Room for Dessert - Food Blog

The time of year around birthdays is my absolute favorite! When my birthday is coming up, I’m all excited and waiting for “my day” to arrive, and I really enjoy extending it to “birth-week” instead of birthday, so I can be pampered a bit longer When Avi’s birthday is coming up, I’m always fussing around, trying to think how can I surprise him best. Last year I threw him a suprise dinner party, with 30 friends. I cooked and baked for 3 days straight, and everybody (but most importantly Avi) had a great time.

This year we really needed a happy time like this to come up, after the hard times we’ve had with the fire. Living in a temporary apartment, the celebrations were naturally a bit smaller than last year, but not one bit less fun, I can assure you. Some friends from his work called me 2 days before the big day and told me that they wanted to suprise him. We came up with a plan according to which they’d come to our apartment while we were out (signing a contract for our new and beautiful apartment, to which we’re gonna move on July 1st!!), and wait for us till we came back.
Avi was really surprised, there were beers, wine, snacks, and most important - great friends that love Avi so much and wanted to make him happy - so we had a wonderful time.

I made 2 cakes for his birthday - the first is a Nutella and Mascarpone mousse cake, which I’ve tasted a week ago, on a friend of mine’s birthday. It looked and tasted so wonderful that immediately after tasting it I decided that this is (one of) the cake(s) I’m gonna make for Avi’s birthday. The flavor of  the cream cheese blended wonderfully with the mild hazelnut taste of the dark mousse, and it’s a very firm mousse cake, due to the gelatin in it.
It’s a great cake for special occasions, but next time I’ll definitely make it in  a simple 2 layer manner, since this design is not that easy to make, and as you can see, it isn’t that beatiful and clean…
About the second cake, and more birthday baking adventures - in the next post.

Mascarpone and Nutella Mousse Cake / Adapted from Danit Solomon’s recipe
For a 9 inch cake

Ingredients:
For the base:
150 gr Graham Crackers, ground
100 gr butter, melted
zest of half of a medium sized lemon

For the cake:
4 Tbsp water
14 gr (3 tsp) gelatin
250 gr ricotta cheese
250 gr mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
3 Tbsp milk
3/4 cup sugar
50 gr dark chocolate, melted
4 flat Tbsp Nutella
500 ml whipping cream

Directions:
1. Prepare the base: mix the ingredients of the base to a uniform mixture. Spread the mixture out evenly on the bottom of the cake pan. Place the pan in the freezer until finishing making the cake.
2. Prepare the cake: put the water in a bowl, scatter the gelatin over them, and let stand for 10 mins.
3. Place the ricotta, mascarpone and sugar in a mixer bowl, and beat for 5 mins at least, until smooth.
4. Heat the bowl with the gelatin and water in the microwave for 25 secs.
5. Gradually add the gelatin into the cheese batter while continue beating.
6. Divide the batter into 2 bowls. Add 3 Tbsp milk to one of them and whisk well until incorporated. Add melted chocolate and Nutella to the other bowl, and whisk well until incorporated.
7. Beat the cream in the mixer to stiff peaks. Divide the whipped cream equally into the two bowls, and fold it gently in each one of the bowls.
8. For creating a cake as seen in the pics: Spread 2/3 of the chocolate batter on the cake’s base, and smooth the top. Place 3 Tbsp of the white mousse in the middle of the dark layer. Place full Tbsp of the dark mousse around the white center, like petals of a flower. Fill the remaining gaps with the white mousse.
9. For creating a two-layer mousse cake: Spread the dark mousse on top of the cake’s base, freeze for one hour and then spread the white mousse on top of the dark one.
10. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours before serving.

עוגת מוס מסקרפונה ונוטלה / עיבוד למתכון של דנית סולומון, מתוך הספר “שוקולד ושושנים”
עבור עוגה בקוטר 24 ס”מ

רכיבים:
לבסיס:
150 גרם ביסקויטים, טחונים דק
100 גרם חמאה, מומסת
גרידה מחצי לימון בינוני

לעוגה:
4 כפות מים
14 גרם (3 כפיות) ג’לטין
250 גרם גבינת ריקוטה או “טוב טעם”
250 גרם מסקרפונה בטמפ’ החדר
3 כפות חלב
3/4 כוס סוכר
50 גרם שוקולד מריר, מומס
4 כפות מחוקות נוטלה
500 מ”ל שמנת להקצפה

הכנה:
1. מכינים את הבסיס: מערבבים כל חומרי הבסיס לתערובת אחידה. שוטחים בתחתית התבנית ומפזרים באופן אחיד. מכניסים למקפיא עד לסיום הכנת המלית.
2. מכינים את העוגה: שמים את המים בקערית, זורים עליהם את הג’לטין ומשהים 10 דקות לריכוך.
3. שמים ריקוטה (או טוב טעם), מסקרפונה וסוכר בקערה ומקציפים במשך 5 דקות לפחות, עד שהתערובת חלקה לגמרי.
4. מניחים את הקערית עם הג’לטין והמים במיקרוגל ל-25 שניות.
5. מוסיפים את הג’לטין לתערובת הגבינה בזרם דק, תו”כ הקצפה.
6. מחלקים את תערובת הגבינה בין 2 קערות. מוסיפים 3 כפות חלב לאחת הקערות, וטורפים היטב לתערובת אחידה. מוסיפים שוקולד מומס וממרח נוטלה לקערה השניה וטורפים היטב.
7. מקציפים את השמנת המתוקה לקצפת יציבה. מחלקים את הקצפת בין שתי הקערות ומקפלים לתוך תערובות הגבינה.
8. ליצירת דוגמא כמו בתמונות: מורחים 2/3 מתערובת השוקולד על בסיס הביסקויטים ומחליקים את פני השכבה. עורמים 3 כפות מהתערובת הלבנה במרכז שכבת השוקולד ומניחים סביב המרכז הלבן כפות גדושות מתערובת השוקולד. ממלאים את החריצים הנותרים במוס הלבן.
9. ליצירת דוגמא של שתי שכבות: מורחים את מוס הנוטלה על בסיס הביסקויטים, מקפיאים למשך שעה, מורחים מעליו את המוס הלבן.
10. מקררים למשך 8 שעות לפחות לפני ההגשה.

For a while now I’ve been thinking about how many calories there are in mousses. And I’m talking about the ones that are cream-based, because the ones that contain uncooked eggs are off limits for me. I really love mousse but can’t eat it all that often because of how fattening it is.

The idea came to me while eating a super fluffy Muller Froop yoghurt - why not try and make a yoghurt based mousse? Obviously I didn’t expect it to taste exactly the same, and I didn’t doubt the fact that the yoghurt would definitely be felt, because its taste isn’t exactly neutral. But I was thinking that it’s worth the try, eventhough it would be just a fake, and not the real thing.

A few days ago I had the perfect opportunity to try it. Two very good friends of ours came to visit us - she is a nutritionist and he is on a diet (and has lost quite a lot of weight - very impressive!). So I thought they’d appreciate the relatively-low-fat dessert, as opposed to the ones I usually make. When I sat down to put a recipe together, I decided to use yoghurt combined with some sour cream, powdered sugar to sweeten things a bit, and vanilla flavoured instant pudding mix - in order to thicken the mixture. In the end I added strawberries, cause after all that WAS supposed to be a strawberries mousse
I beat the yoghurt and the sour cream for 10 minutes. Well, it didn’t exactly turn to whipped cream, to say the least. I didn’t want to use gelatin though, so I decided to wait until we eat it to see how the texture turned out.

The first thing I have to say is that it turned out really tasty, and was so easy to make. Our friends loved it as well. Also it was very fluffy, and the ratio of strawberries-yoghurt was perfect. The only problem was that it was quite runny. I initially wanted to pipe it nicely into the serving bowls, but the shape didn’t last.  Next time I’ll try to use some melted white chocolate though, I think it will get it thicker.

Strawberries Yoghurt Mousse / Self Recipe
Makes 5-6 portions

Ingredients:
300 ml yoghurt (I used 3% fat)
200 ml sour cream (I used 9% fat)
400 gr fresh strawberries, diced
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 Tbsp vanilla flavoured instant pudding mix
4 Tbsp powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Beat the yoghurt and sour cream in the mixer for about 5 mins.
2. Add the lemon juice, pudding mix and powdered sugar and beat for 5-7 more mins.
3. Gently fold the strawberries into the mixture.
4. Refrigerate for at least two hours before serving.

מוס יוגורט עם תותים / מתכון עצמי - מירי רביבו
עבור כ- 5-6 מנות אישיות

רכיבים:
300 מ”ל יוגורט (השתמשתי ביופלה 3% שומן)
200 מ”ל שמנת חמוצה (השתמשתי ב - 9% שומן)
400 גרם תותים טריים, חתוכים לקוביות
2 כפות מיץ לימון סחוט טרי
3 כפות אינסטנט פודינג וניל
4 כפות אבקת סוכר

הכנה:
1. מקציפים את היוגורט והשמנת החמוצה במיקסר כ-5 דקות.
2. מוסיפים את מיץ הלימון, את אבקת האינסטנט פודינג ואת אבקת הסוכר ומקציפים 5-7 דקות נוספות.
3. מקפלים את התותים בעדינות לתוך התערובת.
4. מקררים שעתיים לפחות לפני ההגשה.

So we’re 2 months into the strawberries season and I haven’t prepared even one single dessert using them! I did discover several great places to buy beautiful and relatively cheap strawberries, and actually that’s one of the few benefits of my college moving from the lively center of Tel Aviv into the also-lively center of Jaffa… So until now I only bought them for us to eat straight up, or sometimes with a little sugar scattered upon them. But last week I decided to use them for preparing a sweet goodie. I also decided to combine this with making my first ever mousse cake.
Mousse cakes are something I wasn’t technically able to prepare for a long time, since I didn’t have a proper mixer. Since I bought the KitchenAid last September, I’ve been planning to prepare one, but the chance hasn’t come up, and truthfully, I was also a little scared of trying it.

Looking for interesting recipes of strawberry mousses, I’ve found Martha Stewart’s recipe for strawberry mousse cake that looked promising, so I decided to take the recipe of only the mousse from it. I combined it with an improvised base made of biscuit crumbs, butter, lemon zest and strawberry puree. For the topping I planned to use Martha’s white chocolate ganache, but Avi doesn’t like eating big amounts of white chocolate, and since there was also white chocolate in the mousse, I decided to use milk chocolate. So far so good. But when we got to the store to buy that milk chocolate - I thought to myself - why not make it even more special and use one regular milk chocolate bar and one Nougat filled milk chocolate bar? This was the crucial mistake that made the topping of the cake lumpy (pieces of the nougat that didn’t dissolve well, I presume), instead of it being silky-smooth, the way ganache should be…

To sum up the whole story: the mousse was really tasty and had a great creamy texture, and there was just the right amount of each ingredient in it - the strawberries were very noticeable but didn’t overwhelm it, the amount of sugar was just accurate, and the white chocolate was barely noticeable taste-wise, but contributed to the great general texture. The biscuit base was also wonderful - the lemon zest and the strawberry puree really gave it a good twist. The only thing to improve is the ganache - next time I’ll definitely make it using white or dark chocolate.

Strawberry and white chocolate mousse cake / Mousse adapted from Martha Stewart & Self recipe for the base
For a(half-sphere) mold with at least 1.6 liter capacity

Ingredients:
For the base:
130 gr petit-beurre biscuits
70 gr butter, melted
2 Tbsp strawberry puree (from the mousse)
the zest of half of a medium-sized lemon

For the mousse:
450 gr (1 pound) strawberries, hulled and halved
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
230 gr (8 ounces) white chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin
2 cups (480 ml) heavy cream
2 Tbsp confectioners’ sugar

For the ganache:
2/3 cup (160 ml) heavy cream
340 gr (12 ounces) white chocolate, finely chopped
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
whole and halved strawberries, for garnish

Prepare the mousse:
1. Puree halved strawberries in a food processor. Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice; set aside.
2. Melt chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring until smooth; set aside.
3. Put 1/4 cup cool water into a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over top; let stand until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir 1/4 cup cream and the confectioners’ sugar in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add gelatin mixture, and stir until gelatin has dissolved. Pour into bowl with the melted chocolate, and stir until smooth. Reserve 2 Tbsp of the strawberry puree for the base, and whisk the rest of it into the bowl with the chocolate.
4. Put remaining 1 3/4 cups cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until medium peaks form. Whisk one-third of the whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the remaining whipped cream using a large rubber spatula. Move into the half-sphere mold and refrigerate 1 hour.

Meanwhile prepare the base:
1. Measure the diameter of the mold that contains the mousse. Measure it at the mousse’s level (and not at the top of the mold), in order to know which diameter should the base have. With the mold I used, the diameter was 20.5 cm. I used an adjustable cake ring, adjusted to 20.5 cm, for forming the base’s shape, it’s also possible to use a regular round pan of the matching size.
2. Smash the biscuits to crumbs using a food processor.
3. Transfer the crumbs to a separate bowl or continue working in the food processor’s bowl (to save the wash of one more dish ), and add the melted butter, lemon zest and the 2 Tbsps of strawberry puree. Mix all the ingredients well together.
4. Lay the base mixture out on the bottom of the chosen pan (if you chose to use a ring, its bottom should be sealed with aluminium foil), tighten it using a spatula or the bottom of a clean glass, and put in the freezer until the mousse comes out of the fridge.
5. After the 1 hour has passed, take the mousse out of the fridge and the base out of the freezer, and place the base on top of the mousse. Press the base gently, to attach it to the mousse. Put the mousse in the freezer.

One hour and a half before serving it, prepare the ganache:
1. Bring cream just to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Pour hot cream over the chocolate in a medium bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Stir in salt and lemon juice. Let stand until ganache is pourable and has cooled slightly.
2. Take the half-sphere mold out of the freezer, put the bottom of it in a bowl with boiling water (the water must not touch the mousse at all) for 2-3 seconds only, then turn the mold upside down and support the base of the mousse with your hand. Give the base a little push, and the whole cake will easily pop out of the mold into your hand. Place a rack on top of a big baking pan, and place the cake on the rack.
3. Pour ganache over top of cake, allowing it to drip down sides. Refrigerate assembled cake 1 hour before serving. Using 2 large spatulas, transfer cake to a serving platter. Garnish with strawberries.