Strawberry mousse cake

It's taken me a little while, but as promised, I have finally gotten around to posting the recipe for the strawberry mousse cake that I made for my birthday last week.

This cake is from Cakes, Tortes and Gateaux of the World by Aaron Maree, a book which I found through Crusader's site. It is full of tantalising cakes, many of which take a significant degree of effort but look impressive. However, there are other simpler cakes which, although they don't have the same visual "wow" factor, look equally tempting.

The strawberry mousse cake is reasonably involved, but can be done in a single evening, as I did. It consists of an orange flavoured sponge, sandwiched with orange mousse with alcohol-soaked strawberries through it, and is topped by glazed strawberries. It tastes delicious - light and airy and fruity, while visually quite a feast.

To make this cake, you will need:

Cake

75g plain flour
45g cornflour
5 egg yolks
155g sugar
75g grated orange rind
100ml orange juice
30ml Grand Marnier (I used Cointreau)
100g marzipan
5 egg whites
50g sugar, extra

Mousse

350g hulled and coarsely chopped strawberries
60ml Grand Marnier (or Cointreau)
6 egg yolks
120g sugar
250ml milk
180ml orange juice
10 teaspoons gelatine
60ml water
500ml whipping cream, lightly whipped

Decoration

250g strawberries, halved
1 quantity strawberry glaze (see instructions below)
100g flaked almonds

Strawberry glaze

250g strawberry jam
60ml water
2 teaspoons lemon juice

Cake

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and grease and line a 23cm springform pan.

Sift the flours twice and set aside.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar together in a stand mixer until they form a ribbon when the beater is lifted. In the meantime, put the orange juice, rind, Grand Marnier and marzipan into a saucepan and bring to the boil over low to medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gradually beat in the extra sugar, a tablespoon at a time.

Fold the egg yolk mixture into the marzipan mixture, then fold in the sifted flours. Finally, gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until cooked through. Remove the cake from the oven and cool in the pan on a wire rack:


Mousse

Soak the strawberries in the Grand Marnier for one hour. Put the egg yolks, sugar and milk in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and heat until it is just warm to the touch.

Mix the gelatine and water together in a small bowl and set aside.

Put the orange juice into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add the soaked gelatine and stir until dissolved. Allow the juice to cool slightly, then stir in the egg yolk mixture. Chill and allow to thicken slightly (I left it for around 20 minutes). Fold through the strawberries and the whipped cream.

Assembly

Cut the cake into 4 layers. Line the base of the springform pan with baking paper, and place one layer in the base of the pan. Spread one third of the mousse over the top of that layer, then top with a second layer. Repeat with the rest of the mousse and the remaining layers of cake. (It is fine for mousse to spill out between the layers and down the sides of the cake, because as I understand it, this outer mousse spillage is what the flaked almond decoration sticks to.) Chill the cake in the fridge for 2 hours.

Make the strawberry glaze (see below). Remove the chilled cake from the fridge, and brush the top of the cake generously with the glaze. Arrange the halved strawberries as you like on top of the cake, then brush the strawberries with the rest of the glaze. Refrigerate for a further hour.

Strawberry glaze

Put all of the ingredients into a saucepan and stir over low heat until smooth. Bring the mixture to the boil, then boil for 10-15 minutes. Sieve the mixture and use while still warm.

Remove the cake from the fridge, remove the outer collar of the springform pan, and press the flaked almonds into the sides of the cake where the mousse has spilled over.

Serve!