strawberry and white chocolate mousse

hello everyone, i just looked at my blog's overviews and feel sad with the ongoing stats this week. hahaha. seems like i haven't been putting much attention and effort to this blog and its surroundings. but i'm here today, posting one lovely dessert i've made. it wasn't actually meant to be this thing. i got the original recipe from my favorite chocolate cookbook. it was at first written as white chocolate mousse. but the picture is so lovely because the clear white chocolate mousse was dotted with the red from raspberries, whole raspberry. then my mind went a little playful by thinking of making all of them turn pink. you may see the original picture from the book here, with my hands there, thinking of making some twist.

what i did to this white chocolate mousse is simple. in order to make it pink, i make strawberry sauce and just combined it with the chocolate mousse. tastewise, it tastes strawberry-ish, not completely strawberry. i think the flavor of the white chocolate still overpowers everything, yet it's quite scary to put more strawberry juice into it because i'm afraid too much juice wouldn't make the mousse set. however, this strawberry chocolate mousse still looks cute in my eyes, with those pink color and strawberry garnish. strawberry is just my favorite fruit. don't you think they're pretty as well?

well, this dessert is still refreshing and almost perfect to be eaten in a hot summer day, though some other twist might make it more delicious. next time i make it, i want to divide the mousse in layers, like one layer of white chocolate mousse then topped with strawberry mousse then topped with chocolate mousse and so on. also i think, making it with yellow-colored fruit such as mangoes or oranges might be yummy too. the color would be so summery. can't wait to make something yellow. anyhow, for you who curious with this dessert and its recipe, check the recipe and see if you can come up with another better twist! :D

three colors trifle

this is my first time making trifle. you may see how messy it is. it doesn't look neat at all. but please remember, looks maybe deceiving. lol. for the exact meaning of trifle, i'm not quite sure whether this dessert i made can be called as trifle. i didn't use sponge cake nor ladyfinger to layer it, i used chocolate soil instead. for some of you who doesn't know what chocolate soil is, well chocolate soil is basically baked crumbs, it almost resembles cheesecake base (with graham crackers crumbs). the difference is in chocolate soil, it is completely made from scratch and it stays as crumbs until it is baked. i got the recipe for this chocolate soil from my cousin, he will soon graduated as a chef! i don't really know where he got the recipe from.

if chocolate soil is the actor of this dessert, then the white chocolate mousse is the actress, together they become superstars. the pressure point is to make the mousse silky smooth. if you can make it silky smooth then this white chocolate mousse will be flawless. it will be so perfect in flavor and also the texture. the keys to make it smooth are a perfect custard and a perfect whipped cream. never ever let your custard overcooked, it will curdle and nobody likes curdled custard. but if somehow you fail and get a slightly curdled custard, you may strain it using a fine mesh sieve, it helps a lot to clarify the custard. over-whipped cream is as bad as curdled custard. if you over whipped your cream, it may become buttery and not creamy anymore. when you whip your cream, stop at the almost stiff peaks not at the stiff peaks stage. however, i'm not Mr. Google nor Ms. Pastry Chef, so please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong.

this trifle consists of four different layers; they are chocolate soil, white chocolate mousse, strawberry puree, and the last is strawberry jelly. i put the strawberry to cut the sweetness of this trifle, strawberry gives some acidity to it so the trifle could end up in a balance of flavor. but i do regret something from this dessert, the strawberry jelly. it ruins the texture of my white chocolate mousse. maybe i should not put it above the mousse or what, i don't know. i think if i'll make it again, i will omit the strawberry jelly part. you may or maybe should omit that part too.. ;)

chocolate mousse

sometimes last week, i've been visiting bookstore very often without any personal intention on buying any books. i'm just looking at some cookbooks, design books, literature, craft books, in the end i was just looking for a good book to read there and not at home. i love going to the bookstores and i will always will..

i found myself tempted so much for chocolate cookbooks. i have had one in my house, but i just wanted to have more and more if only i didn't think about the money since i was looking at an imported cookbook. my bf is a huge fan of chocolate, not that i'm not, i'm just not that crazy. by looking at those chocolate cookbook, one thing popped in my mind was that i want to make him some chocolate desserts again, it's been a while from the last time i made him a chocolate dessert (i didn't even do it on valentine's day, poor him). so i searched for something that he would definitely like, a chocolate mousse. he's been asking me to make this since a long-long time ago, i don't know why i finally just made it two days ago.. hehe.