Chocolate and Mint Mousse Traybake | Bake Off Bake Along

When you are little, all you want to do is grow up and be an adult. I longed to be an adult, with my own place and responsibilities and independence to do what you want to do.

Then when you actually grow up, all you want to do is go back to being young and having no responsibilities, because when it comes to adulating, it’s not actually all it cracked up to be. It’s a lot of food shops, DIY in the house, bills to pay, cleaning and fixing things, and remembering to put the washing on and also dry it, otherwise you have nothing to wear the next day.

It’s also about mad dashes to B&Q for saws because the palm tree in your garden is getting out of control and a saw is the only thing that will cut it... and dashing back a few weeks later for plywood to cover up the unusable and not sealed fireplace that is an entrance way for spiders into your home.

And we thought that saw would have only one use.

There is never a day when you don’t have something to do in the house, and that’s what I’m learning about adulating. You have just enough time for a lie in before the day gets way too busy and before you know it, it’s Monday again.

Petition for an extra weekend day!

In between a crazy busy weekend and random trips to B&Q, I squeezed in the time to make these Chocolate and Mint Mousse traybake slices for the Bake Off Bake Along. They were definitely a step outside of the ol’ comfort zone with the whole mousse-making.

I scoured websites for a mousse that doesn’t using egg whites, but as my friend reminded me, that’s just how mousses are made. So I could search for as many shortcuts for them, but it just wasn’t going to work.

So I took on a mousse. With egg whites. And y’know what, it was actually really good. The taste is just like a mint Aero which was what I was going for with these little slices, so I’m pretty happy with that! And they look cute too.

I roughly followed a Delicious magazine mousse recipe, with a few adjustments. I switched out the milk chocolate for white chocolate, and it didn't really change much consistency wise as the fridge firms up the mousse. For the sponge, I used my favourite chocolate cake recipe, and that is the Ina Garten Beatty's cake. Hands down the best chocolate cake ever.

I don’t know how pastry chefs manage to pipe the exact same pattern every time either, because I struggled with that majorly. But after many, many attempts, I got there in the end.

What would you take on for cake week? I must admit, I was tempted by the chocolate collar! But now it's on to tackle the dreaded bread week...

Chocolate and Mint Mousse Traybake

Ingredients:

For the chocolate cake:

Adapted from Ina Garten

125g plain flour

200g caster sugar

45g cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

120ml buttermilk

60ml vegetable oil

3 medium eggs

120ml hot coffee (or hot water)

For the mint mousse

Adapted from Delicious Magazine

75g caster sugar

100g white chocolate

140ml double cream

3 medium egg whites

1tsp peppermint extract

1tsp green food colouring, or until desired colour

Directions:

1. First, preheat the oven to 350F/180C/Gas mark 4 and line a square, 9x9 inch baking tin. Grease and lightly flour the pan to help prevent the cake from sticking to the sides.
2. Sift together the flour, caster sugar, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder. 
3. In a jug or bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla extract. 
4. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry until combined, and then add the hot coffee (or hot water) and gently whisk until no lumps are left. 
5. Empty the cake mix into the pan and bake for 30 - 35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
6. Remove from the oven and leave to cool 

1. For the mint mousse, melt the white chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, until the chocolate is melted. Once melted, remove from heat and allow to cool. 
2. Whip the double cream, peppermint extract and one third of the caster sugar, until soft peaks form.
3. In a different bowl, whisk the eggs whites until soft peaks form and slowly add the remaining two thirds of caster sugar, until they form soft and glossy peaks. 
4. Once the chocolate has cooled, fold in the eggs whites and green food colouring into the chocolate, then fold in the cream until all combined and smooth. 
5. Placed in a container in the fridge to slightly set for about an hour. Then place in a piping bag ready to decorate. 
6. Score the cake into slices and poke holes using the end of a wooden spoon in the middle of the slices. Pipe the mint mousse mixture into the holes and a little bit on top too. Return to fridge for another hour to set fully
7. Remove from the fridge and cut into slices. Decorate with mint leaves and chocolate before serving.