RECIPES
Chocolate ginger mousse cake
By Kim Evans
8 hours 30 minutes
Preparation time
50 minutes
Cooking time
1 x 18cm triple-layered cake
INGREDIENTS
5 eggs
2½ cups sugar
300 ml canola oil
250 g dark chocolate (55% cocoa solids)
2 cups high-quality baker’s flour
1 cup high-quality Dutch cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated ginger
200 g sour cream
3 x 20 cm cake tins
Mouse filling
400 g dark chocolate (55% cocoa solids)
200 g butter
8 eggs, separated
4 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon whiskey
Chocolate ganache
200 g quality dark chocolate
½ cup cream
1 cup mascarpone
Chocolate curls
250 g compound chocolate
Spun sugar
120 ml water
1½ cups caster sugar
METHOD
Chocolate ginger mousse cake
- Pre-heat oven on Fan Plus at 150°C.
- Line the bases and the sides of the 3 x 20 cm tins with baking paper.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat eggs and sugar together until light and creamy. The mixture is ready when it falls from the beater in a wide ribbon that holds its form before dissolving.
- On low speed, slowly drizzle in canola oil until combined.
- Place the chocolate into a small saucepan and melt on low heat, Induction cooktop setting 1. Add to the egg mixture, mix until combined.
- Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder into the egg mixture, fold through with a metal spoon or clean hand until just combined.
- Fold through the vanilla, ginger and sour cream.
- Divide evenly into your three tins. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn cakes around in the oven and cook for another 15-20 minutes, or until the tops spring back when touched lightly. Leave to cool in tins.
- Turn out cakes by inverting the tins, then turn cakes upright.
Mousse filling
- In a medium saucepan melt the chocolate and butter together on low heat, Induction setting 2. Allow to cool slightly.
- Using a whisk, mix in egg yolks one at a time, ensuring each is combined before adding the next.
- With an electric beater, whip egg whites until just before they reach the soft peak stage. Slowly add the sugar and continue to whip until firm peaks.
- Adding a third at a time, use a metal spoon to fold the chocolate mixture gently through the whipped egg whites until combined. Stir through the whiskey then place in the refrigerator to chill.
- Line a 18 cm tin with a 150 mm-wide sheet of acetate around the sides. Stack the three cakes on top of each other and shave off the edges with a bread knife, so all have a flat even edge and will fit neatly inside the lined tin. Dip your knife into boiling water regularly to get a clean cut.
- Place the first cake in the tin and spread over a third of the mousse mixture. Repeat with half of the mascarpone. Repeat with the next cake. Place third cake on top and spread with third portion of mousse.
- Refrigerate for at least 8 hours so the mousse and mascarpone set.
Chocolate ganache
- When ready to ice the cake, make the ganache. In a medium saucepan melt the chocolate and cream together on low heat, Induction setting 2. Stir constantly to form a smooth sauce.
- To remove the cake from the tin, place a plate on the top and turn upside down. Remove the tin and place a wooden board on top, then turn again so the cake is upright. Peel off the acetate. Using a hot palate knife, smooth the mousse and mascarpone so the cake has smooth sides.
- Pour warm ganache over the top so that it drizzles down the sides.
Chocolate curls
- In a medium saucepan melt the compound chocolate on low heat, Induction setting 1.
- Once melted, pour onto a clean bench surface. Stainless steel or marble is ideal — nothing textured.
- Use a spatula to spread out to a thickness of 1 mm. Allow to partially set.
- Using a long knife or a bench scraper, scrape over the chocolate, away from you, to form curls.
- Altering the angle of the blade will change the size and shape of the curls. Gently place on top of the cake.
Spun sugar
- First prepare your work area (you will need to work quickly once the sugar syrup is ready). Place two wooden spoons about a hand span apart on the benchtop, with the handles overhanging the edge.
- Weigh down the spoon ends with something heavy, such as a couple of cookbooks. Place newspaper or similar over the floor, as it can get a little messy.
- Prepare a large, heatproof bowl of cold water ready to sit your hot saucepan in.
- Combine the cold water and sugar in a medium saucepan until it is the consistency of wet sand.
- Place on medium-high heat, Induction setting 7. It is important not to stir the mixture from this point. Allow to come to the boil, and while cooking make sure to keep the sides of the saucepan clean of sugar crystals using a wet brush. Continue to cook until it reaches a warm golden colour.
- Remove from heat and immerse the saucepan in your bowl of water. Let sit for 30 seconds, or until the sugar syrup just starts to thicken around the sides. Do not let any water splash into the saucepan or you will need to start again.
- Holding two forks together back to back, dip into the sugar, then flick back and forth over your wooden spoon handles to form strands. You will have to work fast as the caramel will set quickly.
- Gently lift the strands off the spoons and place around cake. Be careful not to over-handle or it will clump together. Spun sugar is best when used immediately. If you struggle with the technique, flakes of edible gold leaf to garnish also look great.
APPLIANCE / FUNCTION
Kim Evans
Kim Evans started Little & Friday from humble beginnings in 2007. She occupied a small vacant butcher's shop in the depths of Auckland Suburbia. With the help of friends and family she began prepping all week, baking up a storm on Thursday and opening up the doors to her kitchen only on Fridays.
Little & Friday is not so little anymore. Kim operates four bustling stores open 7 days a week across Auckland. These stores attract many other like-minded people who share the same passion and love for food as Kim does.
