Strawberry Mousse Cake

Made strawberry mousse cake for DH's birthday dinner party. The kids wanted chocolate but I was not too much into chocolates today. So we finally settled for a chocolate chiffon cake base and chilled fruity strawberry mousse combination. A good choice for such hot weather!
I used fresh strawberry for the mousse, I was licking and tasting the mousse all the way and it tasted like Häagen-Dazs strawberry ice cream.
Since it's DH's birthday, I made tuxedo strawberries for the cake decor.





This is the cake mould that I used. This mould is made of plastic; it is not that brittle kind of plastic; it can be bended but not too much.
This cake mould is something like the Mary Ann Cake Pan which has a convex bottom. After the cake is done and turned out, you'll have a star shaped hallowed out top which I filled it with the strawberry puree topping.


Ingredients: (20cm cake)
Cake Base
Click here for Cake base's Recipe and Method
Slice cooled cake into 2 layers of 1.5cm thick each.

Strawberry Mousse
350g strawberry puree
4 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp kirsch
17g gelatin powder dissolved in 3 tbsp boiling water
300ml whipping cream + 3 - 4 tbsp icing sugar

Some diced strawberries

Method:
1. Dissolve gelatin in 3 tbsp of boiling water.
2. Puree some strawberries and weigh 350g of the puree for the mousse. Boil puree with icing sugar in a saucepan and test sweetness. Leave aside to cool.
3. Stir warm gelatin solution into strawberry puree. Stir in lemon juice and kirsch.
4. Whip cream with icing sugar till mousse state.
5. Stir cooled strawberry puree into whipped cream till well mixed.

Strawberry Puree Topping:
100g strawberry puree (strain) + 1.5 tbsp icing sugar
10g gelatin dissolved in 2 tbsp boiling water

Assembly of cake using above mould:
1. Grease mould lightly with butter. Chill for 15 minutes.
2. Pour 1/2 strawberry mousse into mould, top it with diced strawberries and then a layer of 1.5cm thick chiffon cake. Chill for 5 minutes.
3. Pour in the rest of the mousse, diced strawberries and top with another layer of chiffon cake. Press cake firmly and chill for 2 hours. For this cake form, this is the bottom of the whole cake.
4. Unmould mousse cake from mould with the help of a hot towel.
5. Pour strawberry puree topping gently onto the surface of the mousse cake and chill till ready to serve.

Notes:
Assembly of cake will depend on the cake mould you are using.
You have to test sweetness yourself as strawberries are not always sweet.
Best to use gelatin sheet if you dislike the fishy smell of gelatin powder. For gelatin sheet, soak them in cold water to soften it, when soften stir them into the warm strawberry puree in the saucepan.