Lemon Mousse Cake

This cake looks like a cheesecake but it is not!!! It's a fluffy lemon mousse cake. And this time it is My Birthday Cake!!! Happy birthday to me....
This cake is really light and is not very sweet. It is a great dessert after a sumptuous meal, it is also very good in summer time because of it's fresh and a bit soury taste. 
The preparation may seem  complicates but the only difficulty you may encounter is to whip different ingredients apart and mix them together afterwards.     

  

INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 8

3 eggs
90g sugar
90g flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Mousse:
2 eggs
100g sugar
1.5 lemons
5g gelatin (2.5 sheets)
250g whipping cream

1. Whip 3 eggs with 90g of sugar (6tbs) for 10 minutes: 3-4 minutes at high speed to create the volume and 6-7 minutes more at a very low speed to fix the bubbles. 

2. Sift the flour together with baking powder.
3. Mix the flour into the egg with a hand whisk paying attention to make the movements from the bottom to the top. 
Note: Be careful not to mix for too long as it will break the bubbles and the cake won't come out soft and airy.
4. Pour the cake carefully into a 22-23 cm mould and bake the cake at 180C for 20 minutes.

5. Switch the oven off and keep the cake for about 10-15 minutes in the oven with the door slightly open.
6. Take the cake out of the mould and and let it cool down completely over the cake rack.
7. Cut the cake with the steel ring to about 21cm in diametre.  

8. Prepare the syrup with 50ml of water, 1tbs of sugar and some liqueur, better Limoncello or at least Rum. 
Note: You may melt the sugar in hot water or just heat it in the microwave oven.
9. Using a special cake squeeze bottle, pour the syrup over the cake to moist it.
10. In a small bowl soak the gelatin for about 10 minutes.   

11. Divide eggs into yolks and whites.

12. Whip the whites with half of the sugar (50g) and the yolks with the rest of it in separate bowls.

 

13. Whip the cream to thick foam.

14. Grate the yellow part of 2 lemons' peel.
Note:The white part of the lemon skin is bitter, don't use it.
15. Squeeze the juice of 2 lemons.

16. Add lemon peel and lemon juice to the yolks.

17. Mix the three whipped ingredients together using a hand whisk, try to do it very carefully not to break the bubbles.

18. Squeeze gelatin to remove the excess of water and melt it in the microwave oven for about 20 seconds.
Note: You may also melt gelatin in a double boiler.  

19. Add gelatin to the mousse and stir well.

20. Insert the cake into the cake ring over a nice dish and pour the foamy mousse over it.

21. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or better overnight.


22. Make a neat cut round the ring and open the ring.
23. Decorate the cake as you like it, better with some lemon slices to recall to the taste of the dessert.
Note: You may use the borders of the cake that you cut off: crumble them and decorate the cake's border.
       

    

ENJOY!!!

Strawberry dessert

Here we go, a fresh dessert that doesn't excess in calories:  strawberries marinated with lemon liqueur served with ice cream and Amaretti cookies. 
You may use Vanilla ice cream, or Stracciatella, if you like chocolate or as I did, some Vanilla with cherries.  


INGREDIENTS:
Servings: 2

200g strawberries
200g vanilla ice-cream
4-5 Amaretti cookies
1/2 lemon
1tbs sugar 
2tbs Limoncello liqueuer
fresh mint

1. Wash strawberries and cut them into 2 or more parts.
2. In a medium bowl season strawberries with sugar, lemon juice and Limoncello liqueuer and keep them aside for 10 minutes.

3. An easy way to crush the cookies is to wrap them into a sheet of bread brown paper and hit the "package" with the meat tenderizer or just a knife handle. 

4. To serve the dessert, strawberries come first, then we add a scoop of ice cream, sprinkle with Amaretti crumbles and some syrup that we got from the strawberries. 

 

ENJOY !!!