The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite (me 😉 ) from April 27th to May 27th at The Daring Bakers.
I’ve had a month to think about this challenge and I waited until the end to make something work, I guess I work better under pressure. I decided to make my edible conatiner a pavlova, which is basically meringue dish. I have been wanting to try to make pavlova’s ever since I ran accross this recipe and photo. I’m going to direct you to simply recipes for the pavlova because the directions are easy to understand and mine turned out perfect because I was able to understand and follow exactly the simple directions.
The maple mousse turned out wonderful too but a bit on the sweet side and since my pavlova was also sweet, I need to use some tart type of berry to adorn the top with and I choose blackberries and blueberries. The tartness from the berries seemed to even out the sweetness from the pavlova and mousse. If I were to make the mousse again I would probably use it in a cream puff or puff pastry that isn’t sweet to begin with.
Maple Mousse
Ingredients:
1 cup (240 ml/ 8 fluid oz.) pure maple syrup (not maple-flavoured syrup)
4 large egg yolks
1 package (7g/1 tbsp.) un-flavoured gelatine
1 1/2 cups (360 ml. g/12 fluid oz) whipping cream (35% fat content)
Directions:
Step 1: Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.
Step 2: In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup in while whisking (this is to temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle).
Step 3: Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed.
Step 4: Measure 1/4 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatine. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10 seconds at a time and check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatine has completely dissolved.
Step 5: Whisk the gelatine/whipping cream mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside.
Step 6: Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white.
Step 7: Whip the remaining cream. Fold in the remaining cream into the maple mixture and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Step 8: Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers. For the Pavlova Recipe click here.
Step 9: Add fresh or frozen (thawed) berries of your choice lightly mashed, I sprinkled my frozen berries with a tsp. sugar then thawed them.
Notes: The recipe for the pavlova makes about 20, and there is ample mousse to go around. Use about 1-2 T. of berries per pavlova.
