Berries Mousseline Cake

FOUR-BERRY MIXTURE TOSSED WITH FLUFFED VANILLA BEAN PASTRY CREAM. LAYERED WITH A RICH, SWEET BUTTER CAKE BRUSHED WITH RASPBERRY COULIS. DECORATED WITH SUGAR-COATED BERRIES.

And now, BooPeaKitchen will launch its newest guide on how not to organize surprise parties. Last year, when Boo tried to organize a surprise birthday party for me it wasn’t very successful — let’s just say that repeatedly and unpromptedly asking birthday-girl-to-be to not make plans on the weekend of her birthday is not the best approach. I have to admit though, I didn’t fare much better either. Leading up to Boo’s birthday, I arranged for him to go on a mid-summer hiking trip, giving myself the perfect excuse to stay home with the kitchen to myself and ample time to work on his cake. In my mind, my plans ended with storing the cake at a friend’s place and having her bring it the next day to Boo’s astonishment, but they were foiled by an unexpected afternoon nap. I woke up to Boo’s return, and realizing the finished cake was still in the fridge, I immediately fessed up to the whole plan…

Resting on this boast-worthy surprise party streak of zero, Boo and I decided to recruit our friends to set up a double surprise which upped our success rate to 1/4! Well, at least we have two cakes to show for it: this Berries Mousseline Cake and a Black Forest Cake coming up soon! – Pea

Servings: 8-12 (dessert portions)
Difficulty: 

Oven: 350 F, 40-50 minutes

Preparation:

• Line an 8.5-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter and flour the interior.

Butter cake:

• 1 stick butter
• 0.5 c sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 ts vanilla extract
• Dry ingredients
  1.66 c flour
  2 ts baking powder
  0.5 ts salt
• 0.5 c milk
• Meringue
  2 egg whites
  0.5 c sugar

1. Cream butter with sugar. Beat in yolks and vanilla.
2. Alternately beat dry ingredients and milk into butter mixture in 5 additions.
3. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar while beating to a firm, glossy meringue.
4. Fold meringue into batter by thirds.
5. Bake in prepared springform pan until cooked through, ~40-50 minutes.
6. Cool to room temperature. Cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled, ~2 hours.

Vanilla mousseline:

• Cream mixture
  1.25 c heavy cream
  1.25 c milk
  0.25 ts salt
• Yolk mixture
  6 egg yolks
  0.75 sugar
  0.25 c flour
  0.25 c corn starch
  1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
• 1.5 sticks butter, room temperature

1. In a large saucepan, bring cream mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat.
2. Whisk yolk mixture ingredients together. Whisk hot cream mixture into yolk mixture.
3. Return mixture to saucepan over medium heat, and whisk constantly until thickened and gently boiled for 1 minute. Remove from heat, and whisk in 4 tb butter until incorporated.
4. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Refrigerate, plastic wrap pressed to the surface, until cooled to room temperature, ~1.5 hours.
5. Beat cooled cream, 2 minutes. Add remaining butter, and beat until light and fluffy, 5-6 minutes.

Raspberry coulis:

• 3 oz raspberries
• 1.5 tb sugar
• 1 tb water

1. In a small saucepan, stir and mash ingredients over medium-high heat until thickened. Strain, and set aside until use.

Assembly:

• (optional) acetate cake bands, cake ring, or springform form
• Berries
  1 lb strawberries, halved or quartered
  6 oz blackberries
  6 oz blueberries
  6 oz raspberries

1. If using acetate, assemble a ring (height 4 inches) around circumference of the cake, and place on serving surface.
2. Slice cake into two disks. Trim one disk by 1 cm around the circumference.
   Small pea tip: Trim the disk with the flattest surface, since this will be used for the top layer.
3. Place the larger disk in acetate ring, springform pan, or cake ring. Brush cake with raspberry coulis.
4. Set aside one-third of the mousseline and choice berries for garnish. Mix remaining berries with remaining two-thirds of the mousseline.
5. Assemble some fruit around the bottom border. Optionally, use mousseline to help keep berries in place. Spread mousseline-fruit mixture evenly into cake.
6. Place the trimmed cake layer on top. Spread remaining mousseline smoothly over and around the cake.
7. Cover and refrigerate until set, 3-4 hours.
8. Garnish as desired with remaining fruit and raspberry coulis, and serve.