Using herbs is getting more and more popular in patisserie which I think is a great trend. It shows that sweet creations are not only limited to chocolate and other "traditional" sweet flavors; and the patisserie world is thinking more and more out of the box. 
I personally love adding herbs to my cake creations. Last December I made dill and lemon flavoured tartlets which were incredible scrumptious, in particular, the dill mousse. I have been making a basil flavored mousse for years and it tastes delicious. These days I have been playing around with my basil mousse recipe and added mascarpone cheese to the mousse which gives the basil mousse an incredible creamy texture. I cannot even describe in words how delicious this basil mousse is. I paired the basil mousse with a strawberry jelly and crunchy shortcrust. This is a perfect match and it is truly a summer petite gâteaux and the perfect summer dessert for an al fresco dinner.
My decoration for these petite cakes were inspired by elderflowers which I was picking for making cordial a few weeks ago. I infused elderflowers in an Italian meringue and I made little meringues. My decoration was time consuming and might think it is not worth the effort (if you are not that baking crazy as I am), just skip this step and decorate the basil cakes with strawberry halves and basil leaves. It looks just as pretty and of course it taste just as delicious which is  - of course - the most important thing. 
I do not know how I can convince you all, but you must make these delicious basil cakes! If you have never tried a herb infused cake, give this recipe a try. I do promise that you will like the basil mousse cakes. 


Makes 5 to 6 cakes (6 cm / 2.4 inches in diameter)

STRAWBERRY JELLY

  • 125 g / 1/2 cup strawberry puree *
  • 10 g / 1 tablespoon granulated sugar *
  • 1 sheet gelatin (1,5 g), soaked
  • Pour the strawberry puree into a saucepan and heat the puree. Set the saucepan aside, add the gelatin and stir well. 
  • Pour the strawberry mixture into small moulds (I use small silicone muffin moulds), 5 cm / 2 inches in diameter, and freeze the moulds for at least 2 hours. 
* I made my own puree and added 10 g / 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar to the strawberries. If you use a puree without added sugar, you might add about 10 g / 1 tablespoon of sugar (it really depends how sweet you prefer it or how sweet your strawberries are).

SHORTCRUST

  • 50 g / 1/2 cup pastry flour
  • 1 pinch of baking powder
  • 15 g / 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
  • 10 g / 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
  • 35 g / 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
  • Combine all ingredients in a bowl and knead to a dough. Form the dough to a disc, wrap into cling wrap and let the dough rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. 
  • Preheat the oven to 225 °C / 435 °F. 
  • Roll the dough out to 3 mm / 0.1 inch. Cut out 6 cm / 2.4 inches circles with the help of cake rings. 
  • Place the circles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Prick the shortcrust with a fork. Bake the shortcrust circles in cake rings, so the circles keep their shape.
  • Bake the shortcrust for 5 to 7 minutes or until golden in color. 
  • Let the shortcrust bottoms cool completely. 

BASIL MOUSSE

  • 15 g / a little more than 1/2 cup basil leaves
  • 50 g / 3 1/2 tablespoons whole milk
  • 20 g / 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 sheets gelatin (2,25 g), soaked
  • 100 g / 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon heavy cream
  • 100 g / 3 1/2 tablespoons mascarpone
  • Place the basil leaves and the milk in a tall bowl and puree the mixture. Pour the basil milk and the sugar into a saucepan and bring it almost to a boil. Set aside, add the soaked gelatin and mix well. Pour the mixture through a sieve and let it cool to room temperature. 
  • Whisk the heavy cream until creamy. Mix the mascarpone creamy. 
  • Add a little bit of the mascarpone to the the basil mixture and mix until well combined. Then add the rest of the mascarpone and stir well again. Fold in the the heavy cream into the basil mascarpone mixture. 
  • Unmould the strawberry jelly cores. 
  • Place the cake rings with the shortcrust bottom on a parchment lined sheet. 
  • Place about one tablespoon of basil mousse onto the shortcrust bottom. Carefully add the strawberry jelly core and fill up the remaining basil mousse.
  • Freeze the basil cakes for at least four hours. 

ASSEMBLING

  • Carefully, remove the cake rings. I use a Bunsen burner in order to remove the rings but you can also dip the sides of the rings in hot water.
  • Place the basil mousse cakes on cake boards. Let the cakes defrost in the fridge. 
  • Before serving the cakes, decorate the cakes. I made meringues that I infused with elderflowers, crumbled the meringues, decorated the middle of each cake with the meringue crumbles and basil leaves. You can decoarte the cakes just with strawberiies halves and basil leaves. 
  • The cakes taste the very best on the day of making because the shortcrust bottom get soft over time.