Making a really stiff mousse pie?

[jrshaul]

I'm an afficionado of the custard pie at the Hubbard Avenue Diner. (If you're in south-central Wisconsin, it's worth a visit.) I am not as fond of paying $5 for a slice of it.

I can do cheesecakes and key lime tarts, but the stand-outs are silk pies - stiff mousses of coffee, chocolate, and peanut butter rigid enough to hold a fork erect by the tines. They lack the taste and mouthfeel of of meringue or starch, but have far more rigidity than whipped cream can produce. Attempts to stiffen the pie with butter produce a similar texture, but post-consumption are like digesting a bowling ball.


Here's a few thoughts:

1. There is very definitely a sizeable amount of butter in the filling. (A few years ago, I encountered a peanut butter silk pie that was not fully blended.)
2. I'm guessing that there's cream cheese in there, but not much.
3. The pie is likely aerated by folding in whipped cream. The ratio is unknown.

4. The texture is not dependent on adding chocolate or peanut butter for stiffening, as is evidenced by the cappucino silk.

This is my best effort so far. (The powdered sugar is due to be replaced by something else, as it makes the end result faintly starchy. Granulated sugar is inadequately fine.)
3/4 cup creamy unsalted peanut butter

4oz (1/2 stick) cream cheese

1/4 cup butter

1.5 cups powdered sugar
0.5 cups whipping cream.

Molasses, vanilla, salt, cinnamon to taste.

In a bowl, combine 1 cup powdered sugar and cream cheese. Whip until fluffy. Gradually add peanut butter and room temperature butter, scraping sides. Add seasonings.

In another bowl, whip cream and remaining powdered sugar to stiff peaks. Fold with first mixture.

Chill before serving. Serve with pepto-bismol because it's too @#$! rich.

Edited March 21, 2013 by jrshaul (log)

[Lisa Shock]

A lot of mousses use gelatin.

[Mjx]

I'm an afficionado of the custard pie at the Hubbard Avenue Diner. (If you're in south-central Wisconsin, it's worth a visit.) I am not as fond of paying $5 for a slice of it.

I can do cheesecakes and key lime tarts, but the stand-outs are silk pies - stiff mousses of coffee, chocolate, and peanut butter rigid enough to hold a fork erect by the tines. They lack the taste and mouthfeel of of meringue or starch, but have far more rigidity than whipped cream can produce. Attempts to stiffen the pie with butter produce a similar texture, but post-consumption are like digesting a bowling ball.

. . . .

A lot of mousses use gelatin.

'Gelatin' was what I was thinking, too. You don't need that much to get a really firm mousse, you get a really clean flavour, and digesting it is not something that draws attention to itself, unless you eat half a mousse pie at a go (not that I'd know anything about that sort of behaviour ).

[LindaK]

My favorite chocolate mousse recipe (from Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking) has butter but no whipped cream or gelatin . The volume comes from whipped egg whites. It's definitely very firm when chilled and easily supports a fork or spoon, as you describe, so much so that I usually take it out of the fridge 15-30 minutes before serving. The texture is very smooth and the taste of the chocolate shines through. I've never used it in a pie but I'm sure it would work.

How that technique would translate into a mousse with cappuchino, I don't know.

[HungryC]

If its truly a silk pie, it is mostly butter, with eggs and sugar. The standard US version, often called a French silk pie (dunno why), is 1/2 cup butter, 2 eggs, a couple oz melted chocolate, and vanilla. You mix the sugar and butter, then beat continuously while adding the chocolate, then the eggs (one at a time). I'd imagine a peanut butter version might need additional eggs to get to the same consistency as the chocolate (as the cocoa butter and choc solids add body/firmness once chilled).

[jrshaul]

'Gelatin' was what I was thinking, too. You don't need that much to get a really firm mousse, you get a really clean flavour, and digesting it is not something that draws attention to itself, unless you eat half a mousse pie at a go (not that I'd know anything about that sort of behaviour ).

Gelatin doesn't (to my knowledge) give the sort of structural material texture I'm looking for. I don't want "fluffy;" I want "earthquake building code."

My favorite chocolate mousse recipe (from Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking) has butter but no whipped cream or gelatin . The volume comes from whipped egg whites. It's definitely very firm when chilled and easily supports a fork or spoon, as you describe, so much so that I usually take it out of the fridge 15-30 minutes before serving. The texture is very smooth and the taste of the chocolate shines through. I've never used it in a pie but I'm sure it would work.

How that technique would translate into a mousse with cappuchino, I don't know.

Does it include pate a bombe? I've seen several varieties on chocolate mousse, but none with the rigidity you describe. Most recipes for french silk pie

If its truly a silk pie, it is mostly butter, with eggs and sugar. The standard US version, often called a French silk pie (dunno why), is 1/2 cup butter, 2 eggs, a couple oz melted chocolate, and vanilla. You mix the sugar and butter, then beat continuously while adding the chocolate, then the eggs (one at a time). I'd imagine a peanut butter version might need additional eggs to get to the same consistency as the chocolate (as the cocoa butter and choc solids add body/firmness once chilled).

The french silk pies my mother made were nothing like those of Hubbard; that said, given my parents' enthusiasm for "healthy recipe modifications," the pies in question were likely nothing like french silk either I was about to give a run with the french silk pie recipe I found here.

[pbear]

Gelatin doesn't (to my knowledge) give the sort of structural material texture I'm looking for. I don't want "fluffy;" I want "earthquake building code."

I'll bet you a bright shiny nickel gelatin is exactly what the diner is using. Give it a try. Hard to be certain without seeing the recipe, but one packet of standard Knox gelatin will stabilize a lot of available water. I'd start there.

[Mjx]

'Gelatin' was what I was thinking, too. You don't need that much to get a really firm mousse, you get a really clean flavour, and digesting it is not something that draws attention to itself, unless you eat half a mousse pie at a go (not that I'd know anything about that sort of behaviour ).

Gelatin doesn't (to my knowledge) give the sort of structural material texture I'm looking for. I don't want "fluffy;" I want "earthquake building code."

. . . .

Gelatine will not give you a particularly fluffy result (I'd go with meringue for that), but it will provide impressive structural stability without getting heavy and over-rich. In fact, if you get reckless with the amount of gelatine used, you will get 'so firm, piercing it with a fork is a challenge'.

However, I may be starting from a misunderstanding; I understood that you regarded 'like digesting a bowling ball' as a bad thing, but maybe not..?

[pbear]

Looking around this evening out of curiosity didn't turn up much, but did uncover this photo of the pie in question. From the clean cut of the slice, I'm even more convinced they're using gelatin (which originally was based on just your description). Compare that with the photo accompanying this recipe (similar to that in the OP). Notice the cut isn't nearly as clean.

BTW, jrshaul, when I said, "hard to know without seeing the recipe," I had forgotten that the OP included a recipe. My bad. For that recipe, a whole packet of Knox gelatin might be overkill. Or, as Mjx says, 'so firm, piercing it with a fork is a challenge'. Instead, I'd start with 1/2 packet (1 tsp) and only increase to a full one if half-of-one proved insufficient. Of course, you could do the trials in reverse order. Also, I notice you mention a problem with granulated sugar not dissolving. Have you tried superfine?

[LindaK]

My favorite chocolate mousse recipe (from Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking) has butter but no whipped cream or gelatin . The volume comes from whipped egg whites. It's definitely very firm when chilled and easily supports a fork or spoon, as you describe, so much so that I usually take it out of the fridge 15-30 minutes before serving. The texture is very smooth and the taste of the chocolate shines through. I've never used it in a pie but I'm sure it would work.

How that technique would translate into a mousse with cappuchino, I don't know.

Does it include pate a bombe? I've seen several varieties on chocolate mousse, but none with the rigidity you describe. Most recipes for french silk pie

No, there's no pate a bombe. The sugar is beaten with the egg yolks until thick and pale, then added slowly to the warm chocolate, finally the beaten egg whites are folded in.

While the resulting mousse is very firm, I don't know that you'd get the clean cut that's in your picture. That looks like gelatin to me too.