Mango mousse cake

Serves 13 to 16

For the sponge cake follow this recipe 

Double it and make 2 cakes.

Sugar syrup

Caster sugar- 1/2 cup

Water- 1/2 cup 

Mango mousse

Mango puree- 2 cups

Powdered sugar- 1/4 cup (adjust as per the sourness of the puree)

Powdered gelatin- 3 tsp

Warm water- 7 tbsp

Double cream (whipping cream)- 600ml (around 2 cups)

Mango mirror glaze

Mango puree- 1/2 cup

Powdered sugar- 2 tbsp (adjust according to sourness)

Powdered gelatin- 3 tsp

Warm water- 5tbsp

Make the sugar syrup by mixing together the sugar and water and heating it in a microwave for about 30 to 45 seconds, just enough to melt the sugar completely. You can do this on the stove top as well.

For the mousse, mix the powdered sugar and mango puree together in a bowl and keep aside.

Mix the gelatin powder with 7 tbsp of hot water. Stir well to dissolve the gelatin completely.

Add this to the mango puree and mix well.

Whip double cream to a soft peak consistency using a hand beater or a free standing mixer with whisk attachment. 

Add the mango puree to the whipped cream and fold till well combined

When ready to assemble, place one sponge cake on a tray large enough to accommodate it and brush the sugar syrup over the entire cake. This is to moisten the cake. 

Pour over half of the mango mousse on to the cake and using an offset spatula spread it over the cake as evenly as possible. 

Top with the second cake and brush with the remaining sugar syrup.

Pour over the remaining mango mousse and smoothen it out as much possible.

Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours or best overnight.

For the mango mirror glaze, add the mango puree and sugar together in a bowl.

Mix the gelatin powder with 5 tbsp of hot water. Stir well to dissolve the gelatin completely.

Add this to the mango puree and mix well.

Pour over the set mango mousse layer. Its ok if it spills over the sides, but make sure you cover the entire top of the mousse.

Keep in the refrigerator to set for at least 3 to 4 hours.

When ready to serve, slice off the edges to get neat servings.

Cut into squares, garnish with mango slices, berries and mint leaves and serve.

Brioche French Toast

Serves 3 as part of breakfast

Whole milk- 1 cup

Double cream- 1/4 cup

Eggs- 3

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Dark brown sugar- 1/4 cup

Salt- a pinch

Brioche bread- 6, one inch thick slices

Butter- 1 1/2 tbsp

Whisk together the milk, double cream, eggs, vanilla brown sugar and salt in a bowl until well combined.

Arrange the brioche slices in a high rimmed baking tray, without overlapping each other

Pour the milk-egg mix over the bread slices, making sure all the pieces are soaked.

Cover with a cling film and leave in the fridge for about an hour.

Remove after 2 hours and flip the bread slices over, carefully.

Cover with cling film and place back on the fridge for another hour.

 

When ready to cook, place a frying pan over medium heat and melt about 1/2 tbsp butter.

Fry the bread slices till they turn golden brown on both sides. 

Do them in batches of 2, as its easier to manage. Make sure you dont burn them. 

After each batch, add more butter, 1/2 tbsp at a time and continue frying.

If you feel the butter is getting burnt, use a kitchen towel to wipe off the burnt butter before proceeding with the next batch.

Dust some icing sugar on top and serve with honey, maple syrup or golden syrup and fruit on the side.
If you would like to try a butterscotch brioche bread pudding, you can find the recipe here

Notes: Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon or a pinch of nutmeg to the batter for another version.

Soaking the bread till all of the liquid is used up is ideal, but if you are short of time, you can leave it for just half an hour or so just till the bread slices are pretty well soaked.

I fried the bread in my Le Creuset cast iron pan and it worked wonders because of the heat retention.

Brownie butter cake

Brownie and a butter cake together. Need i say more? Yeah, didn't think so. Every other day Ro asks me, whats for dessert, do we have cake, whats for tea and the answer to this most of the time is, er chocolates? fruit? He gets distracted with those options most of the time, but otherwise he makes a face and pretends like I've deprived him of his basic necessities.

I made my custard cake sometime last month on a whim, (mostly to finish off the last of the custard powder and baking soda that had gone past expiry) and I wasn't sure it would work because expired baking soda fetches the most horrid cakes. To my surprise however, this one turned out so so good, much better than the first time and it stayed perfectly moist at room temperature for about 5 days- all i did was cover the cake pan with foil.

 

I put Ro through the torture of watching Great British Bake Off and about 2 weeks back on a Sunday evening he wanted to eat cake and trying to get me off the couch challenged me to bake a cake in 1 hr. He did the whole GBBO intro line and all, and me like an idiot fell for it. So i got around baking my mums beat and bake chocolate cake- a cake id grown up with, but never managed to get right for some strange reason. This time I was so hasty with the recipe and couldn't care if it turned out nice or not cos 1- I'm not a chocolate cake fan and 2- Ro would eat anything with chocolate, no matter how it turns out. Surprise, surprise I'd made the most perfect chocolate cake in less than an hour. I was so proud of myself, not because i did it in time, but because i managed to get the taste bang on- the taste of the cake just as i remember from my childhood. Needless to say, the husband polished it all off in no time.

Since the cake luck was prevailing right now, I decided to bake a cake again, today. When I'm in the cake baking mood, its almost always a new recipe I put to test (along with my patience). I'd bookmarked Bee's brownie butter cake ages back and had completely forgotten about it till this morning when i was scouting my bookmarked list. I checked if i had all the ingredients, and except for brown sugar, i had all the other things needed. I still decided to go ahead, substituting brown sugar for demerara sugar.

I initially thought it was going to take time, but nope, had it all done in under an hour again and its a cake that can actually make someone say wow. I am not a big fan of brownies, so i really didn't care too much for that layer, but omg the butter cake was so so good. Moist like nobody's business and so darn tasty. I must remember to make just that one of these days.

Recipe adapted from here

 

For the brownie base

Dark chocolate- 140 gms, chopped into small pieces

Unsalted butter- 50 gms

Demerera sugar- 50 gms

Egg- 1, at room temperature

Plain flour- 35 gms

For the butter cake

Unsalted butter- 120 gms, at room temperature

Granulated sugar- 100 gms

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Eggs- 2, at room temperature

Plain flour- 120 gms

Baking powder- 1/2 tsp

Milk- 50 ml

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a 20 x 10 cm loaf pan with baking paper.

On a bain marie melt the chocolate and butter till nice and smooth.

Take it off heat, leave aside for a couple of minutes and into it add the sugar. Whisk well

Break the egg into it, and beat till well combined.

Pour into the greased and lined loaf pan and chuck into the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes

While the brownie is baking, get on with the butter cake.

Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl till light and fluffy. You can either use a hand held blender or a spatula. I wanted it to be as simple as possible, so i didn't use my free standing mixer. Feel free to do so.

In goes the vanilla extract followed by eggs one after the other, beating well after each addition. The mix may look a bit curdled, but don't worry, the flour would sort this out.

Whisk together the plain flour and baking powder in a separate bowl and add it to the batter, alternating with the milk. 

Once the brownie comes out of the oven, reduce heat to 160C and pour the cake batter on top and immediately even it out with a spatula.

Chuck it back into the oven and bake for a further 30 minutes or till a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Once done, cool the cake on a rack and let the cake settle before slicing.

Notes: Like i mentioned earlier i didn't have brown sugar, so used demerara instead. Please use brown sugar if you have it.

The brownie bit was still very gooey when i cut into it around 15 minutes later. But was fine when i went back to slice it around an hour later. Yes it was torture waiting to dig in. Using a serrated knife helps.

The cake batter when poured on top of the hot brownie melts immediately. Don't panic, just don't wait but try and do the deed as quickly as possible.