Heather’s Notes: Plan ahead, the cakes need to freeze in the molds overnight. You’ll need two silicone mini cake molds with eight 2-inch square cavities to make this dessert. Individual servings of this dessert could also be made in pretty stemmed dessert glasses. Just pour the mousse into the glasses, insert a cake piece and garnish as directed - no mold required!
I also used a specialty sultan pastry tube with which to pipe the butter cream flourish. See blog post for links and resources.
Two silicone mini cake molds with eight 2-inch square cavities
Sultan pastry tube
Ingredients
1/4ouncepackage powdered gelatinabout 2 tsp.
2tablespoonscold water or rosé wine
3egg yolks
1/2cup100g sugar
1/2cup120ml rosé wine, hot but not boiling (put in the microwave for 30+ seconds)
8oz.high quality white chocolatedisks or finely chopped bars
1 1/2cups350ml heavy whipping cream
Few drops of pink gel food coloring
10ouncepound cake cut into 1” squares
1 1/4cupsabout 12 ounces prepared white vanilla butter cream
28small fresh mint leaves
14fresh blackberries
Short skewers or novelty drink stirrers
Instructions
Place the 2 tablespoons cold wine in a medium saucepan and sprinkle gelatin over water or rose wine. Let stand for 1 minute. Whisk in egg yolks and sugar; mix well. Stir in hot wine. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until thickened, about 7-10 minutes. When done, it should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Stir in the chocolate and let stand in the hot mixture for 1 minute. Blend with a whisk until the chocolate has melted and even in color (no streaks!). Let cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks with an electric mixer.
When mixture has cooled, pour it into the whipped cream and add a few drops of pink food color. Gently fold whipped cream into the cooled chocolate-rosé wine mixture until well blended.
Place the silicone molds onto flat baking sheets. Fill the silicone mold cavities half full and insert a cake piece into each cavity. Fill the cavities with mousse until overflowing. Rap the pan on a work surface so that the mousse levels into the molds and releases air bubbles from around the cake pieces. Spread the mousse over the cavities with a large offset spatula; scrape away excess mousse so the cakes are completely level. Freeze overnight.
Push the frozen cakes out of the molds from the bottom. Place each cake on small dessert plates or in small pastry liners (the former is sturdier and preferred). Transfer the butter cream to a pastry bag fitted with a sultan tube; pipe a large sultan shape in the center of each cake. Garnish each cake with two fresh mint leaves. Skewer a fresh berry and place in the center of each butter cream flourish. Place the cakes in the refrigerator to thaw, about 2 hours.
Serve chilled cakes on a large platter alongside tall stemmed glasses of rosé wine.
Keyword blackberries, powdered gelatin, rose wine, white chocolate ganache