Red Velvet Mousse Cake Recipe

Have I told you about my addiction to red velvet?

Lately, I have been dreaming of making more challenging cakes. It's not that making perfect cake layers and smooth & even frosting isn't hard, but I just want to try something a little bit out of the usual. I recalled a chocolate mousse cake. Who can ever forget that rich chocolate cake layered with smooth chocolate mousse and light whipped cream?  But my addiction for making everything red velvet kicked in - so why not make a red velvet mousse cake?

This cake is composed of a red velvet cake bottom, red velvet mousse for the center, and whipped cream for the top layer. The varying texture per layer makes magic in your mouth. This takes more time to prepare, but it. is. worth it. The extra labor makes it more challenging yet more special! Go creative in adding the whipped cream: you could either pipe in the frosting like I did, or simply pour it evenly on the cake. Garnish with chocolate chips, grated chocolate, or even red sprinkles! This part is totally up to you.

(Red Velvet Cake assembly)
For the base cake, I halved this red velvet cake recipe and used an 8 inch springform pan. While the cake is in the oven, prepare the red velvet mousse (instructions below). When the cake is done, remove it from the pan and let it cool in a cooling rack. After 10 minutes or so, return the cake on the same pan, and then pour the red velvet mousse over it. This ensures that the circumference of the mousse is even and won't spill over the sides of the bottom layer.

After assembling these two layers, place it in the fridge for an hour to make sure that the mousse is set. Before removing the cake from the fridge, prepare the whipped cream. The amount of whipped cream depends on you, but I like to use 1 to 1.5 cups of heavy whipping cream. You can't have too much whipped cream anyway, right? Using an electric mixer (or a really strong arm), whip the cream for around 5 minutes, until stiff peaks form and it has doubled in volume.

Push the bottom part of the springform pan to remove the cake and prepare it for frosting. Pipe the frosting the way you desire. If you opt to spread the whip cream instead, I suggest to do this before removing the cake from the springform pan.

Garnish with your favorite topping: may it be chocolate chips, red sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, grated chocolate, or more!

Ingredients (Red Velvet Mousse)
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/8 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
1/2 tbsp red food coloring
1/2 tbsp vanilla
1/8 cup granulated sugar*

Instructions (Red Velvet Mousse) 

1. Melt the chocolate on a double broiler or on the microwave. Make sure to watch over this and not let it scorch! Stir it to ensure that there are no more lumps and that it is smooth.
2. Remove from heat, then add in 1/8 of the heavy cream and stir until it is smooth.
3. Add red food color and vanilla. Let it stand for around 10 minutes to cool it slightly.
4. While letting it cool, whip the remaining cup of cream and sugar in another bowl until stiff peaks form.
5. Fold in half of the chocolate mixture to the cream. Add the remaining chocolate mixture afterwards.
6. See the instructions above on how to assemble into a red velvet mousse cake.

Makes one 8" layer (enough for one red velvet mousse cake)

Recipe adapted from iambaker.

Notes and Tips for Success:
* The amount of sugar depends on you. If your whipping cream needs some sweetening, add according to your preference. The brand I used was sweet on its own, so I didn't bother to add sugar.
* Double the recipe if you plan to make small batches (aside from the cake) to be put in small container cups or jars (just like the photo below!)
* Make sure to use Springform pan to ensure that the layers are clean on the sides.

NO REGRETS. This is my most favorite cake (so far)! The only problem here is that it can't be left for long on room temperature. That is, if there will be slices left after you serve it. I know mine didn't. *smirks* But this is a challenge when transferring it to other places or giving away as gift. But there's a solution here: put it in a mason jar! Simply mash the left-over cake (the scraps after leveling the bottom layer), pack it at the bottom of the jar, layer with red velvet mousse, pipe whipped cream, and garnish. I also placed it on small container cups, but it was long gone before I took photos.

Cinnamon French Toast Sticks Recipe

Breakfast is definitely my favorite meal of the day!

I absolutely believe that it's the most important meal of the day. Plus, breakfast meals are my favorite - pancakes, bacon, french toast - name it! I also love how creative you could be with it. So making your breakfast pretty AND delicious = baking a delicious cake and decorating it (which is my favorite part of making a cake)!

I've been the one who introduced French Toast to my family when I stumbled upon a recipe from an all-purpose cream carton. I was able to perfect it once or twice, but I wasn't able to keep the recipe. And whenever I'm going to recreate it, I keep on forgetting the ingredients and its proportions. But recently, I've been pinning different French Toast ideas on Pinterest. So seeing that there was stale bread available at home, I immediately thought of this.

Ingredients:
6 slices of bread (preferably stale)
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp vanilla
For cooking: butter or margarine
For serving: Maple syrup (or any choice of dip)

Instructions:

1. Cut each bread into 4 slices. Set aside.
2. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cinnamon, sugar, and vanilla.
3. Heat a non-stick pan over low-medium heat. Melt butter or margarine on the pan.
4. After step 3, immediately coat bread slices with the batter, shake off excess, and place immediately on the pan to avoid the butter from burning. Cook a single layer of coated bread sticks that can fit in your pan, but do not overcrowd it.
5. Cook until one side is golden brown. Flip the bread, and achieve the same golden brown color on all sides.
6. Repeat steps 3 to 5 until all bread sticks are cooked.
7. Serve immediately with your syrup or dip of choice.

Recipe from Just a Taste.

Don't limit yourself to eating French Toast for breakfast only - you can make these for snacks!