mango sago pomelo

This is probably one of my favorite Chinese dessert which I almost always order in the Chinese restaurant. It is very easy to recreate it at home and tastes so much better when mangoes are ripe and in season.


Mango Sago Pomelo (adapted from noobcook)

400ml mango juice (freshly squeezed using fruit juice extractor or ready made)
150ml evaporated milk
2 large ripe honey mangoes, cubed
80g pearl sago, soak in water for 20 minutes till white and enlarged, then rinsed
Pomelo, peeled and sacs separated, about 50g or more

1) Cook the sago: Boil a pot of water over medium-high hear. Place in sago and boil for 5 minutes. Heat off. Cover with lid and let the heating stand for another 10 minutes. Then, bring sago to a boil in pot again till the the sago turns completely transparent, for about 10 minutes or longer. Drain sago in fine sieve and rinse to cool with cold water

2) Reserve one quarter of the cubed mangoes for garnishing (step 4). Blend the rest of the mangoes, mango juice and the evaporated milk in electric blender.

3) Add cooked pearl sago prepared in step 1 to the mixture. Chill in fridge.

4) To serve, portion out to individual serving bowls and garnish with pomelo sacs and cubed mangoes.

I did not add any sugar syrup as the mangoes were sweet enough. On top of that, there was sugar in the Peel Fresh mango juice I used. However, I don't think I use Peel Fresh again as it has a very strong aftertaste, may be will try Fruit Tree or homemade mango juice. Otherwise, it turned out well. And of cos, KK finished the servings for 4 in one setting. Tsk tsk.

Chocolate mousse layer cake

Decided to make a mousse cake since KK does not like cakes. Well, took me a while to realise that he only likes the cream and mousse on the cake, and not the actual cake itself. No wonder he is always complaining that my cakes are dry.. tsk tsk.

Found the recipe in The Cake Book by Tish Boyle. It looks easy enough and everything was going fine till the final part where the chocolate glaze separated! My heart sank when I saw the cake once the glaze set as there were patches of fat solids. OMG!

Thankfully I managed to save it by scraping off the glaze and whipping it to make it smooth again. Reapplied the glaze but it was not going to look glossy so decided to grind up some oreos and sprinkle it on top of the cake. It actually looked quite pretty... ha ha.

Everyone loved the cake but there were some comments on the rum being a little strong. O wells, I thought a little bit more booze wouldn't hurt right??? The oreos was salty and kinda help balance out the otherwise very rich cake.


Chocolate mousse layer cake (modified from Tish Boyle's)
First, make the sour cream chocolate cake which is yummy on its own

1 3/4 cups (212g) all purpose flour
1 1/3 cups (332g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (28g) natural cocoa powder *Hershey's
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs / 3 small eggs (1 large egg in shell ~60-70g)
1/2 cup (121g) sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup (113g) butter melted and cooled
1/3 cup (80ml) corn oil
3/4 cup (180ml) ice cold water


1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350F/175C. Line the bottom of a 9x3 inch springform pan with parchment paper. Grease the bottom and sides of the pan, dust with flour and tap out the excess.

2. Sift flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine.

3. Whisk eggs till blended in another bowl. Whisk in the sour cream and vanilla extract till blended.

4. Using a mixer, whisk melted butter and oil together at low speed. Add cold water and mix to blend. Add the dry ingredients at all at once and mix at medium-low speed for 1 minute. Add egg mixture and mix for another minute. Scrape bather into pan.

5. Bake cake for 45-50minutes until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Set pan on wire rack and cool cake for 20minutes. Remove cake from pan and cool completely right side up.

Then, make the chocolate mousse filling

255g coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate *Valrhona Manjari 64%
1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk
1 tsp instant espresso powder
pinch of salt
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
3 tbsp rum

6. Place chocolate in food process and process until finely ground.

7. Combine milk, espresso powder and salt in small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. With the food processor running, pour hot milk through feed tube and process until chocolate is completely melted. Scrap mixture into large bowl and let cool for 10 minutes.

8. Whisk heavy cream at high-speed till soft peak, adding rum during whisking. Fold whipped cream into chocolate in thirds until completely blended.

Finally, assemble the cake

9. Level the cake by trimming off domed top and cut the cake horizontally into 2 layers.

10. Place one of the cake layers in bottom of 9x3 inch springform pan. (Brush 1 tbsp of rum over cake - to omit if too alcoholic) Scrape 1/2 of chocolate mousse over cake layer and spread it evenly. Top with the other cake layer and scrape remaining mousse on top.

11. Cover top of pan with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 3hours till firm.

12. Prepare glaze by adding 2/3 cup (160ml) of heated heavy cream to 170g of chopped bittersweet chocolate (*Valrhona caraibe 66%) in bowl. Stir till chocolate completely melted and stir in 1 tsp of vanilla extract. Whisk till smooth if needed. Cover surface of glaze with plastic wrap and cool for 10 minutes before using.

13. Remove cake from pan and place on wire rack. Pour warm glaze over the top of the cake and smooth it evenly over top and sides.

14. Refrigerate for at least 1hour (to thaw) before serving. Dust top with grounded oreos if desired.