Chateau Gateau

Roopa

It’s my CEO’s birthday tomorrow, and he requested pavlova, mousse, or tiramisu. I’m actually in a tiramisu course next week, so of course he is out of the office. I decided to go with this chocolate mousse joconde cake from Sprinklebakes; I already made pavlova last year, and any tiramisu I make would be disappointing compared to what I make next week. 

I tried to follow the recipe from sprinklebakes, but my mousse didn’t turn out as described. I also am dumb and forgot the whipped cream, so I used an approximate amount from whatever tubs I could buy at 7/11. That said, everything turned out really well so I can’t complain too much. The mint was subtle but present, and the texture was generally mousse-like. 

JOCONDE SPONGE CAKE

• 120 g almond flour
• ¾ cup icing sugar, sifted
• 55 g cake flour, sifted
• 50 g cocoa powder, sifted
• 4 whole eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 4 egg whites
• 50 g granulated sugar
• 28 g unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 450 F and line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
2. Mix together the almond flour, icing sugar, cake flour, cocoa powder, whole eggs, and yolk in a stand mixer until well combined.
3. In a clean bowl, use a hand mixer to whip the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add in sugar until meringue becomes white and shiny. 
4. Fold the meringue into the flour mixture. 
5. Fold the melted butter into the batter. 
6. Bake for ~7 minutes or until a toothpick in the centre comes out clean. 
7. Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes and remove from pan. 

MOUSSE

• 7 g gelatin powder
• 30 g water
• 100 g granulated sugar
• 120 g hot milk
• 3 egg yolks
• 240 g white chocolate (I used Callebaut)
• 1 tsp. mint extract
• green food colouring
• 750 mL whipped cream

DIRECTIONS

1. Put water and gelatin in a medium sized saucepan and let stand for a minute.
2. Whisk in the sugar and hot milk. 
3. Pour a little bit of the milk mixture into the eggs to temper them, and pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan. 
4. Mix constantly on medium heat for 7- 10 minutes or until thick*
5. Mix in the chocolate until it is smooth with an even colour.
6. When the mixture has cooled, mix in the food colouring and mint extract. 
7. Fold in the whipped cream until well blended.

ASSEMBLY

1. Cut 6″ round circles from the cake using pastry rings.
2. Cut long strips from the cake to line the edges of the pastry rings. 
3. When the mousse is cooled and thick, pour it into the pans and freeze for a few hours. 
4. When the cakes are frozen, remove the pastry rings with a hot knife.
5. Cut acetate strips to the circumference of the cakes (19″)
6. Melt white chocolate and place along the edges of the cake.
7. Freeze again, and remove the acetate when frozen.