Tried a lot of delicious fig desserts when I travelled to France, so want to catch the season of fig and make a cake out of it to share with friends at our long-due reunion trip!
QUICK TAKEAWAYS
- BE QUICK when mixing gelatin to mousse bake, otherwise small chunks will form as soon as gelatin temperature gets down and the mousse will not be smooth enough
- tea color could be too yellow and impact the presentation of jelly top
- freeze/refrigerate cake base or bake at 180C for 15-20mins so it will not get soggy when mousse is poured on top
RECIPE
Let’s get to business (recipe is for a 7.5-8inch cake)
- 150g biscuit
- 80g butter
- 1 stick of cream cheese
- 190g heavy whipping cream
- 50g sugar for cake, 10g sugar for jelly top
- 2 tea bags
- 100g milk
- 30g gelatin
- a few fresh fig
On your marks…get set…BAKE!
- soften cream cheese at room temperature, slice fig thinly, so we can use them on the cake wall and cake top, chop up the remaining fig
- cake base = grind ~150g biscuit, mix with ~80g melted butter
- transfer cake base to the cake mold, press down firmly, refrigerate for at least 30mins so the mousse layer does not blend with the cake base and soften it
- whip ~190g heavy whipping cream till it expands and starts to form soft pattern but still has flowy texture, keep in fridge
- add 50g sugar to 100g soften cream cheese, mix well till cream cheese becomes smoother
- bloom 20g gelatin sheet in ice cold water
- heat up 100g milk and 2 tea bags over low heat and cook till tea fragrance is out; when it’s around 50C, add the bloomed gelatin, mix till dissolve completely
- add the rose tea gelatin mix to soften cream cheese, mix in a few times
- lastly add the whipped heavy cream into cake mix, mix well
- add in a few fig chunks into cake mix, mix well
- align thinly sliced fig around the cake mold
- gently pour the mousse cake mix into the cake mold, freeze for 1hr
- bloom another 10g gelatin in ice cold water
- brew 2 tea bags in ~300g hot water and 15g sugar
- dissolve 10g gelatin in tea, mix well
- when the mousse has settled, put thinly sliced fig on top
- gently pour tea with gelatin so it is the same level as fig; do not pour all at once to avoid fig flowing around
- freeze for 15-20mins
- gently pour the remaining tea, refrigerate for at least 4 hour, at best overnight
cream cheese+sugar 
milk tea 
gelatin in milk tea 
line fig on mold 
RESOURCES
