Chocolate and Pistachio Mousse Cakes

My floors are scrubbed, lavender sachet under the pillow and my grocery list complete. My parents are arriving tonight and everything must be perfect. I impose the silliest things on myself when my mom comes to visit. I know none of this is important to her because she comes to see me, but deep inside, I still feel like the 10 year old girl who has to report to her parents. Some things never change.

So I made a little something for them. Little mousse cakes with chocolate genoise soaked in a kirsch syrup, with pistachio and chocolate mousse. You might be wondering what the red color is for. Well, I always add a bit of red coloring to chocolate spray to bring out the dark in the chocolate. Spraying chocolate is a messy, messy job in a small kitchen, that’s why you might be interested in this.

Chocolate Genoise

6 whole eggs
180 grams sugar
80 grams cornstarch
80 grams flour
20 grams cocoa powder
20 grams butter, melted and cooled

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the eggs and the sugar. Place this bowl over a double boiler and continue whisking until the sugar has dissolved and the eggs feel hot to the touch. Transfer the bowl to the electric mixer and whip in high speed until the eggs triple in volume and they form a thick ribbon.

Sift the cornstarch, flour and cocoa powder together into a bowl. Add the sifted mixture to the whipped eggs in three batches folding each time slowly to avoid deflating the batter too much. Finally add the melted butter and fold so that the butter doesn’t all fall to the bottom of the bowl.

Divide this batter into two half sheetpans that have been sprayed and lined with parchment paper. Spread the batter evenly and bake in a 375F oven for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cake cool. The cake can be wrapped in plastic and frozen.

Kirsch Simple Syrup

100 grams water
100 grams sugar
2 Tbs kirsch or to taste

Bring the sugar and water to a boil. Remove from heat as soon as sugar is dissolved. Let the syrup cool and add the kirsch.

Pistachio Mousse

55 grams pate a bombe
3 grams gelatin leaves
85 grams pistachio puree
225 ml heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

Mix pate a bombe and pistachio paste together. Soften the gelatin in ice water. Melt the soften gelatin with a bit of whipped cream in the microwave for about 7 seconds. Whisk it and quickly whisk into the rest of the whipped cream. Fold the whipped cream and pate a bombe base together.

Dark Chocolate Mousse

55 grams pate a bombe
85 grams 70% chocolate
225 ml heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

Add a third of the cream to the melted chocolate and whisk. Add the pate a bombe to this and fold. Add the rest of the cream and fold. If the mousse is a bit runny, place the bowl in the refrigerator so it has a chance to harden a bit so it is easier to pipe.

Assemble the Cakes

Line ring molds with acetate paper and place them on a sheetpan. Measure the circumference of the ring mold and cut a strip of cake accordingly. Place the strip of chocolate genoise around the ring mold and a disk on the bottom. Soak the cake with simple syrup. Pipe the pistachio mousse inside the ring mold almost to the top. Top with another disk of genoise. Soak the top disk of cake with some more syrup. Let the cake sit in the freezer until the pistachio mousse sets.

Place the chocolate mousse in a piping bag with a star tip. Pipe a rosette on top of the cake. Freeze the cakes overnight. For the velvet look, spray the cakes with chocolate spray when these are still frozen.

And if you are interested about reading about my favorite things, visit Joslyn at Simple Lovely. She is amazing.