The Birthday Cake - Chocolate Mousse with Hazelnut Burnt Cream Center

So it was my H's birthday a few days ago... Made some absolutely to-die-for brownies for his colleagues. Then made his cake - heavenly gorgeous Chocolate Mousse with Hazelnut Burnt Cream. It was simply amazing! I have to say, I'm quite proud of what I was able to make! :D My H loved the cake so much! The combination of the flavour of this cake is gorgeous and the texture is as light as a cloud! :)

So for the components for this delectable sweet, we'll need to make:

1. Dacquoise

Ingredients:

1/8 c almond powder

1/8 c powdered sugar

1 1/2 t all purpose flour

1 pc egg white

2 1/4 t sugar

Procedure:

• Combine the almond powder, powdered sugar and flour. Set aside.
• Beat the egg white close to soft peak then add in the sugar. Continue beating until you see peaks forming.
• Fold in the almond powder mixture.
• Transfer to a lined 4 inch round pan.
• Bake at a preheated 340 F oven for 15 mins. or until it's golden brown in color.

2. Hazelnut Burnt Cream

* This is like a hazelnut flavoured creme brulee. It's so delicious, you could eat it on it's own!

Ingredients:
1/2 c heavy cream
1/3 c milk
8 t hazelnut paste (ground 1/2 c hazelnuts + 1 T corn oil)
2 T sugar
3 pcs egg yolks

Procedure:

• Warm up the heavy cream and milk.
• Add the hazelnut paste.
• In another bowl, whisk the sugar and yolks until smooth. Then add it into the warm cream mixture.
• Strain the mixture into a baking dish.
• Bake in a preheated 210 F oven for 30 minutes or until set like a creme brulee.

3. Chocolate Mousse

* I used a mousse recipe that doesn't use gelatin. I think not having gelatin in a mousse makes it super light. Hence, this cake is not filling or heavy to the tummy at all! :)

Ingredients:
3 pcs egg yolks
4 T sugar
3 T water
175 g chocolate (melted to 95 F)
1 1/4 c heavy cream

Procedure:

• Whip the heavy cream then set aside in the refrigerator.
• Whip the egg yolks until pale in color or three times it's original volume.
• Cook the sugar and water in a pot until it's temperature is 250 F.
• Still whipping the yolks, add the sugar syrup into the yolks on a steady stream. Continue whipping until the mixture cools down.
• Fold in the melted chocolate.
• Then quickly fold in the whipped cream.

* This recipe produced more than what I needed for a 6 inch ring mold. So I think just using 2/3 of this recipe would be enough :)

4. Ganache Ingredients:

150 ml heavy cream
187 g chocolate

Procedure:

• Heat the heavy cream.
• Pour the heated cream onto the chocolate.
• Mix until it's combined.
• Let cool until desired consistency.

**** All recipes (except for the ganache recipe) were adapted from

Le Cordon Bleu Dessert Techniques :)

So after preparing all the components, we can now start to assemble!:)

1. Slice the dacquoise into two equal disks.
2. Place one disk at the bottom of the ring mold (seal the bottom of the mold with foil).
3. Cover with mousse.
4. Scoop in the hazelnut burnt cream.
5. Cover with mousse. - Place the second disk.
6. Cover with remaining mousse, then cover with foil.
7. Freeze until set. 

Once it's set, we can now glaze the cake :)

1. You can unmold the mousse by wiping the ring with a warm cloth. The mousse will then slowly glide out the ring mold. Make sure to unmold onto a wire rack:)
2. Once umold, you can now pour the ganache all over the mousse.
3. Then decorate as you wish! :D ** As for my cake, I placed roasted hazelnuts around the cake then I wrote "Happy Birthday Love!" on the center with yellow icing sugar :)

I tried to take a good picture of the cake once it was sliced to show you the layers. Unfortunately, I'm not a photographer. So I hope my shots would be good enough :p

I'm really happy to how this cake came out, and how much my H loved his cake! :D Of course there's still lots of rooms for improvement! :) My chocolate mousse is still far from perfect, but with baby steps, I'm getting there. :p Then of course details... have to master all these, then one time in the far future, I will become a self-proclaimed pastry chef **dream** !:p

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte