  6. Fold the meringue into the rest of the ingredients.
  7. Finally, add the melted butter and gently mix.
  8. Pour the dough on a baking sheet (it shouldn’t really move that much since it’s a thick batter, so just make sure it’s spread out enough for the size of the cake you’re making) and bake for 6 minutes. Use a toothpick to make sure the batter has cooked.
  9. Cool cake and separate from silpat. Cut out your cake shape (6.5-7in).

2. Blackberry jam:

  • 70 g sugar (1)
  • 15 ml of water
  • 40 g corn syrup
  • 200g frozen blackberries
  • 8 g pectin
  • 45 g sugar (2)
  • 12 ml lemon juice
  1. In a small bowl, mix the sugar (2) and pectin.
  2. In a small saucepan, add the water, corn syrup, frozen blackberries and lemon juice. Put on medium heat, stirring constantly.
  3. Once the sugar has dissolved and blackberries have thawed, stir the mixture until it’s very smooth.
  4. When it comes to a boil, take off the heat and pour a thin stream of a mixture onto the sugar/ pectin, stirring constantly.
  5. Put back into the saucepan and boil on high for a few minutes until it reduces a good amount (about 5 minutes).
  6. Remove from heat and strain through a sieve. Let cool.
  7. When the jam has cooled and thickened, put a thin layer on top of the sponge cake. Put in the fridge to cool.

3. Blackberry Mousse:

  • 90 g heavy cream
  • 90 g of blackberry pulp (pureed)
  • 3.5 g gelatin (+ about 15 g water to bloom)
  • 18 g berry liqueur
  • 30 g Italian meringue
    • 15 g water
    • 60g sugar
    • 30 g egg white
  1. Bloom the gelatin. Stir water into gelatin to get an apple sauce like consistency.
  2. Heat the blackberry puree over medium heat and dissolve the soaked gelatin in it. Pour in a bowl and leave to cool.
  3. Prepare the Italian meringue:
    1. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water.
    2. On low and stirring occasionally, cook the syrup.
    3. Start whisking the egg whites until foaming.
    4. When the syrup reaches 240F, remove the saucepan from the heat pour in a thin stream, while whisking the egg white.
    5. Continue whisking to stiff peaks, then add in the berry liqueur.
  4. Whip the cream. Prechilled bowl and whisk speed up the process.
  5. Fold in meringue into the puree/gelatin (make sure it’s not warm).
  6. Fold in the whipped cream into that mixture.
  7. Pour the mousse into a mold or cake ring (6.5-7in) for and make a layer a little under an inch. Freeze.

4. Blackberry Gelée:

  • 4.5 g gelatin (+ about 15 g water to bloom)
  • 100 g pulp of blackberry (pureed)
  • 50 g water
  • 30 g sugar
  1. Bloom gelatin. Stir water into gelatin to get apple sauce consistency.
  2. Head the blackberry puree, water and sugar in a small saucepan and dissolve sugar and  bring to a boil.
  3. Remove from heat and add the gelatin. Mix. 
  4. Cool to room temperature. 5. Pour over the frozen blackberry mousse, forming a thin layer (less than half an inch). Freeze.

5. Vanilla Cream Cheese Mousse:

  • 70 ml of milk
  • 50 g sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla (or to taste)
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 9.5 g gelatin (+about 20 g water to bloom)
  • 250 g of cream cheese
  • 350 g heavy cream
  • 40 g dark chocolate (shaved/ chopped)
  1. Bloom gelatin.
  2. Add egg yolks and sugar into a bowl and whisk a bit until they become a bit whiter in color.
  3. In a saucepan, mix milk and vanilla and bring to a boil.
  4. As soon as the milk starts to boil, remove it from the heat and pour a thin stream (about half the milk mixture) onto the egg yolks/sugar, whisking constantly. This is tempering the egg yolks so they won’t scramble.
  5. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan with remaining milk and set on low heat.
  6. While constantly mixing/ whisking, bring the mixture up to 170F.
  7. Remove from heat and add in gelatin and stir until fully dissolved.
  8. Stir in the room temp cream cheese.
  9. If the mixture isn’t already, let it cool to 85F.
  10. Whip the heavy cream.
  11. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.
  12. Fold in the chocolate shavings.

Assembly:

  1. In a larger mold (8in), add about half of the cream cheese mousse.
  2. Next, add the frozen layers of blackberry mousse and jelly and gently push them into the mousse.
  3. Next, lay out the remaining mousse with cream cheese.
  4. Finally, add the layer of sponge cake with blackberry jam and also slightly push it to the mousse.
  5. Add saran wrap to cover/tighten the mold and put into the freezer for a few hours.

6. Mirror Glaze:

  • 100 g white chocolate
  • 35 g condensed milk
  • 50 g sugar
  • 61.25 g corn syrup
  • 25 ml water
  • 4 g gelatin (+ about 15 ml water to bloom)
  1. Mix gelatin in water until you get an apple sauce consistency.
  2. In a small pot add corn syrup, water, matcha powder, and sugar and bring to a boil.
  3. Add in gelatin and condensed milk. Whisk until gelatin fully dissolved.
  4. In a bowl with the chocolate, add the liquid mixture and whisk until chocolate is fully melted. If you have a hand blender, I highly recommend that you use it to blend the chocolate.
  5. Portion off and add desired food coloring. Do some more hand blending.
  6. Bring the glaze to about room temp.

Final Decoration:

  1. After cake has set, remove from mold and set it on top of a smaller bowl or something in a sheet pan.
  2. Pour glaze over, creating desired designs with other colors.
  3. Let the glaze fully drip off. Clean off the surplus drips on the bottom of the cake and then transfer to a serving plate.
  4. Garnish with whatever other fancy stuff you want.
  5. Freeze or refrigerate. The mousse tastes when it’s not frozen, but even then, still good!

This is a marathon to make. I guarantee it’s delicious though!
Gluck!
-Mario

Blackberry Mousse Cake slice

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