Raspberry mousse cake

I never could understand why some people dreaded Mondays. I have been quite fond of them since I can remember. Early on, that meant that I would go to kindergarten and color to my heart's desire, then it was school (which I LOVED by the way), then work. 
Every Monday was a new beginning, new adventure for the week, until this past one.


I don't think I will hate Mondays, but now I can say that I have had a bad one.


So, I'm sitting nicely and trying to sort out my cooking books when one of them opened on a desserts page. Mousse! I love mousse. Fluffy, light and delicious. 
Couple of weeks ago, I was glancing through some blogs and the idea was born. It was the day for the Raspberry mousse cake to be made.


I gathered all of the ingredients, measured everything and started. So far, so good. No glitches, no hitches. I made the cake, stashed it in the fridge and I was pretending to watch TV. I use the TV only as a background noise, to drown the construction works going right, left and centre, but I had few hours to kill until the cake was set, so I can add the final touch, the chocolate topping. I stared at the TV with no purpose, read the online newspapers and 'killed' those couple of hours. Oh yeah, it was chocolate time!
So, I'm melting the chocolate (in the microwave) and seeing that the blasted chocolate chips aren't losing their form. Hmm, lemme check if they're still cold, maybe there's something wrong with the microwave.
BIIIIGGGG mistake! Touched one of the chocolate chips in the dish and in that very instant, I got me a blister on the left forefinger. That will teach me not to use short-cuts. Chocolate SHOULD be melted only in double boiler. Period.
So, I did the double boiler thingy and started stirring the chocolate with a little oil to cool it down. Then, the doorbell rung. OK, I said to myself, here goes another concerned citizen about the state of my soul. Lately, I've been plagued by people that claim that want to save my soul. 
I picked up the intercom and was ready to say 'no speak English', but then I heard familiar voice: 'Hiya, it's the vet!'
I had totally forgotten that Fluffy had to get his vaccine and Mikki (the cokatiel)  had to have her wing checked, as she was holding it on a strange angle.
I buzzed the vet in and left my bowl of chocolate on the counter top.
We had a little small talk before he got around the animals, Fluffy was fine, he was a very brave boy, didn't even blink when he gave him the needle. Mikki was a proper lady, a little scared, but not biting (which surprised the vet, as cokatiels are somewhat ferocious biters). The verdict was that she had broken her wing, but it will mend on its own. All righty... Paid the vet, saw him to the door and went back to my cake.


By the time I was back in the kitchen, the chocolate looked a lil' bit thick, but I really didn't feel like reheating it (hey, you can't blame me, it was 40 degrees Celsius in the house).


So, I poured the chocolate over the mouse and uh-oh... it wouldn't spread. 
After some unladylike behavior and bunch of profanities spewed at inanimate objects, I shoved the cake in the fridge and decided that Tuesday should roll out as soon as possible.


Several hours later.....


Tuesday


I woke up in a good mood, but the cake bit was bothering me. Opened the fridge, stared at the cake, no changes... lumpy chocolate covering. I sighed, made some oatmeal and while mindlessly eating it and staring into some of the ceiling patterns, I decided that dessert after breakfast is the new 'in'.


Took the PINK knife, poured some water over it and cut me a slice. I removed the lumpy mess of a chocolate and slid the spoon through the mousse. Like a hot knife through butter. 
It was a love at first bite! Yummylicious, delicious, everything wickedly -icious! 
So, the day went fine and after dinner, I offered Mr. F a slice of cake. He's not very keen on desserts, but he didn't find a fault. Yay me!


Wednesday


As usually, I spend the day reading, writing, doing some housework until dinner. Mr. F wanted spaghetti with 'surprise me' sauce, so I made for him, but I wasn't hungry, so I 'attacked' a peach. After taking the dishes to the sink, I couldn't believe what I heard:
'Do you still have a slice of that raspberry cake?' 
Mr. F ASKING for a cake!!! Second time in the history of our togetherness!


Thursday


Despite the lack of aesthetics, I decided to share the recipe with you, hoping that you'll do the chocolate bit right. So, here it goes:


For 20cm cake mould you will need


1 small (store bought) Swiss roll

450 grams raspberries

70 grams sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

500 ml heavy cream

4 tsp gelatin granules

For the chocolate topping:

50 grams dark chocolate chips

2 tsp cooking oil

Method:

Cut the Swiss roll into thin slices (3-4mm thick). Line the bottom and the sides of the cake tin with the slices.

Puree the raspberries with a stick blender or in food processor. Pass the puree through a sieve to remove pips. You'll end up with about 350 ml of nice, pip-less puree.

In 1/3 of the puree, add the gelatin and let it stand for 5 minutes. In the remaining 2/3 add the lemon juice and sugar.

Heat the puree with gelatin on low flame, until the gelatin has melted. Add it to the rest of the puree and put it in the fridge until you whip the cream.

When the cream is nicely whipped, ad the raspberry puree and stir to combine. 

Pour into the cake tin and chill for at least 5 hours before you do the chocolate glazing.

For the chocolate topping, melt the chocolate in double boiler and add 2 tsp of cooking oil. Stir until cool and pour over the top of the cake. Spread evenly with a palette knife and return to the fridge until serving time.