Lemon Mousse Cake - Citronfromage-kage

Lemon Mousse Cake - Citronfromage-kage.

Lemon mousse is a classic dessert we had a lot growing up. The silky smooth mousse just melts in your mouth. So when I saw a former participant in the The Great Danish Baking Show, Micki Cheng made the lemon mousse into a dessert, I had to make it.

So with my lemon tree filled with lemons and it being Easter 🐣 we were in for a perfect storm.

It was an instant winner, it could even be a new must have for Easters to come. Well I would make it any time of the year - replacing the chocolate bunnies with something else chocolate or berries.

Disclaimer: This dessert is made with raw eggs. I recommend using pasteurized eggs. This minimizes the risk of getting Salmonella food poisoning. You can find pasteurized eggs in some supermarkets here in California, on safeeggs.com you can see where to find them in your neighborhood. In Denmark you'll find it right next to regular eggs. For tips and information on how to handle eggs, check out FDA’s website. The Danish version of FDA, Fødevarestyrelsen also has advisory on egg

Serves 8-12.

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 250 g shortbread cookies

• 100 g butter, salted and melted

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Lemon Mousse:

• 3 teaspoons gelatin (6 sheets husblas)

• 4 whole eggs (read disclaimer)

• 100 g sugar

• 100 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

• 300 ml heavy whipping cream

• 1 lemon, the zest of

Topping:

• 150 ml heavy whipping cream

• small chocolate bunnies or chocolate shavings

Directions:

Crust:

Crush the shortbread cookies, using a food processor or a rolling pin. In a medium bowl, mix together crumbs, melted butter, and vanilla bean paste until combined and crumbs are moistened. Press the mixture into the bottom of the spring form using either your fingers or the bottom of a small glass to form the crust layer.

Tips:

To ease the unmolding line the spring form with parchment paper in the bottom and some clear cake strips/cake collar, so the mousse won't adhere to the side of the pan.

Lemon Mousse:

Whip the heavy whipping cream until soft peaks, and set aside.

Whisk the eggs pale and fluffy with the sugar, set aside.

Mix the gelatin with half the lemon juice and melt the gelatin over a double boiler. Mix in the rest of the lemon juice and lemon zest.  

Using Husblas: put the sheets in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes. Over a double boiler melt the sheets with the water that adheres to it when removed from the bowl. Mix in the lemon juice and zest when melted completely.

Mix the gelatin lemon mixture with the eggs while whisking. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Pour the mousse onto the crust, and set it in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.

Gently unmold the mousse cake and place it on a platter.

Topping:

Whip the heavy whipping cream, and pipe the whipped cream onto the cake in a decorative manner. Place chocolate bunnies or chocolate shavings on top.

Serve the cake cold.

Enjoy!

Vanilla Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis

Vanilla Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis.

Panna Cotta is one of my favorite desserts. The velvety texture of the ‘mousse’ and the sauce brings a brightness to the dessert. Normally a panna cotta have a caramel on top, but i like the ones with a berry sauce. In Denmark we have a dessert similar to this called fløderand or cream wreath, it was big in the 70’s and 80’s and was served with canned fruit. So it is similar but not really.

Makes 3-4

Ingredienser:

Panna Cotta:

• 500 ml (2⅛ cup) heavy whipping cream

• 50 g (¼ cup) sugar

• 2 vanilla beans, the seeds scraped, or 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

• 6 g gelatin or 3 sheets of gelatin/husblas

Raspberry Coulis:

• raspberries, fresh or frozen

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped

• 2 tablespoons water

Topping:

• white chocolate shavings

• lime zest

Directions:

Panna cotta:

If using gelatin sheets, place them in a bowl of cold water to bloom for about 10 minutes.

If using powdered gelatin, sprinkle it evenly onto 2 tablespoons of cold water and the let it soak for a few minutes.

Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod, and mix them with a tablespoon of the sugar. This will help distributing the seeds in the liquid.

Gently heat the cream, vanilla seeds, the vanilla bean pod and all the sugar in a saucepan, and heat it to almost a boil, remove from heat. Squeeze the gelatin sheets and add them (or the bloomed gelatin powder) to the hot cream. Whisk the mixture until gelatin is dissolved.

Whisk the mixture until gelatin is dissolved. Pour the cream through a sieve into a jug. Let the mixture chill in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, until it is as thick as lightly whipped whipping cream. Stir the mixture and pour it into portion sized serving jars or cocktail glasses. Chill the panna cotta in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours before serving.

Raspberry Coulis:

Scrape out the seeds/caviar from the bean, and mix it with some of the sugar, this will help disperse the seeds.

Heat all the ingredients in a small saucepan until it comes to a boil, remove from heat. Run the coulis through a fine meshed sieve, to remove the seeds. Try to get as much fluid through the sieve as possible, and discard the seeds and the vanilla pod. Cool the coulis/sauce/juice or syrup in the refrigerator until ready to serve the Panna Cotta.

To unmold the panna cotta, gently insert a knife around the edges of the moulds, and dip the mold in hot water for max. 10 seconds. Tip them onto individual plates, pour over the sauce. You can also serve the panna cotta in the glass, and just pour some raspberry coulis into the glass before serving, and decorate them with som white chocolate shavings and some lime zest. 

Enjoy!

Fastelavnsboller - Lent Buns

Fastelavnsboller, Lent Buns.

Fastelavnsboller comes in many shapes and sizes. There are the pastry kind, filled with custard, or a fruit jam, the choux pastry kind, filled with a custard or another whipped cream-based filling, or the ones made with an enriched dough baked with remonce and/or custard. This one is a mix of the two latter ones. It’s basically an enriched dough with remonce and filled with a raspberry whipped cream.

Back in Denmark this year have been crazy, and the newest trend is selling the most fancy fastelavnsboller. There are huge lines to the bakeries to get your hands on these cakes, maybe the Corona restrictions made people want to have some extra special, I don’t know. Here is my contribution to this craziness.

Makes 15-18

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 500 ml milk

• 150 g butter, salted

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

• 50 g fresh compressed yeast, or 4 teaspoons dry yeast

• 800 g all-purpose flour (hold some back, to see if the dough need it all)

• 150 g sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 1 pinch of salt

Remonce:

• 75 g butter, salted, room-temperature

• 75 g sugar

• 75 g marzipan or almond paste (with over 60% almonds)

Raspberry whipped cream:

• 500 ml heavy whipping cream

• 4 tablespoons raspberry jam

• 2 teaspoons chambord (raspberry liqueur)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

• 1 tablespoon confectionery (powdered) sugar

Directions:

Remonce:

Mix the sugar and marzipan well. Add butter little by little until it’s just incorporated. Be careful not to over mix or the remonce will be runny when baked.

Dough:

In a large bowl mix most of the flour, I save about 1 cup, with the rest of the dry ingredients including the dry yeast if using.

In a saucepan heat milk and butter until finger warm, you want all the butter melted, remove pan from heat. Mix in the fresh compressed yeast, if using, and vanilla bean paste.

Mix in the milk/butter mixture and knead the dough in a stand mixer on medium for about 10 minutes until you have a soft, shiny elastic dough. The remaining flour should be added while kneading, if needed. Let the dough rise in a covered bowl for about 90 minutes until it doubled in size.

Divide the dough in two, roll each portion into a rectangle and divide it into 9 squares.

Preheat the oven for 400℉ (200℃).

Put a teaspoon remonce in the center of each square. Fold the four corners up to the center and press to seal all edges, letting the air inside escape. Put fastelavnsboller onto a parchment paper lined baking sheets with joint side down. Leave to rise covered for about 30 minutes. Brush with egg wash  and bake for about 10-12 minutes until golden. Let the bun cool completely, before cutting and filling.

Raspberry whipped cream:

Mix the raspberry jam with the liqueur and vanilla bean paste in a little bowl and set aside. Whip the heavy whipping cream with the sugar until you have s medium stiff cream. Gently fold in the raspberry mixture, and put the cream into a piping bag with a star tip.

Cut the top of the buns, and pipe some raspberry cream inside, place the top back on, put a little dot of cream on the top as decoration and sprinkle with freeze-dried raspberry or confectionary/powdered sugar. Serve the fastelavnsbolle with a nice cup warm tea or coffee.

Enjoy!

Coffee Creme Brûlée

Coffee Creme Brûlée

Creme Brûlée is one of my favorite desserts, when made right. The custard have to be velvety smooth with a nice crusty caramel on top. I like my Creme Brûlée to be a thin layer of custard, this gives the best custard to caramel ratio for my taste. This recipe is just perfect. Thank you David Lebovitz.

If you want a vanilla custard instead for coffee you can replace the instant coffee and kahlua with 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste. The paste might color the custard a bit.

Makes 4.

Ingredients:

• 330 ml (1 ⅓ cup) heavy whipping cream

• 160 ml (⅔ cup) whole milk

• 50 g (¼ cup) sugar + extra for caramelizing

• 1 pinch salt

• 4 large egg yolks

• 1 tablespoon instant coffee powder, I used Seabright from Verve

• 2 teaspoons Kahlua coffee liqueur

Directions:

Preheat the oven for 300℉ (150 ℃).

Place the 4 shallow gratin dishes on a high-rimmed baking sheet and set aside. Boil some water in a kettle, to get it ready, for when the custard goes into the oven.

Heat the cream, milk, sugar, salt in a saucepan over medium heat, until all the sugar has dissolved. Whisk the egg yolks together in a bowl large enough to hold both eggs and milk/cream mixture. Gradually add the warm cream mixture in the yolks while stirring, until the cream is completely incorporated. Do not whisk vigorously, you don’t want to create foam. Mix in instant coffee and kahlua. Strain the mixture into a jug or measuring cup with a sprout, trying to create as little foam on top as possible. I removed the little foam, that did come on the surface with a spoon.

Gently divide the mixture between the 4 dishes, removing any foam created on the surface before placing the baking sheet in the oven. Pour enough hot water in the baking sheet, so it reaches halfway up the sides of the gratin dishes. Bake the dishes for 20-25 minutes, until they are just set, watch them closely the last few minutes. You are looking for a slight quiver when you try to jiggle them. Be careful when you remove them from the oven. I used a blaster to remove most of the water, and then used some kitchen towel to lift the dishes. Chill the custard in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve them.

Just before serving, sprinkle the custards with an even layer of sugar, about 1½ teaspoon for each is what you need. Working on one custard at a time, use a blowtorch to wave the flame over the custard until the sugar melts and becomes brown, make sure that the caramel spreads all over the top, but handle it with care, because the melted sugar is extremely hot. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Blueberry & White Chocolate Scones

Blueberry & White Chocolate Scones

I love scones, especially when they are light and fluffy. Maybe it’s wrong, to talk about a light scone, given they contain a lot of butter and cream 😁 But these feel very light.

Makes 8 scones.

Ingredients:

• 300 g all-purpose flour

• 50 g sugar

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

• 60 g butter, salted and room temperature

• 150 g blueberries

• 125 g white chocolate, coarsely chopped, I used Valrhona

• 190 ml heavy whipping cream + extra for brushing

• 1 egg

• coarse sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

Add the dry ingredients and the vanilla in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and mix the butter into the dry ingredients with your hands or the paddle attachment (flat beater), until the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Gently mix in the blueberries and chocolate. Place the mixture in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 355℉ (180℃), and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk the egg into the heavy whipping cream. Pour the mixture into a well in the cooled dry ingredients. Gently mix the dough with a fork, until just mixed together. Be careful not to overmix. Pour the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Use your finger to gently press the dough into a disc 8-inch (20 cm) in diameter and about 1-inch (2.5 cm) thick. Slice the disc into 8 wedges, and place them on the prepared baking sheet about 1-inch apart. Brush each wedge with cold cream, and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake the scones for 22-25 minutes until they a light golden.

Let the scones cool for about 15 minutes before sinking your teeth into them.

Enjoy!