mango mouuse cake 2

Same cake, different sponge

Sponge cake by Alex Goh (from Crummb)
4 eggs, separated (each egg to weigh 60g without shells)
120g castor sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
110g plain flour
70g melted butter (must be hot when added to batter)

1. Using a hand-held mixer, whisk egg yolks till smooth. Add 20g of the sugar and vanilla and continue whisking until yolks puff up and the colour turns very pale - like the lightest shade of peach – and doesn’t turn any paler (about 2 mins).
2. In another bowl, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the remaining 100g of sugar and whisk until stiff peaks form.
3. Fold egg whites into egg yolks until just combined. Just use a rubber spatula.
4. Sieve in flour and fold in gently. Add in hot melted butter (to be safe, pour down the side of the bowl so it won’t agitate too many air bubbles) and fold in gently and quickly.
5. Pour into 8-inch round pan and bake at 190 deg C for 30 minutes. When done, cake will shrink by a few mm but still stand at a beautiful 2 inches.

Mango mousse (re-invented)
750ml mango puree / puree 2 large sweet mangoes in blender
2 tbsp orange liqueur
1 tsp 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.

Mango Gelee
150g mango puree
1 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp gelatin
4 Tbsp water

Dissolve gelatin and mix it in mango puree.
Pour over set mousse in cake ring and allow it to set in the fridge. (takes aound 1-2hr)

Tasting notes and learning points: I love the texture of the gelee and the lemon helps cut thru the sweetness of the cake and keeps the mango from being oxidised. The mousse turned out better than before, full of mango flavor and yet light on the palate. Adding mango cubes in the mousse helped with the flavor and texture. However, the sponge was a denser and drier than the genoise. (I'm not sure if it's because I overbaked it.) I still suck at estimating proportions, ended up with a lot of extra mousse.

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.

mango cream cake

I was planning to make a chocolate cake with strawberry and white chocolate ganache the whole week but alas! Cold Storage ran out of strawberries and the only ones available are like twice the price of the normal ones. I concluded that it was too expensive for my baking experiments and hence decided on a mango cream cake instead.

Now, what's a mango cream cake? Wells, I imagined one to be a wonderfully soft sponge cake filled with cream cheese frosting and fresh sweet mangoes. Mmm...


Mango Cream Cake

Start by baking 2 classic genoise (see recipe in strawberry yoghurt mousse cake)

While waiting for the cakes to cool, cube 3 large mangoes.
I had to add sugar to the mangoes as they were too sour. Thus, I tried to mitigate it by adding 2 tbsp of sugar + 1 tbsp of mango juice (Fruit Tree is way much better than Peel Fresh for the mango juice) and it sit in the fridge for 15 minutes or so.

Prepare the mango syrup

1/2 cup of chopped mangoes
1 tbsp of sugar (to taste, can omit if mangoes are sweet)
1/3 cup (80ml) of water

Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth.
Strain through a sieve.

Prepare the whipped cream cheese frosting

250ml cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp (45g) sugar
360ml heavy cream

Whip heavy cream until firm peaks. Cover and refrigerate.
Whip cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until creamy and smooth.
Fold a third of the whipped cream into cream cheese mixture.
Fold in the remaining cream
Use immediately or cover and refrigerate.

Finally, assemble the cake

Trim the top crust and slice the genoise into 2 horizontally. We will need 3 halves of the genoise.
Place one of the layers with cut side up on a cardboard cake round.
Brush mango syrup on it. (Each layer needs about 5 tbsp)
Spoon the mangoes on top of the layer.
Spread the whipped cream cheese frosting over the mangoes in an even layer.
Repeat with the middle layer.
For the top layer, brush the syrup, then frost the sides and top of the cake.
Garnish the top of the cake with mangoes and sides with toasted almond flakes.
Serve


Tasting notes & learning points:
So Rose was right after all. The genoise does taste so much better with syrup. According to The Cake Bible, the perfect amount of syrup is 3-4 tbsp for every egg used in the batter. I decided on 3 tbsp/egg since I added milk to my batter. This works out to 12 tbsp of syrup per cake and hence 6 tbsp of syrup per half. However, since the mango cubes are a little moist, I decided to use 5 tbsp of syrup per layer of genoise which worked out fine. The cake was moist and soft and not pasty.
Everyone loved the cake but I felt that it would have been much better if the mangoes were ripe. Toasting almonds can be done easily on a dry frying pan over medium heat which takes about 5 minutes.

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.