Recipe: Fragrant & Chocolatey Mousse Desserts!

Hello Everyone! I'd like to start today by wishing everybody a very happy Diwali & Eid  - you guys kept us rushed off our feet during the festive period and we were really honoured by how many of you chose to include Devnaa as part of your gifts and celebrations - we hope that our sweets and chocolates added the perfect sweet touch to your festivities!

On with today's blog - having consumed endless amounts of delicious sweets and desserts over the last few weeks I have been inspired! The latest invention in our kitchen is this gorgeous chocolate, pistachio, cardamom and rose flavoured mousse cake which makes a stunning dessert, perfect for impressive dinner parties and is relatively really easy to make! For this recipe we're using a chocolate sponge which can be easily made or purchased with or without eggs but for a variation packed with more pistachio flavour, try making a pistachio sponge or joconde and using that instead.

Ingredients:
100g Shelled Pistachio Nuts
1 x 9" Square Chocolate Sponge Cake
600ml Double Cream
150g Caster Sugar
1/2 tsp Ground Cardamom
60ml Rose Water

You will need 6 x 2.5" Mousse Rings or Dariole Moulds

Method:

• Place the pistachio nuts in a frying pan and dry roast over a medium heat, tossing occasionally until green and fragrant (about 5 minutes)
• Leave aside until cool and then grind into a fine powder
• Carefully slice the chocolate sponge cake into 4 thin layers
• Cut 2 of the layers into 18 circles the same size as your moulds
• Cut the remaining 2 layers into 3" x 8" strips
• Press 6 of the sponge discs into the bottoms of the moulds and line the sides of each mould with the strips of sponge, trim to fit perfectly
• Sprinkle about half of the rose water over the sponge in the moulds
• Whisk the sugar and cream together until just past the soft peak consistency
• fold in the pistachio powder and cardamom
• Set aside 6 heaped tablespoons of the cream mixture
• Divide half of the remaining mixture between the sponge lined moulds and tap to level
• Place another disc of sponge on top of the cream in the mould and drizzle with half of the remaining rose water
• Divide the rest of the cream between the moulds, level and top with the last discs of sponge and drizzle with the rose water
• Refrigerate for at least 2 hours
• To demould - run a palette knife around each cake and carefully remove from the mould
• Use dessert spoons to make 6 'quenelles' of the reserved cream and place on top of each dessert (or just decoratively arrange the cream on top!)
• Garnish with rose petals and pistachio nuts and serve chilled.
• Pictures to follow soon - the layers look amazing when cut into! :)