Winter fruits and Bonne Maman Madeleine Charlotte cake
Recipe by Eric Lanlard
A light and fluffy strawberry mousse topped with delicious winter fruit, all held beautifully in place with Bonne Maman Madeleines, this indulgent dessert is perfect for dinner parties or a quiet night in. Using buttery Bonne Maman Madeleines instead of the usual sponge fingers gives this dessert a traditional French twist and is guaranteed to impress your friends and family.
Serves: 8
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 8 minutes
Set time: 3 hours
Ingredients:
For the Bonne Maman Madeleine syrup:
- 100ml water
- 100g golden caster sugar
- 100g strawberries
Everything else:
- 20 Bonne Maman Madeleines
- 250g of mixed winter fruits
For the mousse:
- 300g strawberries
- 100g golden caster sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 300ml whipping cream
- 2tsp vanilla bean paste
- 5 gelatine leaves
For the Bonne Maman Madeleine syrup:
- In a saucepan, mix the sugar and water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Leave to cool.
- Wash 100g of strawberries, remove the stems and liquidise in a food processor to make a coulis.
- Pass the coulis trough a fine sieve to collect all the seeds.
- When the sugar syrup is cool, mix with the coulis and put to one side.
For the mousse:
- Wash 300g strawberries and remove the stems.
- Heat the strawberries in a small saucepan with 50g of golden caster sugar to create a puree.
- Cover the gelatine leaves with cold water in a separate bowl.
- In a separate bowl, whisk 4 egg yolks with the remaining 50g of golden caster sugar.
- Pour the hot strawberry puree on to the yolk and sugar mixture and whisk continuously.
- Put the strawberry puree, yolk and sugar mixture back in to a saucepan and heat whilst continually mixing until the puree thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
- Drain the gelatine and add it to the hot strawberry puree. Put it to one side to cool.
- Use an electric hand whisk to whip 300ml of cream in to soft peaks, adding the vanilla bean paste half way through.
- When the strawberry puree is cold, fold in the whipped cream in two stages to create a smooth and creamy mousse.
To build then Bonne Maman Madeleine Charlotte cake:
- Line a 22cm in diameter springform tin with baking paper.
- Cut the Bonne Maman Madeleines in half length ways and line the tin with the curved sides against the wall of the tin.
- Fill the bottom of the tin with the other Bonne Maman Madeleines halves – cut them to fit if need be.
- Using a pastry brush, paint the Bonne Maman Madeleines with the syrup made at the very beginning.
- Using a ladle cover the Bonne Maman Madeleines with the mousse.
- Repeat the process – add Bonne Maman Madeleines, paint with syrup and add mousse. Make sure you leave a small gap between the final layer of mousse and the top of the Bonne Maman Madeleines.
- Place the cake in the fridge to set for at least 3 hours.
- When set, gently remove the tin and put on a serving plate or cake stand.
- Decorate with mixed winter fruits and enjoy!