Mousse Archives - Sugar et al

Coffee Mousse Cake

2|04|2023

How much do you love coffee? Would you be willing to replace your morning espresso with a slice of this decadent Coffee Mousse cake? Because where a rich, creamy mousse is involved, it’s hard to say no. To sweeten the pot, the coffee mousse cake is topped with a fluffy cocoa spiked whipped cream and coffee bean chocolates that are also made at home.

The coffee mousse cake involves no baking and is pretty easy to put together. You just have to pay attention the first time when you’re making a mousse. After that it gets easier because you know exactly what to expect at every step. The coffee bean shaped chocolate mold is by far the most popular item in my store ( on the menubar) at the moment. Don’t they look real? And it’s just plain dark chocolate.

It’s finally started to feel like Autumn in Sydney. Until 3 days ago, we were complaning about the extreme heat during the day but now with school holidays, we will finally get to visit the locations with colour changing leaves. I know a lot of you are in fact experiencing spring on the other side. The great thing though is that a coffee mousse cake can be made and enjoyed irrespective of the seasons or the weather. Coffee is always a good idea!

If love a good coffee dessert don’t forget to check out this Coffee Cake or these Easy Tiramisu Cups.

Coffee Mousse Cake
Makes an 8 inch round cake

Biscuit Crust
200 g (7 oz) digestive biscuits
½ cup (114 g) unsalted butter, melted

Coffee Mousse Filling
5 tsps (16 g) powdered gelatine
2 tbsp (30 ml) water
4 egg yolks
¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
2 tbsp (16 g) cornstarch
½ cup (120 ml) full cream milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (360 ml) double cream (divided)
1 tsp instant coffee powder

Cocoa whipped cream
½ cup (120 ml) whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks with 1 tsp sugar and 1 tsp of Dutch processed cocoa

Coffee Bean Shaped chocolate
3.5 oz (100 g) dark chocolate, melted

Make the biscuit crust: Grease the base and sides of an 8 inch (20 cm) spring form pan with 3 inch (8 cm) height and line the base with baking paper. Place the biscuits in a food processor and process until they resemble fine crumbs. Add the butter and process briefly until combined. Press the biscuit mixture evenly over the base of the prepared pan. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

Make the coffee mousse filling: In a small bowl, combine the gelatine and water. Leave the mixture aside to bloom.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, milk and vanilla extract. Beat with a whisk. The mixture will initially appear a bit dry bit will become smooth upon whisking. Add ½ cup (120 ml) of the cream and whisk until smooth.

Place the saucepan over low heat and cook whisking continuously until the mixture starts to thicken, about 6-7 minutes. It is important to do this slowly and steadily so the eggs don’t scramble and the cornstarch cooks evenly. The mixture is ready when it resembles custard and is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Remove the saucepan from heat. Add the gelatine mixture and the instant coffee. Mix until all the gelatine is dissolved. The heat from the custard should be enough to cook the gelatine. Strain the mixture into a large bowl. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

In a separate bowl beat the remained whipped cream (240 ml) to soft peaks. The cream should be thick enough to form soft shapes and just firm enough to hold briefly as you lift the whisk, then fall back into the cream. Fold the cream gently into the custard mixture until well combined.

Transfer the filling into the prepared pan over the biscuit base. Place in the fridge for a minimum 4 hours, preferable overnight.

Make the coffee bean shaped chocolate : Pipe the melted chocolate into a coffee bean shaped mold. Allow to set in the fridge. Unmold and keep refrigerated until needed.

When ready to serve, decorate with cocoa whipped cream. Decorate with coffee bean shaped chocolate. Slice and enjoy cold.

Lemon and Coconut Mousse

9|02|2019

I came back after a month long holiday in India to a blazing Sydney. A family wedding, cool winter days and so much fun with family and cousins some of whom I was able to meet after years. I realized I had to push myself to get back into work and creative mode this week. Sydney on the other hand was at it’s sunny best when I returned. I almost had a shock when I saw that my backyard had a growth spurt over the weeks it was left unattended. Yet, the lawns and the outdoors have lately become my favourite spot to shoot in. The light, the green vibes and generally the airy feeling has been inspiring enough to get me on my feet. With valentines’ day round the corner, I can find more excuses to use floral decorations and bright colours.

I was looking for an easy recipe for lemon Curd without eggs for a long time. A lot of friends have told me that they love lemon curd but home recipes tend to have an eggy smell and flavour. Finally, having gone through several different recipes, I came up with this version. There are no eggs, but it has a good lemon flavour with a subtle hint of coconut. The classic lemon curd (with eggs) is still my favourite but this one is great for people with egg allergies and vegetarians and more so if you love the lemon-coconut combo. It comes together quickly and tastes delicious. If you don’t want to make the mousse and want to just enjoy the lemon curd on it’s own either as a topping or a spread, that’s fine too.
The food colouring is optional. Without food colour this lemon curd is white. I’m so used to a bright, lemony yellow curd normally, so I used it. Feel free to leave it out if you wish to.

Lemon and Coconut Mousse
Serves 6

Lemon Curd
Makes 1 cup (approx)
3/4 cup coconut cream (made by refrigerating a can of coconut cream overnight. Once chilled, the fat/cream hardens and separates from the liquid content. Scrape off the cream from the top without disturbing the liquid.)
2 tsp lemon zest
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp corn starch
1/4 cup castor sugar
1-2 drops of yellow food colour (optional)

Lemon Mousse
1 cup thickened cream
2 tbsp castor sugar (or more if you like it sweeter)
3/4 cup lemon curd

To make the lemon curd : Place the coconut cream, lemon zest and castor sugar in a medium saucepan.
In a small bowl place the lemon juice and cornstarch together and stir to dissolve. Add this mixture to the saucepan with coconut cream.
Bring the saucepan to a boil over low heat, whisking constantly until mixture thickens and turns into a lemon curd consistency (The lemon curd will thicken further upon cooling) Make sure you scrape the sides of the pan to ensure there are no lumps and the texture is smooth. Remove from heat. Add the food colour (if using) and stir to blend. Cool lemon curd to room temperature and store in the fridge to refrigerate.

Make the lemon mousse– In a large chilled metal bowl whip the thickened cream and sugar to almost stiff peaks. Fold in the lemon curd until well blended (do not whisk or over-mix). Divide between serving glasses. Refrigerate. When ready to serve, garnish with coconut chips, grated white chocolate or edible flowers. Enjoy!

Eggless Mango Mousse

4|07|2018

Mango season!!! Alas, not here. But everywhere else it is mango season. Yeah being down under sometimes does make me feel a teeny bit isolated from the rest of the world in terms of food and seasons. But the virtual world more than makes up for it and I am able to share my favourite recipes for the northern hemisphere to enjoy. I had shot a few mango creations back in our summer days for my stock photo agency. Food images however, don’t make sense to me without a delicious recipe or the story they narrate. So I always take the opportunity to make something quick and easy that I could photograph as well as serve to my friends. And of course, any excuse to eat mangoes or for that matter, even mousse!

This is one of the easiest mousse recipes I have tried out. Actually, I’ve eaten this kind of mousse a number of times back in India where patisseries and cafes would usually avoid the egg in desserts as they would cater to many vegetarian customers. Since the quantity of fruit puree is significantly higher to the quantity of cream, the fruit literally sings in your mouth. The cream is only there to give the eggless mango mousse a body and some extra creaminess. The colour and sweetness of this mousse will vary according to the type/variety of mangoes used.

I miss summer a lot and keep telling myself that Spring is around the corner. Hope you guys on the other side of the world are getting to eat heaps of mangoes and cherries. Enjoy them for me too:-)

Eggless Mango Mousse
Serves 3

1.5 cups pureed mango (about 2 large mangoes)
1/3 cup castor sugar (or according to taste)
1 tsp powdered gelatine
1/2 cup whipping/heavy cream

Place the mango puree, sugar and powdered gelatine in a medium saucepan and cook over low heat until gelatine dissolves. Cool to room temperature.

In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks (peaks start to form but fall back in the bowl when lifted with a whisk/spoon). Add the mango puree to the cream and fold in till well blended.
Pour into serving glasses. Chill for 3-4 hours. When ready to serve, top with whipped cream, fresh mangoes, fresh basil or grated white chocolate. Enjoy!

Marshmallow Mousse

24|05|2017

Mousse is a massive, huge, immense, enormous, gigantic, mammoth (okay, add all the adjectives) favorite of this blog:-) Needless to say, I’ve tried out every possible technique under the sun to create this delicious dessert. In this blog itself, there are all kinds of mousse recipes…some with egg yolk, some with white, some with both, others with chocolate and cream and with gelatine. The ones I’ve tested out recently are the marshmallow mousse and the aquafaba mousse (both are egg less). I’ll share the second one soon but now let’s talk about Marshmallow Mousse.

The reason for taking so long to experiment with this was because the idea of having marshmallows meant it would taste sweet. Like really sweet. I like marshmallows but not everyone can tolerate something so sickly sweet that too in quite a big amount. Enter yogurt! My go to for all culinary balancing needs. The tartness of yogurt would balance out the sweetness to a great extent. So the base recipe for this mousse is nothing but marshmallows, half and half and yogurt. There are so many ways of diversifying upon this base recipe.
Want to cut down the sweetness further? Serve with raspberry or strawberry coulis or a slightly tart fruit compote. Or add lots of citrus zest..like lemon or lime. Or add spices like powdered ginger or cinnamon.

If you’ve made Marshmallows at home, they are nothing but hot sugar syrup and gelatine. When we melt them, we basically activate the gelatine once again. The texture of this kind of mouse is light, and tight. It does not have the kind of aeration or richness that eggs would provide. Then why make them you may ask? Well, I would make them

– when I want a dead easy, no fail recipe with few ingredients.
– when I’m creating something special for an event that requires desserts at room temperature (Egg and dairy based mousses generally need refrigeration). This one does not.
– When I’m allergic to eggs or will not eat eggs
– when I just want to create fancy looking mousse without toiling for hours. (So many of you commented on how neat the layers are).

I’ve created quite a few versions of this in the past few weeks but these are the two I shared on Instagram. The layering bit is my favourite. Typically in layered desserts, you have to wait for each layer to set up before you add another one. The good news is that for this one you just wait for 5-10 minutes only. So basically, in under 30 minutes you have a gorgeous dessert ready to serve. Regarding taste, they taste like marshmallows (YUM) unless you infuse them with some other flavours.

As you can see I’ve used food color and both fresh flowers and gum paste flowers in the two versions. Make them your own by adding decorations, sprinkles, flowers, dark chocolate chips or anything else you like. I hope you give them a try.
Stay tuned for for more mousse recipes coming your way.

Marshmallow Mousse
Makes 4-6

250 g marshmallows (use white if you are planning on colouring them)
200 ml half and half (half milk, half cream)
1/2 cup Greek yogurt

Over low heat, slowly cook the marshmallows and 2 tbsp of the half & half in a small saucepan whilst stirring continuously. They can burn easily so keep an eye on them. Remove from heat and continue to stir if they look like they might burn. (You could also do this in the microwave on low in short bursts of 10 seconds). Once marshmallows have melted and the mixture is smooth, allow to cool for 5 minutes. Add the remaining half and half and yogurt and mix to blend.

Depending on the number of layers, divide the mixture between bowls and colour. To layer, gently spoon first layer into serving glasses. Chill for 5-10 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the layers. Refrigerate until needed. When serving, allow to stay in room temperature for 15 minutes.