Summer berry mousse cake

Summer is here and this is the perfect light fruity pudding.

serves 10

For the base

200g digestives

100g butter

For the mousse cake

4 sheets leaf gelatine

142ml carton single cream
 500g carton fromage frais  
140g golden caster sugar 
finely grated zest 1 small orange 
4 tbsp orange juice
 400g raspberries

284ml carton double cream

Coulis

a large handful of frozen berries

around a tbsp of icing sugar

Base

For the biscuit base crush the biscuits in a plastic bag using a rolling pin. Melt the butter and mix with the crushed biscuits. Tip the mix into a loose bottomed round cake tin that is around 24cm. Press down the mix evenly and firmly and place in the fridge.

Mousse cake

Submerge the gelatine leaves in a large bowl of cold water and leave to soak for 5 minutes.

Heat the single cream in a small pan until it just comes to the boil then take off the heat.

Take the gelatine out of the water and squeeze to get rid of the water. Stir into the hot cream and leave to cool slightly.

Beat together the fromage frais, sugar, orange zest and juice with a whisk or wooden spoon and stir in the cooled cream and gelatine mixture. Mix the raspberries in and crush them against the sides of the bowl and stir again to ripple through.

Whip the double cream lightly to soft peaks, then fold it into the raspberry mixture. Pour into the cake tin and leave to chill for at least 3 hours, or overnight, until set.

To make the coulis heat the berries in a pan until they defrost and become runny, add icing sugar to taste. Blitz the mixture.

Serve with fresh berries and spoon coulis on top.

River cafe polenta, almond and lemon cake

This week has been a bit up and down with the weather, lots of rain and then an absolute scorcher yesterday in the 30˚s. Yesterday was an especially good day because not only did I get a little bit less pasty but I also stood up on my surfboard about 10 times!! I did almost die about twice getting absolutely smashed by waves and ended up with my hair looking a bit like a loo brush but very happy!! Since the weather has been crappy I made a huge cake, and I think this could be my newest most favourite cake I have ever made. I have been trawling through my River cafe books and there is so much amazing stuff so since I have all kinds of great ingredients on my door step I am going to go nuts and try loads this month. Serves 12 450g unsalted butter, softened 450g caster sugar 450g ground almonds 2 teaspoons good vanilla essence 6 free range eggs zest of 4 lemons juice of 1 lemon 225g polenta flour or fine semolina 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon of salt Preheat the oven to ...

Roast chicken and three rice salad

Another Ottolenghi salad which is really damn good, I just made this for 30 people which I'm not going to lie was a massive faff but if your making it for a normal amount of people it shouldn't be too bad. It's stuffed with all kinds of ingredients and has a warm asian flavour, perfect to take as a picnic salad. serves 8 1 small whole chicken 200g basmati rice 50g wild rice 50g brown rice 1 large onion, thinly sliced 6 spring onions, thinly sliced 4 mild red chillies, cut into thin strips small bunch coriander, chopped small bunch mint leaves, chopped large handful of rocket leaves, shredded salt pepper Dressing 65ml lemon juice 30ml sesame oil 30ml thai fish sauce 35ml olive oil Preheat the oven to 220˚C. Rub chicken with olive oil and season. Place in a roasting tin and put in the oven for 10 mins then lower the temperature to 190˚C and continue to roast for 50-60 mins until the chicken is cooked and juices run clear. Remove to cool and keep all the cooking juices for lat...

Chocolate Moelleux

I got this recipe from the patisserie chef in Paris and when writing it down he instructed very casually that I melt everything and mix it together. The language barrier made me question this but I did just as he said and ended up with perfect little soft and sorry to say it but..extremely moist little gooey chocolate fondant style cakes. So this is an idiot proof recipe which will not fail to impress! Makes 5 ramekins 230g Unsalted butter 100g Caster sugar 130g Dark chocolate 50g Plain flour 4 Eggs Melt the butter and sugar together in a pan, when all melted take the pan off the heat, melt the chocolate and then mix in with the melted butter and sugar, sieve in the flour and fold. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl until combined and then mix everything together until smooth. Melt some butter and lightly brush it on the inside of each ramekin then dust with cocoa powder, cool in the fridge until set and then fill 3/4 full with the mix. Cook at 180c for around 5 mins, you want them to h...

Food In My Home

Search This Blog