White Chocolate Mousse Cake with passion fruit & raspberry

Happy 2014! I hope your New Year’s Eve was every bit as beautiful as mine was. Guess who was in charge of making dessert for New Year’s Eve? That’s right – this girl.

New Year’s Eve is the perfect excuse to go slightly over-the-top with everything – and dessert is no exception. I wanted whatever I made to be spectacular and awe-inspiring. What I created is something I’m not even going to try to pretend I’m not ridiculously proud of. I mean, look at it.

Hidden inside this white chocolate mousse cake is a sponge cake layered with passion fruit curd. The top of the cake is a raspberry jelly and those ultra thin chocolate decorations are home (hand) made as well.

My official taste tester and love got me this beautiful beast of a kitchen assistant for Christmas. I was so excited to put it to use!

The sponge cake will be carefully sliced in two, and layered with golden passion fruit curd.

The passion fruit curd is a little bit tricky, but easy does it. You don’t want to boil it or your egg yolks might curdle. That’d be a very sad day.

That’s one fluffy and luscious white chocolate mousse batter right there.

Now let’s assemble. Cut the sponge cake in half and spread the passion fruit curd on it.

Second layer on top.

Place in a springform that’s larger than your cake (I used a 20 cm / 8 inch springform for the sponge cake and a 23 cm / 9 inch springform for the final cake).

And pour the white chocolate mousse over it. Freeze for at least 2 hours.

Make your raspberry jelly and allow to cool before spooning it onto your frozen cake. Then set the cake in the fridge to allow the jelly to firm up. Note! Do not put the cake in the freezer once you’ve topped it with the raspberry jelly as freezing it will ruin the shine of the jelly.

Last but not least, add your decorations.

I decorated my cake with fresh plump raspberries and thin chocolate decorations. I’ll be posting a separate tutorial on how to make these chocolate decorations.

RECIPE
Yiels: one 23 cm / 9 inch cake

Sponge cake

• 2 large eggs
• 1 dl / 0.4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 dl / 0.4 cups flour, sifted

Passion fruit curd

• 5 ripe passion fruits
• 50 g / 1.8 oz butter
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 dl / 0.4 cups sugar

White chocolate mousse

• 6 dl / 2.5 cups cream
• 350 g / 12 oz white chocolate
• 2 sheets of gelatine

Raspberry jelly

• 250 g / 9 oz frozen raspberries, thawed
• 2.5 dl / 1 cup water
• 3-4 Tbsp sugar (or more to taste)
• 5 sheets of gelatine

Decorations

• Fresh raspberries (or other berries)
• White or dark chocolate

Here’s what you do

1. For the sponge cake: Preheat the oven to 175 C / 347 F. Butter and flour a 20 cm / 8 inch springform.
2. Whip the eggs and powdered sugar at high speed for a couple of minutes until very fluffy and light. Sift in the flour and use a spatula to combine.
3. Pour into the springform and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.
4. For the passion fruit curd: cut the passion fruits in half and spoon the contents into a saucepan, add the butter, egg yolks and sugar.
5. Heat over low heat (do not let it boil) while stirring constantly. When the mixture has thickened enough that it sticks to the back of a spatula or spoon, it’s ready. Sift the curd into a bowl and allow to cool.
6. For the white chocolate mousse: place the sheets of gelatine in a bowl of cold water, set aside.
7. Whip 4 dl / 1.7 cups of the cream until soft peaks begin to form.
8. Chop the white chocolate and place in a bowl. Heat 2 dl / 0.8 cups of the cream in a saucepan and pour it over the white chocolate. Squeeze any access water out of the gelatine and add it to the warm white chocolate mixture and stir until the chocolate has melted completely and the gelatine has dissolved.
9. Pour the white chocolate mixture into the whipped cream and use a spatula to carefully fold the mixture until completely combined.
10. To start assembling the cake: cut the sponge cake in half carefully, place one half of the sponge cake on the base of a 23 cm / 9 inch springform lined with parchment paper. Spread the passion fruit curd on top and all the way out to the edges, add the second half of the sponge cake on top.
11. Put the ring on the springform pan, making sure the sponge cake is in the centre of the pan (see photos above for clarity), then carefully pour the white chocolate mousse over the entire cake and use a icing knife to level the top of the cake.
12. Carefully pat the springform against the counter a couple of times to remove any air bubbles and then set the cake in the freezer for at least 2 hours (or overnight).
13. For the raspberry jelly: Place the sheets of gelatine in a bowl of cold water and set aside. In a saucepan, combine the raspberries, sugar and water and bring to a boil.
14. Remove from the heat and sift the warm raspberries over a bowl, to remove the seeds.
15. Squeeze out any excess water from the gelatine and add it to the warm raspberry juice, stir until the gelatine is completely melted. Set aside to cool.
16. Remove the mousse cake from the freezer and carefully spoon the raspberry jelly over the cake. The jelly should be liquid, it will firm up as it gets cold. Place in the fridge to cool and firm completely. Note! Do not place the cake in the freezer as freezing the cake will ruin the shine of the jelly.
17. Once completely chilled and the jelly has firmed up, decorate the cake with fresh raspberries and chocolate decor. Keep in the fridge until serving.

Happy New Year!