Mintish Living

Poire William Mousse with Caramel Biscuit – make 8 -10 individual cakes

Caramel Sauce
275g caster sugar
110ml whipping cream
135g unsalted butter, coarsely chopped
1/3cup water
1tsp fleur de sel

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook for 8-10 minutes or until dark-amber in color then remove from heat. Carefully add cream, butter and fleur de sel (mixture will spit) and stir. Return to heat and cook for 3 minutes or until smooth, remove from heat. Pour caramel into an airtight container, let cool and store in the refrigerator.

Caramel Biscuit Cake

Italian Meringue
4 medium egg whites
80g caster sugar

4 medium egg yolks
20g caster sugar
60g cake flour
40g cornstarch
3tbsps caramel sauce

Preheat oven to 425°F/210°C. Grease a 43cm x 30cm jelly roll sheet with butter and line it with parchment paper, set aside. Sift together the cake flour and cornstarch twice then set aside.

In a dry clean bowl, whip the egg whites on medium speed until foamy and the color turns white. Gradually add the sugar, increase the speed to high and continue to whip until stiff peaks form – the whites should be firm and shiny, about 5 minutes.

Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and creamy. With a rubber spatula, gently fold 1/3 of the meringue into the egg mixture until just combined then fold in the rest of the meringue and fold until just incorporated. Add in the sifted flour mix and gently fold until combined.

Fit a piping bag with a 3/8 inch (1cm) round tip, fill it with the cake batter and pipe identical wavy lines touching each other. Using a spoon, drizzle some warm caramel sauce over piped batter.

Bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and transfer to cool on the cooling rack. Once cooled, using a ruler cut out stripes that are slightly shorter than the height of the mousse rings that you’re using. Also, stamp out cake bases using mousse cake moulds. Place the mousse moulds on a tray, roll up a cake stripe, place it inside the mould then put a cake base inside each mould; set aside.

Poire William Mousse

Crème Anglaise
175ml whole milk
8 medium egg yolks
60g caster sugar
8g powered gelatin
40ml water
½tsp vanilla extract

350ml heavy whipping cream
45ml Poire William liqueur

For the crème anglaise:
Sprinkle the powdered gelatin over 40ml of water. Bring the milk to about simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale and creamy. Remove from the heat and add a little of the hot milk to the yolk mixture to warm it, whisking constantly to keep the yolks from cooking then pour the egg yolk mixture into the hot milk (pan), whisking constantly as you pour.

Return the mixture to the stove and warm it over medium heat, whisking constantly. Let the custard cook until custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 3 – 5 minutes then remove from heat. Add in the pre-soaked gelatin, stirring until completely dissolved. Using a fine sieve, strain the custard into a clean bowl then whisk in the vanilla extract, stir to cool.

For the whipped cream:
Beat the heavy cream over medium speed until soft peaks form. Gently fold the whipped cream into the crème anglaise, fold until just combined. Fold in the liqueur until incorporated. Pour mousse into mousse cake moulds lined with caramel biscuit till full and level with an icing knife, place in fridge to set for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Chantilly Cream – 1½ cups
200ml heavy cream
2tbsp caster sugar

Place the cream and sugar in a bowl and whip until semi-stiff peaks form over medium speed. Chill in the fridge if not noting immediately.

Decorating the cakes:
Using a fine sieve, gently sift cocoa powder (sparingly) over the cakes. Spread a thin layer of nappage (natural glaze diluted 1:10 ratio) using an icing knife – move the knife over the top of the glaze to get a smooth and mirror-like appearance.

Unmold the cakes by wrapping a hot towel around the mould for 10 second then use your fingers to push the cake upward, repeat this process with the rest of the cakes. Pipe some Chantilly cream on top then finish with half of a mini pear and a sprig of parsley.