Chocolate Mousse Gateau

            Chocolate Mousse Gateau

This mouth-watering dessert is not as difficult to make as it is satisfying to make. It does require a little of 

your time and patience but the way it is relished by your family and friends, and polished-off within no time

is reward sufficient for your efforts! This is how I made it some time back when Richie (my son) came home

for the weekend - I used chocolate- chiffon cake to make the main body of the gateau, i.e.,the base, sides and top lid. I used chocolate mousse to make 2/3rd of the filling and creme fraiche whipped

with powdered sugar and vanilla extract for the remaining 1/3 filling, chocolate ganache made with

milk chocolate and cream to cover the lid, tinned cherries to decorate and provide variety in taste

and a mixture of fresh cream and creme fraiche, lightly whipped with some powdered sugar and vanilla, for the luscious moist touch! This is how it is to be made-


1st. Step-   Baking the chocolate-chiffon cake 

The Ingredients I used for chocolate-chiffon cake are- 

1-  7 Egg-yellows,                       2-  8 Egg-whites      

 

3- 50gms. Cocoa powder,                             4.   325gm Powdered sugar 

 5.  165ml.water   6.  1 1/2 tsp.baking soda and,   7- a generous pinch of salt

 

8-   2 tsp.Vanilla essence and,    9- 1/2tsp. cream of tarter  

And this is how it is to be made --

(1)-   Heat the water to boiling and mix cocoa powder in it. keep aside to cool.

(2)-   Sieve flour and baking powder 3-4 times, to mix evenly.

 

Sprinkle salt over the flour and mix

with fingers of both hands ( it is difficult to sieve salt with flour and b.pdr. as salt-grains arer bigger).

(3)-    Beat egg-yellows and 200 gm.sugar at medium speed, for 2 minutes, then increase the speed to

high and beat till the mixture becomes thick,light and pale yellow in colour.

Now add oil and cooled cocoa and 

mix at medium speed till fully incorporated.

                                                                     

Sprinkle vanilla essence on it and stir nicely to mix.

(4)-  Sprinkle cream of tarter over egg-whites and,  

beat at medium speed for half a minute, then increase the speed to high. When egg-whites become frothy, start adding the remaining 125 gm. sugar, a little at a time, and beat till stiff peaks form.

(5)-  Now mix flour in the egg-yellow mixture gently ( I had to pour egg-yellow mixture in a bigger container as my earlier container was smaller than required) till you get a smooth batter. Do not beat.
It is also advisable to put the oven 'on' at this stage.

    

(6)-  Take about 1/4 of the stiff egg-white and gently mix in the flour mixture to lighten it,

then tip this mixture on the remaining egg-whites and fold gently using cut-and fold method, till mixed.Care should be taken to retain as much sponginess of egg-whites as possible.
                                                                                                     

(7)-    When the batter is mixed, take a clean and dry cake pan of any shape of your choice and fill it up till just a wee bit more than half full. It is a chiffon cake so the pan is not to be buttered and lined. I used the pan, shown in the picture below, of 2 liter capacity.

(I used the rest of the batter to make two smaller cakes, in 750ml and 600ml pans, which went into making a few chocolate pastries).

(8)-    Put the pan in the pre-heated oven now, and bake for about 60 minutes. It may take anywhere
between 50 to 70 minutes depending upon the temperature of your oven.Test with a skewer and if done,

 take out of the oven. Invert the pan immediately and hang it upside-down to cool completely (2-3hrs.). This is how I did it-

    Chiffon cakes should be cooled upside-down only
otherwise they sag. Don't worry, the cake will not fall out of the pan.

2nd Step-   Preparing the cake for filling

 (1)-  When the cake is completely cool, loosen it from the sides with a sharp knife, gently try lifting
the cake at a few places with the back of a spoon taking care not to tear it. Unmold it on a platter and then

immediately revert it back into the pan. Now remove the top skin of the cake with a sharp knife as otherwise it keeps sticking to everything. Cover the cake with foil, wrap the whole thing in a plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 2-3 hrs. This is done to make it easier to cut the cake into layers later.




(2)-  Take the cake out of the fridge, unwrap it and cut a layer of approx. 1/3 thickness. Place
this layer on the platter on which you want to serve the dessert. Out of the remaining cake, start cutting about
slightly less than 1cm. inside the rim of the cake, all around, with a sharp knife, very carefully.
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Lift the inner portion out with care. This will make the lid of the Gateau and you will be left with the 'ring', the walls of the gateau into which you'll be filling the mousse.

(3)-  Now take the cake layer that you'd kept aside, apply some melted chocolate around it's edges

and then, very carefully put the outer ring of the cake over the edges, pressing gently with fingertips so that

it sticks to the chocolate. Now you get a proper cake-shell ready for filling. If, while putting the shell together, a piece gets torn, don't worry, fix it in place with melted chocolate and nothing will show in the final result!                                  

Wrap this prepared shell in plastic wrap and refrigerate it till the mousse is prepared

3rd.Step-  Preparing and filling the Mousse

 There are many recipes for the chocolate mousse and any recipe of your choice will do. I'm explaining here how I make it-

Ingredients for the mousse- 1)- Eggs-2, separated; 2)- Semisweet chocolate, chopped-150gms.; 3)- Unsalted butter-45gms.; 4)-  Heavy cream- 120gms.,whipped and, 5)-  2-3 tbsp.powdered sugar. 

Method for making the mousse-  (1)-  Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan held over barely simmering

water  and stir to combine the two nicely. Next, add egg-yolks and mix.

        

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Remove the pan from fire when egg-yolks are nicely mixed and keep aside to cool to room temperature.The pan can be kept in a water bath to cool quickly.

(2)-When the chocolate mixture cools down sufficiently, start beating the egg-whites. Start adding sugar when they reach the soft peak stage and beat till the stiff-peak stage. 

(3)-When the chocolate mixture cools to room temperature, take the whipped cream and fold-in the chocolate mixture. Now pour this mixture over egg-whites and mix very gently, using 'cut and fold' method, just till combined.Your mousse is now ready. Do not chill it before filling.

(4)-  Take out the cake shell, unwrap it and fill 2/3rd of it with the mousse. Return to the fridge

till the mousse sets. A small accident occurred with me at this stage as a handful of cake crumbs

fell on top of the mousse! I just camouflaged them as best I could and nobody could even  make-out!   

4th Step- Filling with cream and covering

Once the mousse is set, you have to fill the rest of the 1/3rd space with 'creme fraiche'.

Ingredients for the 'creme fraiche' layer- All you need is, 1cup creme fraiche; 2tbsp. powdered sugar and 1tsp. vanilla extract. 

 Method-   (1)-Mix sugar and vanilla extract with creme fraiche and  beat till it becomes thick and spreadable.

You can use fresh, whipping cream or mascarpone cheese also for this layer, if you prefer.

 (2)-After filling the cake shell with cream, put the cake lid that you'd kept aside earlier.If you find the lid  too thick, just reduce it's thickness by removing approx. 1/3 layer from it, as I did.

5th.Step-  Now you have to glaze the lid and for that you have to prepare a simple Ganache.
Ingredients for Ganache-   You will require 80gm.milk chocolate (chopped),
40gm. semi-sweet chocolate (chopped), 60gm.heavy cream, 1/2tsp.vanilla, 1tsp. powdered sugar and 1tsp. unsalted butter,softened.
Method-  (1)- To prepare the Ganache, place chocolate pieces in a bowl. Bring the cream to a boil in a
 saucepan,pour it over the chocolate,cover with a lid and leave for a minute.
(2)- After a minute put butter and vanilla extract into it and mix the whole thing nicely to get a nice, shining glaze.
(3)-Pour this glaze over the lid while still warm (but not hot) and spread around with a spatula. You don't have to cover the whole cake, just the lid.







(4)-  Put this whole thing in the fridge till the glaze is set.


6th Step-  This is the step for decorating and serving.
Ingredients for decorating-  a few pitted, tinned cherries, 150gm.fresh whipping cream, 150gm.creme
fraiche, 2tbsp.(or more,or less, as per your taste) powdered sugar, 1tsp. vanilla extract.
Method-   (1)- Arrange the cherries on the set glaze in a pattern of your choice.
(2)- Mix rest of the ingredients together and beat till slightly thick but still pouring.
(3)- Pour it over the gateau and let it run down the sides. Your gateau is ready!

Now, if you can not resist, just cut a generous piece and enjoy yourself! Or,you can put it in the fridge for
another 1-2 hrs. so that the gateau is 'set'.

Enjoy!