March 16, 2010

Wedding project 2

We decided on the filling for the wedding cake. White Chocolate Mousse sandwiched between lovely lavender cake. For the icing – Smitten Kitchen’s Swiss buttercream frosting. All I needed to do was put these new recipes to the test.
empty bowl
Decreased the amount of butter in the original Lavender cake recipe and popped it in the oven…

The recipe for Swiss buttercream frosting worked on the first go – wohoo! Velvety smooth and rich.
Swiss meringue in bowl
Then onto a batch of White Chocolate Mousse by Swedish chef Leila Lindholm. It has heaps of lemon zest in it and the sour cream really works with the sweetness of the chocolate and whipped cream. I could eat it by the bucketful.

Finally I put together a cake for Rhianna to take up to the in-laws for a taste test...
test cake log
We had to have some too. It was delicious. With less butter in it the cake was firmer but still moist with that hint of lavender. Leila Lindholm's mousse was delicately flavoured with white chocolate and the lemon zest really pulled it together. Covered with that velvety frosting...

If I say so myself it was pretty tasty. I was happy. And I couldn't believe my luck that the test recipes worked out. Time for the big one.
test cake
For the recipes...


White Chocolate Mousse
makes enough for cake that serves 13

Modified from original recipe by Leila Lindholm which uses quark instead of Light Sour Cream.

150 g white chocolate
200 ml pouring cream
250 ml Light sour cream
Zest of 1 lemon

Chop the chocolate and melt it on a low heat in a bowl over boiling water. Whip the cream until soft peaks form and fold in the sour cream and lemon zest. Fold into chocolate concoction and beat until mousse is smooth. Use at once or leave refrigerated. Keeps for4-5 days.

Swiss Buttercream frosting
For a 23 cm cake (plus filling, or some to spare)

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen. This makes quite a buttery frosting so if you don't like the taste of butter try something else.

1 cup (250 ml) sugar
4 large egg whites
345 g softened butter plus 2 tablespoons butter (microwave 22 secs)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Whisk egg whites and sugar together in a big metal bowl over a pot of simmering water. Whisk occasionally until you can’t feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.

2. Transfer mixture into the mixer and whip until it turns white and about doubles in size. Tip from Smitten Kitchen: Make sure you wipe the condensation off the bottom of the bowl so that no water gets into the egg whites. This can keep them from whipping up properly.

3. Add the vanilla.

4. Finally, add the butter a stick at a time and whip. This can take quite some time – and don’t worry if it curdles.

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