Chocolate Mousse Cake and Lemon Meringue Pie

Cream, cream, and more cream!

Oh dear, I defiantly need to work on keeping my cool when baking goes amiss. Seriously, I let myself get way too worked up over these things. Note to self: RELAX!
My sister, Emily, was having a "fancy" dinner party the other night with some of her friends, and I said I'd do the desserts. After much deliberation I decided to go with Chocolate Mousse Cake, because there aren't many people out there who don't like chocolate, and Lemon Meringue Pie, because she is addicted to it. I've made the Lemon Meringue before so I wasn't too worried about that, and I figured that the Chocolate Mousse would be fine because I would have it made the night before.
The long and the short of it is that we didn't get all the ingredients the day before the party, and I got sick :( I did manage to get the cake for the chocolate cake made for the mousse filling the night before, but that was the easy part.
In the end she ended up buying a box of lemon pie filling (I DETEST baking that comes from boxes) so the pie got put together pretty quickly without much bother. Then came the mousse time *shudder*.
I got to the stage where I was meant to melt the chocolate and sherry together over a pan of boiling water, I usually melt chocolate in the microwave so off I went. The chocolate melted fine and then I added the cold sherry to it. Big mistake. Melted chocolate + cold liquid = very bad idea. I freaked out, mainly because I'd just wasted about 100gs of Lindt chocolate. So I sent my dad to get more chocolate and started again, melting the sherry and chocolate together at the same time. It happened again, the mixture sort of seized and wasn't really a liquid, I figured it was the microwave that was messing it up. I freaked out again, got a third batch of chocolate, and decided to melt it over a pan of water like the recipe said. It still wasn't turning into liquid, and I was convinced that there was something wrong with the sherry that was messing it up.
In the end it turned out that that is just what happens to chocolate when you melt it with sherry, and it loosens once it is mixed in with the rest of the ingredients :P Oh well, I've learned my lesson: Must NOT panic.

The recipe for the Lemon Meringue Pie doesn't really come from anywhere since it was using a box mix. It's just a basic biscuit base, filled with the pie filling, and topped with meringue. Easy, but it makes a damn good dessert.
The Chocolate Mousse Cake was from 'The Women's Institute: Chocolate'. This is the first time I've baked anything from this book, and I can't say I was blown away. But I think I'll have to try a few more recipes from it before I pass judgement because there are some really nice sounding recipes in that book that I'd love to try sometime, plus the pictures are amazing.

It kinda looks less graceful once you cut it...

Recipe: Chocolate Mousse Cake

Chocolate Cake:

Ingredients:
4 eggs
115g caster sugar
100g plain flour, sifted
15g coca powder, sifted
40g butter, melted

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees c. Grease a 20 cm (8 inch) cheesecake tin or loose-bottomed tin and line the base with baking parchment.
Place the eggs and sugar in a large bowl over a pan of hot water. Whisk them for 10 minutes, until the mixture is thick and creamy. Remove the bowl from the heat and continue to whisk for one minute.
Sprinkle the coca powder and flour over the surface and fold them in gently with a metal spoon using a figure of eight action. When they are nearly all incorporated, add the melted butter and mix it in.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 25-30 minutes until the cake has risen, is firm to the touch, and coming away from the sides. Allow to cool in tin for 5 minutes and then remove to wire rack. Slice it in half horizontally.

Chocolate Mousse:

Ingredients:

150g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1 tablespoon sherry
1 teaspoon gelatin powder
3 eggs, separated
150 ml whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks
50g caster sugar
2 tablespoons chocolate spread
150 ml whipping cream, whipped, to decorate
Coca powder, to decorate
Grated Chocolate, to decorate

Method:

Place the chocolate and sherry in a bowl set over a pan of hot water and allow to melt, stir and leave to cool.
Put 1 tablespoon of cold water in a medium bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over. Leave for a few minutes and then place the bowl in a larger bowl filled with hot water and stir to dissolve the gelatin. Allow mixture to cool and beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, followed by the melted (don't worry, it won't be very liquidy) chocolate and cream.
Whisk the egg whites until they are fairly stiff and continue to whisk while adding the sugar a tablespoon at a tine. Add 1 tablespoon to the chocolate mixture to loosen it, then carefully fold in the remaining egg whites.
Smooth the chocolate spread over the bottom half of the cake and place it back in the lined cake tin, chocolate spread side upwards. Spoon the chocolate mousse on top and place in the fridge to set, about 1 hour.

Place the other sponge on top. Spread the cream on top and decorate with coca powder and grated chocolate. Leave it in the tin until you are ready to serve (I don't think this is vital as mine was fine the next day).

I love dusting things with coca powder

Taste wise, the Pie was really nice. I know I say I hate box mixes, but I must admit it had a really good flavor (I think it was by Greens). It also sets really well so you don't get a big bowl of lemon squidgy rather than an actual piece of pie.
The Chocolate Mousse Cake didn't really live up to my expectations, mainly because of the cake. I know I made it a day in advance, but it was still a very dry cake without a whole lot of flavor. Granted the mousse was good, rich, chocolaty, and this really improved the cake when it was eaten with it. If I was to make it again I'd use the same mousse recipe but sandwich it between a better chocolate cake.
They were a big hit and everyone loved them, they were polished off the next day which is always a good sign.

How could you resist?

Lemon Meringue pie has to be one of my favourite desserts, especially when made with a biscuit base. Pastry is good and all, but there's something about the crumbly texture that just works so well with the puffy meringue. The one thing I hate about making this dessert is that the meringue always ends up sliding away from the filling when you put a slice on a plate, and it ends up looking like a big mess >_< The recipe I used was adapted from Williams and Sonoma's 'Essentials of Baking'. Originally it had a pastry crust, but I substituted this for a biscuit base. Other than that I didn't make any changes. I like this recipe a lot, the lemon filling isn’t too sweet and the meringue is light and fluffy :)

I love the way droplets of water form on the meringue after it's cooled

Recipe: Lemon Meringue Pies

Base:

Ingredients:

200g crumbed digestive biscuits
4-5 tablespoons butter

Method:

Grease and line a 23cm ceramic pie dish. Mix together the biscuit crumbs and melted butter and press evenly into the base of the prepared tin. Baking in oven at 150 degrees Celsius/ 300 F for about ten minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer to fridge to cool

Lemon Filling

Ingredients:

6 tabelspoons/45g cornstarch

1 1/2 cups/ 375ml water

5 large egg yolks

1 3/4 cups/440g granulated sugar

1/2/ cup/125ml fresh lemon juice

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

Method:

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and 1/2 cup/ 125 ml of the water and stir until the cornstarch dissolves.
In a saucepan, whisk together the egg yolks, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and remaining 1 cup/ 250 ml water until well blended. Whisk in the cornstarch mixture and bring to the boil over a medium heat whisking constantly, about 8 minutes. Boil for a further 1 minute until the mixture thickens and looks clear. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon zest. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the filling into a medium bowl and place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the filling to stop a skin from

Meringue:

Ingredients:

6 large egg whites, at room temperature

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

6 tablespoons/ 90g caster sugar

Method: In a large bowl, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar. Using a hand-mixer beat on medium speed until the whites begin to thicken. Increase the speed and beat until soft peaks form. Slowly and the caster sugar and continue to beat until stiff, shiny peaks form.

To assemble:

Remove the plastic wrap from the lemon filling and pour over pre-baked base. Using a rubber spatula, distribute the meringue evenly over the filling, moulding it upwards towards the centre, and forming swirls and peaks. Bake until meringue is lightly browned, about 12-17 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for one hour. Refrigerate until cold, at least 5 hours or up to overnight. Serve cold.

It’s really, REALLY important to keep it in the fridge for long enough, the lemon filling needs to get good and solid. It’s meant to be supported inside a pie-crust, but seeing as how I use a biscuit base it tends to ooze once cut, but in my opinion it’s worth it.