Pear mousse cake



Tools you need:

1. ballon whisk (egg beater, as this)
2. hand hold mixer (as this) or stand mixer (as this)
3. Silicon pastry brush (as this)
4. kitchen scale (as this)
5. Blender (I use this) or food processor (sometime I use this)
6. parchment paper (as this)
7. cake ring (I use this; it can be also used as a cake cutter) or springform pan 
8. offset spatula (as this)
9. silicon spatula (as this)
10. Cake circle, optional (I use this)

Ingredients for 8 inches cake:

for cake
1. 5 large eggs
2. 90g sugar
3. 70g canola oil
4. 70g orange juicy
5. 1/2 tsp  vanilla extract
6. 90g cake flour
7. 2g baking powder
8. 2g salt
9. 2g cream of tartar (as this, you can find in seasonings shelf)

for pear mousse:
1. 4 Bosc pear, 1/3 cup sugar and water... boil and chill in fridge. Keep syrup for assembly step!
2. 3 yolk (about 54g)
3. milk 122g
4. sugar 90g
4. two envelopes (15g) unflavored gelatin (as this)
5. Brandy or Rum 10g
6. Heavy cream 240g 
7. 2 tbsp powder sugar

for assembly:
1. 80g syrup from boiling pear
2. 10g Brandy or Rum

for decoration:
1. cream cheese 8oz
2. heavy cream 1 cup
3. powder sugar 1/2 cup
4. two piece marshmallow

Step 1.

1. 4 Bosc pear (peel, cut each pear half and remove pear's core)
2. Bring 1/3 cup sugar and water (enough to cover the pear) to boil, and add in prepared pear. Bring to boil and leave it on low heat for 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature then chill in fridge. Keep syrup for assembly step!

Steps 2. 

cake:
1. preheat oven to 350F

2. Lightly butter bottom and side of two 9-inch cake pan (I like to cut the edge off, which is normally too dry). Or you can use two 8-inch cake pan. Line bottom of the pan with a circle of baking parchment paper. Dust side of the pan with flour and tap out excess.  Leave the pans in the fridge.

3. Separate egg york and white.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together cake flour and baking powder; sift twice. 

5. In a large bowl, mix orange juice and oil. Use hand hold mixer, high speed for 1-2 minutes, or until they are incorporated. 

6. Use balloon whisk to blend in cake flour & baking powder mixture (as in step 4.). Don't use electrical mixer, which is too fast and will make the cake too dry! Then whisk in vanilla extract. 

7. Use balloon whisk to mix egg york, and whisk till well incorporated. Don't use electrical mixer, which is too fast and will make the cake too dry! Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or wet kitchen paper towel. 

8. Add salt and tartar into the egg white. In a large bowl (clean, no water, no oil!), beat egg whites at medium speed for 30 seconds, then add in sugar. Continue to beat until shining and soft peaks are formed. Borrow a picture... 







9. Scrape 1/3 of whites on top of beaten egg yolks. Blend thoroughly. Then pull the egg yolk mixture to the rest of whites. Gently incorporate them using a silicon spatula. Don't overfold. 

10. Scrape batter into prepared pans. Use offset spatula to even the surface. Gently shake the pans before put them into the oven to get air bubbles out. 

11. Bake for 18 minutes (in the middle/lower shelf of the oven) or the surface is lightly brown.


12. Lightly butter a piece of wax paper or parchment paper. Turn the cake (top side down) onto the paper. Gently remove the parchment paper which you put on the bottom of the pan. Layer wax paper or parchment paper on cookie rack, and cool the cake on the wax paper (flip again). Gently remove the paper on the top side. Now your cake should be spongy and very pale color. If you make two 9-inch cakes, you make cut the edge off to make the cake fit to your cake ring or springform. 

Tips for cake:
a. Bake even strip helps. The edge of my cake looks better 

b. Don't use non-stick baking pan for chiffon cake! Don't spray oil on the wall of baking pan!
c. You have to wait the cake cool down to the room temperature.

Step 3. 

Prepare for assembling:

mix 80g syrup from boiling pear and 10 g Brandy

Step 4. 

For pear mousse

1. Use Vitamx blender to process prepared pear until pureed. 
2. Use ballon whisk to mix yolk (54g, 3 yolk) and sugar (90g) in bowl.
3. Sprinkle gelatin (2 packages, 15g) over 122g milk in a saucepan. Let stand for about 5 minutes. Then put the saucepan on medium heat, add in (2. - yolk and sugar mixture). Stir constantly until the mixture thicken. It takes about 5 minutes. Don't bring the mixture to boiling. Let it cool for 10 minutes. Then add in 10g Brandy.
4. When the mixture of 3. cools down to room temperature, blend in pear puree. Chill in fridge for 15 minutes.
5. In a chilled large bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream, sour cream and 2 tbsp powder sugar until peaks are formed. Don't overdo!
6. Scrape 1/3 of whipped cream on top of the pear mixture of 5. Blend thoroughly. Then pull them to the rest of whipped cream. Gently incorporate them using a silicon spatula. Don't overfold. 




Step 5.

Assembling 

1. If you use a cake circle, wrap it with plastic wrap, then line it with wax paper. Fit it in the cake ring. Wrap the ring and cake circle with foil paper. If you use springform, directly layer wax paper or parchment paper. 

2. Put one cake on the bottom, brush pear syrup, liquor water mixture generously - I mean well soaked. It will prevent cake drying out. 

3. Put half of pear mousse on the the cake, and even the surface. Add some pear pieces if you have extra left. 

4. Put the second layer of cake. Then brush sugar, liquor water generously. 

5. Add the remaining mousse on the top. 

6. Leave in refrigerator for at least 6 hours before serving. Never frozen a cake that has gelatin!

Step 5.

Decorating

1. Bring cream cheese to room temperature
2. Gently whip cream cheese (8oz) and powder sugar (1/4 cup)
3. In a chilled large bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream (1 cup) and powder sugar (1/4 cup) to thicken. Microwave marshmallow for 10-15 seconds till it expands and soft. Add marshmallow and 2. (cream cheese and powder sugar). Beat till stiff peaks are formed. 

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