Here is a mouthful of a name for you : Lemon & Poppy seed cake with a blue berry mousse, a blueberry jellly insert, a lemon curd mousse and chocolate ganache! It certainly is a mouthful, but it tastes AMAZING!!! It takes al ittle bit of time to make it, but its WELL WORTH IT!

Here’s how you make it!

INGREDIENTS

(This makes a 6 inch cake, if you would like it bigger, then just double the amounts)

The Lemon & Poppy Seed cake –

• 1 1/2 cups cake flour, spooned and leveled (336g)
• 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoons organic lemon zest, about 2-3 lemons
• 225 g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds

The Blueberry Mousse –

• 20 g blueberry puree
• 70 g sugar
• 12 g of lemon juice
• 5 g of blueberry syrup
• 40 g of pasteurized egg whites
• 10 g of gelatin leaves
• 100 g blueberry puree
• 60 g blueberry puree
• 160 g of cold heavy cream

The Blueberry Jelly Insert –

• 100 g package frozen blueberries
• 1 1/2 gelatine leaves
• 4 tbsp cup sugar

The Lemon Mousse –

• 1/2 cup Lemon Curd (Recipe here)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 1 gelatin sheet
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract

The Chocolate Ganache –

• 100 g Dark chocolate
• 1 cup Heavy cream
• A pinch of sea salt

METHOD

The Lemon & Poppy Seed cake –

1. Preheat oven to 170 C. Butter and lightly two 6″ round pans. Line with baking paper.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add lemon zest and whisk again. Set aside.
3. In another small bowl, combine the milk and lemon juice. Stir to mix and let curdle, this is the best way to make homemade buttermilk.
4. In a stand mixer bowl, beat butter and sugar on medium-high using the paddle attachment(you can always use a hand held mixer, its entirely up to you! 🙂 ). Beat until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. With the mixer on low, add the eggs one at a time. Mix well after each egg.
6. Add the vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
7. Add the flour mixture in three batches, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Do not over mix, just enough so everything is blended well together.
8. Add poppy seeds and mix to combine. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl and the mixer blade. Batter should be thick and fluffy.
9. Divide batter evenly between the pans. Smooth tops with rubber spatula or knife to evenly distribute batter in the pan. Tap a few times on the counter.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a cake tester is inserted into center and comes out clean.
11. Once done, let it cool in the pans for 10 to 15 minutes, then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

Blueberry Jelly insert:

1. Line an 6-in. cake pan with plastic wrap, leaving about 4 in. of excess plastic hanging over the pan’s sides.
2. Defrost the berries until soft. Purée them in a food processor for about 30 seconds, or until smooth. Set a fine sieve over a small saucepan. Pour a small amount of the blueberry sauce in the sieve and force it through with a spatula. Repeat the process until you have strained all the blueberry purée.
3. Then add the gelatine leaves, let them soak for 5 minutes. Set the saucepan over low heat and stir until the gelatine dissolves.
4. Heat the purée over medium heat and continue stirring until the gelatine melts completely. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Cool the mixture slightly and pour it into the plastic-lined cake pan. Freeze for an hour or until just set.

Blueberry Mousse-

1. Make a blueberry puree (blend blueberries and sift them through a fine sieve).
2. Now make the Italian meringue.
3. Add sugar, lemon juice, blueberry syrup and 20g blueberry puree in a small saucepan and cook them on low heat.
4. When the syrup reaches 100°C, you begin to whip the egg whites on medium speed.
5. When the syrup reaches 117°C, pour it in a thin stream into the beaten egg whites while constantly whipping.
6. Beat until whites are cooled down.
7. Soften the gelatine leaves in cold water.
8. Warm 100 g blueberry puree and dissolve the gelatin therein. Add geltine-blueberry purée with the remaining 60 g blueberry purée.
9. Fold the blueberry-gelatin mixture with the Italian meringue.
10. Beat the cold whipping cream in a large bowl until soft peaks.
11. Turn 1/3 of the whipped cream into the blueberry meringue.
12. Add the blueberry meringue into the remaining whipped cream and fold until completely incorporated.

The Lemon Mousse –

1. In a bowl, soften the gelatine leaf with 1/4 ice cold water.
2. Whip the cream with the powdered sugar and set aside.
3. Place 1 1/4 cups of the lemon curd in a large mixing bowl and use a spatula to smooth out the curd to break up any lumps.
4. Fold 1/3 of the the cream into the lemon curd until no lumps of curd remain.
5. Fold in the remaining cream until it’s about 1/2 way incorporated.
6. Heat the bloomed gelatin with the water in in a saucepan, until just hot to the touch.
7. Working quickly, add a 1/2 cup of the mousse to the warmed gelatin & water mixture.
8. Whisk immediately until completely incorporated.
9. Pour the gelatin mixture back into the mousse.
10. Immediately whisk until the mousse is smooth and the gelatin is evenly incorporated.
11. If the mousse is very soft, refrigerate briefly to let it thicken before assembling the cake.

The Chocolate Ganache –

1. Chop the chocolate into smal chunks and place itno a bowl with teh sea salt sprinkled ontop.
2. In a saucepan, heat the cream utnil it just starts boiling and pour over the chocolate.
3. Leave it fr 10-15 min, and then whipe using a hand-held mixer.
4. Keep in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Assembling the cake –

1. First take your jelly insert out of its mould. Then pipe half of the Blueberry mousse into the 6″ mold.
2. Place the jelly insert into the piped mouse pressing down just gently.
3. Then pipe the remaining mousse onto the jelly insert.
4. Then take your lemon mousse and pipe that ontop of your blueberry mousse, but very gently! Nothing is set hard enough att his point, so you dont want to mix both mousse together while piping.
5. Once all piped, then place the mold into the freezer for about 40-50 min, or until just set, and hard enough to release from the mold.
6. Once you have the mousse section out of hte mold, take one of your poppy seed cakes and place the mousse section onto it.
7. Then take your second cake, and place it ontop.
8. Then take the chocolate ganache, and pipe at the top. I coverd my cake with a thin layer of pink marzipan, you can do so or you coudl leave it as a ‘naked cake’. It certainly is a party best when everyone can see the beautiful coloured layers in a cake!
10. Now just keep it in the fridge for about 30 min until the cake is soft enough, and slice and enjoy! 🙂