White chocolate mousse

[theonepv]

can someone give me a recipe for white chocolate mousse that is firm enough to be used as a filling in wedding cake?

[Steve Klc]

how are you making white chocolate mousse now?

how heavy a cake are you planning to use--i.e. genoise or more like pound cake?

and when you say firm enough--do you mean firm enough as set up in the fridge--or firm enough when you actually get around to cutting the cake at an event, after it's been sitting out (and warming up) for a few hours during the reception?

have you tried a white chocolate mousse the way you know how to make it--and had it squish out all over the place when you try to cut slices?

also, will this be for an indoor wedding cake, in air conditioning or outside?

and if this isn't enough questions already--are you covering the cake in buttercream or rolled fondant?

[theonepv]

Presently, I am making the mousse using a recipe in Nancy Silverton's book "Desserts", ie. melting chocolate, adding it to an egg yolk mixture that had a sugar syrup beaten into it first, then folding in the whipped cream and refrigerating the mixture. I would like to be able to use the mousse in either genoise or butter cakes, depending on the bride's preference. I want the mousse to be firm enough to slice cleanly when the cake is cut (after it has been sitting out at the reception site for approximately 3 to 4 hours indoors, with air conditioning). The cake would be covered in fondant.

Previously, when I've made white chocolate mousse, I've used it as a dessert. Last week I attempted to fill a cake with it and could see immediately that it was going to "squish" out when sliced, so I substituted white chocolate mousseline buttercream (recipe from Rose Levy Berenbaum's "The Cake Bible".

Do you feel that a genoise cake can successfully be covered in fondant? I've always thought that it would be too heavy on a light cake and therefore was reluctant to use it.

[Steve Klc]

Sure, you can cover a genoise cake with rf. Just fill it, soak it, crumb coat and close it with a metal spatula and an Italian meringue buttercream as usual. Perhaps use a little more buttercream to give it more strength, make sure it is perfectly smooth and cover it with rf right out of the fridge. (I never use underlayers of jam or marzipan and always, only, use buttercream under rf because I like the mouthfeel.) And then just make sure your fondant layer is not too thick--certainly less than 1/4"

Personally, I always use some version of a mousseline cream with white chocolate or fold melted but cooled white chocolate into an Italian meringue buttercream when I have to use white chocolate mousse. (In a pinch, lemon curd folded into a buttercream is also a wonderful, unctuous cake filling. We usually always have these in the fridge or freezer.) You could use an egg yolk buttercream as well. Regardless, white chocolate mousse isn't a favorite filling of mine--for taste and flavor reasons not performance. What I do is close to what Rose was aiming for in her book and what you did--so I doubt I'd have much to add. You're already doing it well.

Also, have you tried two thinner layers of mousse rather than just one in the center of the cake--this works well with genoise. You could even use the Silverton, as it would soak into the genoise rather than squish and still cut and taste fine.

It's the whipped cream folded in that's potentially problematic and to get around that you either don't use whipped cream in the first place or stabilize it as in a bavarian or cream with gelatin to hold its shape.

[Wendy DeBord]

Just last weekend I had a wedding cake with a white chocolate mousse filling. I haven't got one recipe that I really love for this. So I tried yet another a new recipe (from the CIA's new baking book, by the way it stunk in my opinion) which I regretted.

Man oh man, have I tried a zillion recipes for this and I still haven't found one to settle on. So hense forth this thread.........anyone have a knock-em-dead great recipe for white chocolate mousse with gelatin as a stablizer?

What makes a perfect white chocolate mousse to me:

1. Having enough white chocolate flavor come thru that no one can wonder if it's just a plain vanilla mousse.

2. Having meringue and whipped cream, so it's light and smooth...not grainie! No liquid leaching out as it sits.

3. Having some gelatin in it so it can sit out of the cooler for a couple hours in a cake.

Are any of you in posession of great white chocolate mousse recipe that you're really proud of and would share? Please and thank-you.

[mktye]

Have you tried the White Chocolate Mousse Filling in Friberg's "The Professional Pastry Chef", Third Edition? I have not made it in a while, so cannot really say if it is the end-all and be-all of white chocolate mousse, but I don't recall there being anything "wrong" with it and I think it meets all your criteria.

If case you don't have the book:

2 cups (480 ml) heavy cream

4 tsp. (12 g) gelatin

1/2 cup (120 ml) cold water

2 Tbsp. pectin powder (regular canning pectin) or you can omit the pectin and increase gelatin by 1 tsp. for a total of 5 tsp. of gelatin

4 oz. (115g) granulated sugar

4 egg whites (1/2 cup/120ml)

12 oz. (340g) white chocolate, melted (be sure not to overheat or mousse will be grainy)

Whip cream to soft peaks and reserve in refrigerator.

Soften gelatin in the water.

Combine the pectin and sugar, stir in egg whites and heat over simmering water, whisking, until it reaches 140 degrees. Remove from heat and whip until cool and forms stiff peaks.

Heat gelatin mixture to dissolve.

Stir gelatin mixture into melted chocolate, stir chocolate mixture into 1/3 of meringue. Add to remaining meringue. Mix in reserved whipped cream.

Use immediately since it sets pretty quickly. Makes 6 cups.

[nightscotsman]

No egg whites, but here's a recipe for white chocolate bavarian that's very good. The key is the relatively high level of salt. It doesn't taste salty, but it greatly reduces the sweetness of the white chocolate which can be cloying.

White Chocolate Bavarian

Anglaise base:

125 g milk

125 g cream

7.5 g sugar

110 g yolk

3 g salt

50 g white chocolate (pistoles or chopped)

Make anglaise with first 5 ingredients and pour hot over white chocolate. Blend as for ganache and let cool to room temp.

867.5 g anglaise base

5 g gelatine (bloomed in water)

450 g cream

Melt gelatine with 20% of the anglaise base warmed in the microwave. Add rest of anglaise and cool to 32º C. Fold in whipped cream, half at a time. Use immediately.

[Wendy DeBord]

Yes, I have made Fribergs recipe several times. It was my standard for a quite a while........at this late moment (past my bedtime) I can't recall why I moved on. I think I found similar within either Herme's or Bellouet pastry books that came together quicker.......none that has left a lasting impression.

Thank-you Neil, I'll give that one a go asap.

[mybench]

Here is a great recipe that works wonderfuly. good luck.

WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE

recipe quantity 42 pounds

INGREDIENTS

7 pounds white chocolate, melted

4 pounds sugar

1 quart egg whites

1/2 quart egg yolks

2 pounds butter

5.15 ounces gelatin

7 quarts heavy cream

method

Whip the cream soft, till the lines just begin to show. Whip egg whites and yolks on two seperate machines. Cook the sugar till it reaches 121 C. Add 2/3 syrup to the whipping whites and 1/3 to the yolks. Melt the bloomed gelatin into the melted butter. In a large bowl add the butter/gelatin mixture to the white chocolate. Fold in the yolks and whites till a homogeneous mixture. Fold in whipped cream.

[jscarbor]

I made the W C M from the Death by Choc cookbook. The mousse comes out a little gritty. Not real gritty just not a smooth as I want. What could I have done to cause this, if anything?

[Trishiad]

i don't have the recipe, does it call for melted white chocolate? Is is possible you overcooked the choc?

[nicolekaplan]

gritty or broken?

[JSkilling]

If you had to whip it, you likely overwhipped which will cause that grittiness.

[jscarbor]

Off the top of my head the recipe is:

10oz white choc

4 Tblsp water

2 cups heavy cream

Melt choc and water in double broiler over low heat ( I could have gotten the water too hot? It never came close to simmer though?) and stir with spatula until melted and set aside.

Whip the heavy cream til stiff (I didn't think I whipped too much but this has to be the culprit) Vigorously whip 1/3 of cream into the white choc then fold the rest. Thats it.

[nightscotsman]

The white chocolate was probably not warm enough when you added the whipped cream, so when the cold cream was added it solidified some of the chocolate before you could mix it in. It's harder to see since the chocolate is white, but you basically have tiny chocolate chips within the cream. The trick with recipes like this is to get the chocolate very warm, but not so hot that it melts the whipped cream. When we do a similar milk chocolate chantilly cream, we actually have one person slowly pour the hot chocolate into the whipped cream while a second person whisks like crazy.

[chefpeon]

I have also found that whipping the cream til stiff BEFORE you add the white chocolate is too much whipping. I slightly underwhip it, because the action of folding in your white chocolate

will break your cream if you've whipped it too much in the first place.

[jscarbor]

The recipe said to leave choc at room temp while doing the cream procedure. But your method sounds like the way to go here. Do you think other than the room temp part that the recipe is sound?

The white chocolate was probably not warm enough when you added the whipped cream, so when the cold cream was added it solidified some of the chocolate before you could mix it in. It's harder to see since the chocolate is white, but you basically have tiny chocolate chips within the cream. The trick with recipes like this is to get the chocolate very warm, but not so hot that it melts the whipped cream. When we do a similar milk chocolate chantilly cream, we actually have one person slowly pour the hot chocolate into the whipped cream while a second person whisks like crazy.

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[jscarbor]

I will also under whip a little next time.

I have also found that whipping the cream til stiff BEFORE you add the white chocolate is too much whipping. I slightly underwhip it, because the action of folding in your white chocolate

will break your cream if you've whipped it too much in the first place.

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[Wendy DeBord]

Hum, having made this recipe before from his book, I have to ask if it looked grainy or it tasted grainy. Because this recipe does produce a grainy sort of look to it. That's different from the texture being grainy because tiny bits of chocolate froze up as you were mixing.

To the best of my knowledge and experience I find that to be true with most white chocolate mousse recipes if they only contain heavy cream, eggs and white chocolate they all seem a bit lumpy/grainy. The white chocolate doesn't smooth out the same as dark chocolate does in this combo of ingredients.

To get a smoother and in my opinion better white chocolate mousse beginning with an anglaise, pastry cream or a bavarain and using gelatin to set makes for a better white chocolate mousse. I've yet to make a "simple" white chocolate mousse that I loved.

[JeanneCake]

Off the top of my head the recipe is:

10oz white choc

4 Tblsp water

2 cups heavy cream

Melt choc and water in double broiler over low heat ( I could have gotten the water too hot? It never came close to simmer though?) and stir with spatula until melted and set aside.

Whip the heavy cream til stiff (I didn't think I whipped too much but this has to be the culprit) Vigorously whip 1/3 of cream into the white choc then fold the rest. Thats it.

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I make a layered chocolate mousse and the white choc layer calls for cream melted with the choc (to which some dark rum is added off heat as well as bloomed gelatine) and then folded into softly beaten whipped cream. Maybe if you melt an ounce or so of the cream with the choc it might help alleviate the grittiness....

[nightscotsman]

I agree that a mousse or bavarian with eggs will have a much richer taste and smoother, fuller texture. Sometimes, though, you need a lighter and cleaner tasting white chocolate mousse, and for that I really like a recipe from "Book of Tarts" by Maury Rubin:

4 oz white chocolate

1-1/4 cup heavy cream

boil cream and add to chocolate as for ganache. Chill thoroughly. When very cold, whip with mixer or hand whisk to soft peaks.

This recipe has several advantages - besides being not too sweet and fool-proof easy, it will keep for days in the cooler and you can whip just the amount you want when you need it.

[kitwilliams]

I agree that a mousse or bavarian with eggs will have a much richer taste and smoother, fuller texture. Sometimes, though, you need a lighter and cleaner tasting white chocolate mousse, and for that I really like a recipe from "Book of Tarts" by Maury Rubin:

4 oz white chocolate

1-1/4 cup heavy cream

boil cream and add to chocolate as for ganache. Chill thoroughly. When very cold, whip with mixer or hand whisk to soft peaks.

This recipe has several advantages - besides being not too sweet and fool-proof easy, it will keep for days in the cooler and you can whip just the amount you want when you need it.

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Neil:

How would this hold up in a three-layer cake -- substantial enough?

[Wendy DeBord]

I printed that out Neil and I can't wait to use it, thank-you. I've seen similar recipes using dark chocolate and it never accured to me to do the same with white, that's pretty cool.

[nightscotsman]

How would this hold up in a three-layer cake -- substantial enough?

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Yes, I think it would hold up in a layer cake. It's basically just whipped cream sweetened and stabilized with white chocolate. You might want to whip it a little stiffer to make it pipe-able/spreadable, though don't overdo it since it will get firmer when it sets.

[skoolpsyk]

Have you tried different brands of white chocolate? I've seen the ingredients of white chocolate vary greatly by brand...