Strawberry Carrousel from Cocolat

Turkce Tarif

This is the second dessert I made for our weekend get-together with our friends. It was liked more than the Black Forest Cheesecake, and since there were no leftovers, I could not get any decent pictures of it when sliced--such a pity because this is a dessert that looks even prettier in the cross-section. The recipe is from Cocolat with some modifications.

• 9" thin cake layer (recipe below)
• 2 pints whole strawberries, rinsed, drained and hulled
• White Chocolate Mousse (recipe below)
• 1/4 c strained apricot preserves
• 2 tbs finely ground pistachios
  

Place cake layer in bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Choose some berries of equal height and start cutting them vertically. Arrange them pointed ends up, fitting cut sides snugly against inside circumference of pan, until the whole circumference is covered. Leave remaining berries whole and arrange them, pointed ends up inside the pan. Make sure that the berries are shorter than the sides of pan; if necessary, trim bottoms of berries.

Make the White Chocolate Mousse and pour immediately over the berries, making sure that it fills all the spaces in between the berries. (Pay special attention to the circumference berries while you do this.) Use a spatula to smooth the top. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or until the mousse has set.

Remove the sides of the springform pan carefully. You may need to warm pan briefly with a hot, wrung-out wet towel or a kitchen torch. I personally just ran a knife around sides, and used a spatula for corrections afterwards.

Simmer strained apricot preserves for a glaze. Brush only the cut sides of the berries and the sides of the cake layer with the glaze. Press ground pistachios against the cake layer. Refrigerate until serving time.



Cake Layer:

• 2/3 c flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 tbs butter, softened
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 c milk
  

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 9-inch springform pan. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside. Beat butter and sugar in another bowl until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk. prepare into prepared springform pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack. Remove, wash, dry and replace sides if necessary before you proeed with the recipe.

White Chocolate Mousse:

• 9 oz white chocolate, cut into very small pieces
• 1/4 c plus 1 tbs water
• 1 1/2 c heavy cream

Place white chocolate and water in a bowl. Bring 1 inch of water to a simmer in a bigger pan. Turn off heat. Now set the bowl of chocolate in the pan of water. Stir white chocolate mixture constantly until melted and smooth. Let cool down to 85F. (This step is important, if you fold cream into hot white chocolate, the mousse curdles.)If you don't have a thermometer, a dab of it on your upper lip should feel slightly cool. Slightly underwhip the cream. Carefully fold cream into cooled white chocolate mixture. The mousse will seem very soft in the beginning but will set very quickly. Scrape it immediately into lined pan.