Crémeux

It has been busy lately, not so much about work, but life in general. Work has been great, my boss has been really generous to me in many ways (he is the best boss ever!), no more long hours and weekend work. M is back in the States, it has been a month now, the longest period he's been here this year and hopefully will stay that way and we've been spending lots of time together. It is difficult to find a free weekend, they are pretty much booked for either wedding, graduation, art festival, more wedding, birthdays, gathering with friends, coworkers, many things. It is a good thing that we can celebrate many events in life. Weather has been perfect in many ways and when we have a weekend to spare, we've been doing long walks in the beautiful Standford campus every weekend, playing Wii games. Baking has been fun too (except that I wish I have more time for this) and many cakes have been made in the busy kitchen, and many more. I can't complain much.

One of my brother's birthday was a few weeks ago (I have 6 older brothers). We don't usually have big celebration for birthdays, we would usually do birthday dinner, but nothing fancy. One thing for sure, there's always cake.

I did nothing too fancy this time, but I've been dying to use one the molds I bought 2 years ago or something (yup, I tend to go on a baking shopping spree and will forget about them). I decided to make one of the cakes from one of my favorite cake site, cakechef. I have been eager to make many of their cakes but there is not enough time for all that. I chose a simpler one this time, and with no directions provided, I think it is a safe bet.

This original recipe has almond genoise, white chocolate yogurt mousse, and mascarpone mousse. I think it will be too creamy, and so I decided to put a thin of raspberry layer in the middle to give it a little bright note. I used two layers of thin almond joconde and soaked it in kirsch syrup instead of making their almond genoise. I had most of the components available anyway.

Overall, I think it is a very light and summery cake.It is not too complicated to make but still has that "oohhs and aahhs" effect and we definitely enjoyed it.

Cremeux

Almond joconde, see recipe here minus the pistachio paste
Kirsch soaking syrup, see recipe here

Raspberry Garniture, see recipe here

White Chocolate and Yogurt Mousse
300g white chocolate
300g whole milk yogurt, at room temperature
8g gelatin leaf (I used 2 tsp. powdered gelatin, soaked in a bit of cold water, and melted in a microwave for a few seconds)
450g heavy whipping cream

• Melt white chocolate in double boiler 
• Add the yogurt and the melted gelatin, mix well
• Meanwhile, whisk the cream till soft peak, then fold it in into the white chocolate mixture

Mascarpone Mousse
250g mascarpone cheese
300g heavy whipping cream, whipped to soft peak
20g Amaretto (I didn't use this, substitute with Grand Marnier, Kirsch, Cointreau, or other fruit brandy)
4g gelatin leaf (I used 1 tsp. powdered gelatin, soaked in a bit of cold water, and melted in a microwave for a few seconds)
    Pate a Bombe:
    40g egg yolks
    70g sugar
    30g water

• Make pate a bombe by boiling the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring it to 245F. 
• Put the egg yolk in a mixer bowl, when the sugar almost reaches the temperature, start whisking the yolk.
• Pour the sugar syrup into the egg yolk with the mixer still running and continue whisking until it becomes thick and pale
  Note: I used a different method to make pate a bombe than the one stated in the recipe. The recipe suggested to whisk the yolk, sugar and water on a double boiler until it reaches 86C and continue whisking in the mixer
• Add the melted gelatin, liqueur, and mascarpone cheese
• Lastly, fold in the whipped cream

To Assemble:

• Brush the almond joconde with Kirsch simple syrup
• Spread the mascarpone mousse over the joconde
• Place the second joconde on top, brush with syrup, and spread the raspberry garniture over it
• Pour the white chocolate mousse on top and smooth it out
• Refrigerate.