Playing with flavours of Summer....Passion fruit, Chocolate and Mango

What I love about the world of Pastries is that there is so much to explore flavor wise, texture wise and even color wise!!

Passionfruit Mousse with Chocoate Ganache and Mango

I had been wanting to work with Passion fruit since quite some time now. But I struggled with it's flavour pairing. Yeah, you can say, why pair with anything!! Passion fruit by itself has wonderful tart and sweet notes that hit your medulla oblongata and sends tingles all over your body. But what's the fun of life if we do not jazz it up, eh!!??

So I consulted my Flavour Thesaurus and it said, passion fruit delivers good results with dark chocolate. Enter 70% Cacao Barry, which I always keep handy. But in the hindsight, I believe Passion fruit will deliver maximum impact with Cream cheese!! However, for my obsession with chocolate I had to marry Passion fruit with 70% Chocolate couvertures.

Thus I ended up making Passion fruit mousse (mousse, parfaits and panacottas are my all time favorites) and piped it with rich chocolate ganache. If your days are as hectic as mine (French class in morning, crossfit in evening, preparing lunch, dinner, snack boxes for next day and not to forget 4 hours of travelling. Also add 7-8 hrs of sleep!!), you can split the recipe over two days. On first day or in the morning, you can make Passion fruit mousse, pipe them in shot glasses and place in the fridge (not freezer) for setting. Next day or same day evening, make the ganache and once it has cooled, using your favorite piping tip, decorate the mousse and viola!!!!

Recipe

Makes 5-6 shot glasses

Ingredients

Passion fruit mousse 150 gm passion fruit puree 30 gm granulated sugar 5 gm gelatin powder 120 gm heavy cream

Chocolate Ganache

120 gm Dark chocolate

60 gm heavy cream

a pinch of sea salt

Method

To make the Passion fruit mousse

1. Warm half of the puree with the sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat.

2. In the meantime, soak the gelatin powder in cold water.

3. Remove saucepan from heat once sugar completely dissolved. Heat the soaked gelatin in oven for about 5-10 sec.

4. Add the softened gelatin to the warm puree and stir until completely dissolved. Add the rest of the puree; stir to combine then let it cool to room temperature. 5. In a mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream until soft peaks are formed. Then using a spatula fold the whipped cream into the puree base until fully incorporated (no more white streak should be visible).

6. Pour this mousse in the shot glasses or small pastry containers, and let it set in the refrigerator, about 1 hour.

To make the Chocolate Ganache 1. If you have the dark chocolate bar, then chop it into small pieces or if you have chocolate couvertures (i prefer them, saves a lot of time in chopping of the bar and the chocolate melts evenly), place them in a big bowl.

2. Heat the heavy cream over medium heat. Ensure the cream is not boiled, just heated.

3. Pour the hot cream over chocolate. The chocolate will melt from the heat of the cream.

4. Fold the cream over the chocolate, so that the chocolate melts evenly.

5. If the cream starts cooling down before all the chocolate is melted, don't worry. Place the bowl of chocolate and cream over a bowl of hot steaming water, and stir the chocolate cream mixture until the cream is incorporated in the chocolate.

6. Add a pinch of salt, if you like.

7. Stir the ganache till it is glossy and well mixed. Allow the mixture to cool at room temperature. At no cost, put it in refrigerator!!

8. Once the ganache has cooled and thickened, put it in a piping back and pipe away on the mousse.

To serve

You can add chopped mango pieces or eat it as it is.

Making delicious pastry items sans eggs is quite difficult for me. However, this little jar of delight is refreshing, wonderful and quick to make. Not to mention, an easy way to impress your guests.