Recipe: Strawberry Bavarian Mousse Cake by Ricardo Cuisine

So back in January I baked myself a cake for my birthday, but I never got around to posting about it. In fact, I haven’t posted much about anything in the past couple of months—simply because I felt I didn’t have much to contribute to the blogosphere. But with Mother’s Day around the corner…literally this Sunday…I thought it would be perfect timing to bring out this recipe by Ricardo Cuisine.

Keep in mind that this cake is absolutely versatile. I made it for my birthday, but you could definitely make it for your Moms on Mother’s day–not that you need a reason to make cake or anything! The recipe turned out to be easier than I had first thought and ended up being quite a delight to eat, so I’m certain Moms everywhere will enjoy it as well.

Ingredients for the Cake:

• ¼ cup (60ml) of unbleached all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon (1ml) of baking powder
• ¼ cup (60ml) of unsalted butter (softened)
• ¼ cup (60ml) sugar
• 1 egg

So in order to make this cake, you’ll want to pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and you’ll need an 8 inch springform cake pan. For those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s basically a cake pan that has what I like to call a false bottom so that when you’re done, the sides of the cake pan can be released while the bottom stays put. If that doesn’t make any sense you’ll figure out what I mean later on in this blog!

This is what it looked like when I lined it with parchment paper.

Now I couldn’t find an 8 inch pan, but I had one that was a little bigger, it did the job, but the cake won’t be as thick as you see it on the Ricardo website.

You’ll then want to line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. The paper I used was actually quite large so I cut it in a circle to fit the pan. Now, the original recipe suggests buttering the sides of the pan, however, I chose not to for a reason I don’t actually remember (I think I might have forgotten or just thought the non-stick would do its magic…). What I would suggest, is making the parchment circular and big enough to sit over the sides of the pan because later you’ll need to line it anyway and this will definitely be the easier option–yes, as a non-baker, I totally struggled and didn’t foresee this as a problem!

Then in one bowl, I combined flour and baking powder, which I then left alone till I needed it again.

All purpose flour and baking powder

And in another bowl, I creamed together the butter and the sugar. Now, I used a whisk to do this, but an electric mixer will work well and much faster. I also melted the butter in the microwave first to soften it up. And once that had been mixed, I added in the egg, before adding in the dry ingredients that we set aside in the first bowl.

Butter and Sugar

It’s amazing how quickly it becomes a nice runny cookie dough type consistency that you will then be able to spread into the bottom of your springform pan. And definitely don’t worry about getting your hands dirty for this part! I used a spoon, but feel free to use your hands if you want to make sure that the dough is flat against the bottom.

Baked to perfection!

I then set the cake to bake for 15 minutes–until it is golden brown–before taking it out to let it cool completely.

Ingredients for Bavarian Mousse:

• 5 teaspoons (25ml) of gelatin
• 1/3 cup (75ml) of cold water
• 1 cup (250ml) of milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 1 cps (250ml) of sugar
• 4 cups of fresh strawberries or 4 cups of frozen and thawed strawberries
• 3 tablespoons (45ml) of lemon juice
• 1 ½ cup (375ml) of 35% cream

Now comes the fun part! While I was waiting for the cake to bake, in a bowl I added water and then basically emptied a package of gelatin in and let it sit on top for five minutes. The important thing to remember is to not mix anything! Leave the gelatin to sit on top the water as it will absorb it and become the right consistency.

You can find gelatin packets in the baking isle of any of your local grocery stores.

While I let that sit, I poured some milk into a saucepan and brought it to a boil before setting the milk aside as well—as you can tell, this recipe requires a lot of multi-tasking!

So while I was fumbling around making sure I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I grabbed another mixing bowl in which I whisked together egg yolks and sugar before gradually whisking in the milk I boiled earlier.

At this point, everything will look like a really runny mess, but don’t worry! You’ll want to take that runny mess from the mixing bowl and pour it back into the sauce pan the milk was boiled in and cooking the mix over a medium heat. The recipe says over a low heat, but I felt it didn’t have the desired effect, which is to get it to become a thick custard like consistency.

This is the milk I poured into the sugar and egg mixture

This is the mixture once the milk is combined with the eggs and sugar and poured back into the sauce pan.

This is the custard

As soon as it became custard like, I mixed in the gelatin until it completely dissolved and I was able to set it aside to cool.

Okay! So if I haven’t lost you, the next step is to pull out your food processor or blender. Personally, I used a food processor, but I don’t think it really matters. In the food processor I added in some lemon juice (fresh or bottled, the choice is yours) and frozen strawberries. I didn’t thaw the strawberries, but I would absolutely recommend doing so because it will make life a whole lot easier. Because I didn’t, I ended up struggling with trying to get the strawberry chunks to puree.

Note: If you do decide that you can’t wait for the strawberries to thaw, and you don’t have any fresh ones, adding a little water to the blender or food processor will keep the strawberries from clumping. And you’ll be happy to know that the water will not dilute the puree!

Once I had my puree I poured it into a bowl and then added in the custard, stirring it it well and setting it aside to cool.

Next, in a bowl I whipped the cream until soft peaks formed, aka bubbles. From there I folded the cream into the strawberry mixture and then poured it on to the baked cake.

Once you’re cake is ready to go, you’ll want to invert a plate over the top of the pan and place it in the fridge for 12 hours—I left it in for more than that, but 12 hours will do the trick and you’ll have a finished product that will most likely be hit on Mother’s Day!

Before refrigeration

After Refrigeration

This recipe definitely has a lot of steps, but honestly, it’s quite worth it in the end if you do it right! And if the process hasn’t already scared you away, you can visit the Ricardo website, for a bonus step on how to make a coulis to serve with it. I chose not to simply because the cake was rich in flavor, but if you’d like a garnish, adding just a couple of berries will work just as nicely as the coulis.

Enjoy!

-@GirlontheProwl