Mousse au Chocolat et aux Noix

May 9, 2009
ABC Cooking
Tokyo Midtown

Its been awhile since I went to my cake class so although I was not up to it, I decided to take a class the day after I returned from my vacation in Korea.  You see, I've been having a terrible time with allergies in Tokyo this year.  So sure enough as soon as I land in Tokyo, my allergies act up again.  Anyhow, instead of canceling at the last minute and pay the 1000yen fine, I drag myself to ABC Cooking and learned how to make a chocolate mousse cake while loaded with allergy drugs.

Making a mousse cake is easy if you have patience.  Its really important you don't rush to mix things and follow the instructions exactly or else you will not get a fluffy mousse but instead something that looks like a turd. 

So first thing we learned in this class was how to make a caramelized nuts.  The nuts (walnut and almonds) were used for decoration.  First thing we did was make caramel which is basically heating sugar with water on medium heat.  The key here is to let it sit -  do not stir!!  Once its gets slightly brown, swirl the pan so the sugar water is evenly heated.  Once brown and syrupy, remove from the heat and add butter, nuts, cover well and cool.  Voila- caramelized nuts. 

Our next task was to make the chocolate mousse.  We first heated an egg yolk with milk on medium heat until just syrupy.  Then removed it from heat and added sweetened chocolate and cacao powder.  Mixed it well until shiny and poured it into a bowl.  In a separate bowl we whipped some egg whites to make the meringue.  Then in another bowl we made some whipped cream.  We then folded the whip cream into the chocolate mixture.  Once incorporated, as a final step we folded the meringue into the chocolate mixture very carefully and then the chocolate mousse was done. 

We made the cake by layering the mousse with a 2 thinly sliced sponge cake.  The cake was then glazed with an icing made with mild, chocolate and corn syrup.  It was then topped with chocolate powder and the caramelized nuts.  

I have to say, it was one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever made as the mousse was light and fluffy!