These coconut mousse cakes are almost too pretty to eat. The small cakes come on a pâte sucrée base and are covered with a gorgeous pastel pink mirror glaze. In the centre of each coconut mousse cake awaits a jellified strawberry insert.
Oh, I love mousse and mousse cakes. What about you? That light and airy texture is soft and melting on the palate. To achieve this, whip your cream only to soft peaks and you’ll win. Wink. Check out this raspberry mousse or this rich chocolate mousse, too.
And, there is more than one way to eat or serve a mousse. For instance, you can serve it in a glass, put it in a layer cake or a cake covered with a glaze, just like in this recipe. As you can see, the forms I used, in this case, were the Russian tale silicone forms. They create an oriental traditional architecture form. However, you can use any other form you like.
When making these mousse cakes, make sure you plan ahead, considering freezing and cooling time. In fact, the jellified insert needs to be made first and completely set when put into the mousse cake. Also, the mousse cake must be completely frozen, when pouring the glaze over it. Most desirable overnight.
I don’t know why it took me so long to make a recipe with mirror glaze on a cute small cake. I’ve seen it a million times on TV, YouTube or Instagram. Well, today was the time. And all went perfectly smoothly.
Mirror glaze
What gives the cakes that luxurious look is the mirror glaze. Simply beautiful. A mirror glaze is an eye-catching detail and very shiny. You can probably see your reflection in it. More, it sets because of the gelatine. But at the same time, it won’t get hard. It is pretty sticky stuff, I would say.
There are a couple of important facts when working with mirror glaze and making one. Firstly, when blending the glaze, avoid letting air in it. As a result, your cakes will look smooth without any air bubbles on the surface.
Secondly, the glaze must have the right temperature as well. The best working temperature for a glaze is between 31°C and 34°C. If your glaze gets too cold, reheat it over a double boiler. You can make your mirror glaze a day ahead and the next day reheat it to the right temperature.
Thirdly, the cakes must be frozen when coated with mirror glaze. More, to avoid condensation on your cakes, take only a couple of cakes out of the freezer at a time and glaze them immediately. Consequently, the glaze will stick to the cake, instead of sliding off it.
If you follow these tips, your mirror glaze will stay on your cake, be shiny and stay like that for 2-3 days. Keep the glazed cakes in the fridge for 3-4 hours before serving.
INGREDIENTS FOR 6 COCONUT MOUSSE CAKES:
Jellified strawberry insert
- 150 g strawberries
- 20 g sugar
- 2 tsp of lemon juice
- 30 ml water
- 2 sheets of gelatine
- pinch of black pepper
Pâte sucrée
- 65 g butter (room temperature)
- 45 g icing sugar
- 25 g egg
- 1 egg yolk
- pinch of salt
- 5 g vanilla sugar
- 40 g ground hazelnuts
- 30-40 g shredded coconut flakes (and extra for decoration)
- 15 g white chocolate (decoration)
Coconut mousse
- 1 1/2 gelatine leaves
- 40 g sugar
- 35 g egg yolk
- 25 g cornstarch
- 230 coconut milk (canned)
- 45 g mascarpone
- 2 drops of coconut aroma paste
- 200 ml cream (whipped)
Mirror glaze
- 3 gelatine leaves
- 100 g glucose
- 100 g sugar
- 60 g water
- 70 g condens milk (warm)
- 120 g white chocolate (chopped)
- pink gel colour
To begin, prepare the jellified strawberry insert. Soak the gelatine in cold water. Wash and cut the strawberries into smaller chunks. Put them in a saucepan together with sugar, water and lemon juice. Cook until the sugar is melted and the strawberries get soft. Then, puree them with an immersion blender and return them to the stove. Stir in a pinch of black pepper and the bloomed gelatine. Cook on low heat for a minute. Set aside for a couple of minutes. Pour it into small sphere-shaped molds (I used an ice cube mold) and place them in the freezer until set or overnight.
Pâte sucrée
In the meantime, prepare the pâte sucrée. In a bowl add butter, icing sugar, salt and vanilla. Mix until combined. Then, mix in the egg and egg yolk. Finish with adding the flour, hazelnuts and shredded coconut flakes. Mix just enough to combine, wrap it into foil and place in the fridge for 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Once the dough is cold and rested, roll it out to 3 mm thickness on a lightly dusted surface, cut out the shapes with a cookie cutter and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Put in the oven and bake for 10-11 minutes or until golden brown. Then, transfer them to a wire rack to cool down.
After the cookies are chilled, melt the white chocolate and, using a small brush, cover the edges of one cookie at a time. Cover with shredded coconut flakes immediately and later store them in an airtight cookie container.
Coconut mousse
Next, prepare the coconut mousse. Soak the gelatine in cold water for 10 minutes. In a bowl, combine starch, sugar and egg yolk and whisk until well incorporated. Then, in a medium saucepan bring the coconut milk to a light simmer. Pour 1/3 of it into the egg mixture and stir vigorously. At this point, place the milk back on the stove (medium-high heat) and stir the egg mixture back into the coconut milk. Keep stirring until smooth and thicker. Set aside for a minute and stir in the bloomed gelatine. Leave to cool down to 30°C.
Meanwhile, whip the cream to soft peaks. Once the coconut cream has the right temperature, fold in the mascarpone and the whipped cream. Transfer it into a piping bag.
Fill each form up to 2/3 and put one jellyfied strawberry insert in each of them. Gently push it 1/3 into the mousse. Finish by filling the forms with the remaining coconut mousse. Carefully transfer the forms into the freezer and keep them there overnight.
Mirror glaze
To make the mirror glaze, soak the gelatine in cold water for 10 minutes. Chop the white chocolate and put it into a heatproof bowl.
In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water and glucose. Cook until it reaches 103°C. Then, remove it from the stove and stir in the warm condensed milk and bloomed gelatine until dissolved. Pour it over the white chocolate and let it sit for 30 seconds. Afterwards, stir it and use an immersion blender to emulsify, without incorporating any air. Stir in the gel colour until the desired shade.
When the glaze reaches 31°C-34°C, it is ready to work with. As you need to work fast, have a baking tray lined with foil, a silicone mat or parchment paper with a wire rack over it at hand.
Remove the first two cakes from the form (keep the rest in the freezer), place them on the wire rack and pour the mirror glaze over them (just enough to cover them). Gently tap the wire rack to help the glaze to cover the whole cake. Carefully remove the cake, using a cake spatula, and place it on the cookie. Continue with the remaining cakes. You can scratch the glaze from the bottom of the tray and reuse it if needed.
Finally, sprinkle each coconut mousse cake with shredded coconut flakes and place them in the fridge. After 3-4 hours they will have the right consistency and texture to enjoy. Serve them with a strawberry coconut cocktail, fruit juice or some wine.
Enjoy.
