Chocolate Mousse and Coconut Dacquoise with Raspberries

Mousse is my latest obsession. I go through phases of discovery with all these new things. The first obsession was French macarons- I made quite a few of those. Then it was buttercream- especially Dorie's recipe. Now it's mousse. I was never really into mousse before because the amount of fat in it. But now I am finding, just a little bit of mousse can hit the spot. Especially with some fresh fruit. Besides there are mousses made with other things besides heavy cream which I am sure you will be seeing here on my blog soon.

I made this cake for my Dad and my husband for Father's Day. It was so wonderful after the entree we had... you will see that in a few days. It was deceptively light.

I started out with Dorie's coconut dacquoise:

1 cup (65g) unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup (60g) slivered almonds
1/2 cup (75g) plus 1 1/2 cups (175g) confectioners (icing) sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
8 large egg whites (240g) at room temperature
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Put the coconut, almonds, 2/3 cups of the confectioners’ sugar and the cornstarch in a food processor and pulse until finely ground.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar at medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Beat in the remaining 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, then beat until the meringue is thick and glossy and holds firm peaks. Using a large rubber spatula, very gently fold in the coconut mixture. Spoon one third of the meringue (about 2 1/2) onto each outlined rectangle. Using a long metal icing spatula, spread the meringue into the meringue into smooth, even layers.

Bake the meringues for 3 hours, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 1 1/2 hours. The meringues should be golden and crisp to the touch. Let cool completely on the baking sheets on racks.

Then I made a mousse (Tartelette's recipe) to go between the layers with the raspberries:

6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup (62.5ml) whole milk
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1/2 stick (55gr) butter
1 egg yolk
1 cup (250ml) heavy cream, cold

In a bowl set over a pan of simmering water or a bain marie, melt together the chocolate, milk, espresso powder and butter. Remove from the heat and let cool to lukewarm. Whisk in the egg yolk. In a mixer, whip the cream to medium peaks and fold it into the chocolate mixture.
*you can put the mixer bowl in the fridge to cool it down as well, so that when you add the cream it will help the whipping process.