Last weekend, I decided to try out a Valentine’s Day-themed cake. Last year I did a chocolate raspberry heart-shaped cake. I didn’t want to do chocolate this year, so I thought something red would be a good jumping-off point for my cake. After some thought, I settled on a cherry and almond mousse cake that I would top with a mirror glaze.
Mirror Glazes are quite trendy right now and when done properly, this glazing technique makes a gorgeous shiny cake. You can colour the glaze as you want, so it gives a lot of artistic freedom. The only problem is they are intimidating to make! I had done a dark chocolate mirror glaze previously when I made a Torta Settevlli for my mom’s birthday last year which worked out well. I tried a coloured mirror glaze for my own birthday cake last year and that one did not turn out well at all!
I did a lot of reading and found that the issue was that my cake was not frozen solid when I had attempted to glaze it, so the glaze melted through the mousse. Having learned my lesson and after letting a few months pass, I decided to attempt again with this cake.
I also decided to document both my process and the cake decoration on video. I wasn’t sure if the cake would work out and if I would even be able to publish the video, but thankfully it did! Below is my YouTube video where I talk about how I came up with the cake and give a mirror glaze tutorial. I’ve also included the recipe for the Cherry Almond Mousse Cake and the Mirror Glaze below. The cake turned out exactly as I hope and was delicious!
Ingredients
-
For the Almond Sponge Cake
- For the Almond Praline and Paste
- For the Almond Mousse
- For the Cherry Filling
- For the Cherry Mousse
- To Finish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C
- Grease two 10-inch heart-shaped pans or two 9-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper then grease and flour the parchment paper.
- Combine egg yolks and 100 g (1/2 cup)sugar in a large bowl. Beat on high speed until light in colour and thick.
- Fold in almond flour and orange zest
- In a separate bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. With the mixer running on low, slowly pour in 2 tbsp sugar. Increase speed to high and beat to stiff peaks
- Gently fold the egg whites into the batter in 3 additions, mixing until no white streaks remain. Be careful not to overmix.
- Divide batter evenly between your two prepared pans and smooth the top with a spatula.
- Bake until the top is firm, about 20-25 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pans and let cool completely on a rack. For the Almond Praline Crunch and Paste
- Heat sugar with 4 tbsp water over medium heat until it reaches a golden caramel colour. Do not stir the mixture or it may crystalize. You can shake the pan every so often to combine.
- Pour in the toasted almonds and mix with a greased heat-proof spatula.
- Turn out onto a foil or silicone lined baking sheet and smooth to an even layer. Allow the praline to cool and harden.
- Break off 2/3 of the praline and process to a paste in the food processor with almond extract and oil. Set aside 150 g for the paste to add to the almond mousse. Put the rest into a bowl for the almond crunch.
- Roughly chop the rest of the praline and add to the paste that has been set aside for the crunch along with the waffle cone pieces. For the Cherry Filling
- Combine cherries, sugar, lemon juice, and 4 tbsp water in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the raspberries have broken down, about 5 - 10 minutes.
- Blend the mixture with an immersion blender, Pour the mixture into a fine-mesh metal strainer that is set over a bowl. Stir the mixture to push the cherry juice and pulp through the strainer. Discard the skins.
- In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch with 4 tbsp water.
- Rinse out the saucepan and return it to the stove. Add strained cherry mixture and cornstarch mixture to the saucepan. Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly until mixture is thick about 1 - 2 minutes. Add Grand Marnier. Pour 1 1/4 cups (296 ml) of the filling into a bowl. Cover that and leave at room temperature. Pour the rest of the filling into another bowl. Cover and chill until cold. For the Almond Mousse
- Combine gelatin and 4 tbsp water in a small bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- In a heat-proof bowl, combine egg yolks, 2 tbsp water, corn syrup, and amaretto.
- Beat over a pot of simmering water until the mixture is thick and forms ribbons. Remove from heat.
- Microwave the gelatin for 20-30 seconds until melted. Add to the egg mixture. Beat the mixture until it is cool.
- Stir in the reserved praline paste
- In a separate bowl, whip the cream, sugar, and vanilla to stiff peaks. Gently fold into the egg mixture and set aside. To Begin Assembly
- Line one of your pans with plastic wrap that goes over the edges of the pan. Lay one cake layer inside the pan. If you have acetate to make a collar, tuck it around the perimeter of the cake, between the cake and the pan. This will help to make your layers more even on the sides.
- Brush the cake with 3/4 tsp Amaretto liqueur. Top with half of the chilled cherry filling. Then top with half of the almond mousse. Then top with the almond crunch. Move the cake to the freezer for 1 hour until the mousse is firm.
- Once the mousse is firm, top with the remaining mousse. Chill for 1 more hour until the mousse is firm.
- After an hour, top with remaining chilled cherry filling. Then brush the remaining cake layer with 3/4 tsp of amaretto liqueur and place it on top of the cherry filling. Move the cake to the freezer for 2 hours or until solid.
- 30 minutes before the cake is ready, prepare the cherry mousse: Mix the gelatin and water and let stand for 5 minutes. Then microwave for 20-30 seconds until melted.
- Whip cream with sugar, almond extract, vanilla, and Grand Marnier until you have stiff peaks.
- Mix the gelatine, room temperature cherry filling, and orange zest. Gently fold into the whipped cream. Chill for 20 minutes to firm up a bit.
- Turn the cake out onto a cake board that is about 1 cm larger than the cake. Spread the cherry mousse over the top and sides of the cake in an even layer. Chill in the freezer until completely frozen. I recommend overnight. Top with mirror glaze (recipe link above).
Making a mirror glaze can seem intimidating but if you follow the temperature guidelines, it’s actually quite easy! The cake should be frozen solid before you glaze it and the glaze temperature should be 32-35 C (90-95 F) when you pour it. This recipe was originally posted on southern fatty.com
Ingredients
-
For Step 1
- For Step 2
- To Finish
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix together gelatin and 80 g water. Let sit for 5 minutes.
- In a medium saucepan, bring sugar, corn syrup and 100 g water to a simmer. Stir frequently until sugar is dissolved.
- Add bloomed gelatine and sweetened condensed milk.
- Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl and pour condensed milk mixture over top. Let sit for 5 minutes. Blend mixture with a whisk or immersion blender.
- Strain the mixture into the desired number of bowls to add food colouring (one bowl per colour.) Add food colouring and mix to achieve desired colours.
- Pour the colours back into one pouring container and let cool to 32-35 C (90-95 F). Give a gentle stir to mix the colours slightly.
- Place your frozen cake on top of a overturned bowl or baking pan that is smaller than the cake, set in a rimmed baking sheet to catch the glaze that drips off. Pour glaze over top of cake starting from the center and then going over the top in any pattern you would like. Let set for 15-20 minutes.
- Use a knife to cut drips off the bottom of the cake.
