Vanilla mousse birthday cake

It was my friend’s birthday last week and I made a birthday cake for her. Now, I want to share the recipe with you.  I made this cake with fruits that I picked from my garden this summer and froze to use on occasions such as that one. The cake was delicious and the birthday-girl loved it a lot, I hope you will too. :D  

Enjoy, 

Suzannah   

Ingredients  

Sponge (enough to make 3 layers of sponge on a 26 cm round baking pan, I saved two layer for a different desert but if you want one layer of cake only use amounts in brackets): 

• 5 (3) eggs 
• Pinch of salt 
• ¾ (½) cup sugar  
• ¾ (½) cup all-purpose white flour  
• ¼ (1 tbs) cup potato flour(starch) 

Mousse: 

• 500 mL (17 oz.) whipping cream 
• White chocolate 
• 10 g (0.34 oz.) of gelatin soaked in 50 mL (1.7 oz.) of milk 
• 100 mL (3.4 oz.) of milk 
• 1 vanilla bean 

Fruits in gel: 

• Fruits – I used raspberries and blueberries but any fruit will work 
• 100 g (3.5 oz) of sugar 
• 5 g (0.17 oz.) of gelatin soaked in 50 mL (1.7 oz.) of water 
• 250 mL (8.4 oz.) of water  

Steps: 

Make the sponge: 

Preheat oven to 170 oC. Separate whites from yolks, and whip egg whites with a pinch of salt untill they are fluffy and stay in the bowl when turned upside down. Mix sugar with whipped egg whites, by adding it little by little. 

Mix in yolks one at a time. Sieve in both types of flour onto the egg mousse and using spatula, gently fold the flour with the mousse.

Fill in the baking pan and bake the cake at 170 oC for 30-35 minutes until the top is golden. When ready, take the sponge out of the oven and immediately drop it on the floor. (It is not a joke but a magic trick :D, dropping the cake will actually allow moisture that gathered in the middle of the cake to spread).  Let it cool, preferably overnight but couple of hours will do (leaving the cake to stand for couple of hours will make the sponge less crumbly). Then cut the cake in 2 or 3 layers. I saved 2 layers for a different desert. 

Mousse: 

Add vanilla bean seeds to milk and bring it to boil. Switch off the heat add gelatin soaked in milk and mix until fully dissolved. Then add white chocolate and mix until dissolved and let it cool down. 

Whip whipping cream (make sure it is cold otherwise you will end up with butter) and slowly mix in cooled down white chocolate and gelatin mix. 

Fruits in gel: 

Dissolve the sugar in water and bring it to boiling.  Turn off the heat and add gelatin soaked in water. Mix it until gelatin is fully dissolved. Then let it cool down. When gel is cool add fruits to the gel to coat them or if you use frozen fruits, then slowly and gently pour the gel on top of the fruits that are already on the cake (if you add frozen fruits to the gel directly it will set right away).

Cake assembly: 

Place baking pan ring back around the sponge, and spread a thin layer of the mousse on top of the cake. Place a layer or two of fruits in the middle of the cake. (this fruits don’t need to be coated with gel). Cover fruits with mousse and refrigerate cake for 30 min. Add the fruits in gel on top of the cake, refrigerate again for 30 min. Sprinkle some milk chocolate on the edges before serving.