Pistachio & Meyer Lemon Mousse Cakes with Mirror Glaze
These bright and sunny entrement cakes feature a core of Meyer lemon curd nestled inside a fluffy lemon and vanilla mousse, with a base of crisp and nutty pistachio dacquoise, all enrobed in a beautifully shiny yellow mirror glaze.
Yield: 12 (2½-inch) cakes
Prep Time: 3 hourshours
Total Time: 2 daysdays
Ingredients
For Lemon Curd:
1teaspoonMeyer lemon zest, from 1 lemon (save the rest of the zest for the mousse layer later)
⅓cup/ 80gMeyer lemon juice, from about 3 lemons
¼cup/ 50ggranulated sugar
1 ½teaspoons/ 3gcornstarch
1tablespoonwater
¾sheet leaf gelatin*
2tablespoons/ 28gsalted butter, cut into small cubes
7ounces/ 200ggood quality white chocolate, finely chopped
food coloring, as desired
chopped pistachios, for garnish
Instructions
To make the lemon curd:
Cut gelatin sheets into 1-inch strips and submerge in cool water for at least 5 minutes to soften.
Combine lemon juice, zest, and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat.
Whisk cornstarch with 1 tablespoon water. Add to saucepan and return to heat, bring to a simmer and let bubble, stirring occasionally, for about 1 minute or until thickened.
Wring out softened gelatin with your hands, squeezing out as much water as you can (for powdered gelatin, just add it straight to the pan, liquid and all). Add to saucepan with warm lemon mixture and whisk until completely dissolved.
Remove from heat and whisk inn butter until smooth. If you want a brighter yellow color, add a bit of yellow food coloring if desired.
Pour into 1-inch silicone sphere molds. Freeze overnight until completely set, then gently remove from molds (they will not be frozen solid; if you have a hard time getting them out of the molds, try using a small espresso spoon to 'scoop' out the curd, retaining the dome shape as much as possible).
To make the pistachio dacquoise:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Using a cookie cutter that is the exact size of your dome molds (2½-inches for me), trace twelve evenly-spaced circles onto the parchment. You'll use these circles as a guide for piping the dacquoise.
In a food processor, pulse pistachios a few times to break them up. Add pistachio or almond flour and powdered sugar, and pulse a few more times until finely ground. You can use all whole pistachios if you want (100g total).
Place egg whites in a mixing bowl (save the leftover yolks, you'll use them in the mousse layer). Whip on medium speed until frothy. With the mixer running, slowly spoon in sugar, a tablespoon at a time. When all the sugar has been added, increase speed to high and beat until whites are thick and glossy and hold medium-stiff peaks.
Fold half of ground pistachio mixture into whites to lighten, then add remaining pistachios, folding until just incorporated.
Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a ½-inch round piping tip. Pipe circles just inside the circles you drew on the parchment.
Sprinkle tops of piped dacquoise with chopped pistachios if desired, then dust lightly with powdered sugar.
Bake for 8 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are just set but still soft. Remove from oven and use a round cookie cutter (one size larger than you used to trace the circles) to 'swirl' around the edges of the soft meringue until you can see the edge of the pencil marks. Do this quickly while they are still hot and pliable. If your cookies are already too crisp to reshape, you can use the exact size cookie cutter to cut off the edges to make your rounds the size they need to be. Note that if you do this the cookies will deflate and will be quite a bit flatter in the end.
Return pan to oven and bake for another 25 to 35 minutes more, or until tops are crispy and ever so lightly browned. Thicker rounds may need up to 40 minutes to completely dry out. Turn off oven, crack the oven door and let the cookies cool down in the warm oven which will help them dry out even further.
To make the lemon vanilla mousse:
Cut gelatin into 1-inch strips and submerge in cool water to soften.
In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks and granulated sugar until lightened.
Warm cream, milk, vanilla, and lemon zest in a saucepan over medium heat until it starts to steam. Slowly ladle into egg yolks, whisking constantly, until most of cream has been incorporated and mixture is warmed through. Return to saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until it thickens and coats the back of the spoon (will measure 165 degrees F on an instant read thermometer).
Wring out water from softened gelatin and add to warm custard; whisk until smooth. Run through a fine mesh sieve to remove zest and any solid bits; let cool for at least 15 minutes until lukewarm.
In a clean bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat heavy cream until it holds soft peaks (do not over-beat). Add ⅓ of whipped cream to the cooled custard and fold to lighten, then add the remaining cream and fold until fully incorporated.
To assemble:
To assemble your cakes, spoon or pipe the mousse into 2½-inch silicone dome molds, not quite all the way full. Gently press a lemon dome, curved side down, into the top of each mousse-filled mold. If you find your lemon domes are sinking, let the mousse chill in the molds for 15 minutes or so to firm it up just a tiny bit.
Finally, top with round of pistachio dacquoise, pressing lightly just until the mousse starts to pop out the sides. Place on a flat cookie sheet and place in the freezer so it is level; freeze for at least 3 hours or overnight until set solid.
Before you make the glaze, remove cakes from molds and invert (dacquoise side down) on a frozen cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Return to freezer until just before glazing.
Make the mirror glaze:
Cut gelatin into 1-inch strips and submerge in cool water for at least 5 minutes to soften. Place white chocolate in a heat-proof bowl and set aside.
Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat until sugar is completely dissolved and mixture is clear.
Remove from heat, then add gelatin (squeeze out as much water as possible first) and whisk until dissolved. Whisk in sweetened condensed milk. Pour hot mixture over chopped white chocolate and let sit for 30 seconds, then stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth (you can also use an immersion blender if you have one to expedite this process, just try not to mix air bubbles into the glaze if possible).
Add powder or gel food coloring as desired. You can also divide your glaze up into multiple colors and then swirl them if you'd like.
Let glaze cool, stirring occasionally, until glaze reaches approximately 85 to 90 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. The glaze needs to be the correct temperature: too warm and it will not form a thick enough layer on the outside of the cakes; too cool and it will not flow smoothly.
Remove cakes from freezer and place on a cookie sheet, elevated off the sheet using small jars or cookie cutters (ideally something smaller in diameter than the cake itself so the glaze can drip off). You can also put them on a wire rack. If you have more than 6 or 8 individual cakes, I recommend working in two batches. You can always rewarm the glaze if it gets too cool (do so gently over a double boiler or in very short intervals in the microwave).
Pour glaze generously over cakes, taking care to ensure there are no bare spots left. Allow the excess glaze to drip off for 5 or 10 minutes, then gently scrape the edges to remove any remaining drops. Carefully transfer cakes using a small offset spatula to cardboard cake rounds or small pieces of parchment paper for easy movement. Any leftover glaze can be scraped up and refrigerated in an airtight container for later use.
Use a small spoon to coat the bottom edges with chopped pistachios, tapping off excess. Garnish with a lemon twist, if desired.
Glazed cakes will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Let come to room temperature before serving.
Notes
* To substitute powdered gelatin, use 1 teaspoon of powdered gelatin per 1 sheet of leaf gelatin called for in this recipe. Instead of softening the gelatin in cold water and then wringing it out, you'll need to sprinkle the gelatin over a few tablespoons of cool water to allow it to soften, then add the whole mixture to the hot liquid to dissolve.