Fluffy Blueberry Cake
If you like anything fluffy this cake is just for you! Fluffy marshmallows, fluffy meringue and soft smooth blueberry mousse. If it weren't for the cake layers you would be able to inject the cake intravenously. But we kinda need the cake layers in order to call it a cake with a straight face, and it's to have an element that doesn't fluff up in your mouth. Baking the cake isn't that big of a problem, but assembling it is a sticky mess because of the meringue. As you coat the cake with meringue it will stick to the cake yes, but it will also stick to your spatula, and the second spatula you use to take off the meringue from the first spatula, as well as your fingers when all hope is lost. But there should be plenty of meringue in the recipe for semi screw ups, and if you plan to decorate the cake with mini marshmallows you don't really need to do the meringue coating that well.
We are crazy about meringue in my household and the cake was a sure win. You exchange the mousse and cake layers with your preferred choice, as just in a blueberry mood and had all the blueberry toppings laying around. With marshmallows and meringue, it's a very sweet cake. I've reduced the amount of sugar in the cake and mousse significantly though, just remember to cut thin slices as we are talking about a fluffy 3 layered cake.
~Recipe~
Yields: ~15-20 servings
Ingredients
Chocolate Cake
80 g unsalted butter, room temperature
150 g sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp vanilla extract
40 g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
140 g flour
120 ml whole milk
Blueberry Mousse
300 ml cream
225 g black currant
50 g sugar
6 gelatin sheets
Juice from half a lemon
Swiss Meringue
150 g egg whites (~5 egg whites)
250 g sugar
Decoration
150 g mini marshmallows
Various blueberry topping (powder, dried, fresh, etc.)
Directions
Chocolate Cake
- Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease three 18 cm spring-forms and line them with parchment paper. If you only have one or two spring-forms you can either choose to bake the entire batch in one form and cut it into three layers after it's been baked, or use the same form three times.
- Mix butter and sugar until light and creamy, about 5 minutes on high speed.
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing well and scraping down unmixed ingredients down from the sides after each egg.
- Turn down the speed and mix in vanilla and cocoa, baking powder and soda and salt until well mixed.
- Add half the flour then all milk, then finish mixing in the remaining flour. Mix well until the batter is uniform.
- Divide batter in the forms and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a wooden stick comes out clean. Let the layers cool slightly in the forms before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Blueberry Mousse
- Soak gelatin sheets in a small bowl of water for 20 minutes.
- Blend blueberries and sugar to a purée. Pour into a large bowl.
- In another bowl, whip cream to soft peaks.
- Drain the gelatin sheets from water and place in a small saucepan together with the lemon juice. Melt over low heat or a hot waterbath. Once melted, stir into the blueberry purée.
- Then add 1/3 of the whipped cream to the black currant purée and fold. And the remaining whipped cream and gently fold, until incorporated. If a bit too runny, cool 5 minutes in fridge.
- In a plastic wrap line 18 cm cake ring(or spring-form) place a chocolate cake layer at the bottom pour over half of the mousse, apply the second cake layer, then the second half of the mousse and finally the last cake layer. Depending on how high your form is, you may need to add a second ring of plastic wrap(see picture). Cool in fridge for at least 5 hours or overnight.
Swiss Meringue
- Over a hot waterbath gently whisk egg whites and sugar in a medium bowl(or that of a stand mixer), till it reaches a temperature of 70°C. Take it off the bath and beat at high speeds until it becomes a thick and glossy meringue, around 10 minutes. The bottom of the bowl should feel neutral to the touch.
- Take the form off the cake and spread a layer of meringue with a spatula on the sides and top. Be careful not to pull the spatula straight away from the cake as the meringue will be pulled off the mousse. Transfer the leftover meringue to piping bag and pipe meringue towers on top of the cake.
- Decorate with marshmallows and brown them and the meringue towers with a blowtorch. Apply blueberry topping as you see fit.
- When serving the cake it will most likely be a very sticky situation as both the meringue and marshmallows will make it a hard time for any knife to cut through. A good advice is to dip your sharpest knife in boiling water and dry it just before every single cut.
