Banana Choco Mousse Chocolate Layered Cake

Banana chocolate cake, a combination many can't resist
First time I sank my teeth in this delicious cake was a store bought one, from Awfully Chocolate and Secret Recipe
It's love at first bite LOL

I've tried to bake this cake long time ago, I think close to 3 years ago, for my sis' bday, way before I started this blog
The time when I thought I could bake, when I was still lack of knowledge, resulting in disastrous time in the kitchen preparing this cake, and a far from acceptable cake, in terms of the taste, texture and presentation

Now, I think I am pretty much equipped to retry baking this cake again :)
And this time I'm satisfied with the result, even though it's still not as pretty as the ones from the two bakeries I mentioned above
Recipe is from Aunty Yochana's site, mine is not as pretty as hers, either
It's not easy to compete with such a deco expert like her :o)

I'm using one 4" and 5" round pans
The pictures below is from the 4" round pan

I should have spread the mousse layers thicker, no complaint though...

What you need:

For the cake:

A

4 egg yolks (from 60g eggs)

100g castor sugar

120g self raising flour

1/2 tsp double acting baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

50g canola oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

B

4 1/2 egg whites (from 60g eggs)

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

60g castor sugar

C

30g cocoa powder

120g hot water

1. Mix all A ingredients in a mixing bowl, stir with wooden spoon
2. Mix together C and stir til smooth
3. Add in C mixture into A mixture and stir til smooth
4. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar from B for 2 minutes til frothy, pour in sugar gradually til egg whites become fluffy but not too stiff (soft peak)
5. Fold in gently half of A mixture into B mixture
6. Fold in the remaining A mixture into B mixture
7. Do not overmix, if still can't well mixed, stop folding in
8. Pour the batter into 9" round pan which has been greased, lined with baking paper and greased again
9. Bake at preheated oven at 175degC for approximately 50 minutes or til the skewer comes out clean
10. Cool and cut into 3 parts

For the mousse:

400g whipping cream

 1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp geatin powder, mixed with 4 tbsp water, microwave for 20 seconds (note: use when still hot)

50g cocoa powder - sifted

80g icing sugar - sifted

1 1/2 tbsp nescafe powder mixed with 1 1/2 tbsp water

1 tbsp kahlua

*3 medium size del monte bananas, thick sliced and soak in lemon juice to prevent it from browning

1. Beat the whipping cream til stiff
2. Mix all other ingredients together and stir in to the whipped cream 
3. Keep in the fridge

For the chocolate ganache I used the same recipe I used here

I microwaved for 30 seconds til it melted, let cool

How to assemble the cake:

Lay 1 cake layer and spread the mousse on top. Arrange sliced bananas on top of the mousse

Top up with the second cake layer, spread the mousse on top and arrange sliced bananas on top

Top up with the third cake layer

Cover the whole cake with the balance of the mousse and keep in the fridge til set

Pour the chocolate ganache over the cake and keep back in the fridge til set

Tempted?

DH did, these are his hands wanted to grab the cake LOL

I'm submitting this layered cake to Aspiring Bakers #18 Layers Of Love (April 2012) hosted by Sweet Samsations

Also I'm linking up this post to:

*Sweet Treats Thursday

*Sweet Tooth Friday

*Sweets For A Saturday #67

Homemade Tiramisu & New York New York Family Restaurant @Citylink On Our 7th Wedding Anniversary

Some cakes I only make for special occassions - tiramisu is one of them
Yesterday was our 7th wedding anniversary - it's time to make this fave dessert of ours! :)
I did on Saturday evening, kept it refrigerated with no cocoa topping

Recipe's from Aunty Yochana's site

My 2nd time making this with the same recipe - love it!

(for tall square 7" tray)

What you need:

2 packs of sponge fingers

For the filling:

2 egg yolks

1 egg

60g sugar

10g gelatine powder

2 tbsp water

250g mascarpone cheese

200g whipped cream

3 tbsp kahlua

For the coffee syrup:

15g coffee powder

200g warm water

4 tbsp kahlua

Whisk whipped cream til stiff and white (I used mixer) - set aside

Soak gelatine powder in 2 tbsp water - for around 10mins, and then microwave for 25minutes

Whisk egg yolks, egg, sugar on a pot of simmering water - cool to room temperature

Add in mascarpone cheese - mix lightly (do not overmix otherwise it will be coarse)

Fold in whipped cream, add in kahlua and gelatin mixture

Soak each sponge fingers into coffee syrup, arange them in the tray, top up with filling, followed by another layer of soaked sponge fingers, another layer of filling, third layer of soaked sponge fingers, and the last 3rd layer of filling on top

Chill to set for at least 3 hours

Sieve cocoa powder on top for decoration before serving

Now, if you read the recipe and see the pics above, it's just doesn't tally
The recipe mentioned THREE layers of sponge fingers and mascarpone filling, while mine was only two
What happened was, when I was about to arrange the sponge fingers, I realized that I don't have tall 7" square tray, what I have is the low one, which I didn't think can support the tall tiramisu
(it's the 'act smart' me whom never learns from experience to do thorough homework first before each plan of cooking and baking *sigh*)
I wanted to use heart shape tall tray that I have, but it could be a headache to arrange the sponge fingers, so I decided to use my tall 9" square tray
As expected, I had to be extra cautious with the amount of filling that I made, so this is what I had - short tiramisu - two layers of sponge fingers and filling each :P

Anyway... it's forgiven once my teeth sank on it - this tiramisu dessert is extremely yummy and rich, full of coffee aroma and of course, kahlua - no kids allowed :P

I & hubby ate it after they fell asleep last night - just couldn't stop eating it *slurp*

 

Last but not least, happy anniversary to my dear baby hubby, seven years we've been together, thru the good and not so good times, from two of us becomes four, many more great times ahead, til death do us apart and most importantly, let God be the head of our family - always! Love ya! *hugs and kisses*

Mango Mousse Cake 4Mummy's Bday

Can you imagine? Baked a cake for somebody's birthday and the cake turned out not as expected
Worse...it's mum's birthday!
That's what happened to me today...below is the story....

Have been planning to bake a birthday cake for my mum's birthday since she's in town - I asked her whether she prefers chocolate or fruity cake and she said she likes the latter one

After browsing many blogs and online recipe resources, I decided to bake mango mousse - since Thai honey mangoes are still available even though not as much
This was my first time making mousse cake as well as sponge cake
With so many recipes around, I chose the one from Happy Home Baking

At first I thought this gonna be a tedious, need a whole day to bake kind of cake, but I was wrong
This cake can't be categorized in simple cake (all layered cakes can't) but really, it's not so bad at all

Baking something that I never tried before for birthday cake for somebody as important as my mummy -WRONG!!!

The problem is not the cake, its in fact turned out perfect!
The sponge cake was perfect! It's really a keeper to use as cake base - unfortunately I didn't take a snap when it's just out of the oven
It's the mousse and the topping that messed the whole thing up!

The mousse: Since I'm still not so familiar with how "mousse state" looks like, I overbeat the whipping cream (lucky it's yet to turn into mashed tofu like texture, but very very close!)
No doubt the taste was excellent, but I ended up with lumpy and a little runny texture for the mousse, even after keeping in the fridge for more than 3 hours :(

Another big big big mistake I did...
The topping: Since I was disappointed with the mousse, I didn't want to use it as the cake topping, so it's only in between the 2 layers and I threw away the balance
Didn't want to have a bare plain birthday cake, but couldn't follow the recipe for the topping since I didn't have mango cordial
Cracked my unskilled brain and decided to arrange mango cubes on top and pour yellow agar agar
WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!

The top cake layer absorbed the agar agar so much that the texture changed, it expanded to double in size, became stiff and tasteless - it's like biting a sandy pudding :(
Luckily the mousse and the bottom cake layer was safe - still soft and moist, tasted yummy too

This is the cake before I knew about the "stiff sandy pudding"

Now you see the 2 pics below and you know what I mean when I said I'm really lousy at beautifying my bakings? So messy! I guess it's partly cos of my failed mousse *sigh*

I was shocked after cutting...you see below - the expanded stiff top cake layer :(

This is what I did - I cut and disposed the top cake layer only, assemble the remaining and eat! hihihi...
While munching, I imagined if only all is perfect, this cake were really superb!!!



Aside from the mistakes I have done, this recipe should have resulted in a beautiful and yummy mango mousse cake

As usual, mistakes made will leading to another try - soon! Hope my family can bear with me haha...

Perhaps I'll switch to strawberry or peach for the next try :P

This is the recipe:

For the sponge cake: ( I used 20cm round springform pan)

100g cake flour
3 eggs, room temperature
90g caster sugar
20g unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons fresh milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift cake flour, set aside. Line bottom and sides of an 20cm round pan with parchment paper, set aside

Pre-heat oven to 170degC. Position rack at the lower bottom of the oven

With an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar on HIGH speed for about 5 to 7 mins, until the batter double in volume and is ribbon-like (the beater should leave a ribbon-like texture when the batter is lifted up)
Turn to LOW speed and whisk for another 1 to 2 mins. Whisking at low speed helps to stabilise the air bubbles in the batter
Add sifted cake flour into the batter. With a spatula, gently fold in the flour until well blended. Take care not to deflate the batter. (To ensure proper folding in of the flour, you can add the flour in three separate additions)
Add the melted butter, fold with spatula until well blended
Add in fresh milk, vanilla extract and fold in gently with spatula
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30-35mins (mine was 25mins), or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Unmold and invert onto cooling rack, cool completely

For the mousse:

350ml whipping cream (35%) + 3-4 tbsp icing sugar (depending on the sweetness of the mangoes)
300g mango puree
200g mango cubes
17g gelatin powder
60ml hot water
1 tbsp rum

Dissolve gelatin powder in the hot water - keep warm for use later
Whip cream til 70% stiff or mousse state

Add gelatin solution into mango puree – mix well

Add mango gelatin solution into whipped cream, combine well

To assemble:

Cool the cake, cut into 2

Line the inner circumference of the springform cake pan with pectin / plastic cake tape (can grease the pan and line with parchment paper)

Put 1 layer cake onto cake pan, top with mango mousse

Add mango cubes, top with some mousse just enuf to cover the mango cubes

Chill for 15mins

Put in the other cake layer and pour all mousse over it

Chill cake 3 hrs b4 serving

Another way to assemble (with mousse circling the sides of the cake):

Line the inner circumference of the springform cake pan with pectin / plastic cake tape (can grease the pan and line with parchment paper) and trim the cake smaller than the cake pan

This way the mousse will cover the whole cake and no need to cream the cake – just add deco on top (mango slice will do)

The rest is the same as above method

Recommended topping:

=> mirror layer: mixture of mango cordial, water and gelatin powder

=> drop teaspoon on mango puree on the cake surface and swirl the puree with toothpick

1 tsp at the centre, and the rest at the clock position: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12

Some tips:

*** If the whipping cream cant go stiff like mousse:

Chill stainless steel bowl and beater b4 using

Whip over a bowl of ice water

When cream starts to thicken, beat a further 10counts -> mousse state

If overwhip, fats will separate from the cream and will get mashed tofu like mixture -> what has happened to mine *hiks*

*** Take note:

Dry cake:

Over beat the egg whites

Bake in too high temp too long

*** When the cake is chilled and set, use hair dryer to warm all around the sides of the cake pan to release the cake

Having said all the terrible 'should have not been done' things, we still enjoyed the cake minus the stiff cake layer
In the future, I will save the first time trial bakings for normal days!

Happy birthday mum! Sorry for the cake incident *hugz and kisses*