Vicky Bakes … White Chocolate & Raspberry Mousse

Week seven, and possibly my favourite week of them all – Desserts! I am definitely a dessert person, and when eating out I will ALWAYS look at the dessert menu first and work my way backwards.

This week’s challenges were a roulade, a marjolaine or a mousse cake and once again, I have never made any of them before. It took me a while to decide which challenge to do this week, I was torn between a roulade and a mousse cake. I definitely didn’t want to attempt the marjolaine, although it sounded absolutely delicious, it looked far too complicated and although the aim of this is to challenge myself, I didn’t think my baking skills were quite at that level.

I decided to go with the mousse, and chose a raspberry and white chocolate flavour combination. I wanted to create an ombré effect mousse, raspberry mouse at the bottom, raspberry and white chocolate mousse in the middle and then a white chocolate mousse topped with raspberry jelly. I used this recipe as a starting point and adapted it. But in all the excitement of making the mousse, I forgot to save some of the raspberry sauce to add into the second layer of ‘ombre mousse’ so I literally just had the dregs from the pan to add to that layer, and in the end you can’t really see a difference between the white choc layer and the white chocolate and raspberry layer.

I did bend the rules of the challenge and didn’t make a ‘mousse cake’, just a mousse. I managed to find a use for all those GU pots that we seem to have collected over time. I also made one in a chef ring to basically try and be all ‘mastercheffy’.

These mousses worked out pretty well and felt pretty indulgent. The jelly was a little cloudy but that’s probably because I was a bit impatient in letting the mousse fully set before I poured the jelly on the top.

The recipe makes 4 large mousses or about 6 small ramekins of mousse. This was really easy to make (as long as I remember to follow my own added instructions) and makes me want to try it again in a multitude of different flavour combinations.

Next weeks theme is ‘Tudor week’,  and looks to be some type of pie, a marzipan centrepiece and knotted biscuit. I’m also really happy that my three favourites are still in the running, Selasi, Andrew and Benjamina, but I think Tudor week might be a tricky one.

Vicky x

Recipe: Makes 4 Large Mousses

Ingredients

• 200g white chocolate, finely chopped
• 250ml double cream
• 2 egg whites
• 25g tbsp sugar
• 150g raspberries
• 2 tsp sugar for the coulis

Method

1. Melt the chocolate and set aside to cool.
2. Put a few of the raspberries to one side for decoration, Put the raspberries and 2tsps of sugar in a pan and heat on a low heat to make a raspberry coulis/sauce. Set aside to cool.
3. Whip the cream to soft peaks and set aside.
4. Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed until they hold firm peaks and with the whisk still on high gently pour the sugar down the side until the meringue is stiff and glossy.
5. Mix in a third of the meringue to the cream then gently fold in the rest.
6. Separate mix into three equal portions.
7. Add 2/3 of the raspberry coulis to one portion, and then divide equally in the base of 4 glasses or ramekins, chill.
8. Add the remaining 1/3 of raspberry coulis and 1/3 of the melted white chocolate to one portion of mousse mix, gently fold until just fully combined. Add to the top of the raspberry layer.
9. Add the remaining white chocolate to the mousse mix, until just fully combined. Divide equally amongst four wine glasses and chill for two hours before serving.
10. Top with the remaining raspberries and raspberry jelly (optional) to decorate.