Truffles

I decided to make truffles for Christmas gifts this year. They turned out quite well but took much more effort and time than I've expected.

Coffee Truffles (makes 25-30 pieces)
120ml heavy cream
1 tbsp light corn syrup
1.5 tbsp instant coffee granules
1 tbsp (15g) butter, soft
200g dark chocolate (manjari) chopped
1.5 tbsp whiskey
Valrhona cocoa powder for garnish

Combine cream and corn syrup in saucepan and bring to a boil.
Add coffee and stir well to dissolve.

Add cream to chocolate and butter. Start stirring after about 2 minutes and stir until smooth and homogenous. Use a whisk if necc and whisk in the whiskey slowly.

Pour ganache into a bowl/baking pan and cover with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate for 1hour or more till the ganache is firm.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Scope out balls of ganache using #100 scope and place on sheet pan. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 15 minutes. Roll each portion into round ball. Dust with cocoa powder.
Serve

**yum yum yum. dark and smooth with essence of coffee.


Salted caramel truffles (makes 30-40 pieces) - adapted from epicurious

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (caribe), finely chopped, divided
2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons water
2/3 cup whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel

Place 8 ounces chocolate in metal bowl over saucepan of barely simmering water (do not allow bottom of bowl to touch water); stir until chocolate is smooth. Remove chocolate from over water.

Combine sugar and water in small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, occasionally brushing sides of pan with wet pastry brush. Increase heat; boil until syrup is deep amber color, brushing down sides and swirling pan occasionally, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and add cream slowly. (mixture will bubble!!). Stir over very low heat until caramel is smooth. Mix caramel and 1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel into melted chocolate. Chill until truffle filling is firm, at least 3 hours.

Pipe into candy cups and chill till firm. Sprinkle some fleur de sel just before serving.

**my favourite truffle thus far. nuff said.

Rum & raisin truffles (makes 40-50 truffles)

125 g heavy cream
350 g dark & milk chocolate, chopped
15 g butter
40 g raisins soaked in 60g dark rum overnight

Heat the cream until hot to the touch and turn off the heat. Add the chocolate and butter to the hot cream, and stir until the chocolate melts.

Place the raisins & rum in blender and process until the raisins are finely minced. Stir the raisin mixture into the chocolate mixture and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight to cool.

Scoop balls of the rum raisin mixture and place them on sheet pans lined with parchment paper. Dip in tempered dark chocolate. Chill and serve.

**the taste of rum may be a bit strong for some people. And a little too sweet for my taste. May try with dark chocolate and less rum next time.

Learning points: If ganache splits, whisk. If it still doesn't work, add 1tbsp of liqueur slowly while whisking. You can feel the ganache coming together as it gets slightly harder to whisk as the mixture emulsifies. The well mixed ganache looks glossy and not oily.

Garlic mash potatoes

Modified recipe from Ad Hoc by Thomas Keller.

To feed 12 people comfortably:
10 Russet potatoes
125g salted butter - cut into 8 pieces
4 bulbs roasted garlic (brush with canola oil and cover with foil, roast at 200C for 35mins)
2 cups half & half (1 cup of whipping cream + 1 cup of milk) warmed

Wash and quarter the potatoes. Cook the potatoes at low simmer, starting with cold salted water. Make sure that the potatoes are cooked thoroughly. Drain the water and dry out the potatoes in the same pot by heating it for 1-2 minutes.

Peel the potatoes and push them through the ricer.
Mix in some garlic and butter while "mincing" the potatoes.
This can be prepared up to 3 hours prior to serving.

Just before serving, heat the mashed potatoes in the pot at medium heat. Whip in the heated half-and-half.

Serve warm

Learning points & tasting notes: Make sure the potatoes are cooked thoroughly. I had a hard time putting them through the ricer as they were slightly undercooked.

Chocolate surprise (lemon) cake

Made this for E's birthday today. It turned out surprisingly well except for the glaze. I say surprisingly because I came up with this myself. Hee ;-)

So the layers are as follows: (from the base)

1. German chocolate cake (1cm) made from Rose's heavenly cake with 200g instead of 300g of sugar and 1 extra egg as the eggs I have are rather small

2. Chocolate praline layer (0.5cm) adapted from Pierre Herme using 50g dark chocolate, 200g nutella, 15g butter and 1 +1/3 cup feuilletine

3. Thin layer of chocolate mousse using 70% valrhona, cream, milk, 1 tbsp each of rum & Cointreau

4. Frozen lemon cream (0.5cm) courtesy of Pierre Herme

5. Thin layer of chocolate mousse

6. Cake 1cm

7. Remaining mouse 1cm

8. Chocolate lacquer glaze from RHC

Next time, I'll use valrhona 64% for the mousse instead or maybe try the mousse recipe from either Pierrre Herme or Hidemi Sugino.

Moist chocolate raspberry genoise

Finally got around making this. It turned out much heavier than expected.

The taste was moist and chocolatly with a hint of raspberry, somewhat similar to the sacher torte I made the last time since they are made of essentially the same elements. Will I make this again? Most likely not. I'll much rather make the sacher torte.

I

Classic genoise with strawberries and chocolate whipped cream

Made this over the weekend as I wanted to try out my new 6 inch cake pans. So I made the classic genoise batter for a 9 inch cake and divided into two 6 inch pans. The pans managed ffto fit into the tiny oven together. I was planning to make one cake at first but the two small cakes turned out taller than the usual 9 inch one. Hence, I ended but filling & frosting both cakes in the end, after slicing the cake into 3 layers each. It was filled with chocolate whipped cream and strawberries, covered with chocolate ganache. It turned out rather yummy actually.

Thomas Keller's chocolate chip cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies from Ad Hoc at Home (makes about thirty 3-inch cookies)

Thomas Keller writes in the book: This is our version of what is arguably the best cookie ever. I like to use different chocolates, one sweeter, one with a more complex bittersweet balance. After you chop the chocolate, sift it to remove any tiny fragments to give the cookies a cleaner look. If you like softer cookies, don’t underbake them, just mist them with water before baking.

2 1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
5 ounces 55 percent chocolate, cut into chip-sized pieces
5 ounces 70 to 72 percent chocolate, cut into chip-sized pieces
8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup packed dark brown sugar, preferably molasses sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs

Position racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.
Sift flour and baking soda into a medium bowl. Stir in the salt.
Put chips in a fine-mesh basket strainer and shake to remove any chocolate “dust” (small fragments).

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat half the butter on medium speed until fairly smooth. Add both sugars and the remaining butter, and beat until well combined, then beat for a few minutes, until mixture is light and creamy. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating until the first one is incorporated before adding the next and scraping the bowl as necessary. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed to combine. Mix in chocolate.
Remove bowl from mixer and fold dough with a spatula to be sure the chocolate is evenly incorporated.

The dough or shaped cookies can be refrigerated, well wrapped, for up to 5 days or frozen for 2 weeks. Freeze shaped cookies on the baking sheets until firm, then transfer to
freezer containers. (Defrost frozen cookies overnight in the refrigerator before baking.)

Using about 2 level tablespoons per cookie, shape dough into balls. Arrange 8 cookies on each pan, leaving about 2 inches between them, because the dough will spread. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the tops are no longer shiny, switching the position and rotating pans halfway through baking.

Cool cookies on the pans on cooling racks for about 2 minutes to firm up a bit, then transfer to the racks to cool completely. Repeat with second batch of cookies. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.

I used self-raising flour instead as it was available in the pantry and forgot to add the salt in. Also, I used only 1/2 cup of sugar instead of the 3/4 cup called for by the recipe. For the chocolate, I used Cadbury 70% and macadamia milk chocolate which turned out to be great as I love the nuts in the cookies.

Well, these cookies are good. Not the best I've ever had but nevertheless good. Crispy edges with chewy centers, somewhat reminds me of those sold at subway. However, I'll probably cut some of the sugar the next time AND maybe rest it overnight in the refrigerator for the flavors to meld, as suggested by Amanda Hesser.

braised pork ribs

YyTried these a few times and they are awesome! Never gotten around to keeping them for the next day though as they are usually gone on the day itself.

Pork Riblets Braised in Vietnamese Caramel Sauce
modified from Molly Stevens’ All About Braising (Serves 2 as a meal or 4 as a starter)

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup fish sauce
1/3 cup sliced shallots

1 bulb garlic smashed, skin removed
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1 slab baby back ribs (1.75 to 2 lbs)
sawed lengthwise in half

Spread the sugar in the bottom of a wide heavy-based skillet/crock pot. Pour over 1/4 cup of the water and the lemon juice. Let it sit for a minute. Then heat over medium heat until the sugar begins to liquefy. Reduce the heat the medium low and let the caramel boil until it turns red.

Remove it from the heat and slowly pour 1/4 cup water and the fish sauce into the caramel. Return to the heat and stir. Let boil for a few minutes, until the sauce is smooth and a bit thick. Add the shallots and pepper and garlic and simmer for another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Separate the pork ribs into individual riblets by cutting down between the bones. Blanch with 2 slices of ginger. Drain. Add them to the caramel sauce, stir to coat, and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cover and braise, stirring every 15 minutes with tongs, for 90 minutes, up to 3hrs for large ribs Don’t let the caramel sauce boil; if the heat is too high then use a diffuser. The ribs are done when they have become tender enough to pull easily away from the bone and are a deep mahogany colour. At this point, you can serve them or store them.

If you want to store them, let them cool and then store in the fridge for 1 to 3 days. To reheat, pop them in an oven preheated to 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.

Alternatively, the sauce can be modified by heating in a wok and adding a splash of shaoxing wine.

Fiesta cheesecake & strawberry shortcake

I was planning to re-create the strawberry souffle from Flor since strawberries were on sale. But alas, the Japanese cheesecake was not to be. I overbeat the egg whites to stiff peak and the cake rose spectacularly like a souffle and fell just as spectacularly too. Ha ha. But it still tasted great though! Reminded me of fiesta cheesecake which used to be quite popular.

Slight changes to the recipe: used 120g of sugar instead and omitted the lemon. Also, as the eggs were small, I used 6 egg yolks and 7 whites. That resulted in a more pronounced cheese flavor. Will probably attempt again when my poor ego recovers.

Because of this "failure", I ended up making a strawberry shortcake using the genoise. There wasn't much problems with the baking but the I tried to use the mascarpone whipped cream recipe by Tish Boyle which didn't work so well for the cake. Only thing I learned was "sweetening" the tart strawberries by mixing the sliced strawberries with 2 tbsp of sugar and letting it sit for 2hours to macerate.

Flourless chocolate almond cake

Read about this on Times online and Little Teochew and felt that I need to try it. This is also known as Queen of Sheba cake although I'm not sure why.


Flourless chocolate almond cake

200g dark, bitter chocolate (I used Valrhona 66 %)
1 tbsp strong espresso coffee (omitted)
1 tbsp rum or brandy
120g caster sugar
150g butter
100g ground almonds
5 eggs, separated (used 6 small eggs instead)
Icing sugar for dusting

Melt the chocolate, coffee, rum or brandy, half the sugar and butter in a bowl sitting in a pot of barely simmering water. Remove from the heat and stir until well mixed.

Add the ground almonds and mix well. Beat in the egg yolks, one by one.

Beat the egg whites until soft peak, add sugar and beat till stiff and glossy. Stir a couple of spoonfuls into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, before gently folding in the rest.

Turn into a buttered and floured 20cm (8in) round or square cake tin and bake at 180C for 40 to 50 minutes (less if you like it fudgey, more if you like it cakey) at the lowest rack.

The cake will rise almost to the top of the tin before cracking and falling. Leave to cool before removing gently from the tin, and dust with icing sugar to serve.

Tasting notes & learning points: The cake was intensely chocolaty with a mousse-like texture. The ground almond gives it a slight nutty texture. I might cut the sugar to 100g the next time as I like dark bitter chocolate more and maybe try a cake without the almond for a pure chocolate indulgence.

Pierre Herme's Black Forest Cake

Finally made this cake with Elaine's help today. Thank goodness for Mingtze's optimism and faith in the recipe. It was actually quite yummy. No need to cut the sugar as the sweet cake balances the sourish cherries and cream very well.

Tasting notes & learning points: I only used 2-3tbsp of syrup per cake layer and trimmed the cake to fit a 8 inch ring. I will probably use more cherries next time as I used 200g of cherries but I don't think it is enough. Also, need to fold the meringue properly into the batter. A topping of chocolate shavings will be perfect and I think more whipped cream is not necc. And perhaps to make it less stressful, prepare the chocolate whipped cream, cherries, syrup and cocoa cake the day before. Assemble the cake and chill it for at least 3 hours.

white chocolate sour cream frosting

White chocolate sour cream frosting (for a 9inch cake)
120g white chocolate, chopped
120g sour cream
240 heavy cream

Heat white chocolate and sour cream in double boiler till it is completely melted. Stir often.
Cool to room temperature
Whip heavy cream and fold it into white chocolate.
Frost.


Tasting notes & learning points: It was difficult to melt the white chocolate and I had to put the mixture through a fine sieve to make it smooth before folding in the whipped cream. The sour cream helps to temper the sweetness of the white chocolate.

Tiramisu layer cake 2

Made this again yesterday for tonight's dinner party.

Some changes to the recipe.

1. Added 4tsp of coffee extract to the chocolate genoise while melting the cocoa powder

2. For the cream: Whisk 8 egg yolks, 1/3 cup +1 tbsp sugar + 1/2 cup rum over double boiler to make zabagloine. Whip 500g mascarpone cheese briefly and add zabagloine followed by gelatine mixture and 1tbsp rum to it. Used 300ml of cream instead.

3. Syrup = 120ml coffee + 3tbsp kahlua + 3 tbsp bailey's. Use 6tbsp per layer (12tbsp per cake)

Tasting notes & learning points: yummy, moist & flavourful with a punch. May use less cream next time, maybe 240ml instead of 300

ondeh ondeh

After my success with my first attempt, I attempted onde onde again and failed twice. Twice! You would think that making kueh would be easier than baking cakes.. but no.... these little buggers bring on their own set of challenges.

First time it failed was because I used purple-flesh sweet potato. I loved the colour and thought that it would bring a nice colour to the onde onde. (Ya, I'm superficial) BUT... they were too fibrous and hard. I had put the potatoes through a mesh after cooking and mashing to get rid of the tough parts. Furthermore, less flour was used as the potatoes were dry. The end product tasted too sweet-potato-ish. Not bad if you like the taste of sweet potato, but not for me.

The second time it failed was because the potatoes were undercooked and too hard to mash.
Wells, as they say, first time lucky and third time is a charm. So it worked this time!


Ondeh Ondeh (makes about 40 balls)

300g sweet potato cooked till soft and mashed
2 tbsp pandan extract
100g of glutinous rice flour and more

Mix all the above in a big bowl and knead to form a soft dough. Add flour or water as necc. The end product should be a soft dough which comes together easily and does not stick to the bowl or fingers.

Make the balls by wrapping a small ball of dough around little cubes of excellent gula melaka. The new ones that were given to me are excellent.. soft, crumbly and VERY aromatic

In the meantime, steam 150g of grated coconut with some pandan leaves for 3minutes.

Cook the ondeh ondeh in a pot of boiling water with some pandan leaves. The onde onde is cooked when it is floating in the water for about 30sec. Remove with slotted spoon.

Roll the cooked ondeh ondeh in the coconut to coat the surface.

Serve within the day.

sacher torte

I was planning to try Rose's moist chocolate genoise and came across a post on sacher torte by Chubby Hubby. In the post, S used the same genoise to create the cake. Hence, I decided to try to do the same. There's just one tiny problem, how do you create a cake you've never tried before? Hmm...


Sacher torte

Make the parts

1/2 recipe of moist chocolate genoise gives a 9-inch cake which is sliced into 2 after removing top, sides and bottom - takes 25-35mins (30minutes) to bake

syrup = 80ml cocoa syrup (p189 of Rose's heavenly cake) + 1 tbsp each of dark rum, kirsch and orange liquor

1.5cup of bittersweet chocolate glaze (p306 of Tish Boyle's The Cake Book)

Apricot filling made by heating 1 bottle (250ml) of St Dalfour apricot jam and 3 tbsp of water in saucepan at medium heat till it bubbles. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh sieve.

Assemble the cake.

Brush 2 tbsp of syrup on each side of the cake slice. (total 8tbsp needed for the whole cake)
Once the syrup is absorbed, spread 1/3 of jam over the cake layer. Top with remaining cake layer. Spread top and sides of cake with remaining jam. Refrigerate the cake for at least 30mnutes.

While waiting for cake to chill, make the glaze. Pour glaze over cake once cake is chilled.

Allow cake to stand for at least 1hour before serving.

Learning points and tasting notes.
The cake was moist and soft. Not overly sweet and the apricot gave a nice tangy-ness. However, the glaze was a little disappointing looks-wise as it did not look as glossy and dark as I thought it should. Maybe I'll try the version on Chubby Hubby next time. Everyone liked the cake but could not discern the apricot flavor, might have to try another brand of jam or make my own the next time. Also, the sponge needs more time to absorb the syrup before putting the jam.

Tiramisu layer cake

I wanted to try the chocolate genoise from Rose's Cake Bible. Hence, decided to make it into a tiramisu layer cake.


Tiramisu layer cake

First, bake the chocolate genoise (recipe from The Cake Bible). I did not change anything from this recipe and the chocolate genoise turned out perfectly moist and soft.

Then, make the coffee soaking syrup by adding 1tbsp of kahlua to 6tbsp of cooled espresso coffee (2x nespresso espresso).

Followed by the mascarpone whipped cream
6 egg yolks
1/3 cup castor sugar
½ cup brandy/rum
250g mascarpone cheese
400ml heavy whipping cream
1.5tsp gelatine melted in 3tbsp water

Whisk (5-10mins) egg yolk, sugar & rum in bowl over simmering water until thick to make zabaglione. Keep whisking even when removed from water till it cools down. (to avoid making sweet scrambled egg)

Add gelatine mixture to zabaglione. Whisk well to combine. Whisk mascarpone in standmixer for 30sec, add zabaglione (room temperature) and whisk till combined. Keep in fridge.

In separate bowl, whip cream to stiff peaks. Gently fold into above mixture.

Finally, assemble the cake.

Torte the cake and slice it into 2 layers to fit into 8inch cake ring. Place 1 cake layer into cake ring and sprinkle 3 tbsp of coffee syrup. Put 1/2 of mascarpone whipped cream on the cake layer. Repeat with the 2nd cake layer. It will come up to almost the top of the 3 inch high cake ring. Seal the top with cling wrap and place cake in fridge for 24hours for the flavours to meld.

To serve, remove cake ring and dust a layer of cocoa powder on the top.

Tasting notes & learning points: The cake turned out nice and soft and light. However, there seems to be lacking the oomph flavour. Will consider putting 4tbsp of syrup per layer instead the next time and maybe add some rum in the whipped cream. The flavour of rum was very strong initially but seemed to disappear by the second day. Or, maybe add some baileys to the coffee syrup.

creamless hearty mushroom soup

I love mushrooms. They are delicious, nutritious, full of anti-oxidents and low in calories. They are also versatile, you can fry, grill, saute, steam etc... Not to forget, there is such a wide variety out there that there is bound to be a species that appeal to the individual. However, much can be said about canned mushroom soup.... I've not touch those for a long time now since I've discovered how easy it is to create a healthy yummilious version at home.

Hearty mushroom soup (serves 4-6)

15g butter
1 small yellow onion diced
3 cloves of garlic diced
1 bay leaf
750g mushrooms diced - portobello, brown button and oyster
5 porcinin/shitake mushrooms diced
350ml chicken stock
100ml milk

Heat butter in large skillet.
Saute onion & garlic at low heat for 10minutes.
Add mushrooms into pan and fry at high heat for about 15minutes. The mushrooms will release liquid into the pan as they cook.
Turn off the heat and blend all the contents in the pan.
Add chicken stock and bay leaf to blended mushrooms and bring in to a boil.
Reduce heat to simmer and add milk.
Stir well to combine.
Serve warm.

Garnish options: fresh cream, truffle oil, grilled mushrooms (by cooking mushrooms in clean dry skillet till all the moisture has been released)

chocolate cake for a dear friend

My friend Alex is finally getting married. Hence, I decided to make a small cake for him and his wife and our dear friend, Jianying who came back to sg for the wedding.

This is a smaller 6-inch version of the chocolate mousse layer cake I made previously, using 2/3 of the recipe. The cake was covered with whipped cream as I used 70% dark chocolate for the mousse this time and hence the whipped cream helped to temper the bitterness of the chocolate.

I did however, 1/2 the coffee used in the chocolate mousse which helped accentuate the taste of the chocolate and yet no coffee flavour. I'll probably 1/2 the rum the next time round.

Mango cream & mousse cake for my brother

My little (ok, not so little) brother is leaving for the states to do his phD. I was thinking of getting him a going away present and decided to make him his favorite mango cake. Since KK has a family gathering on sunday, it gave me the perfect excuse to bake a cake, which turned out to be his aunt's birthday cake.


Mango Cream & Mousse Cake

This cake is a combination of the two previous mango cakes I made. It turned out better than I've expected as the mangoes were ripe and sweet.

Cake base - 3 halves of classic genoise

Mango mouuse - refer to previous recipe. The key to success is 2 large ripe mangoes. The amount was more than enough for 2 9inch layers and sides of the cake.

Whipped cream cheese frosting (see below) for 1 layer and and to cover the whole cake

Cubed mangoes - 1 for filling and 2 for toppings

Mango flavored simple syrup - 120ml of Fruit Tree mango juice, 3/4 cup of mango puree and 1 tbsp orange liquer mixed well. Use 5-6tbsp per layer of sponge.

The perfect (ok, I may be exaggerating a little) whipped cream cheese frosting

170g cream cheese
3 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla paste
240ml cream

Whip cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in stand-mixer till smooth.
Whisk cream to stiff peak.
Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture.

Tasting notes and learning points:

The cake was soft and mango-y without being too sweet. The whipped cream cheese frosting held its shape well, likely due to the presence of icing sugar. I might have overdid it with the topping as the soft layers had difficulty supporting the heavy topping. Also, next time I'll use the leftover sponge and cream to make a triffle.

mango mousse cake

I wanted to try Rose's recipe of genoise rich to see if it makes a cake that is more moist. The initial plan was to make a strawberry shortcake but I seem to have a "lack of affinity" with strawberries as it was sold out (again) in the supermarket. Hence, the decision for a mango mousse cake instead.


Mango Mousse Cake

First, bake the genoise

For the sponge, I used the recipe of genoise riche from Rose's The Cake Bible. It is essentially the same as the classic genoise except that this uses twice the amount of butter. I baked it in a 8x3 inch round cake pan, well greased and floured. The cake took about 45minutes to bake compared to 25-35minutes if I've used a 9 inch springform pan. Hence, I had to cover the top of the cake with foil for the first 30minutes to prevent excessive browning. However, it was magnificently 2 inches tall!

While waiting for the cake to cool, make the mango mousse (adapted from Canadian Living)

750ml mango puree / puree 2 large sweet mangoes in blender
2 tbsp orange liqueur
1 tbsp lime juice
5 tsp unflavoured gelatin
50ml water
500ml of whipping cream

In bowl, combine mango puree, sugar, orange liqueur and lime juice; set aside.
In small saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over water. Let stand for 5 minutes and dissolve over medium-low heat.
Stir gelatin into puree mixture.
Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
Whip cream till soft peaks and fold one-third into remaining puree. Fold in remaining whipped cream.
Use immediately or keep in fridge.

Don't forget the simple syrup

Place 2 onces of sugar and 120ml of water in a saucepan. Heat till it is boiling and sugar has melted in covered saucepan.
Allow to cool and add 2 tbsp of orange liqueur.

Finally, assemble the cake

Slice the cake horizontally into 3 layers.
Place one layer on a cake cardboard in a 8x3inch round cake ring. Sprinkle 3 tbsp of simple syrup on the cake.Put a third of the mousse over the cake layer and smooth it out a much as possible.
Repeat with the other 2 cake layers.
Place in freezer for 2 hours for mousse to set.
Remove the cake ring by using a hairdryer to warm up the sides.
Serve

Tasting notes and learning points: The mousse was smooth and set nicely but the citrus flavor was a little strong. I think it can do with more mangoes and less cream. The genoise was still a little on the dry side. It was soft and light but not as light as the classic genoise, it was also denser likely due to the excess butter. Maybe will try the golden genoise the next time or consider adding more milk/buttermilk to the classic genoise.