Chocolate Mousse Caramel Ganache Cake

Uh huh... For the recipe & step by step photographs, you will now have to visit http://www.foodomania.com! :D
Link to this recipe - http://foodomania.com/chocolate-mousse-cake/

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

I've already posted about some of the common frostings you can make. While I was researching on what to make for my birthday, I came across this very simple fudge frosting!Unfortunately, I didn't click pics coz I had to bake the cake & finish it super fast. I promise pictures the next time I make it! :-)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3 (1 ounce) squares cooking/modelling chocolate
• 2-3cups confectioners' / powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 3/4 cup milk

Directions

1. Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave, or in the top of a double boiler. In a large bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, vanilla and 1/2 cup of the milk. Blend in the melted chocolate mixture. Add remaining milk, a little at a time, until desired consistency is achieved.
2. Let stand until spreadable (frosting will thicken as it cools). 

                                           

Strawberry puree

The red, juicy strawberry is one of my favorite fruits! We'll learn how to make the Strawberry puree in this post. It can be used in many recipes such as the strawberry ice cream, as a topping for pies etc.

Ingredients
Ripe Strawberries
Blender


Method
1. Wash the strawberries well.
2. Cut them into halves. Remove the leaves
3. Run them through a blender until smooth. (5 minutes)
4. You can add a few lemon juice drops
5. Add sugar if desired. But since they are already so sweet, I don't think most of you will want it.

Types of Cake Frosting/Icing

Happy Saturday everybody! ☻

I've lined up a few easy Mexican Dishes this weekend! Please be sure to come back! :-D
Meanwhile, I thought I could talk about the various types of Icing or Frosting used on a cake ( or cupcakes, cookies, brownies etc!) For many, frosting is the best part of the cake.
So far, I've only talked about plain Whipped Cream and Chocolate Ganache. In the coming weeks, I plan on making all the frostings! :-D I've got a super easy way of making the cake without an oven. But, you'll have to wait for that! ;-)
If you don't have the time or interest to make the icing, then you could use readymade ones like the one on your left ☺
So, the types of frosting are -
I. BUTTERCREAM
Absolutely smooth & delicious! And VERY simple! ☺ In this frosting, Butter is mixed with powdered sugar, flavored essence & coloring liquid or chocolate and beaten continuously to get the fluffy topping. Powdered sugar is used because it dissolves easily during beaten and contains a small amount of cornstarch which helps stabilize the frosting. BEat them for a longer time to get the smoothest topping you'll ever eat!

II. WHIPPED CREAM
I've already talked about whipped cream in this post. It is basically made by whipping heavy creams, powdered sugar & your favorite flavors. But you have to be careful while whipping this cream. Unlike Buttercream, this one has to be whipped only until soft peaks start forming. Before you whip, you have to be sure to keep the vessel & whipper & the cream in the refrigerator for at least half hour.

III. GANACHE
It is nothing but chocolate melted with heavy cream. It forms a shiny thick glaze on the cakes. It can be a thick or a thin Ganache. A thick Ganache helps you make truffles. A thin one helps you pour it over the cake for icing. Read more about Ganache here.

IV. GLAZE
One of the most simplest frosting. Mix powdered sugar with a liquid (like water or milk) & stir to get a glaze of a thin consistency. They form a shiny crust over the cakes. They are just drizzled over the cakes.

V. DULCE LE DECHE
I learnt about this one recently. Bloody simple! ☺ Just cook a can of condensed milk on the pressure cooker for about 30-45 minutes & get Dulce De Leche! :-D More about that later!

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Whipped Cream

Whipped Cream is a must for many of our cakes! Whipped cream is what makes the cake look & taste even better! You can also use whipped cream as a topping for your fruit salad & a whole lot of other things! I thought I'll dedicate a post to Whipped cream alone. Although, I did write about it in short in my Black Forest post. 


Things You'll Need
Heavy Whipping Cream
Wire Whisk (manual or electric)
Mixing Bowl


Method
1. Start by chilling a clean stainless steel bowl, a whisk, and the cream in the refrigerator or freezer for about 30 minutes. Let them get nice and cold, but don't freeze the cream. (Cream is easier to whip when cold. )
2. Pour the cream, when chilled, in the bowl and start whisking. Hold the whisk like a dagger, with the wire part pointing down, and use your wrist and elbow for the motion, not your shoulder
3. It'll take about 10-15 minutes manually & 5-6 minutes via an electric whipper for the whipped cream to be ready for use. Light and foamy is best for topping cakes and desserts as an accompaniment; stiff and firm is best to use as a cake frosting or to make mousse. Keep whipping until you see soft peaks like these - 

I apologize for not clicking more pictures. Even this one doesn't have much clarity! But I hope you get the idea.

You can make whipped cream just for the sake of it! It tastes really good with fruits too!!! :-)

Chocolate Ganache

Heard of Ganache? (to be pronounced as ganaash) It is a spread or filling or icing made from heavy cream and chocolate. It is smooth & velvety! It is very very easy to make! They are different ways of making the Ganache. It can be a thick paste, or a semi-liquid. 

Ingredients

Heavy Cream/ Whipping Cream - 200 ml

Semi-Sweet Chocolate** - 200 grams (cut into small pieces)

Unsalted Butter - 2 tablespoons

Rum/Brandy - 1 tablespoon (optional)

** You get chocolate slabs in the market. Do not use any of the already cooked & sold (?) chocolates like Diary Milk, Hershey's etc.

Method 1

1. Break chocolate into small pieces & set aside. Heat the heavy whipping cream and the butter together in a saucepan over medium flame.

2. When it starts boiling, switch off the stove & pour the cream all over the broken chocolate

3. Allow to to stand for a minute or two.

4. Stir it gently with a wire whisk or a spatula. Don't beat to fast as you'll incorporate air into the ganache making it too thin.

5. If you want, you can add your brandy here! I skipped coz I haven't & will never touch alcohol! :D :P

6. Keep whisking it till you get a nice mixture. If it is too liquid-y, let it set for some time. It'll become thick. Depends upon what you want to use it for. If you want it as a filling for a truffle, you'll need it to be like a thick paste. In such cases, it helps to even keep the ganache in the refrigerator for 30 minutes! :-)

7. If the ganache is too thick, just keep the vessel containing Ganache on warm water. It'll start melting. You can whisk it once more & pour! :-

8. The measurements I've given makes enough ganache to cover a 9 inch cake twice! :-)

unfortunately, I didn't click pics for every step when I made the Ganache because I was in a hurry! But I promise some great pics the next time! :-)

METHOD 2

Got this from a cookbook

1. Break the chocolate into small pieces. Put them in a bowl.

2. Boil water in another vessel.

3. When the water boils, place the bowl with chocolate pieces on the boiling water.

4. Constantly stir the chocolate or it'll get burnt. Also add the butter to the chocolate

5. Once the chocolate has completely melted, check the temperature to be not more than 85-90 C.

6. Pour the chocolate onto cold whipping (heavy) cream.

7. Keep whipping it continuously for about 10 minutes with a manual whipper or about 5 minutes with an electric one.

8. Your Ganache is ready! :-)

If anyone has tried Method number 2, do let me know! I haven't tried it yet! 

So, now that we know how to make Chocolate Ganache, lets proceed decorating our Vanilla cake. :-) Oh, not here! You'll have to wait until the next post! :-P