Pumpkin Spice Latte & Forest Fruits Mousse Cakes – GBBO Showstopper Challenge (Week 7)

Week 7! Dessert Week!

Well, this week I learned that if I was on GBBO I would totally be that baker that rocks up one week without having the the time to practice their bake and just completely wings it in the hope that it’ll all be alright but absolutely fluffs it up. Yup.

Having had a particularly busy week at work, and actually having plans on the Saturday, I found myself sitting in my living room drinking my morning coffee on Sunday with not a clue as to what I was going to make.

I mean, obviously I was making 24 mini mousse cakes (as in the latest episode) to the following criteria:

• must be mini
• two flavours; 12 of each
• contain a mousse element
• contain a cake element
• mousse seemed to need to be made with both gelatine and egg whites
• 4 hours

… and I did have somewhat of an idea of what flavours I wanted to include, and the ingredients to do so (Forest Fruits & Pumpkin Spice Latte to be seasonal and on trend)… however, I had no set cake or mousse recipes in place. Pun intended.

I then frantically put something together (whilst drinking my coffee) that I hoped would work…

It didn’t.

I spent my whole Sunday making what I thought would be 24 mini mousse cakes, but what I ended up with was 24 little puddles of mousse that never set. Can’t say I didn’t see that coming…

I’d obviously just skimped on the gelatine. You’d think a scientist would be a natural at something that requires finding that precise balance of liquid and setting agent, right? Alas, no. I even roped my poor dad into helping me make little tube moulds out of acetate for my PSL mousse cakes whilst I carried on in the kitchen. Bless him!

Needless to say, I HAD to do it again. Not completely overplanning a bake/recipe is just not me, so I spent my free time at work on Monday researching and devising recipes for what was going to be successful Forest Fruits & PSL mousse cakes.

And it paid off! Thank God!

Here’s how I got on (the second time around!)…

To make both Genoise sponges I started by whisking together the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract until thick and fluffy and doubled in volume.

Yeah, like that. (It will hold its form for a few seconds when drizzled.)

Then for the chocolate sponge I sifted in the plain flour, cocoa powder and salt. I folded this in gently to combine, trying to keep in as much air as possible.

For the pumpkin spice sponge I did the exact same, but with the plain flour, salt and spices.

I then poured in the melted butter and folded this in too.

I realise I didn’t take any photos of this but…. for the chocolate sponge I spooned the mixture into a lined 9″ square tin, and for the pumpkin spice sponge I spooned the mixture onto a lined baking tray.

I baked these both at 180°C for 10 minutes until the top had begun to colour and a skewer came out clean.

For the mousses, I started by soaking gelatine leaves in cold water to soften.

I then made the forest fruits puree by placing the fresh berries in a saucepan with some sugar and heating till they had completely broken down. I blitzed this up with an immersion blender, before straining through a sieve to get a smooth puree. I used 500g of mixed berries and this yielded 250ml of puree.

I squeezed out all the excess water from the gelatine leaves before stirring into the hot berry puree until dissolved. I set this aside to cool slightly. (If it solidifies too much you can just reheat it again.)

For the pumpkin mousse, I placed the pumpkin puree, instant coffee, spices and some milk (to loosen up the mix) to a saucepan and warmed this through.

Then, as before, I added the gelatine and stirred into the pumpkin puree until completely dissolved and set aside.

I then whipped up two batches of double cream by whisking on a high speed until I got soft peaks.

I added the gelatine/berry puree to 1 batch of the whipped double cream and folded till the colour was even.

I did the same with the pumpkin puree and the other batch of whipped double cream.

For each mousse I then used 3 egg whites to make a Swiss meringue (this came to just over 100g). I usually use pasteurised egg whites from a carton when making meringue (for that added safety, and the ease of measuring it into a recipe), but I didn’t have any to hand so opted to make a Swiss meringue as it involves gently heating the egg whites.

I did this by placing the egg whites and sugar into a heatproof bowl and setting on top of a pan of simmering water until the sugar had dissolved.

I then whisked the mixture till I got a glossy, stiff meringue.

I added 1 batch of the meringue to the berry/cream mixture, then folded it in until fully incorporated. I did the same for the pumpkin mousse. I set these both aside to cool slightly.

To construct the forest fruit mousse cakes, I placed the chocolate cake into the bottom of a 9″ square silicone mould (lined with some baking paper to help remove it later!).

I then spooned on the berry mousse and levelled it off with a knife on top. I left this to set up in the freezer for 30 minutes, before moving to the fridge for the remainder of the time. You could always just fridge it overnight if you’re not doing some crazy GBBO challenge.

To make the berry jelly, I soaked some gelatine leaves in cold water. I then blitzed up the blackberries and strained through a sieve. (This yielded about 100ml of puree.) I added this to a saucepan with some sugar and let this bubble on a medium heat until the sugar was dissolved.

Once off the heat, I stirred in some blackberry liqueur to make it up to 200ml. I then added the drained gelatine leaves and stirred in till dissolved.

I let this chill in the fridge till slightly thickened before pouring onto the chilled mousse. I left this in the fridge to set completely.

Once set, I cut the square into 12 not-so-mini- rectangles. To serve I dusted half with cocoa powder and placed a raspberry on top.

For the PSL mousse cakes I cut out 12 circles of cake using a plastic champagne flute (for when you can’t find any of your cutters!). I then placed these in the wells of a silicone muffin tray.

I spooned the pumpkin mousse into each well so it was completely full, then scraped away the excess. I set these in the freezer for 30 minutes before transferring to the fridge for the rest of the time.

To serve I whipped up some double cream and sugar to stiff peaks, added to a piping bag and piped on top of each mousse cake.

Overall…

How long did it take? I started at 5pm and had completely finished by 8:30pm – so 3hrs 30 minutes!?! I was actually under time?!? This isn’t even taking into account photographing/washing up time, or the fact that I only had space in my freezer for one mousse cake at a time?! I genuinely don’t understand. Maybe I could have used that extra time to add something else?

What worked? Not including my first failed attempt, I was really pleased with the flavours of my second batch of mousse cakes. You could definitely taste what they were supposed to be.

What didn’t work? Well, initially nothing worked; the cakes were too rubbery, the flavours weren’t strong enough, the colours weren’t bright enough, the mousses didn’t set… you name it! However, after altering recipes and my liquid to gelatine ratios, my second attempt was much better! I used a much lighter cake recipe, I was happy with the taste, the colours were bright AND the mousses set!

Things to improve if I were to take this recipe to the tent? I would probably make a thinner chocolate cake, just for appearances. I’d also have used my spare time to make something extra just so they could look prettier!

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