Daring Bakers' Chocolate Pavlova with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.



Pavlova topped with fruits is something that is so pretty to look at. And that is just something that I have been laying my eyes to in baking books and blogs. Always have the reservation that this dessert might be too too sweet for my taste buds. So obviously to bake it in real takes a push. Something only this challenge could do!



The irregular, sometimes organic shape of pavlova - most of what I have seen - has triggered me to think of my own in the opposite way. I prefer to have the look that is neat - a plain and flat disc would do. And I would definitely want to have the mousse of a plain layer that I could just stack on top of the pavlova disc. Sounds simple ha? For that I have to use cake rings for piping the meringue and forming the mousse layer. Gosh, baking Pavlova at 95 degree Celsius took four and a half hours instead of 2-3 hours mentioned in the challenge. That was a long wait!



As I had imagined, these 2 simplified layers provided an abundant creativity space to play around with fruits for the topping. As if the colourful and various shapes of strawberries, papayas, mangoes, green apples, and grapes were being liberated to take the mousse stage and do the pray-for-rain kind of ritual dance, these fruits were so playful on my finger tips. I just loved working with the irregular shapes of fruit cuts and pair them up with chocolate decorations.



Before too long, besides the 7 inch pavlova, I had created a smaller version of 6 inch one. Creating two different sizes made it possible for me to display them side by side and take more interesting pictures. So I hope you enjoy all these pictures..

Meanwhile someone has emailed me regarding placing an ad in my blog and asked how much I would charge for it. I replied back and requested more details regarding the scope of his business, the url of the banner link, and his ad requirements such as number of ads, the length of the ad period, number of ad updates, etc. Well, it seems that the time has come to monetize this blog, what do you think?



Last but not least, there are 96 entries into June's DMBLGIT!!! Thanks to all of you for participating (especially those first timers who participated with the kind intention of saving the event, thanks!!). I should get down to my judging quickly and have my greatest time!



CHOCOLATE PAVLOVA WITH CHOCOLATE MASCARPONE MOUSSE
Makes one 7 inch and one 6 inch cakes

1. Chocolate Pavlova/Meringue
Prepare one 7 inch and one 6 inch cake rings

Ingredients:
- Large egg whites > 3
- White granulated sugar > 110 grams
- Icing sugar > 30 grams
- Cocoa powder > 30 grams

Method:
- Line bottom and sides of cake rings with aluminium foil. Place them on a baking tray. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 95 Celsius degrees.
- Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. (The whites should be firm but moist.)
- Sift icing sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white. (This looks like it will not happen. Fold gently and it will eventually come together.)
- Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into the cake rings. Flatten the surface with a spoon.
- Bake for 4 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.



2. Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse
Prepare one 5.5 inch and 4 inch cake rings

Ingredients:
- Whipping cream > 180 grams
- Grated zest of lime > 1/2 teaspoon
- Chopped chocolate > 128 grams
- Mascarpone cheese > 197 grams
- Ground nutmeg > 1/8 teaspoon
- Cointreau > 1 tablespoon
- Gelatine powder > 7 grams
- Boiling water > 1.5 tablespoons



Method:
- Line bottom and sides of cake rings with aluminium foil. Place them on a baking tray. Set aside.
- Put 60 grams of the whipping cream and the lime zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.
- Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add Cointreau and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK.)
- Mix gelatine powder with boiling water. Stir thoroughly and leave to just warm.
- Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated.
- Mix in gelatine and stir well. Fold mousse into 5.5 inch and 4 inch cake rings.
- Flatten surface with spatula. Refrigerate overnight.



3. Crème Anglaise
Makes 237 grams of cream

Ingredients:
- Whole milk > 120 ml
- Whipping cream > 120 ml
- Vanilla essence > 1/2 teaspoon
- Large egg yolks > 3
- Sugar > 39 grams

Method:
-In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow.
- Combine the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Take off the heat.
- Pour about ½ cup of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs. Pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining cream mixture and put the heat back on medium. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. DO NOT OVERCOOK.
- Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours or overnight.



4 Mascarpone Cream

Ingredients:
- Crème anglaise > 1 recipe
- Mascarpone cheese > 50 grams
- Whipping cream > 60 ml

Method:
- Prepare the crème anglaise. Slowly whisk in the mascarpone and let the mixture cool.
- Put the cream in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until very soft peaks are formed. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture.



5. Assembly

Ingredients:
- Fruits - cut as desired
- Chocolate decoration - as desired
- Pavlova 7 inch for mousse 5.5 inch
- Pavlova 6 inch for mousse 4 inch
- Icing sugar - for dusting

Method:
- Remove mousse out from the cake ring by using torch. Stack mousse on top of the pavlova.
- Decorate with fruits and chocolate decoration.
- Dust with icing sugar and drizzle with Mascarpone cream.