Coffee Cheese Mousse Cake

It is a summer gathering in an old friend's newly bought house. Every guess is required to bring a dish, so I offer to make the desert, that is a delicious cheese mousse cake with a hint of coffee.

Coffee Cheese Mousse Cake

Coffee Cheese Mousse Cake

This is how the cake turns out on the dining table at the party night.

When cut it open, there are two mousse layers on the top of two chiffon cake layers.
Ingredients:

Cake base
5 large eggs (4 yolks, 5 egg whites)
1 cup cake flour
2/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/3 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Coffee cheese mousse
1 package of cream cheese, 250g
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup whipping cream
1 tbsp instant coffee
2 tbsp gelatin
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup of sugar


Cake topping
1 star fruit
1 dragon fruit
1 kiwi
1 orange
mint and sliver sugar balls

5 tbsp boiling water
1/2 tbsp gelatin
1 tbsp sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven 325F.


Cake Base
1. Mix cake flour, 1/3 cup icing sugar ( another 1/3 saved for the egg white), baking powder, salt.
2. Shift through
3. Add vegetable oil, milk, vanilla extract, and 4 egg yolks.
4. Mix well
5. Put 5 egg white in a different bowl.
6. Beat egg white for 3 minutes, add the rest of 1/3 cup icing sugar, and cream of tartar.
7. Beat for few more minutes
8. It is ready when the egg white does not move by putting the bowl upside down. (soft-peak stage)
9. Prepare the bake pan, with parchment paper underneath, and around.
10. Mix egg white with the flour batter 1/3 at a time. Fold it in gently to prevent losing the volume.
11. Pour the batter into the baking pan.
12. In the oven, lower the temperature to 300F, 55 minutes. When ready, use the tooth pick to test it. If tooth pick comes out clean, It is done.
13. Put the pan upside down on a cooling rack for about an hour.
14. Remove the pan and parchment paper on the side, save the parchment paper at the bottom, continue to cool.
15. Use four tooth picks to center each side of the cake. Cut along the tooth picks making sure that the cake is evenly cut into two slices. Same method can be used to cut three layers as well.
16. Put the bottom layer back into the baking pan. Surround it with new parchment paper.


A: Baked cake base. Just came out from the oven. There is no crack on the top, since I used low temperature for a slightly longer baking time, and beat the egg white till soft-peak stage.
B: When cut the cake open, it is very fluffy and soft. Great chiffon cake texture.
C: Cream cheese mixture without the whipped cream. It you like sweeter taste, more sugar can be added into the batter at this point.
D: Mousse mix has been poured onto the cake.

Coffee cheese mousse mix
17. Soak gelatin in 1/4 cup water for 3 minutes, heat it up in a microwave for 1 minute. Let it sit for 3 minutes, the gelatin water will become completely clear.
18. Add instant coffee into 1/4 cup of warm water, stir till melt.
19. Mix cream cheese, sour cream, coffee water, sugar, and clear gelatin water. Mix well
20. Beat the whipping cream until stiff, then fold the whipped cream into the cheese batter.
21. Pour 1/3 of the mix onto the first layer of the cake.
22. Drop the second layer, gently press it down. Then pour the rest of the cheese mix. Leave it in the fridge at least for 5 hours.

To prepare fruit topping
23. Cut the fruits. Assemble the fruits on the top of the cake.
24. Brush the fruits with the gelatin water. Chill it in fridge for one hour.



When to decorate the cake with the fruits, I assemble them on the cutting board first. I try not to make a flat surface, so I always to make something that can stand up for the height. For example the red orange on the picture gives depth to the decoration, and also serves as a focal point. Other fruit layers are involved around the center point.


After thoughts
1. The cake base is looking great and tasting wonderful. Everything is so right, the recipe, oven temperature, and timing. No need to change anything in the future cake baking.
2. Coffee flavor mousse cake is quite an invention. I was inspired by the recipe of Tiramisu. It is a nice flavor for adults.
3. Not hundred percent happy with the fruit topping. It is too big and too much. Specially the star fruit layer. Except the orange, every fruit could be half the size.

For detailed pictures on each step of cake making, please see the previous post: Green Tea Red Bean Mousse Cake