Poached Pear Mousse Cake ~酒香迷梨~

My mum's birthday was on Saturday, so I took a trip to Basildon after work & made her a birthday cake.

I thought cheesecake is too simple so I took on a challenge to design a cake themed 'Red Wine'

As I'm craving for pears recently, red wine poached pears seem to be a perfect idea so I did on Friday night & made a mousse cake the other day.

The result... I wasn't totally satisfied by the look but I definitely love the taste.

I always have more fun in making petit cakes then a big one, plus I find the giants are difficult to decorate.

When I made the poached pears, the kitchen was like a wine farm, smelling of fruity, spicy & aromatic fragrance.

The poached pear is gently spicy & sweet, just perfect to complete a warm & comforting dinner.

I also used the red wine to bake a chocolate cake for the base, it's surprisingly dense & aromatic.

It went well with the cake but it maybe better just served alone or with some fruits.

If I was to make this again, I would add some lemon juices instead of vanilla in the crème fraîche mousse for a more refreshing & tangy taste.

bon appéti!

Recipe (8" round):

Red Wine Poached Pears

6-8 medium ripe pears, peeled

250 g sugar

750 ml red wine

5 whole cloves

1 orange, juice & zest

1 cinnamon stick

1 tsp dried thyme

1 vanilla pod, split & seeded

Preheat oven to 170C.

Put all ingredients apart from pears in a large pot & heat to boil.

Put the pears in while the red wine is boiling, make sure the pears are fully immersed in red wine.

Remove from heating & cook in the preheated oven for 30 min or until the pears become tender.

Remove from the oven & leave to cool overnight.
To serve, cook some red wine syrup to reduce the liquid until it becomes a thick syrup & pour over the pears.

Red Wine Chocolate Cake

40 g unsalted butter, softened

1 medium egg

25 g icing sugar

35 g dark chocolate 70%, melted

65 g self-raising flour

1/2 tsp cocoa powder

75 ml red wine, from poached pears (plus extra for brushing) 

Preheat oven to 170C & line a baking pan with a parchment paper marked with two 7" circles.

Beat butter with icing sugar until fluffy & light.

Beat in egg until well combined.

Blend in melted chocolate until smooth.

Sift in all the flours & mix until combined.

Pour in red wine & blend until smooth.

Pipe the batter within the circles & bake for 12-15 min.
Remove from the oven, brush with some red wine from the poached pears & cool on rack.

Crème Fraîche Mousse

210 g whipping cream

150 g crème fraîche

40 g sugar

4.5 g sheet gelatine

2 cm vanilla pod, split & seeded

Bloom the gelatine in cold water, squeeze out the water & dissolved with 20 g whipping cream over simmering water.

Whisk remaining whipping cream with sugar & vanilla seeds to soft peaks.

Blend in crème fraîche & gelatine batter until smooth.

Red Wine Poached Pear Mousse

200 g poached pear puree

200 g whipping cream

10 g sugar, or to taste

4 g sheet gelatine

20 g red wine, from poached pears

Bloom the gelatine in cold water, squeeze out the water then dissolve with pear puree over simmering water.

Whisk whipping cream with sugar to soft peaks.

Blend in the pear puree & red wine until smooth.

Assembling:

Place a chocolate cake base at the bottom of a 8" round mousse ring.

Pipe in the crème fraîche mousse, refrigerate to set.

Place a piece of chocolate cake on top, pipe in the pear mousse & refrigerate to set.

Once set, decorate with whipped cream, white chocolate flakes & poached pears.