Fruity mousse cakes

[MightyD]

what's the best type of mousse preparation to use for mousse cakes? bavarians, mousse with italian meringue, etc etc - specifically fruit mousses.

i am so not a fruit mousse kind of gal but it is so popular that i need to add it to my repertoire. and for the life of me, i can't tell what kind of mousse preparation makes people weak in the knees since they all taste pretty blah to me!

[Wendy DeBord]

If your making a full sized cake I think it is wise to use a fruit mousse that contains gelatin.........like a bavarian. With-out the gelatin in your mousse there's a good chance your mousse will squeeze out as you cut it, or wilt at room temp..

I like to add bits or chunks of the fruit in with the fruit puree, whipped cream and whipped egg whites. It really does add to it's dimension, you may start to like fruit mousse.......unless you don't like fruit.

Also chocolate mousse with strawberry or raspberry puree added then whole berries nestled in it, really turn me on taste wise.

When you say it's popular and you should add it to your repertiore, does that mean your a pro. and selling these? If so, do you own any popular profesional books we could use as references so we could stear you toward multiple recipes that work well?

[MightyD]

no, i love fruit but just don't like the texture of gelatin-stabilized-mousses - tastes like fruity marshmallow puffs (which i REALLY don't like ...)

i've always wanted to put chunks o' fruit in the fruit mousse but upon freezing and thawing, won't the fruit just turn to mush?

i currently work out of my home kitchen and do get quite a few orders for mousses - am planning to open my own place soon but still lots of work to be done!! i do own a few professional books but i still don't know what constitutes a good mousse recipe since they all feel the same to me - puffy.

if i could find some way turn the pierre herme lemon cream recipe into a mousse .... smooth and creamy and mmmmmm ....

do you think that would be too rich? would a cremeux work?

[drinkingchef]

I would look for a recipe that uses a sabayon as the base instead of just whipped egg whites. This will be richer and creamier but less 'fluffy'. Also, that would help stabelize the mousse so it would require less gelatine. I have used recipes like this and they work well, but unfortunately all my recipes are in storage right now as I am in the process of moving so I can't share, but I am sure they are out there somewhere

[MightyD]

hmmm .... sounds interesting ....

do you think that it would work if i simply substituted the whipped egg whites with sabayon? that sounds really, really good ... less fluffy and puffy

[Wendy DeBord]

I agree, I don't like gelatin-ish texture in my mousse either. There are better and worse examples of fruit mousse recipes..........they aren't all equal by any means.

Pierre Herme's professional book has one of the largest collections of fruit mousse recipes published. And I've not tried any of his I didn't think were perfect. He makes fruit mousses using multiple methods and proportions.....each variation gives you a slightly different finished mousse.

You can make a fruit mousse many ways, as mentioned. You could start with a bombe (egg yolk and hot syrup), a bavarian (anglaise based), sabayon (egg yolk, sugar and liqueur/non cream liquid), chocolate (white choc. or dark, fruit puree). Creme fresh instead of whipped cream with puree. The simplist version is the whites, puree, whip cream and gelatin recipe..........and it does taste that way (simple) too.

But the quality of your puree can effect the complexity/flavor of your mousse too. Are you using fresh fruit, fruit sauce, purchased puree and from which company because again they vary. You can add seasonings, spice, herbs and consentrates like compounds, flower water, etc... to make a more complex flavored fruit mousse too.

Puffy and fluffy I think have more to due with the amount of puffy ingredients used.......like alot of meringue or whipped cream. But that's in the proportions of the recipe. You could have a fruit mousse recipe that used 12 oz of each of whites and whip cream to 8 oz of puree and you'd get a fluffy mousse. But you could decrease the 'fluff' ingredients and use 8 oz. whipped cream and 8 oz. whipped whites to the 12 oz of puree and you'd have a completely different texture to your mousse. It's the same thing when your using gelatin. Too little and it doesn't hold, too much and it pratically bounces like jello.

You've got to sort thru all this and find what appeals to you. I think you just haven't come across the method/style of mousse that most appeals to you. You need to try more recipes and different methods to find what you really like. If you like fruit (which you said you do) theres got to be a fruit mousse recipe out there that you'll love too.

And yes, you can freeze chunks of fruit in you mousse. All the French chefs (baking books) do....... I was worried just like you when I first tried that, but it works. Your also not adding huge hunks of fruit and your defrosting before serving.

[MightyD]

i've tried pierre herme's mousse recipes (from the patisserie book) and while the recipes were great, they were not exactly what i was looking for.

spent pretty much an entire day making different mousses and i think i'm close to what i want - i borrowed an idea from pierre herme's lemon cream recipe where he "poaches" whole eggs with sugar and lemon juice over a bain-marie. i substituted the lemon juice for fruit puree, played with the sugar a bit, and added some gelatin - cooled the whole thing down over an ice bath, then folded in whipped cream. it is still very distinguishable as a mousse but the mouthfeel is so much nicer - not so puffy and fluffy!! and since the recipe uses whole eggs, the mousse does not end up tasting "eggy" if only egg yolks were used.

will be playing with other flavor combinations soon - really wanted to get a base recipe down and i think i'm close to it.

so you're saying i could freeze even fresh fruit in my mousses (cakes too maybe?) and it's ok? i've seen it in the professional european books but have always been told that the fruit would weep and turn to mush.

[Wendy DeBord]

so you're saying i could freeze even fresh fruit in my mousses (cakes too maybe?) and it's ok?  i've seen it in the professional european books but have always been told that the fruit would weep and turn to mush.

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Yes.

Your not freezing hunks of fruit, only diced pieces. And your not placing them alone so it will be on top as decoration on the cake (although that can be done). Mixed in the mousse.............works fine.