A Special Cherry Cake

July was a very special month this year. My husband and I celebrated 10 years together and 2 years of marriage.  Since our first kiss, our days have been filled with love, happiness, passion, and each day seems to be better than the last. To commemorate these two important days, I prepared a cherry mousse cake: layers of sponge cake soaked in Kirsch syrup, cherry mousse and cherry jam covered with Kirsch whipped cream.

I love balloons! That’s why I used them on my wedding. There were a lot of them as part of the decoration and for guests entertainment too. So I decided to use some balloons on my cake photos making it more nostalgic and adorable.

I prepared a wonderful cherry jam that I used as filling and also to make the mousse. For this reason I opted for just use fresh cherries instead of maraschino cherries. I also used Kirschwasser (also known as kirsch), a colorless German brandy distilled from the juice of the morello cherry. It intensifies the cherry flavor, but it is not sweet like the Kirsch liqueur.

To make our celebration even more special, we enjoyed this cake with Champagne…

Cherry Mousse Cake

The day before prepare the cherry jam and the cherry mousse.

Cherry Jam

(inspired by the book The Advanced Professional Pastry Chef)

1 pound cherry

½ cup water

¾ cup kirschwasser

1 Tb lemon juice

A little bit of fresh coarsely ground pepper

 3 ounces sugar

½ teaspoon pectin powder

Wash, stem, and pit the cherries. Bring all ingredients to a boil in a saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 20 minutes (jam will continue to thicken as it cools).

Use half of the jam to fill the cake and half to make the mousse.

Cherry Mousse

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 Tb butter

cherry jam

1 cup heavy cream

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

Soak the gelatin in 2 Tb cold water for 20 minutes. Place the cherry jam, condensed milk and butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Stir until the thick consistency. Incorporate the gelatin into the cream. Let cool. Whip the heavy cream.  Carefully incorporate the whipped cream into the cherry cream. Line 2 6-in pans with plastic film and divide the cream between the two pans. Let cool overnight on the refrigerator.

Sponge cake

from the book Ladurée Sucré

Makes 3 6-in pan

1 cup /120 g all purpose flour

2/3 cup / 120 g potato starch

10 eggs

½ cup +2 tbsp / 125 g granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 340°F/ 170°C.

Prepare 3 baking pans with oil cooking spray.

Sift together the flour and potato starch.

Separate the egg whites and yolks.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks with half of the sugar until pale. In another large dry bowl, with a clean whisk, bring the egg whites to foam. Once they are white and frothy, add the remaining half of the sugar and continue to whip until firm.

Right away, gently fold the sugar and egg yolk mixture into the whipped egg whites with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle the flour and potato starch over the mixture. Gently combine: start with the spatula in the center of the bowl, work up the sides of the bowl and bring the mixture back down towards the center, all the while turning the bowl regularly. Continue until you have a smooth and homogenous mixture.
Divide batter equally into 3 greased 6-inch baking pan and bake for approximately 20 minutes until lightly colored. Remove from oven and allow to cool. 

Kirsch Syrup

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup Kirschwasser

Heat sugar, Kirschwasser, and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Let cool completely before soak the cake.

Kirsch Whipped Cream

2 cups heavycream, cold

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup Kirschwasser

Chill a mixing bowl and wire whisk in the freezer for 10 minutes before beginning. Beat heavy cream in the chilled bowl until it begins to foam and thicken up. Add the powdered sugar, kirsch and vanilla and continue to beat until the cream barely mounds. Do not overwhip.

Assembly: Place one layer cake on a serving plate. Brush with 1/4 cup kirsch syrup. Spread the cherry jam over top. Remove cherry mousse from plastic film and place on top. Repeat to make 1 more layer of each. Top with remaining cake. Cover with kirsch whipped cream. Decorate as desired.

Note: I colored the gum paste with the cherry jam to make the sugar roses..

Domino Cake - Bolo Dominó

For the last 15 years, my mother-in-law had made the same cake every year for my husband’s birthday: Domino Cake. Last weekend, this special data has arrived and I felt the obligation to continue this tradition. After finish it and tasted it, I could understand his desire for the same cake all these years. The combination of the chocolatey and creamy layers, resulted from the chocolate mousse, brigadeiro and chantilly, is magnificent. Besides I liked very much its colors. The contrast between the black and white layers is beautiful. 

Domino Cake consists of 9 layers: chocolate sponge cake, chocolate brigadeiro, chocolate mousse, chocolate brigadeiro, chocolate sponge cake, chocolate Chantilly, white sponge cake, white brigadeiro, white Chantilly and white sponge cake. Everything covered with a lot rich chocolate brigadeiro.

You will need 2 days to prepare everything. On the first day, make the cakes discs and the chocolate mousse. Make the mousse on the same pan that you made the cakes to get the same shape. I make 4 discs because I’m crazy about tall cakes, but you can use just two discs if you want a shorter cake. On the second day, make the filling, the brigadeiros, the Chantilly and finally the decoration of the cake.

It was a lot a work, but every minute spend on this cake was worth, especially when I saw his happy face in each bite. After all, baking is all about making people happy.

Domino Cake

Sponge Cake

(makes 1 disc)

4 large eggs

4 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoon cake flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whip, beat the eggs and the sugar on medium-high speed in a large mixing bowl until the mixture is pale yellow, thick, and tripled in volume, about 8 minutes.  Sift the flour into a small mixing bowl. Add half the flour mixture to the egg mixture and blend thoroughly until smooth. Repeat with the other half. Pour the cake batter into the pan, spreading it evenly. Bake until the cake springs back when touched, about 15 minutes. Cool for about 2 minutes, and then gently flip it out onto a large sheet of parchment paper. Let cool completely. To make the chocolate sponge cake add 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder to the sponge cake recipe.

Chantilly Cream

1 cup heavy cream, cold

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Chill a mixing bowl and wire whisk in the freezer for 10 minutes before beginning. Beat heavy cream in the chilled bowl until it begins to foam and thicken up. Add the powdered sugar and continue to beat until the cream barely mounds. Do not overwhip. To make the chocolate Chantilly add one tablespoon of cocoa powder to a half of the Chantilly recipe.

Chocolate Mousse

200g chocolate (I used Callebaut Belgian Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Semi - Sweet, 54.5% Cocoa)

3 eggs

12g unflavored gelatin + 1/4 cup hot water to soak

1 can table cream or 7,6 Oz heavy cream

½ cup powdered sugar, sifted

Melt the chocolate in a water bath; add the powdered sugar.  In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the hot water, stir and let soften until opaque, about 3 minutes. Add to chocolate mixture.

With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whip, beat the eggs yolks on medium-high speed in a large mixing bowl until the mixture is pale yellow, thick, and double in volume.

In a saucepan over medium heat, stirring the chocolate mixture and egg yolks until boiling. Pour the mixture in a bowl and leave aside to cool. When the mixture is at room temperature, add table cream and mix until combine. Place in the same cake pan that you prepared the sponge cakes. Refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours or up to overnight. 

Chocolate Brigadeiro

2 cans sweetened condensed milk

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

100g chocolate (I used Callebaut Belgian Chocolate, Dark Chocolate Semi - Sweet, 54.5% Cocoa)

2 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder

1 can table cream 

Pour the condensed milk into a medium saucepan and place over low heat.

Add the chocolates and butter. Stir the mixture until it starts to show the bottom of the pan while you scrape it with a spoon. The mixture should be thick enough to show the bottom of the pan for a few seconds before the mixture back again. Transfer to a greased bowl. When the Brigadeiro mixture is at room temperature, add the table cream and mix until combine. Place it in the fridge until the decoration. 

White Brigadeiro

1 can sweetened condensed milk

4 egg yolks

1 can table cream 

Pour the condensed milk into a medium saucepan and place over medium heat

Add the egg yolks and keep stirring the mixture until it starts to show the bottom of the pan when you scrape it with a spoon. The mixture should be thick enough to show the bottom the pan for a couple of seconds before the mixture back again.

Pour the mixture in a greased bowl and leave aside to cool. When the Brigadeiro mixture is at room temperature, add the table cream and mix until combine. Place it in the fridge until decoration.