Week 136 and I am catching up with my blogs all in one go….this week’s dip into Mary Berry‘s Baking Bible brought forth her gateau saint honore and her chocolate mouse cake.

I began with Mary’s chocolate mousse cake and had read the rising to the berry blog to see how this had gone for Annalise – my inspiration for doing this challenge. I read her blog carefully and set off.

I halved all the ingredients so not to make too much and began with the sponge, another whisk the eggs and sugar together and then fold in the flour. This time I made extra sure that it was well whisked first and left a good trail. I poured the mix into two small tins and put them into bake. When the time went, I was really pleased to see well risen sponges and let them cool. I then put them on a cooling rack and got on with the next stage.

The mousse was interesting to make and I read the recipe really carefully and melted the chocolate with some brandy while sprinkling some gelatine on some water to begin to “sponge”. Once the chocolate had melted, I put the gelatine bowl over the hot water to allow this to dissolve gently.  I then mixed the egg yolks into the chocolate mix, whipped the cream , folded this in and stirred in the gelatine. Finally I whipped the egg whites and folded them in.  The next job was to slice the cakes in half and return the bottom half to the tins, fill with the mousse, add the sponge top and put in the fridge. I left mine overnight.

The next morning I removed the cakes from their tins and the mousse was solid. I whipped some cream to cover the cakes and decorated with chocolate curls.

The second recipe was a really long one – the gateau saint honore. Mary asks you to make patte sucree pastry and when ready, roll it out and cut out a 7″ circle and bake.

The second part of the recipe was to make choux pastry and pipe out a 7″ circle and small walnut sized shapes. Bake these according to the recipe and prick them after baking to allow the steam to escape. The next part of the recipe was making the cream patissiere which involves several steps too.  I boiled my milk and vanilla, I beat in the eggs, sugar and flour and returned to the heat and cooked until thickened and then poured into a bowl to cool with cling film on to prevent a skin forming.This recipe was proving to be challenging and I wasn’t even halfway there yet and hoped it would be worth the effort. Once the mix was cool, I had to whip some cream and mix this in with the mix and then chill. Once this was chilled, I put it into a piping bag and filled the choux pastry. Finally I followed Mary’s recipe for the caramel- tricky stuff and began to assemble this dreaded thing!I started with the pastry base and put the choux ring on top, i dipped the small choux buns into the caramel and stuck them in a ring around the edge and filled the middle with the rest of the creme patissiere.

It was not a thing of beauty but it was another recipe ticked off…..the count down had now reached….

Which means that next week is my final two bakes and this amazing journey on my challenge to complete all the bakes in Mary’s Baking Bible will finally be at an end.

I have left the New Year tipsy celebration cake as one of the recipes and …. the recipe that filled the Great British Bake Off contestants with dread…the “BIN-GATE” of all recipes….the Baked Alaska!

The 1 & 3/4 hairy hoolies are in the swing of the baking….but the pesky puppy did manage to run off with a crem pat filled choux bun! They liked the cream though….

and now seem to be becoming good cuddle buddies too.

Tune in next week for the final of Kim’s Cake Challenge!