Sailor Moon Desserts Crystal | Strawberry & Pistachio Mousse for Makoto

So as you all may know from the original recipe, Jupiter is my favorite senshi! As I wrote then,

“I relate to Makoto … her mix of rough-around-the-edges and domestic has always felt familiar. I’ve been known to make people cookies and follow up my attempt at a friendly gesture by accidentally slapping their back entirely entirely too hard. I believe someone once described the power in my hands as ‘Herculean.'”

I liked my original Makoto dessert, but I wanted to upgrade the visuals and refine the strawberry jelly component. I did both, one with the help of a cool silicone mold and the other by changing the recipe to one that has gelatin for stability.

This cake is just as fresh and yummy as the first time around, but it’s a little more high-end in appearance. I hope you like it!

STRAWBERRY  & PISTACHIO MOUSSE FOR MAKOTO

Yields: 6 mini mousse cakes.

Timing Notes: It’s best to spread this recipe over two or three days so it’s a relaxed process. First make the cake, gelee, mirror glaze and garnishes. Next, make the mousse and fill the cakes into the molds. Finally, glaze and garnish.

COMPONENTS

Pistachio Sponge Cake [Recipe Below]
Strawberry Gelee [Recipe Below]
Strawberry Mousse [Recipe Below]
Mirror Glaze [Recipe Below]
Fondant Roses [Instructions Below]
Chocolate Lightning Garnish [Instructions Below]

Coursely chopped pistachios OR Green Apple Pop Rocks

Silicone mousse cake mold
Gold leaf

PROCEDURE

1. Take the cake and gelee rounds from your freezer and sandwich together each gelee round with one cake round. Ready your strawberry mousse piping bag and silicone mold. Pipe mousse into each cavity of your mold to about 2/3 fullness. Now press the gelee-and-cake rounds into the mousse, gelee side down, until the cake is level with the top of the mold. Use a spatula to brush off any excess mousse. Repeat for each cavity, then freeze the cakes for 4-6 hours or overnight to get them completely solid.

2. Distribute a set of 6 shoot glasses on a clean baking sheet with plenty of room between each one. Carefully peel the mold from each cake and set it onto one of the glasses. Place the sheet in the freezer until your glaze is ready.
3. Warm the glaze in the microwave 5-10 seconds at a time, stirring gently between each warming, until the glaze has just melted and become smooth. Do not whip the glaze, or else you may add air bubbles into it. The glaze should be slightly warm and pourable but NOT hot. To test it, dip in a clean finger. It should be slightly warm to the touch, but not hot and certainly not uncomfortably hot.
4. Pull the cakes from the freezer and pour glaze over each one, taking care to cover the sides. If you’re unsure about your pouring technique, just use all the glaze to cover 3 of the cakes at first. Scrape the excess glaze back into your pouring vessel, warm if necessary, and glaze the other half. This way you always have plenty of glaze to work with and don’t risk any bare spots.

5. Place the glazed cakes, still on the shot glasses, into the fridge for about 15 minutes. Now remove them from the fridge and use a knife or spatula to trim away the excess glaze along the bottom corners. Using clean hands, press some chopped pistachios (or pop rocks, if using) along the bottom edge of each cake. Now use a clean spatula to slide under each cake, lift it up and move it to the serving plate.
6. Place a fondant rose on to each cake, just a bit off center (to either the right or left). Sprinkle a little bit of pistachio (or pop rocks) around the base of the rose. Finally, carefully insert a chocolate lightning cluster behind the flower. Add a bit of additional gold leaf to the base of the rose if you like. Serve immediately, or keep chilled in the fridge for up to 12 hours before serving.

RECIPES

Strawberry Gelee
1/2 lb (225g) strawberries, frozen or fresh
1 tsp. gelatin powder
1 tbsp cold water
50g (1/4 cup) sugar

1. Lightly grease a 9×9″ pan. Combine the gelatin and water in a small bowl and allow to bloom for five minutes. Using a blender or hand blender, puree the strawberries until smooth. Strain out the seeds and combine with sugar in a small saucepan. Boil the mixture together for about a minute before removing from the heat.
2. Stir the bloomed gelatin into the hot strawberry mixture until dissolved. Pour the mixture into the baking pan. If there is froth on the top, skim it off. Allow the gelee to set for 2 hours in the fridge before covering it in plastic wrap and moving it to the freezer for another 2 hours.
3. Once the gelee is frozen, dip the base of the pan briefly into hot water to loosen up the sides of the gelee. Flip the gelee slab onto a sheet of parchment. Using a 1.5″ pastry cutter, cut the gelee into rounds. Return the rounds to the freezer in an air-tight container until you are ready to fill your cakes.

Pistachio Sponge
3 egg whites
4.5 oz (130g) powdered sugar
4 oz (115g) pistachios, finely ground
3 eggs
1.5 (45g) ounces all-purpose flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 175°C/350°F and line a quarter-sheet pan with parchment or a silicone mat. Grease lightly.
2. In a clean bowl and with clean beaters, whip your egg whites to soft peaks. Sprinkle on a spoonful of your sugar and beat the egg whites to medium peaks. Set aside.
3. Combine remaining sugar, pistachios, and eggs in separate bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Fold in the flour.
4. Carefully fold the meringue into your pistachio batter. Finally, fold in the vegetable oil. Pour batter into cake pan and spread evenly. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the middle springs back when lightly touched. Cover with plastic wrap while still warm and allow to cool completely.
5. Using a 1.5″ pastry cutter, cut the cake into rounds. Return the rounds to the freezer in an air-tight container until you are ready to fill your cakes.
Strawberry Mousse
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
1/2 lb (225g) strawberries, frozen or fresh
1 packet (9g) gelatin
1 tbsp cold water
1/3 cup (65g) sugar

1. Combine the gelatin and water in a small bowl and allow to bloom for five minutes. Using a blender or hand blender, puree the strawberries until smooth. Strain out the seeds and combine with sugar in a small saucepan. Boil the mixture together for about a minute before removing from the heat and allowing it to cool for a moment. Stir in the bloomed gelatin until dissolved.
2. In a clean bowl, whip the cream to medium peaks. Cool the strawberry puree over an ice bath until no longer warm, then fold in the whipped cream into it until the mixture looks smooth. Fill the mousse into a large pastry bag and use immediately.

Mirror Glaze
125ml (1/2 cup) water
200g (1 cup) sugar
200g (7 oz) corn syrup
125g (4.5 oz) condensed milk
15g (.5 oz) gold grade sheet gelatin
200g (7 oz) white chocolate, finely chopped
Pink food coloring

1. In a bowl, immerse the sheet gelatin in water and allow it to rest for 5 minutes. In a saucepan, combine the water, sugar, corn syrup and condensed milk and bring to a boil. Boil for about a minute.
2. Pour the hot mixture directly onto the white chocolate. Squeeze the excess water from the gelatin, then add the softened sheets to the glaze. Mix until smooth, either with an immersion blender or whisk. Add in pink food coloring one drop at a time until a pale pink color has been achieved. Pour into an air-tight container and allow to chill completely in the fridge for 2 hours.

Note: Sheet gelatin results in a better sheen on mirror glazes, hence the use of two different gelatins.

Chocolate Lightning Garnish
8 oz. (225g) tempered white chocolate OR white candy melts
Gold leaf

1. Take a large piece of parchment paper and crumple it up into a ball. Now un-crumple the paper and flatten it out a bit. Set it onto a cookie sheet.
2. Fill the melted chocolate into a piping bag and snip off a little bit of the tip so that you can pipe out a thin line. Use it to pipe an abstract lightning design as shown in the photo (I just piped lines and shook my hand a bit as I did so). The shape is unimportant and in fact looks better when each one is unique, but be sure the overall design isn’t larger than 3″x3″. For added stability, I suggest piping a rather thick blob at the base of each lightning cluster to make inserting them into the mousse cakes easier.
3. While the chocolate is still a bit tacky, use some tweezers to put a few bits of gold leaf onto them at random.
4. Once the chocolate has set completely, peel the parchment away from it carefully. Store the garnish in an air-tight container at cool room temperature until ready to use.

Rose Garnish
Marzipan or fondant
Pink food coloring
Cornstarch (for dusting)

1. Use the food coloring to color your marzipan or fondant pale pink. Pinch off 6 bits of fondant (roughly the size of a chickpea) and form them into a little cone shape.
2. Dust a countertop or cutting board lightly with cornstarch and roll the remaining fondant out thinly over the starch. Using a 1″ pastry cutter, punch out rounds (9 per rose). Store the rounds under a sheet of plastic wrap to avoid drying.
3. Assemble the roses as followers: first. wrap one round around the tip of a cone. If the fondant is not sticking to itself, brush a very small amount of water between the pieces to aid sticking. Make a row of two rounds, overlapping slightly, and wrap this around the cone just as you did the single round. Finally, make a row of 5 rounds (as shown below) and wrap this row around the entire piece. Carefully pinch off any excess fondant from the base and set the rose down to dry. (A mini muffin tin is great for this!) Repeat until you have made 6 roses.

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