I cannot tell you how much I love making little cakes or petit gâteaux as they are called in French. Pâtisserie, in particular French pâtisserie, brings so much joy to my life and makes me incredible happy. A few days ago I was working on a petit gâteaux creation that involved a matcha mousse and cherry mousse because I was inspired by the cherry blossom season. I had no idea if a matcha and cherry combination was a good match but I can tell you it tastes incredible and the color combination looks beautiful as well. I was a little bit proud of my gâteaux creation and it put me in a great mood for days. I will post the recipe of my matcha and cherry mousse cakes very soon but you can have a sneak peek here. By the way, I started to use instagram more regular and if you like you can follow me there.
In this post I would like to share a recipe that involves passion fruits. Passion fruits are one of my favorite fruits and every time I cut a passion fruit in half I am amazed by the dark purple color of the pulp, the smell and the sweet sour taste (the wrinklier and uglier the passion fruit looks at the outside the more delicious it is).
I often serve these passion fruit mousse cakes after a two- or three-course meal because these petite cakes are not overly sweet and they are lighter than for instance a chocolate mousse cake. I also serve the cakes with a dollop of whipped cream.
It takes a little bit of time to prepare the petit gâteaux but they are not difficult to make. Do not be intimidated by my long recipe instructions. I wanted to make sure that every step is clear.
NOTES:
Passion fruit purée
It might be difficult to find passion fruit purée in the grocery store (at least I could not find it and I went to many), I recommend buying it online. I bought 1 kg frozen passion fruit purée online which was a little bit pricey but it lasts for a long time. I use this purée which is 100% passion fruit and there is no sugar added. If you use a purée with added sugar you might reduce the amount of sugar that is stated in my recipe. As for the mango purée: I just purée a fresh and very ripe mango.
How to use gelatin sheets
Soak sheets in very cold water for 7 minutes ( I use a bowl). Wring out the sheets gently in order to remove any excess water.
Kitchen scale and pan extender
Use a good kitchen scale. I am sorry that I did not convert the ingredients into cups this time but it is too difficult and too imprecise. I am sorry.
You need a pan extender/cake frame for this recipe.
Makes 9 rectangular cakes (6 cm x 4 cm)
Almond Marzipan Sponge Cake
- 35 g marzipan
- 15 g almond flour
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk (15 g)
- 1 egg (small)
- 70 g egg whites (equals about 2 egg whites)
- 35 g all-purpose flour
- Preheat the oven to 190 °C.
- Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix marzipan, almond flour and 25 g sugar until smooth (I use my hands). Add egg yolk and whisk well. Add the whole egg and whisk until creamy and the mixture becomes thick and pale yellow.
- Whisk the egg whites until they are almost stiff. Gradually add the remaining granulated sugar (25 g) to the egg whites and whisk until stiff peaks.
- Add 1/3 of the egg white mixture to the almond marzipan mixture and stir until all ingredients are well incorporated. Add the rest of the beaten egg whites. Sift flour on top and fold in the flour and the beaten egg white mixture.
- Spread the batter onto the baking sheet, about 20 cm x 25 cm in size.
- Bake the sponge cake for 5 to 8 minutes until the cake has a golden color. Be careful, the sponge cake browns very quickly, Keep a close eye on your oven.
Passion Fruit Mirror Glaze
- 2 - 3 passion fruits (50 g pulp)
- 30 g passion fruit purée
- 25 g granulated sugar
- Slice passion fruits in half and spoon out the pulp.
- Put the pulp into a food processor and pulse for a few seconds, so the seeds and the flesh of the passion fruits seperate. If you do not like the seeds in your glaze, strain the mixture (but I think the passion fruit seeds in the glaze look really beautiful).
- Add passion fruit pulp, purée and sugar in a small saucepan and heat the mixture. As soon as the mixture starts simmering, stir constantly for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and pour passion fruit glaze into a bowl. Cover the bowl and refrigerate.
Yogurt Mousse
- 50 g Greek yogurt (10%)
- 1 sheet of gelatin, soaked
- 20 g egg whites (equals about 1/2 egg white)
- 20 g granulated sugar
- 35 g whipping cream
- Heat yogurt in a small saucepan; remove from the heat. Add gelatin and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Pour the mixture into a medium sized bowl.
- Whisk egg white until almost stiff, add sugar gradually and continue to whisk until completely stiff.
- Beat whipping cream until creamy.
- Fold in the beaten egg white into the yogurt and then fold in the whipped cream. Set the bowl aside.
Passion Fruit and Mango Mousse
- 50 g mango purée
- 3 sheets of gelatin, soaked
- 75 g passion fruit purée
- 20 egg whites (equals about 1/2 egg white)
- 45 g granulated sugar
- 100 g whipping cream
- Heat the mango purée in a small saucepan; remove from the heat. Add gelatin sheets to the mango purée and stir until the gelatin sheets are completely dissolved. Add the passion fruit purée to the mixture and stir. Pour the fruit mixture into a medium sized bowl.
- Whisk egg white until almost stiff, gradually add sugar and continue to whisk until the egg white forms peaks.
- Beat whipping cream until creamy.
- Fold in the egg white to the fruit purée mixture; then fold in the whipped cream.
Assembling
- Cut the sponge cake into two 18 cm x 12 cm rectangles.
- Prepare a board with parchment paper and adjust a cake pan extender to the size of 18 cm x 12cm.
- Place one sponge cake rectangle into the cake pan. Pour the yogurt mousse over the sponge cake and level the surface with a palette knife.
- Place the other rectangular sponge cake on top of the yogurt mousse. Pour the passion fruit mousse on top and level the surface with a palette knife.
- Freeze the cake for at least 6 hours. You can also leave the cake in the freezer up to two weeks.
- Pour the passion fruit glaze over the top of the cake. Carefully remove the pan extender. Cut the cake into 6 cm x 4 cm rectangles. Let the cakes defrost in the refrigerator.
The recipe is adopted from the book "Törtchen, Törtchen: Himmlische Versuchungen"
by Matthias Ludwigs.
